My Finals Philosophy

❖ I am not particularly worried about

your remembrance of little details.
❖ What I will be looking for is that you
know the story of African American
literature and history, complete with
the obstacles, major turning points,
key characters, and important themes
that run throughout and stitch
everything together.
❖ As an example, when studying
Douglass, what are some things you
should probably know?
The Final Questions/Essay Prompt
In your final, you will be asked to make connections/
arguments about broad themes that run through Their Eyes
Were Watching God and the whole semester.

Here are the details of the test:

• It is graded on an 100 pt. scale
• 30 points will come from answering three of five short
answers.
• 70 points will come from answering one of two essays.
 An Example Short Answer
What is a significant connection that you see between Zora Neale Hurston
and another Harlem Renaissance author?
A major connection that I see is that both Langston Hughes and Zora
Neale Hurston strive to defend and uplift the language of the
common people. Hughes said that he didn’t want to do tricks with
language like write sonnets in iambic pentameter. Instead, he wanted
to capture the experience and voice of the people he knew and rise it
to the status of high art. Hurston did the same thing with the rural
Southern dialect that she grew up with; she wanted to show its
beauty and how it could stand next to any dialect in its sophistication.
An example of this is when she says that it was “dusking down
dark”, which may not be standard English, but it is really beautiful…
 The Essay
The first semester looked at African American literature, art, and culture from the beginning
of the country through the Harlem Renaissance. Today you will be writing an essay that will
examine how African American literature evolved during that period; specifically, I want you
to examine the similarities and differences that go through African American literature and
culture from slave narratives through Their Eyes Were Watching God.
To do that, please write an essay on the following:
Richard Wright said of Their Eyes Were Watching God, “Miss Hurston voluntarily
continues in her novel the tradition which was forced upon the Negro in the theater,
that is, the minstrel technique that makes ‘the white folks’ laugh…In the main, her
novel is not addressed to the Negro, but to a white audience whose chauvinistic
tastes she knows how to satisfy.” Since the founding of the country beginning,
African American authors have had to think about how two different audiences will
react to their work: the African American audience and the white audience. Please
write a response that agrees or disagrees with Mr. Wright through using work we’ve
read.
 The Essay Continued
Mr. Wright is mistaken in his view that Zora Neale Hurston used simple
country language to be a clown to entertain white people; she was instead
following in the footsteps of Paul Laurence Dunbar and Langston Hughes
in an attempt to show that even southern folk people are as intelligent as
anyone else.
BP #1: Dunbar pioneered the idea that folk dialect can be complex and
interesting in his poem “Sign of the Times”
BP #2: Langston Hughes showed the beauty of “jazz language” in his
poetry
BP #3: ZNH uses folk language, not to ridicule the poor, but to show both
the language’s beauty and complexity.
 How to Write a Great Essay:

Repeat Key Things from Class,

“[Hurston uses metaphors like ‘a lost ball in high grass’ to

show that just because African American Vernacular
English differs from standard English, the speakers still
hold intelligence.”
 How to Write a Great Essay:
Go Somewhere Entirely New,
“Hurston argues that women are ultimately better
equipped to deal with life’s turmoil than men…[Each] of
Janie’s husbands meets their demise as a result of their
worship of the ideal of masculinity; Logan when Janie
leaves him for a more manly, handsome man; Joe when he
is emasculated by Janie and dies broken; Tea Cake when
he is bitten by a mad dog in an attempt to be Janie’s
savior.”
 How to Write a Great Essay:
And Say Things in Interesting Ways

“Death is there every step of Janie’s journey. It’s almost like

Death’s following her around and trying to mess up her life.
Every time Janie starts to get comfortable, death comes along
and decides to ‘mix it up.’”
“Hurston introduces love not only as a concept, but as a
character. Within this unraveling story, we meet love, a
constant thread, each fray a different trait…”