Feb 15th: Their Eyes Were Watching God

Brrrrrr . . . it's cold out there. Perfect time for a novel set in sunny Florida.

Our next book is Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. Here are a couple of key facts to get you started:

>> Hurston wrote this novel during seven weeks in Haiti. (Perhaps it was part of her own  NaNoWriMo in the late 1930's . . .)

>> Although published in 1937, it didn't get wide recognition until the mid-1970's, about 15 years after Hurston's death. 

>> Richard Wright, author of Black Boy, was highly critical of Their Eyes Were Watching God. In a 1937 review, he said the book carried "no theme, no message, no thought," and that, "Miss Hurston seems to have no desire whatever to move in the direction of serious fiction."

AND ONE MORE:

>> Hurston died penniless on January 28, 1960 and was buried in an unmarked grave which remained that way until the novelist Alice Walker (The Color Purple, By the Light of My Father's Smile, etc.) located the grave in 1973 and placed a marker on it reading: "A Genius of the South. Novelist. Folklorist. Antrhopologist."

Now, for your assignment . . .

The items below are all used as symbols in this novel. Choose one and make a note each time it is mentioned throughout the novel. Include the quote in which the object is mentioned (or notes about when/why it is mentioned) along with the page number. If you're listening to an audiobook version, you should still write down the quote or context and do your best to note the chapter, track, or just what's going on at that point. 

When you've finished reading the book, you should have more than a few notes or quotes for your object, and by examining them, you may be able to figure out what it represents. Bring your notes with you for the discussion. 

Choose one of the items below to keep track of: 

• hair
• the pear tree
• the horizon
• the hurricane
• the mule
• the sun
  
  OR
  
• something else that you notice and want to examine

Happy reading! See you on the 15th.