Summary Of Neale's Shadow Of Heaven

The novel Storming Heaven by Denise Giardina is a fictionalized tale of the conflict that took place in the coal fields of West Virginia. The novel brings to light the stereotypes, race and religion of the Appalachian people. In this paper I’d like to briefly discuss Denise Giardina’s life, her novel Storming Heaven and some of the issues that arise within the storyline of the text.

In the Devil’s Snare by Mary Beth Norton is a narrative describing and analyzing the Salem witch crisis and pinpointing one of the greater causes of the event. Norton's thesis is that the Salem witch trials were directly related to the two Indian wars, also known as King Phillips War and King Williams War. A significant portion of the accusers, according to Norton’s research, were in fact refugees from the Maine coast. These were people who had watched their families and neighbors be killed by the Native Americans, a people who the Puritans closely related with the devil and devil worship. With many source documents used, the book seemed very dry.

“The Knights of Columbus were real head-breakers; true guineas. They took over their piece of the city. Twenty years after an Irishman couldn’t get a f-----g job, we had the presidency … That’s what the n-----s don’t realize … no one gives it to you. You have to take it.” (Scorsese)

For this lesson, I have chosen the book Their Eyes were watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. The main character in my book Janie has just buried her husband the former mayor and a man that verbally abused Janie. Janie never really spoke to people unless it was her close friend Phoebe, and even them speaking was not often because of Janie’s husband Joe. However, now that Joe is dead, Janie has been speaking more often to the porch sisters, and people in the town. Furthermore, in chapter ten we are introduced to the character Tea Cake. Janie feels like she has known Tea Cake her whole life, even though, she has just met this man. Janie and Tea Cake grow closer through the chapters ten-twelve, Janie communicates well with Phoebe and Tea Cake the

In the seventh and ninth chapter of Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie has been living in silence with Joe for many years now. She was 17 when she married Joe but is now 35 and can not run away because she feels trapped. She always imagines what it is like to sit under a tree, doing her work and just plainly loving Joe. Later on, she realizes Joe’s age is showing and he also notices this; so he gives Janie more work and calls her old. Janie soon gets tired of this and confronts Joe and tells him he looks much older than her. The men that are in the store hear this and wish they had not because they would not their woman calling them old. Joe is embarrassed, so he violently hits Janie.

In Laurie Ann Guerrero’s poem “Morning Praise Of Nightmares, One,” the speaker’s use of the poetic elements set a serious tone, use of a paradoxical title, and ambiguous language, yet attention to detail leads you to assess the poem as an interpretation of a vivid dream. The speaker’s image of the human body, between life's lushness, and death’s natural process, highlights a human behavior.

“Then she went inside there to see what it was. It was her image of Jody tumbled down and shattered.” (Hurston 186). In passage #3 which was pulled from page 186 in the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Hurston is telling Jody’s internal thoughts after being hit by her husband, Joe Starks, for the first time. Hurston is trying to convey the message that no matter how hard you try, not all your hopes and dreams will come true.

All Souls, written by Michael Patrick MacDonald, is the story of a low-income family from Boston that ends up moving from the projects in Columbia Point to the projects South Boston, also known as Southie. From then, the book focuses on the MacDonald family and their lives in 1960’s South Boston and in particular the crime, violence and corruption that existed within South Boston but most importantly, how it was that the MacDonald family viewed Southie and how those views changed overtime. On the first page of the book, Michael Patrick MacDonald starts of by recalls his mother at one point calling Southie, “The Best Place in the World” (MacDonald 1). The comparison from Ma calling Southie the best place in the world compared to a couple of pages ahead where she says that she’d “Never come back to this hell hole of a fucking neighborhood ever again” (MacDonald 15). This change of mentality of not only Ma, but the rest of the family, especially Michael Patrick MacDonald, is categorized within C. Wright Mills’ The Sociological Imagination. In The Sociological Imagination, Mills speaks on two ways of thinking that are very prevalent in MacDonald’s All Souls. According to Mills’ there is an “ordinary” way of thinking and a then there is having a “sociological imagination”. In All Souls, both of these different mindsets are portrayed thru the MacDonald family as well as within their community of Old Colony. All Souls tells the story of a community suffering from the “ordinary” way of thinking and what kind of negative outcomes their fixed mindset.

In the novel,” Their eyes were watching god” written by Zora Neale Hurston is a book based on the trials a young woman goes through as she goes through her journey to find a new life as changes come. I found many motif examples in this book, but to be more specific, community and race/racism. These two things significantly impact the book's plot and the overall setting.

Janie's flashback ends, and the novel returns to Janie's conversation with Pheoby that began in Chapter 1. It is almost as if Janie's life story could serve as a lesson both to her dear friend, Pheoby and to the readers of the novel. In her journey through life, Janie has learned two important lessons: People must "go tuh God," and they must "find out about livin' fuh theyselves." Although Janie has lost Tea Cake she remembers the good times with him. Even kept seeds he was planning to plant that she will put in her garden as a reminder of him. At the end of the book, it is also shown that being by yourself is okay that you can be strong on your own. Zora Neale Hurston shows us in the resolution of the plot that even though women are looked

Development in people is different for everyone. In order to grow, people need to endure experiences with the people around them and the events that occur, being good or bad. Janie’s three marriages help her mature into a woman. Throughout all of her relationships, Janie learns several important lessons and things about herself, as well as discovering the reality of love. In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie’s marriages to Logan Killicks, Jody Starks, and Tea Cake are essential moments in her life, which play a huge role in her learning experience.

In the book Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie’s understanding for struggle allows her to empathize for another and fix the problem. Zora Neale Hurston writes, “Janey is displayed by Starks as a 'lady'? Just as he displays the retired mule”(Hurston). Janie's treatment by Jody has caused her to feel the struggle and hatred towards the people that only make life harder than it should be. When Jody saw this mule getting abused and treated the way it shouldn’t be, she was able to feel empathy for it and do something about it.

Often during our hardest moments, we respond in silence to show our strength. Janie depicts a capable and courageous twentieth century woman who must conform to her what society tells her to. Through Janie’s love experience with her Nanny, Logan, Jody, and Teacake, her independence grows with each one. The contrast between a protective love and a romantic love affects her independence differently. Throughout the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie has conforms to her social mores due to their power status even when she inwardly questions their demands.

“They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God. (p. 160)” Zora Neale Hurston prophetically embodied the awe of the Divine and His infinite sovereignty in relation to His creation. This novel explores the complex awakening of Janie Crawford as an African- American woman in the southern Florida during the twentieth century. The protagonist is on a quest to find self- awareness and love due to a troubled childhood and broken home. Along this spiritual and personal journey, Janie finds herself in malicious relationships in which she is dominated and subjugated by male counterparts. However, it is not until she slowly grows spiritually independent of her physical situations that she is able to overcome adversity and truly love herself. Hurston contrasts the use of boisterous characters and colloquialism with Janie’s inherent silence to effectively illustrate the protagonist’s gradual independence in relation to language. The importance of personal fulfillment through self-awareness over power serves as a source of

The tension between male and female figures is further used to promote Janie’s emotional growth and maturity. Janie’s inner confidence and reassurance did not develop overnight, as it took three painful marriages for Janie to find her inner strength. After her mesmerizing moment under the pear tree, she was persuaded into marrying Logan Kilicks thinking marriage always formed true love. Janie’s assumption of finally having the embrace she longed for in marriage however, was destroyed when she married him. Logan did not live up to the beauty that she saw in the tree, “she knew now that marriage did not make love. Janie’s first dream was dead, so she became a woman” (25). After marrying Logan, Janie realizes the reality of marriage and love.