Their Eyes Were Watching God Study Packet
AP English
Mr. Sparling
Chapter 1-5
Essential Vocabulary
1. horizon
2. resignation
3. sodden
4. relish
5. scorched
6. vigorous
7. treacherous
8. revelation
9. ecstatic
10. remorseless
11. pollinate
12. lacerate
13. desecrate
14. cosmic
15. mien
16. saunter
17. disconsolate
18. preside
19. temerity
20. metropolis
1. Why does ZNH open the novel with an analogy? What authorial purpose does it serve?
2. What conclusions can you draw about Janie, her character, and the events in her life based on
the dialogue of her neighbors?
3. How does ZNH’s narrative voice differ from the dialogue of her characters?
4. In what sense does the novel begin at the end of Janie’s story? What is the term for this type of
structure?
5. How does the pear tree symbolize Janie’s quest for self-fulfillment?
6. How does ZNH reveal Nanny’s motivation for forcing Janie to marry? Is that motivation pure,
malevolent, or something in between?
7. How, and why, do Janie and Nanny differ in their ideas of love?
8. What is the tone of Ch. 3?
9. What does Joe Starks represent to Janie?
10. How does Jody’s character begin to establish ZNH’s theme of male dominance and
aggression?
11. Contrast Jody Starks to Janie’s first husband, Logan Killicks.
12. What symbolic meaning does the horizon begin to assume?
13. What type of power does Jody come to represent in the book?
[IMPORTANT] 14. In what ways does ZNH relate power to language?
15. How does Jody attempt to control Janie? Does he ultimately succeed?
16. What does Janie’s hair symbolize?
17. ZNH achieved success in so-called “white publications” and received critical acclaim from
white critics, but her black contemporaries harshly criticized her and her work. What events in
Janie’s life parallel this situation?
Chapter 6-10
Essential
Vocabulary
1. indulge
2. disposition
3. orator
4. distended
5. compression
6. discomfiture
7. wallow
8. beseech
9. chasten
10. pugnacious
11. promontory
12. commiserate
13. ostentatious
14. futile
15. uninitiated
16. cur
17. usurper
18. paunch
19. scimitar
20. gallant
1. Why do you suppose ZNH uses third person p.o.v. to reveal what Janie is thinking while
using dialogue to allow us to get to know Jodie and the other residents?
2. What is the significance of Janie’s verbal outbursts to the gathering on the porch?
3. What motivates Jody to suppress Janie?
4. In what way does Janie reassert herself in Ch. 7? How does Jody react to it?
5. What potential foreshadowing regarding Jody can be found in Ch. 7?
6. What literary device is used on the bottom of page 79? You may have to look this up, but
explain the point the device is being used to make.
7. Identify, CITE, and explain a metaphor in Ch. 8.
8. What does the narrator reveal about Jody that Janie does not know?
9. How is Janie and Jody’s relationship suddenly ironic?
10. Why does Janie burn her head rags?
11. Why does Janie hate her grandmother?
12. Why does Janie discourage all of her suitors?
13. Why is the checker game between Janie and Tea Cake significant (how is it symbolic)?
14. What is Tea Cake’s real name, and what does he look like?
15. Describe the overall tone of Ch. 10. How do the attitudes of Janie and Tea Cake affect the
tone?
When answering questions 1 and 2, think back to question #14 on the first bookmark…think about
the relationship ZNH is showing between language and power.
Chapter 11-16
Essential Vocabulary
1. temporize
2. sullen
3. notion
4. transfiguration
5. proposition
6. bunion
7. feeble
8. phosphorescent
9. transient
10. flivver
11. clamor
12. suppress
13. maul
14. compelling
15. mingle
16. fanatical
17. indiscriminate
18. seraph
19. dwindle
20. homage
1. How does TC fulfill Janie’s original youthful yearnings under the pear tree?
2. How does Pheoby play the role of devil’s advocate in Ch. 12?
3. Compare and contrast Janie’s feelings toward the community—as represented by the porch
gatherers—when she was married to Jody and now that she is with TC.
4. After TC and Janie marry, why do you suppose she keeps silent about the $200 she has hidden
in her clothes? Is this behavior consistent with Janie’s character?
5. Explain the significance of Mrs. Tyler to the plot line.
6. What is significant about the fact that TC refuses to touch Janie’s money and insists that he
will provide for her?
7. What is ironic about the migrant workers’ situation?
8. How is the setting in Ch. 14 different from the first half of the book; how does this change
affect the structure of the narrative?
9. What symbolic significance do the Everglades take on?
10. What might TC’s teaching Janie to shoot symbolize? How is the fact that Janie is the better
shot significant?
11. What might Janie’s learning to shoot even better than TC foreshadow?
12. What is ZNH establishing by having Janie go out to work with TC?
13. Why does ZNH devote Ch. 15 to Janie’s jealousy of Nunkie?
14. What subtle shift in narration occurs in Ch. 16?
15. Why does ZNH do this (authorial purpose)?
Chapter 17 - 20
Essential Vocabulary
1. pamper
2. stagger
3. fracas
4. lisp
5. horde
6. peevish
7. velocity
8. turbulent
9. oblique
10. hackles
11. britches
12. dishevelment
13. privy
14. disgorge
15. serum
16. supplication
17. pallet
18. delirium
19. bailiff
20. wanton
1. Why do you think Janie remains silent in the fact of Tea Cake’s physical abuse?
2. in the face of the hurricane, how does TC’s belief system reveal itself to mirror that of Jody
Starks?
3. What role does the hurricane play in the narrative structure of the novel and the development
of the novel’s theme (hint: why would ZNH need for the hurricane to rock Janie’s happiness?)
4. In what way is the hurricane the high point of Janie’s and TC’s relationship?
5. How is Motor Boat’s survival ironic?
6. What is the significance of the instructions given by the white workers to the black men they
forcefully enlisted to help bury the dead?
7. What do the circumstances of TC’s death illustrate about Janie?
8. Why does ZNH have TC’s death run as it does: the three empty chambers in the gun, Janie’s
hesitation to fire her rifle, etc.?
9. How does Hurston establish Janie’s powerlessness as a black woman in white society (hint:
think about the trial)?
10. Besides Janie’s desire to plant the seeds in remembrance of Tea Cake, what do the seeds
represent?
11. What unifying THEME comes full circle in Janie’s revelations to Pheoby?
12. As Janie returns to the bedroom she last shared with TC, what SYMBOLIC quest finally
ends?
Literary Devices
Find AND EXPLAIN at least ONE example of each device. Provide the page number after each example.
Imagery
Metaphor
Personification
Symbol
Use of myth/folklore