For this paper you will use the argument in one of the following articles as a focus and a springboard. Your paper should briefly summarize the argument of the article and then expand on the ideas within it, either further supporting the argument with your own reading, expanding on the argument by showing how it can springboard into other related ideas, or refuting all or part of the argument with your own contradictory interpretation. If one of these articles doesn't suit your interests, you are welcome to find an article that does focus on an aspect of the novel you wish to explore. However, if you choose your own article, you must have it approved by me no later than Wednesday, October 24. The final draft of this paper is due on Friday, October 26.

Haurykiewicz, Julie A. "From Mules to Muliebrity: Speech and Silence in Their Eyes."
   The Southern Literary Journal 29 (1997): 45-66.

Haddox, Thomas F. "The Logic of Expenditure in Their Eyes." Mosaic 34 (2001): 19-34.

Johnson, Barbara. "Metaphor, Metonymy, and Voice in Their Eyes." In Black Literature and Literary Theory, edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., pp. 205-21. New York: Methuen, 1984.

Lawrence, David Todd. "Folkloric Representation and Extended Context in Experimental Ethnography of Zora Neale Hurston." Southern Folklore 57 (2000): 119-34.

Meese, Elizabeth. "Orality and Textuality in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes." In Elizabeth Meese, Crossing the Double Cross: The Practice of Feminist Criticism, pp. 39-55. Chapel Hill: U of NC P, 1986.

Finish reading Their Eyes Were Watching God by Monday, October 22. As you read, consider the following:

• How would you describe the point of view in this novel? Is it simply "free indirect discourse"?
• The novel is an example of a "bildungsroman." How so?
• Does Janie find her voice? Her identity? Her power? Her womanhood?
• Do you see some inconsistencies in the theme (s)?
• What do you make of the "orality" of this text? Pay attention to the oral performances of the characters: the stories they tell, the dozens they play, the humor or wit they display, etc. What is the message in this novel about words? How are speech and silence used as tools of power?
• Notice the symbolic nature of animals and nature.
• Pay close attention to themes of class, race, and gender. In what ways do those themes interrelate?