Ten Line Poem

After we shake hands,
Before the game starts,
As we gather in the middle,
Because we need to pray,
We start to prepare for our volleyball game.

When the whistle blows,
After we have taken our positions,
As the crowd gets quiet,
While we play out the first serve,
We play like we know we can.

Their Eyes Were Watching God-Book Review

                “Now, women forget all those things they don’t want to remember, and remember everything they don’t want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly.”  The book their eyes were watching god is a unique story that tells the life of a black women who has dreams for a wonderful life and desperately wants adventure.

                The author Zora Neale Hurston writes this book in a way I’ve never read before.  Hurston writes the whole book just as the characters would talk at that time. “Aw, dat ain’t much to eat, Janie.” (page 5)  She also lets the characters tell the story instead of describing everything herself.  A whole page will be filled with just dialogue between the characters. (page 3)  In my opinion, I don’t like how Hurston wrote the book because it made it very difficult to read and it took a while to understand what was going on. “Evenin’, Miz Starks. “ “Good evevin’.” “You reckon you gointuh like round here?” “Ah reckon so.” “Anything Ah kin do tuh help out, why you kin call on me.” (page 37)

                Zora Hurston does a great job of making these characters feel like real people.  After I finished reading the book I thought it was a true story.  Janie, the main character, is a strong willed women who if she wants to do something, she does it.  “Janie hurried out of the front gate and turned south.  Even if Joe was not there waiting for her, the change was bound to do her good.” This was when Janie left her husband Logan for a new man who promised new and better things. (page 32) The man she left Logan for was named Joe, but Janie called him Jody.  Jody started out at first as a good man who treated her right and gave her everything he promised.  After a little time however he started mentally abusing her by tearing her down with his words and also physically abusing her by slapping her across the face.  “Time came when she fought back with her tongue as best she could, but it didn’t do her any good.  It just made Joe do more.  He wanted her submission and he’d keep on fighting until he felt he had it.” (page 71)  Finally, after Jody dies Janie finds a new man to run off with and marry named Tea Cake.  Tea Cake is the kind of man Janie has always been looking for and with him Janie can finally say she is in love.  “He [Tea Cake] drifted off into sleep and Janie looked down on him and felt a self-crushing love.  So her soul crawled out from its hiding place.” (page 128)

                The setting is important because it shows the contrast of Janie’s independence to the values of that culture and that time. “S’posin’ Ah wuz to run off and leave yuh sometime.”  In this time, divorce was very much looked down upon. (page 30) Also, even though this is after slavery, segregation plays a huge role in the south and in Janie’s culture.  “De first street lamp in uh colored town.” (page 45)  However, when this story was taking place it was after slavery so Janie did have the freedom to do what she wanted.  “S’posin’ Ah wuz to run off and leave yuh sometime... Janie hurried out the front gate and turned south.” (page 30 and 32)

                I would recommend this book for anyone who is willing to take their time reading and learning how to understand this book.  However, if you are looking for an easy read I do not recommend this book.