Stranger 7

Awnser to analytical questions:

1. Word Choice: Camus uses lower vocabulary to show the reader that Meurasault has little interest in the world around him.
2. Sentences: Camus has Meurasault talk in shorter senteces than the other characters to create teh idea that he doesn't care about communicating with anyone else.
3. Images: Camus uses heat to symbolize how Meusault's decisions are controled by his wants and desires.
4. Symbols: Camus uses the sun as a symbol
5. Figures of Speech: Camus uses figures of speech to show us that Meusault is an outcast in his society and that this is what he wants.
6. Rhetorical Devices: Camus creates foils between the protagonist and the other characters in the book in order to develop the idea that Meursault wants to be diffrent.
7. Patterns: Camus uses cigarets to develop the idea that we are ruled by our desires
8. Narrators: Camus uses a first person point of view to create a world as it is would be seen by a person; this allows the reader to integrate into it and connect with Meusault
9. Structure: Camus uses his fast pace to show us that when people do not have anything to love they have nothing to long for and therfore time travels quickly.

Stranger 6

Analysis topics:

1. Word Choice: the author's choice of vocabulary and how much power the words he/she uses have. Also can include the dialect, use of alliteration or assonace, whether they use passive or active verbs, and also the use of conotation verses denotation. "Why does Camus
2. Sentences: includes the authors use of syntax, variation in length, complexity, rythem, and diction. Also includes the authors use of interogatives. "Why does Camus choose not to explain the character's thoughts or feelings and only describe the situation?"
3. Images: sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell. How the author paints a picture in our minds of the setting and the activities in the book. "Why does Camus choose to describe meursault's lust through his contact with Marie?"
4. Symbols: objects or actions that represent something outside the literature by going outside the literal meaning of the subject. "Why does Camus use the sun to depict Meursault's feelings?"
5. Figures of Speech: includes irony, metophors and cultural context. "Why would Camus use the metaphor of the old man and his dog?"
6. Retorical Devices: includes techniques like juxtaposision, foils, parraleism, and the use of dialouge vs narration. ""Why would Meursault feel the same way on the day his mother died as he did on the day he killed the arab?"
7. Patterns: The author will use patterns to create a theme or emphasize a specific characteristic in the character(s). "Why does Camus show people constantly expresing concern to Meursault about his mother's death?"
8. Narrators: The kind of narrator the author chooses to use is meaningful. Also the point of view has a huge impact on how the story is told and authors purposfully choose certain poits of view for specific reasons. "Why did Camus choose to use a noninsiteful, observant narrator?"
9. Structure: includes the others chossen pace, timing, space, and how the narrators mind analyses the world in the book. "What theme is Camus developing through the use of a quick pace?"

Stranger 5

My beliefs affect how i read and interpret a novel because i immediatley begin to judge the ideas of the author and the actions of the characters. These judgements can serve to help me interpret the novel but they can also limit my mind to only seeing or understanding certain ideas in the book. When i am presented with an idea or a concept i instinctively compare it to what i believe to see if it makes sense.

Now thats all negative and it pertains to most people. I try and look at the book and the cahracters with open eyes and an open minded perspective. This allows me to see things that i wuoldn't normaly and respect the ideas behind every piece of the literature. Someone once said that "a mind is like a parachute, its only funtional when it is open." I try and think that way as much as possible and not let pre judgement cloude my thoughts at all.

Stranger 4

The Sun: sun is a reacuring symbol in the book

• "The office overlooks the sea, and we took a minute to watch the firefighters in the harbor, which was ablaze with sunlight," (Camus 25). This passage is interesting because the author uses the sun not just to portray the setting but also describes the harbor as "ablaze" with sunlight as the characters are watching the firefighters.
• "The four o'clock sun wasn't too hot, but the water was warm, with slow, gently lapping waves," (Camus 34). The sun is used to reflect the setting of the scene in multiple ways; first it gives the time of day (four o'clock) but it also creates a mood for the reader (peacful, tranquile, non-hostile) by saying that it was "not too hot."

Celeste's (the restaurant): a symbol of the community

• "Cheleste was there, as always, with his big belly, his apron, and his white mustache," (Camus 26). This restaurant is were the characters go to eat and talk. It is a public place and the author depicts it as a comfortable place, the description of the owner also gives it that "generic european restaurant feel."
• "I had dinner at Cheleste's. I'd already started eating when a strange woman came in and asked me if she could sit at my table," (Camus 43). The resaurant is again where Meursault meets people and interacts with the culture. It is a symbol of the european culture and community because in Europe restaurants are meeting places and places where people go to people watch or meet new people. In this scene the protagonist is doing just that.

Stranger 3

progresiveism: The higher law is that life is on this earth to find a way in which it can live in harmony while each differenbt form of life discovers its own way to help achieve the goal.

• passion is what rules and dictates our actions and feelings
• people live together by accepting the simple fact that they themselves could be wrong
• love, compasion and comitment are essential
• everybody has equal relevance and power
• must care for and respect the interdependant web of all existance
• religion should be a tool to achieve peace, focus, and serenity
• each person has different strengths they are created with and they are commited to using them to achieve their goals, other's goals, and the goals of the community together

Stranger 2

Meursault is a very boring character. He kind of floats through his life doing as little as possible and only observing the world around him. The few things he has done he didn't really care about. The funeral he spent most of the time observing the people and the world around him and when he went out with the girl he didn't seem to fall in love or to take great care in the relationship it seemd to happen and then end he didn't do anything to make it longer or better.

He disgusts me. He doesn't seem like he wants to live, takes anything out of life, or even expects anything from it. I think the author does this to create a flat character as the protagonist who throughout the book will develop and becaome more involved in his life and the world around himslef.

Journal entry 9

The conection between the begining and ending of the book tied the story to a close. It allowed us to see that Janie was finnaly at peace and in a place she wanted to be. Also this connection helped the reader reflect back through the story and context of the book by remebering where she was and also how the story started.

Journal entry 8

Chapter 16-17: Mrs. Turner is completely opposite to Janie in every way except in that her character is shaped by the relationship she has with her husband. She works but Janie doesn't. She worships white people, Janie doesn't worship. Mrs. Turner runs her store and her husband works for her. She brags about him and her son but they don't own the store. Mr. Turner didn't do a thing to help either when the fight broke out. Mrs. Turner is alot like Tea Cake in that she hates him while he hates her and she does the work. Janie and Tea Cakes relationship is alot like the Turner's except that their roles are reversed.

Chapter 18: The title is supposed to convey a sense of anticipation as well as get the reader to consider god's role in the story. The characters are ultimatley at the mercy of god and they know this. Janie realizes this in chapter 18 and understands that influencing her fate. Hurston uses the title and the reacuring allusions of god to develope this theme.

Journal 6

"Janie's train left too early in the day for the town to witness much, but the few who saw her leave bore plenty witness." (pg116)

Motif: This passage is a parallel to earlier in the book when Janie runs away from Logan with Jody. "Janie hurried out the front gate and turned south."(pg 32) The diffrences of the situation are important however. The fact that she is on a train and not a road indicates that she is not only a changed person but heading to a different life in a different setting. She could be a symbol of society and how over time it started using railroads for travel instead of roads. But the idea that a road is closer to the natural world than a train could be forshadowing a life in which Janie is not comfortable.

"When the fellow began to pick the box the people came from east, west, north and Australia." (pg122)

Hyperbole: Hurston is exaggerating the people coming in order to characterize Tea Cake. This passage also creates a humorous mood for the story that he is telling because it is supposed to contrast with the mornful atmoshpere previously used. Also it is in part an allusion to the influence of jazz and blues music on the colored people during the harlem renesance.

"So her soul crawled out from its hiding place." (pg 128)

Personification: This is a key moment in the book so Hurston uses personification to accent the sentence and its meaning. Though out the novel Janie's biggest internal struggle has been to find true love and through it who she is.

"Big Lake Okechobee, big beans, big, cane, big weeds, big everthing." (pg 129)

Parralel Structure: Hurston uses this repeating word to not only catch our attention and bring our minds to the setting but to express a theme. The continued motif of nature is showing us that Janie is conected with her sexuality and her "soul". At the same time the use of the word big is interesting because as the book progressed the settings have grown along with Janies understanding of herself. She started at the Washburn's then lived with Logan on his farm then she moved to a town, then a city, and now she is living in a vast wilderness on plantations were everthing is "BIG". This growth parrallels her growth into better lifesyles, relationships, and a better understanding of love.

journal entry 5

question #1: Janie is motivated by her natural desire. Throught the book Hurston has used allusions of nature in her book to depict this theme. She does not want to be constrained by her grandmother's beliefs or the lifesyles of her lovers. She has been motivated since she discovered bees in the pear tree to explore her sexuality and find what true love is. Janie herself is a symbol of women during the time that Hurston wrote the book in that her struggle towards female freedom of expresion is the same as their's. This desire for freedom and love is natural and thus symbolized through metaphors of plants, animals, and procreation.

question #2: Janie has changed drmaticaly over and over through out the story. By analyzing the authors repotition of certain symbols through out the story and in chapters 11 and 12 we can conclude that Janie is begining to follow what she naturaly wants. The author links many of the activities that they do together to nature (fishing, hunting, etc.) in an effort to convay the idea that by loving Tea Cake, Janie is following her sexuality and natural desires. When being with Logan and Jody she was following her grandmothers wishes. In chapter 12 Janie actually says that she is now to live for herself and to live with a man who she feels wont try to contain her in any way. And finally by making the decision to close her shop and move away with Tea Cake, Janie is turning her back on a life which she felt she was held prisoner in.

Journal entry 4

So Angelina began to discuver fear. Fear, the man who devils with thoughts as he lurks behind the curtains of reality. If fear is hated by people then how is it that he can harbor hatred? He dodges intuition to contaminate actions. Dodges common sense in the face of threats, thus provoking false retaliation. He has been contaminating actions since danger threatened to become a threat. Now Angelina was liable to find one of his red daggers any day. She was scared too. Poor Brad! He does not deserve to deal with fear alone. She sent his friend Will to calm him but he broke down infront of his friend. Friends are meant for support but he was so fearful he nearly hurt Will. He would be calm as soon as he could reason through his toxic thoughts. He was calm though. Thats what he thought. But Will and Angelina could see into his now toxic mind and through that denial so they knew. And then if they didn't they soon would, for people began to be affected by his actions and the daggers started flying. People he had never met before saw fear in him. They too waited for the next dagger to be thrown and fear its resolve. Rumor, that cloaked assasin, had turned him toxic.

journal entry 3

Journal 3:

I: Metaphor, "Janie noticed that her husband had stoped talking in fhymes to her." (pg 26) The author used this metaphor to emphasize what Grandma said about how the sweet talk and spoiling would not last long. The metaphor is also emphasizing the begging of the end of the marriage between Janie and Logan.

II: Simile, "Logan held his wad of tobacco real still in his jaw like a thermometer of his feelings," (pg 27). The author wants to emphasize the stillness of the moment and the anticipation in Logan. He is waiting for something. Thermometers are used to measure temperature and in this case Logan's temper. He is frustrated with Janie.

III: Symbolizm, "But springtime reached her in there so she moved everthing to a place in the yard where she could see the road." (pg 27) The road in this passage is a symbol of Janie's anticipation for something to change. Through out the last two chapters the author has made clear that Janie is not happy with her marriage and the road symbolizes change. In literature things like roads and rivers often symbolize an adventure and Janie seems to be anticipating something new. An opportunity to continue her search for love and truth. This is what the road is signifying.

IV: Repetition, "A bee for her bloom." (pg 32) Hurston wants to remind the reader of one of Janie's inner conflicts which was discovered earlier and that is her search for love. By reminding us of this theme Hurston also accents the transition here in the end of the chapter when Janie leaves Logan and marries Joe Starks. This is an immportant point in Janie's dynamic character and by hinting us towards it Hurston is making the shift all that more significant to the development of Janie's quest for true love.

V: Imagery, "They sat on the boarding house porch and saw the sun plunge into the same crack in the earth from which the night emerged." (pg 33) The reacurring motif of changing time and the transition from day to night is important. Here it is used to signify the change that Janie is going through and how the plot, tone, and atmoshpere are changing. Janie's transition between the foils Logan and Joe is a very significant point in the development of her character.

Journal 1 and 2, "Their Eyes Were Watching God"

Journal 1: The narration and the character voices differ completely in dialect and for a reason. The author decided to have the narration be in a normal english dialect which is easily understood by the reader. In contrast the voices of the characters in the book are writen in a way that mirrors their character traits. The dialect of the characters is southern and the meaning of this is to further characterize them and to create an atmoshphere that pulls the reader into the story. This technique develops a deeper insight into the personalities of the characters and the culture of the world around them.

Journal 2: In the first three chapters of the book we see many developing themes such as, a women's search for freedom or independance, and the search for love. These are protraid through the use of motifs such as trees, kissing, and god; metaphors; personification; and the quickly developing character Janie who has been through many stages of her early life in Florida. She is motivated by her search for true love and seems to be stuck in a lonely world now. Janie feels trapt by her lonliness and her colored skin and she seems driven to resolve these impairments. With the loss of here grandmother she finds herself alone. Her first marriage is dissolving and she learned that "marriage does not make love". The authors message about true love may be conected to marriage. In a conversation Janie also expresses a feeling that seems very important to her character and the theme; "i want to want him." Through this passage the author is telling us that desire is a desired characteristic of love and may be a large part in Janie's search for true love as her dynamic character is shaped by her life and the decisions she makes.