1. THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD
Final Chapters

2. What practical role does the hurricane play in the narrative structure of the novel and the development of the novel’s theme?
Plot

3. How does Hurston revisit the theme of community before, during and after the hurricane?

4. What is it and how does it apply to Hurston’s novel?
Folklore/Myth

5. How does Hurston weave folklore into the narrative within Chapter Eighteen?

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?
Interpretation

7. Plot/Characterization
What do the circumstances of Tea Cake’s death illustrate about Janie?
Plot/Characterization

8. What unifying theme comes full circle in Janie’s revelations to Pheoby?

9. When Janie returns to the bedroom she last shared with Tea Cake, what symbolic quest finally ends?
Interpretation

10. Opinion What were Janie’s accomplishments?
What were the costs or sacrifices for her accomplishments?
Was it worth it?
Opinion

11. Why did Hurston write the story
Why did Hurston write the story? Did she accomplish what she set out to do?
Interpretation

12. Why are white people omitted until the last chapters
Why are white people omitted until the last chapters? How might this reflect Hurston’s literary goals?
Interpretation

13. Why was the novel titled, THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD?
Opinion

14. How would you describe Hurston’s style as a writer?
Writer’s Style

15. Why/how are these literary features significant to the story and to Hurston as a writer?
Metaphors
Symbols
Motifs
Imagery
Irony
Frame Narration
Writer’s Style

16. Hurston enhances her frame narrative with her expert use of imagery
Hurston enhances her frame narrative with her expert use of imagery. Relate the imagery with which Hurston begins the novel with the imagery with which she closes the novel.
Imagery