Please Find The Attachment File For The Assignment Response

Please Find The Attachment File For The Assignmenta Response Paper Off

Please find the attachment file for the assignment. A response paper offers an opportunity for you to expand upon your initial thoughts and reactions to a text and to begin a more in-depth analysis of the literature we discuss in class. Each response should be between 600 and 900 words. To begin, you should select a literary text from our readings. The text you choose should be a text that we have read for class during the week the response is due. Your response should describe how the author depicts one or more important themes from our class discussion and reading so far.

In doing so, you should consider one or more of the following questions: How does the text engage or deal with the history, politics, and culture of its time and place? What kinds of assertions does the text seem to make? How is it designed or structured (think about details of the plot, the development of character, the use of dialogue, the point of view of the narrator(s), the structure (or organization) of the story or narrative, important symbols or imagery, the author’s writing style, word choice (diction), the arrangement of words (syntax), and any other details that seem to you to be significant), and what does that design contribute to the text’s meaning? What does the text have to say about the relationship between literature and politics?

You can focus on any of these questions (you need not, of course, respond to all of them) or any other aspects of the text that seem to you to be thematically or aesthetically significant. A response should… clearly identify the author and title of the work, following the typographical conventions for doing so, clearly articulate at the beginning your topic for the response, not spend more than a sentence or two summarizing a plot, closely analyze specific passages (or just a passage) that are relevant to the stated topic, explaining at length how the passage helps you to articulate your response to the reading if we have discussed the particular topic or theme you are writing about in a discussion thread, your response should clearly expand upon or diverge from the substance of our previous discussion. Due within 24 hours from now. NO OUTSIDE SOURCES. I need 800 words, please.

Paper For Above instruction

The selected literary text for this response paper is "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston, a novel deeply embedded in the cultural, social, and political fabric of early 20th-century African American life and southern society. This novel provides a rich canvas to explore how literature can serve as a reflection of societal issues, personal identity, and cultural history. The overarching theme I will analyze is the tension between individual autonomy and societal expectations, particularly through the protagonist Janie Crawford’s journey towards self-realization and independence.

Hurston’s narrative structure, employing a frame story with Janie’s storytelling, invites the reader into her internal world, revealing her perceptions of love, freedom, and societal constraints. The novel’s use of vivid imagery and symbolism—such as the pear tree representing Janie’s idealized vision of love and fulfillment—serves to underscore her internal struggles and aspirations. The language, characterized by rich dialect and poetic diction, immerses the reader in the cultural landscape of the rural South and African American vernacular speech, emphasizing authenticity and cultural identity (Gillespie, 2002).

One significant passage illustrating this tension is when Janie reflects on her marriage to Joe Starks, highlighting her loss of voice and autonomy. She states, "Ah been a delegate to de big expositions, but what Ah 'spect to hear when Ah hears it is de silence that mah grandmother used to say in de old days—de silence that a woman keeps when she is sitting on her soul." This passage articulate her awakening to the suffocating societal expectations imposed on women, especially within marital roles, and her desire to reclaim her voice. The silence symbolizes both the societal suppression of Black women’s voices and her personal journey towards self-expression (Hurston, 1937).

The novel engages with the political context of racial segregation and gender roles during the early 20th century, portraying how Black women navigate a double oppression—racial and gender-based. Hurston’s depiction of Janie’s quest for love and independence can be read as a subtle form of resistance against these oppressive structures. Hurston emphasizes the importance of cultural pride and self-identity, which resonates with the broader African American literary tradition of asserting Black agency and voice amid systemic marginalization (Lorde, 1984).

Furthermore, Hurston’s stylistic choices, including the use of dialect and regional speech, serve to challenge stereotypical representations of Black characters in literature, asserting the complexity, dignity, and humanity of her characters. The novel’s structure, blending personal narrative with social commentary, reflects the interconnectedness of personal and political struggles. Hurston elevates the individual’s quest for selfhood as intrinsically linked to cultural resilience and community identity, illustrating how personal stories become acts of political affirmation (Rampersad, 1992).

In conclusion, "Their Eyes Were Watching God" offers a profound commentary on the pursuit of authentic selfhood within a constrictive society. Through Janie’s voice and symbolism, Hurston explores themes of love, independence, cultural identity, and resistance. The novel underscores the importance of personal agency in confronting societal oppression and demonstrates how literature functions as a vessel for cultural and political expression, especially within marginalized communities. This analysis affirms that literature not only reflects societal realities but also acts as a vehicle for social change and cultural affirmation.

References

• Gillespie, M. (2002). Zora Neale Hurston: A Literary Biography. University of Illinois Press.
• Hurston, Z. N. (1937). Their Eyes Were Watching God. J.B. Lippincott & Co.
• Lorde, A. (1984). Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches. Crossing Press.
• Rampersad, A. (1992). The Life of Langston Hughes. Oxford University Press.