Their Eyes Were Watching God: Chapters 5–6

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

You have read the first four chapters of Their Eyes Were Watching God.

At the end of Chapter Four, Janie had just eloped with Joe Starks, even though she was married to Logan Killicks.

• Do you think Janie should have left Logan to marry Joe?
• Do you agree with how she left Logan? Why or why not?

In the next chapters, Janie moves to Eatonville, Florida, with her new husband. The fictional Eatonville in this story is modeled after the all-Black town of Eatonville, Florida, where Zora Neale Hurston spent much of her childhood.

Hurston also later returned to Florida in the 1930s to work on collecting folklore stories from the Black community for the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which was a government program dedicated to fostering cultural and artistic production.

Folklore can be broadly defined as a community's traditional beliefs that are expressed through art, literature, cultural practices, and knowledge, which are typically shared in an oral tradition.

To learn more, read Folklore: Some Useful Terminology.

1. Choose three of the basic elements of folklore and describe them to someone.

2. Also, explain at least one example for each of the three elements of folklore from your own culture. For example, many Native American tribes have an etiology story to explain the earth's origin, consisting of the earth being carried on a turtle's back.

After describing your folklore definitions and examples, read Chapters Five and Six of Their Eyes Were Watching God.

If you do not have a copy, you may access Their Eyes Were Watching God online.

1. As you read, take notes on the story's folklore elements. Write down at least seven examples of folklore elements from the chapters.

2. Also, note the relationship between Joe and Janie. Write down at least three thoughts both Joe and Janie have about each other but do not communicate with one another.

After reading and taking your notes, move on to the Got It? section to reflect on these issues from your reading.