... 5,000 copies"(Holmes, 2). What was it, in particular, that during Hurston's time made the novel such a bad seller? Reviews made the novel a fast-forgotten piece of fiction. Bad reviews were given to the book mostly by black intellectuals. Richard Wright delivered the harshest words about the novel. He said that Their Eyes Were Watching God carries ""no theme, no message, no thought""(Haddox, 1). Other critics complained that ... that her place is in a kitchen. Janie's second husband, Jody, treats her like she is his property. He also forbids her doing a man's physical work. He doesn't a...

• Word Count: 1388
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... important poets named Langston Hughes were influenced by several whites in his literary life. The book "Black-White Literary Relations in the Harlem Renaissance" written by Robert C. Hart stated, "He had a most dramatic meeting with his literary idol of the time, Vachel Lindesayhe had a chat with Lindsay and his wife, and was given a gift of Amy Lowell's John Keats, along with a note directing ... him to study the New Poetry" (Hart 617 ... ). Hughes had followed the direction of Vachel Lindsay ... ...

• Word Count: 1512
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... at Cape Town. An outspoken enemy of Smuts and all things English, he stands "like a chained lion" when God Save the King is played in the cinema (101). Pieter's decision to take the "red oath" and fight with the British is a source of conflict between Pieter and his father. It also shows Pieter's desire to break with his fathers accepted beliefs and power. Sophie is ... her stern, unforgiving brother, she is more tolerant and compassionate; but, even with all these wonderful traits Sophie's understanding is limited in many respects. Alan Paton exposes Sophie's limitations by showing her...

• Word Count: 1438
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... with each telling. In the story there are three levels of narrative consciousness. The 1st is personal idealized consciousness of childhood as demonstrated by Pecola yearning for the blue eyes. The 2nd is the novels central narrator Claudia McTeer. The 3rd is the social/ historical consciousness of an objective narrator who shows the reader the anger of Black lives (Bjork 39). There are many different ... neither Pecola nor her parents can fully comprehend the depth of their ostracism, and therefore are further denied the power to perspicaciously modify their positions. Cholly, the drun...

• Word Count: 2499
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography

... named Celie writes the series of letters. The novel reflects a history of abuse and many struggles suffered at the hands of the men (Walker 3). When Celie was being raped by her step-father (Alphonso) he told her not to tell anyone except God (Lewis 2). From this point on she began writing letters to God. In this book ... his three children, cleans his house, and works his fields (Lewis 1). She also calls her husband, Albert, Mr._____ to show readers the cruelty of the back man to his wife and family. Men's cruelty to their wives is one of America's greatest tragedies. Alice Walker wrote ...

• Word Count: 2261
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School

... more money, and Arthur Jarvis will be able to help a wider range of people. When Stephen Kumalo receives the letter regarding his sister, his wife wants him to take their only pounds to Johannesburg. Stephen Kumalo feels that he is obligated to not use the money; he says "How can I use it? This money was to send Absalom to St. Chad's." (p.38) This ... is a place where Christian values are lost. After Stephen Kumalo discovered that his son is the killer of Arthur Jarvis, he questions God of fairness. Stephen Kumalo is a person who sees the inequality of racial ethnicities. He describes A...

• Word Count: 1379
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... Twyla's car over before an intervention by slow-to-respond policemen. In vexation, Roberta seethes, "You're the same little state kid who kicked a poor black lady when she was down on the ground. You kicked a black lady and you have the nerve to call me a bigot" (Morrison 257). This instills uncertainty in the retrospective racial identification of the mute kitchen worker. "For both girls a hated reminder ... of their unresponsive mothers, Maggie is not raced to Twyla (that is, she is by default white); to Roberta, she is black ... . The two girls' readings of Maggie become in turn clue...

• Word Count: 1383
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... a complete person. To make her feel like she is in fact an individual and that she was not like everyone else. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie battles to find individualism within herself. During the time of "Their Eyes", the correct way to treat women was to show them who was in charge and who was inferior. Men were looked to as ... believed that she was white herself, and that she was no different than anybody else. As she was growing up, she was told what to do and how to live by her grandmother. Janie's grandmother planned her life out for her. She told her that she must get ...

• Word Count: 1450
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... Hughes helped this society little by little with every poem he wrote. In his poem "I, Too sing America" one of his most powerful and best-known poems, Hughes talked about the racial issues in America. He describes how he is also part of what America is. Even though, he is black, and is sent to "eat in the kitchen," he feels that he is ... as much a part of America as anyone else, because he considered himself as part of the American brotherhood. He also pointed that one-day he will not be made to hide and eat in ... the kitchen. One-day " whites" will see that African-Americans are "be...

• Word Count: 1984
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... and dressing up in costumes. The mood of The Member of the Wedding is frustration and boredom as Frankie, John Henry, and Berenice live through the terrible and long days of summer. They are always spending their time in the Addams' kitchen. Being in the kitchen most of the summer represents a feeling of claustrophobia. The claustrophobia was broken by short trips to the outside world. There are many ... things in this novel that are symbolic. The color, playing cards, and a bell are ... some symbols that help understand the point of the novel. The author repeatedly used colors to descr...

• Word Count: 1396
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... to America he wrote a very popular poem called, "I, too, sing America." In the first stanza Hughes" writes about how while he was working in the jazz club, how he was treated only as a worker, and could never sit with the white people. "I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong." As ... how someday he will be allowed to sit with white people and be a part of their world. "Tomorrow, I'll be at the table When company comes. Nobody'll dare Say to me, "Eat in the kitchen," Then." Hughes finishes off the poem by...

• Word Count: 1483
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... reading other works by Hurston. Having read some critical reviews, Walker wanted to know what others thought about Hurston as a black feminist writer. Alice Walker wrote that Hurston "immersed herself in her own culture" (Walker 63). Hurston was born in Eatonville, a little town in Florida. Three of her works, "Sweat," "The Gilded Six Bits," and Their Eyes Were Watching God, are set in ... who search for spiritual freedom and a break from reality. "Sweat" is the story of a marriage gone sour. It is about adultery, hatred, and death. The story explores the marriage of Delia and Sykes Jon...

• Word Count: 1938
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... a person who had committed serious crimes working for them around their wife and children. Slavery was the most effective, efficient and profitable system of labour for the southern plantation owners. Under the slave system they could force the workers to work much harder with long hours even in the harshest conditions. The slave owners could work women slaves just as hard as male slaves ... that in a well adjusted society there were born masters and born servants. The slave owners saw themselves as born masters and the blacks as born servants. The colour of the slaves skin was also a v...

• Word Count: 1352
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... Contemplating in her own world separate from her family she continuously pondered upon the rules of society and always questions the rules of her elders. In Anne Moody's, Coming of Age in Mississippi she differentiates herself from the rest of African American by questioning the way of life she must undergo due to all the restrictions her family and other African American's that surround her. Throughout ... the novel Moody shows discontent with her family and fellow black citizens for simply accepting the circumstances and the position in which they lived. Toosweet, being a single mothe...

• Word Count: 1364
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... is a bigger African American woman. She always has a big toothy grin and is always taking care of people. It is prevalent in some of the earlier episodes that she, in a way, is more focused on Teddy rather than her own daughter, Ivy. In one episode specifically, Teddy comes ... a fight they had earlier that day. There is a vicious blizzard going on so they end up getting stuck at each other's house. When Amy Duncan, Teddy's mother, discovers that Teddy isn't home when this big snow storm hits, she is extremely worried about Teddy and hopes that she ... Lawrence. They all wear a fat sui...

• Word Count: 2170
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... in Walker's novel is the cyclical nature of sexism. Both the novel and the movie show the patriarchal dominance and abuse that black women endure. For example, Albert beats Celie, Albert and Celie tell Harpo (Albert's son) to beat his wife, Harpo beats his wife Sofia, and so forth. This abusive cycle is only broken when the women forcibly confront the men, and the men, in turn, ... reexamine their behavior ("The Color Purple"). Through both mediums, people realize that the sexual abuse Celie endures from her stepfather and husband represents how all women ... her husband, Mister. The fem...

• Word Count: 1523
• Approx Pages: 6

... ;a slight hysterical tendency (76)." A later reference to a baby who is cared for by others gives the hint that the narrator may be suffering from post-partum depression. While the wife in this story likes the house, she is not at all happy with the large room at the top of the house, which is the one that her husband insists that she use. She believes it was once a nursery ... they need to know that this is not a nursery but a place to confine someone who is suffering from a mental illness. As the story continues, we see that the wife is isolated from family and friends and confined to ...

• Word Count: 1543
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... ;a slight hysterical tendency (76)." A later reference to a baby who is cared for by others gives the hint that the narrator may be suffering from post-partum depression. While the wife in this story likes the house, she is not at all happy with the large room at the top of the house, which is the one that her husband insists that she use. She believes it was once a nursery ... they need to know that this is not a nursery but a place to confine someone who is suffering from a mental illness. As the story continues, we see that the wife is isolated from family and friends and confined to ...

• Word Count: 1543
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... in a deceptive way. They all are linked together by way of a semi-believable story line with one major overlaying theme. Prescott sums it up nicely, "Love redeems, meanness kills"(p74). This is illustrated in many ways in Walker's novel. One perfect example of this is Mr. _____. Mr. _____, as he is called throughout the novel, was a wife beater, who, having been denied Celie's sister ... her sister, but their father decides that her sister Nettie is too young for marriage so he settles for Celie. This shows how unfeeling Mr.____ is in the first portion of the novel. He beats his wife an...

• Word Count: 1803
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... can be very hard to break. Not only does this put stress on our country's already grim financial situation, it contributes to the stereotypes that blacks and Hispanics are lazy, don't work, and just count on welfare to get by. These low success rates create and expose a multitude of problems that affect not only minorities, but all of our society. Today's students ... rates have risen to 40 percent for blacks and 51 percent for Hispanics across the country. Although more minorities are enrolling in college, the bigger problem is actually staying in college, as described by Jennifer Engl...

• Word Count: 1872
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... of their daughter. She loved brushing her blond hair, " enjoying the roll and slip of it between her fingers(127)."" Pecola witnesses this when she goes to help her mother out at the Fisher home. Pecola is handling a blueberry pie when the Fisher girl comes into the kitchen. The Fisher's little girl is frightened by Pecola and the MacTeer girls. She calls out to "Polly-, her nickname for ... Pauline. Pecola tries to calm the little girl down but she is still scared. In Pecola's nervousness she drops ... the pie on the accidentally floor. Her mother is furious. Pauline beats her daughte...

• Word Count: 1289
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... rule. Most blacks in America were slaves on plantation-sized units in the seven states of the South. And with the invent of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney, more slaves were needed to work the ever-growing cotton game. The size of the plantations varied with the wealth of the planters. There were small farmers with two or three slaves, planters with ten to thirty slaves and big planters ... stones or tote water, but thy got to get used to bein' there." Cooking on the plantation was a collective project. On most plantations food was prepared in a common kitchen and sent to the workers in t...

• Word Count: 2041
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... of their daughter. She loved brushing her blond hair, " enjoying the roll and slip of it between her fingers(127)."" Pecola witnesses this when she goes to help her mother out at the Fisher home. Pecola is handling a blueberry pie when the Fisher girl comes into the kitchen. The Fisher's little girl is frightened by Pecola and the MacTeer girls. She calls out to "Polly-, her nickname for ... Pauline. Pecola tries to calm the little girl down but she is still scared. In Pecola's nervousness she drops ... the pie on the accidentally floor. Her mother is furious. Pauline beats her daughte...

• Word Count: 1291
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... . She paints this inferior female image and only through the sisterhood of women can the inferior female characters find freedom. Celie, the voice of the novel, is continually oppressed throughout the novel. She is condemned to a life of drudgery because she is so ugly, poor, black, and a woman. She is raped by her father and brutally beaten by her husband causing her to fear men. She admits ... in church that she looks " at women cause [she is] not scared of them" (6). She is forced into marrying Mr. ___, in the same manner as a slave is sold to its master. Her husband continues to degr...

• Word Count: 1257
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... in Americas was his helping to found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. In 1910 Du Bois became the NAACP's director of publicity and research and was awarded the NAACP's Spingran Medal in 1920. In 1948 Du Bois resigned from the NAACP and becomes chairman of the Council on African Affairs. In 1950 Du Bois" wife, Nina, dies and in 1951 he remarries to ... Shirley Graham. Also, in 1950 Du Bois runs for a seat in the U.S. Senate and looses. Because of Du Bois" continual push ... " (p. 73). The Crisis helped to increase the membership of the NAACP very rapidly. D...

• Word Count: 1333
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School