In the book Their Eyes Were Watching God, we follow Janie’s trajectory in her search to define her own life. Using the tools we have discussed in this class and using your own research, I want you to tell the story of Janie through your eyes and how she finds “Wholeness”. What is her “Wholeness” in your opinion? How does she arrive there? What pitfalls does she stumble through? What choices does she have to make? Why does she have to make those choices? Inform your essay by thinking of the struggles and victories we have read about in our class and discussed as a group. Please include in your story her struggles and remember our lessons from each of our Four Women. Please remember the limitations that others tried to place on her and remember our conversations about the women we have seen in our poetry, art and music. Please also use to inform your essay any of the ideas we have discussed, such as colorism, sexism, the idea of the Black woman and feminism, double consciousness, The Veil, mammyism, The Jezebel, owning our bodies, and declaring our voice to name just a few from our class conversations.
What are the parameters of this essay? I want you to use Six Research Sources. You may use THREE from this class and the other three must be PEER REVIEWED Sources. I will show the class how to find those sources during class. If you miss class, it is your responsibility to know how this is done.
You must have a proper Works Cited Page which I will show the class how to do.
This essay is to be 6 pages in length. If you would like to write a longer paper, I will not be mad at you. You must have your own critical thought about Janie’s trajectory to wholeness and use your research to help you narrate that trajectory. There is plenty of richness to write about in this essay and from this class. If you sit down and truly put your heart into it, the words will come easily. Write from your heart. Just make sure to use the research to inform your voice. ALSO, the Works Cited page is NOT included in the page count.
Lastly, this essay must be done using proper MLA format. That means it must be typed in TIMES NEW ROMAN 12-inch regular font. I do not want to see cursive font, gold font or bolded font. Additionally, MLA format means a proper heading, Title of Your Paper, double spaced with appropriate page numbering.
Lastly, if you do not complete this work, you will fail the class. I will not take late papers as this is not due until your final exam day. That means I couldn’t even accept it late if I wanted to. You have 7 more weeks to work on this. Don’t put this off because you think it is not as important as your chem final, or biology final.
Please do your best on this assignment. Honor these women that we have spoken about, honor Janie, and honor yourselves. I can’t wait to read the powerful work that I know will come from each one of you.
SOURCES FROM CLASS TO INCLUDE (pick any three that fit best, I added some to the files aswell)
Lyrics to Four Women by Nina Simone
Double Consciousness- https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1897/08/strivings-of-the-negro-people/305446/
Angry Black Women- https://www.npr.org/2019/02/24/689925868/harnessing-the-power-of-the-angry-black-woman
Genetic Privacy: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2250449-genetic-privacy-we-must-learn-from-the-story-of-henrietta-lacks/
Eartha Kitt’s Daughter- https://atlantablackstar.com/2022/09/28/i-cant-imagine-being-attacked-for-claiming-your-own-mother-eartha-kitts-daughter-hits-back-at-people-questioning-if-shes-the-actresss-daughter-because-of-her-complexion/
