CliffsNotes on

Their Eyes Were Watching God

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About the Author

Personal Background
Career Highlights
Eatonville Honors Hurston

About the Novel

Introduction
A Brief Synopsis
List of Characters
Character Map

Summaries and Commentaries

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20

Character Analyses

Janie Crawford Killicks Starks Woods
Nanny
Logan Killicks
Joe Starks
Vergible “Tea Cake” Woods
Pheoby Watson
Sam Watson
The Porch Sitters
The Migrants

Critical Essays

Love, Independence, and Judgment as Major Themes
Framing the Story: The Unique Structure
Figurative Language
Hurston’s Use of Dialect

Study Help

Quiz
Essay Questions
Practice Projects

Cite this Literature Note

Which is better, the Twilight books or the movie?

The books.
The movie.

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Study Help

Quiz

1:  The person whom Hurston called Godmother was

a. Madam C.J. Walker

b. Mrs. Rufus Osgood Mason

c. Mrs. Mary MacLeoad Bethune

d. Miss Billie Holiday
2:  The story is told in the context of which literary structure?

a. Narrative

b. Personal essay

c. Drama

d. Frame
3:  Which of the following characters is not considered a "porch sitter"?

a. Pearl Stone

b. Lulu Moss

c. Mrs. Sumpkins

d. Mrs. Washburn
4:  When Tea Cake and Janie meet for the first time, he teaches her how to

a. play checkers

b. dance the Charleston

c. cast a fishing rod

d. play tic-tac-toe
5:  ____________, who manages the restaurant in the Everglades, expresses an attitude of bigotry that appalls Janie.

a. Mrs. Turner

b. Mrs. Washburn

c. Pearl Stone

d. Pheoby
6:  What event spurs Nanny to seek protection for Janie in the form of a solid, respectable husband?

a. The doctor tells Nanny she is fatally ill.

b. Johnny Taylor kisses Janie.

c. Town bigots harass Janie.

d. Janie sneaks out at night to go to the dance hall.
7:  Logan expresses his love for Janie by

a. buying her a brush and ribbons for her hair

b. selling his old bed and building a new one for their marriage

c. keeping the water buckets full and chopping wood for the stove

d. inviting Nanny to live with them
8:  Joe Starks commits a surprising act of kindness for Janie by

a. purchasing a mule that was being teased

b. buying her a watch for her birthday

c. donating money to her old school

d. planting a tree, in Nanny's memory, in front of the post office
9:  One of the most powerful metaphors in the novel is the blossoming pear tree, which symbolizes

a. Nanny's omnipresent spirit

b. Janie's growing strength and subsequent freedom

c. Janie's lifelong search for happiness

d. Janie's emerging womanhood
10:  Who said the following: "Ah wants to want him sometimes"?

a. Nunkie

b. Janie

c. Pheoby

d. Leafy
11:  Who said the following: "Nobody else on earth kin hold uh candle tuh you, baby"?

a. Johnny Taylor

b. Sam Watson

c. Joe Starks

d. Tea Cake
12:  Who said the following: "Mah wife don't know nothin' 'bout no speech-makin' . . . She's uh woman and her place is in de home"?

a. Logan Killicks

b. Vergible Woods

c. Joe Starks

d. Matt Bonner



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