Thursday

 Today, we are going to discuss chapters 1-2 and look at things that perhaps you can write a dialectical journal on. 

THEMES:
Nature vs. Human Law
Nature of Evil
Sin vs. Forgiveness or Punishment vs. Forgiveness
Individual vs. Society
Exile
Public Guilt vs. Private Guilt
Civilization vs. Wilderness or Town vs. Woods
Good vs. Evil

EXAMPLE OF A DIALECTICAL JOURNAL:

from the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God

(Zoe Wassman):  
 

Journal #1:

“Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men.

Now, women forget all those things they don’t want to remember, and remember everything they don’t want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly.” (Pg. 1)

 
The first two paragraphs are defining the gender roles used throughout Hurston’s novel. Just like in a lot of literature, the women are the weaker gender, and men the stronger, more efficient gender. These two paragraphs are saying that men are more empirical than women, especially in their dreams. When men think something is unattainable, like a ship that rarely docks on land, they let it go and move on. When women think something is unattainable, they can’t discriminate the difference between they want and what it true, meaning that women live a more romanticized life. This creates the dynamic for the unsuccessful relationships and unrealistic expectations throughout the novel as a whole.  

 

Lets look at some symbols:

Hester Prynne

Hester: Hestier in Greek mythology, Zeus’s sister, a woman of beauty

            hestier (hasty)

Prynne: prurient

             prune: purify her sin

             pry: probe into the interior of one’s heart