** Bring Four Copies and Three Peer Editing Sheets  !!**

Revised Paper Due November 29
(800 word minimum; Typed, Double-Spaced, with Revised Outline, Parenthetical Citations, & Works Cited Page)
** In a FOLDER, Bring Final Draft, Instructor-Read Rough Draft, and Peer Editing Sheets! **
** Papers will NOT be accepted without a Folder!! **

• As with the first response paper, the purpose of this paper is to allow you to discuss one of the works we have read so far this semester from a critical perspective. This time, however, you will be focusing specifically on Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. Specifically, you will develop a clear thesis statement about the novel and support that thesis in a well-organized essay that utilizes good supporting evidence from the text to support your claims.

• HOWEVER, we are adding another step to the paper process here.  In addition to using evidence from the primary text (the novel), you will also incorporate discussion of two (2) SECONDARY sources.  The essays included in our editions of "Sweat" and Their Eyes might be useful, but you can also find useful essays elsewhere.

Some more specific hints from previous paper assignment :

Possible Topics:

• At the beginning of the novel, Nanny tells Janie, "De nigger woman is de mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see" (14).  After Janie's trial, another character suggests, "Uh white man and uh nigger woman is de freest thing on earth" (180).  Which of these is more accurate when considering the events the occur over the course of the novel? Be sure to examine specific characters and situations when supporting your claims.
• Is Tea Cake Woods a sympathetic character?  Explain by examining his relationship not only with Janie, but also with the other characters in the novel.
• Is Nanny a sympathetic character?  Are her actions with regards to Janie appropriate?  Explain by examining her relationship to Janie throughout Janie's life.
• What purpose does storytelling play in this novel? Examine the role of storytelling in Eatonville as well as down on "de muck."
• What, if anything, does this novel have to say about race relations in America during the time of its composition?  Be sure to refer to several different situations in which race becomes an issue.