Their Eyes Were Watching God is TERRIBLE!
I'm reading this for AP English, and I'm a quarter of the way through. It's so bad.
1) It's extremely pretentious. It alternates between overflowery, nonsensical prose and negro dialect. It's supposed to be stylish, but I find it headache inducing.
2) the dialect is inconsistent. On one page, the main character says "dey," and on another it's "they."
3) It is impossible to sympathize with the characters. They're so FLAT!
4) It does more to insult blacks than to make us have pity for them. Richard Wright said it himself; it reads like a damn minstrel show.
whuh does y'all tink bout dis heah buk?
Re: Their Eyes Were Watching God is TERRIBLE!
First of all, no, sorry I never read the book.
I have no pity for blacks. Anymore. See, I've tried to enroll in `Ebonics University' but they rejected my app. on the grounds I had no hope in hell at my age to pick up new language, and I'm too damn `white' to `get' it all. :D :D
Edited to add: However in the laundry room here in my apartment building, I have come across a mine-field of old books by Peter Gentry and others (circa 1970-76) appropo name huh? about Old South slavery and struggle, and I love them. They're very <cough> compelling... I think some pervy old lady dropped them off when she moved out. At least this guy's consistent in his linguistics.
There eyes were watching...
Spend a few years teaching school in the deep south and pay attention to the fierce conditions under which many of your students live. A fifth grade boys that lives in a house with five women and he's not sure which one is his mama. A tenth grade boy that would rather stay in after school for punishment rather than face life on the street. I lived the first 53 years of my life in relative comfort, isolated from the problems of ghettos, then I moved south. It's an eye-opening experience, I'll tell you. Zora is right on the money with her book... It's not the usual kind of narrative... It's pure poetry.
Re: There eyes were watching...
Quote:
Originally Posted by hlivermo
Spend a few years teaching school in the deep south and pay attention to the fierce conditions under which many of your students live. A fifth grade boys that lives in a house with five women and he's not sure which one is his mama. A tenth grade boy that would rather stay in after school for punishment rather than face life on the street. I lived the first 53 years of my life in relative comfort, isolated from the problems of ghettos, then I moved south. It's an eye-opening experience, I'll tell you.
Spend a few years in Detroit, guy, it ranks #1 in the US for racial segregation and #3 for worst ghetto (the top seven aren't even in the south). On 8-mile road you will literally see two sides that are entirely opposed: the south side is black, the north side is white. Michigan also ranks #1 in unemployment (that's why Bush came to Livonia a few weeks ago to try and pursuade us small folks that the sources who sold him that crock of ****e 'trickle down' theory finally pulled their heads out of their asses). Anyway, I like Detroit . . . it's got character. I'm a believer that we must be absolutely modern, but the south just seems like it is holding on to a lot of dead and outdated traditions ; and moreover, the accent is atrocious.