HW1: "Polar Breath" by Diane Glancy

A) A reoccurring symbol in "Polar Breath" by Diane Glancy is the cold. Glancy uses the cold as an interpretation of the overall mood of the poem and as a refection of what the main character feels. By saying, "Why didn't their little bodies freeze like ice-cubes? What kept them warm?" and by later going into detail about how the main character is feels like she is trapped in a deep depression, "She was tangled in the fishing line that went down into the cold, dark hole below her," the author shows that the cold represents more then just the weather or feeling of an object but rather the character's life. By asking, "What kept them warm?" the author shows that the character feels alone after her husband's death and is seeking a way out or the warmth rather than the cold she is surrounded by. The image of, "...birds flew from the wall. They banged at the windows get out," shows the turmoil the character feels and the struggle to hold onto her sanity.  The reader sees that even though she struggles, there is little hope of escaping the cold when the sun, usually a symbol for warmth and peacefulness, remains, "wicked," in her eyes, "Now the sun shined its wicked and beautiful pattern on the kitchen window." The character believes that spirits surround her, "...the spirits that got loose when it was cold," and ,"She decided the spirits left it there." Her belief stems from the death of her husband and again represent the idea of being surrounded by something she cannot control.


B) "Polar Breath" by Diane Glancy uses the feeling of being surrounded by the cold as a way to represent suffocation and the attempt to fight one's way out of depression. In the work, a woman is delusional and has continuous visions of being surrounded and trapped under or with something she cannot control like, ""She was tangled in the fishing line that went down into the cold, dark hole below her," and, "Now they were wrapping her house in cellophane." She struggles to see the warmth in the sunlight, "Now the sun shined its wicked and beautiful pattern on the kitchen window," and feels the cold constantly, "She needed to work her fingers. They felt blue and cold." The author uses the birds as a representation of tying to escape her depression, "Inside her head, birds flew from the wall. They banged at the windows get out." But the further her mind strays from reality, "She felt like she was walking barefoot across the ice to him. She fought to hold onto the counter," the further she sinks into her depression until it consumes her, "She reached for the finger she saw at the glass. But the icehole burped like her old husband in his chair and the frigid water closed her up."

A New Life

At this point in the novel, Janie and Joe are about to get married and Janie is expressing her feelings for Joe. Janie has high hopes that her and Joe's relationship will go better than her previous one with Logan. Janie and Joe's wedding is unplanned and had such short notice, since the two only met a few days prior. Janie has just gained so much freedom by leaving Logan, and now she is losing some, hopefully not all, her freedom by marrying Joe, creating an interesting juxtaposition in the text. " It is the morning of Janie's wedding and it seems as if "the morning air was like a new dress",the air was so different than other days and this dress was  one that she knew she wanted and was finally getting. Janie's previous life with Logan was always about doing the best for others and not to do anything for yourself. When Janie left Joe, "she untied it (the apron) and flung it on a low bush beside the road and walked on," which shows how Janie has let Logan go and is now putting on the new dress that belongs to Joe. The speaker of this passage is not Janie, it is rather the narrator. This gives the reader  a better chance to see what is going on inside Janie's mind, while still seeking her outside, personal side of things. Overall, the tone of this passage is happy and excited, as for Janie is looking forward to this next step in her life, as is Joe. Janie is excited that she will have, "flower dust and springtime sprinkled on everything," which shows her childlike excitement, because her "bloom" will finally blossom.

-Anna Eckhoff (Red passage)

Reading Under A Microscope (PINK) Cooper and Dilip

           In this passage, we see Janie coming outside to see the road and have some inner thoughts. Imagery is shown through of the natural descriptions shown and used by the author such as, "Glossy leaves and bursting buds" or, "She searched as much of the world as she could". A tone in this passage reveals itself. A certain tone of detachment and neediness is shown by Janie looking up and down the road in desperation. The passage reads, "she searched as much of the world as she could from the top of the stairs to the bottom." This specific sentence begins to introduce a concept of detachment and isolation. The sense that these stairs have become the entire world in Janie's perspective is belittling to her confidence and worldly views in this passage. It is clearly evident that this shrinking in perspective directly relates to her life in general. Her family was belittled by the slavery in her Nanny's early years. Her childhood was belittled by inappropriately sexual men. Also, she suffered or a very long time in a harsh one-sided relationship with her dominating husband Jody. This passage is truly rife with figurative language and use of literary concepts.

Blooming Janie

The close reading passage uses many different types of figurative language, tone, and repetition. One type of figurative language used in this close reading is the personification of bees kissing and also bees singing. We think this represents Janie’s desire to grow up and be free just like the bees. The tone this passage has is hopeful but at the same time it also has a confused tone. Janie is not sure where she belongs or who she is, but she is hopeful that she will find out soon enough she just isn’t sure when. The repetition in this passage is used in different ways. Nature is a main idea that is repeated multiple times to show Janie’s thoughts on the world and how she feels about herself. She explains how trees bloom and grow and she pictures herself blooming and growing one day just the same. All in all the pink close reading passage on page 11 uses many differerent types of figurative language, tone, and repetition.

-Mufaro and Caitlynn

A Slave in a Free Wold

In the passage, Janie is caught kissing Johnny Taylor. Nanny is angry and tries to persuade her that Logan Killicks is a better match for Janie because he can ensure her safety and comfort. She is doing what she thinks is best, but her perspective of the world is different than Janie’s. Nanny grew up as a slave and was raped, while Janie grew up as a free black girl. Nanny’s bias is seen when in the passage, she says “...as Ah can see” (Hurston 14). “Maybe its some place of in de ocean where de black man is in power, but we don’t know nothin’...” (Hurston 14) is what Nanny says to Janie in her attempt to convince her to marry Logan. This quote signifies her lost hope in an America where everyone is free- the idea seems foreign and far into the future. For now, “de white man throw down de load and tell de n***er man tuh pick it up...because he have to” (Hurston 14). The men only pick it up to satisfy the white men, but “he hand it to his womenfolk...de n***er woman is de mule” (Hurston 14). This is similar to when an older sibling passes off their esignated chore to the younger, weaker child. The author explains that women are the truly oppressed people, which simultaneously takes a stand against slavery and patriarchy. She compares women to mules, which is also an example of them carrying the burden and plays on the animal imagery motif as well. While Nanny doesn't want Janie to make the same mistakes, she is also setting Janie up for failure, which can be seen later in the book.

Ali and Ira

Their Eyes were Reading the Pink Passage

    This Passsage is an introduction of the metaphor of the tree and an introduction of Janie as character situated at the beggining of the book. The introduction of the tree is also the intorduction of the novels complete comparison of Janie to the tree. One example is the passage talks about the tree blooming, which is a representation of Janie becoming an adult and in a sense"evolving". This setups compariosn between these two throughout the rest of the book. One other thing that happens in this passage is a characterization of Janie. Janie leaving the house while her Grandma is asleep shows that she is a free spirit and also a anxetious person because she was "...Waiting for the world to be made." This means that she couldn't wait to get older and expierence situatiosn in the real world. One last thing that occured in this passage was actuall where it was situated in the book which was at the beginging of the book. This is a perfect place to place this paragraph because it was an elegant introduction to many of the motifs that had been repeated thrughout the ovel. One example is the repition of the tree or even reoccurong visuals of Janie's character such as later on we see her free spirit shen she lets down her hair showing her rebelous ways towards Jody. Through this, we are introduced many ideas, creating a structure for the rest of the novel.

                       --Swivine and Adam

Cameron and Jonathan--Close Greending

This passsage contains multiple sections involved in close reading. The most important are context, concepts and speaker. For context, this passage is situated soon after Jody (Joe)nis elected mayor of Eatonville. The townsfolk say that Janie, being the mayor's wife, should give a speech. But before she can get started, Jody cuts it all off. They walk home together, and it creates an interesting juxtaposition. It creates a juxtaposition between Janie's sadness and dejectedness, and Jody's joy and pleasure. This juxtaposition occurs throughout the rest of the novel. There is one big concept that this passage conveys, because it occurs consistently through the book. That  is the concept of Janie's silence. Whenever she builds herself up to speak, she is shot down by Jody.  For speaker, it starts with Jody speaking, then moves on to the narrarator. This is important because it shows Jody's prominence in his voice, while Janie is really lacking.