Name: ____________________ Class: ____________________ Period: ______
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Summer Reading Analysis
While reading Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God
for your summer
reading, please answer the following questions for each chapter in detail. You are strongly
advised to answer the questions as you read. You may type or handwrite your answers.
Responses should be completed by the first full day of school. Make sure to include page
numbers for your answers where relevant.
Answers must be your own. Any responses that
appear to have copied answers from an online source or a fellow student will receive a zero.
Chapter 1
1. Do a close reading of the two paragraphs of the novel. Why does it begin with “man’s
wish”? Who is the “Watcher”? How are women and men different, according to this
passage?
2. Describe the town. What are the townspeople like? How can you tell? Use quotes from
the novel to support your answer.
3. What do we learn about Janie through the indirect characterization of her neighbors?
4. What is Pheoby’s purpose in the story?
Chapter 2
5. Ch. 2 moves back to the past. What is Janie’s view of herself as a child? Give examples
to support your answer from the text.
6. Do a close reading of the “pear tree” scene (starting with the line that begins “It was a
spring afternoon…” and ends with “limp and languid” ). What does Janie learn/hope for?
What imagery and symbolism do you see in this scene?
7. What does Janie’s Grandmother dream of/hope for? How is this similar and
different
from Janie’s hope?
8. Why does Janie agree to the marriage?
Chapter 3
9. What questions does Janie ask herself before her marriage?
10. Describe Janie’s first marriage. List two quotes from the text to support your answer.
11. What was Janie’s first dream? How does she “become a woman”?
Chapter 4
12. How does Logan change after six months of marriage? Provide two quotes from the text
to support your answer.
