Beliefs

Since I'm a very opinionated person with a strong belief in my faith i find it frustrating how unemotional and uncaring Mersault is towards everything. You feel as though he truly doesn't care about anyone. As the book progresses more important events occur in his life, but he reacts to them all the exact same.

Davenism

Principles of Davenism:

• There is only one God.
• He is kind and worthy of praise.
• Realistic hedonism applies.
• There is a cause for everything.
• God indirectly affects our lives.
• People are naturally good-natured.
• There is an afterlife, divided into Heaven and Hell

"Fiat Voluntas Dei"

Stranger Journal #2

Everything Mersault does is for physical satisfaction, whether it's smoking half a pack of cigarettes and buying a piece of chocolate to going to the movies with a date. There isn't any morals or ethics to which he lives his life. This is shown when at the funeral he feels both disgust and hate for the elderly sitting around him. This all follows the existential belief that the only meaning of life and the only characteristics of human nature are those that we create.

Stranger Journal # 1

The first one, labeled part one, is much more fluid and wordy. Unlike the passage labeled just "1", part one feels more human and uses a style of writing similar to my own. 1 is very choppy, with short sentences void of any emotions. 1 also employs french words and uses a more direct translation of the original text. Part one may usemore formal word choice, but the style feels more realistic than the short sloppy feel of the 1 translation.

Plot Structure

The plot structure in "Their Eyes Were Watching God" is very circular. Whatever starts something in the story usually finishes it. Like at the beginning of one chapter she is talking about the horizon and the sun, then at the end of the chapter she refers to the sun again. At the beginning of the book she is talking to Pheoby, and it returns to thissetting again at the end. Hurston does this to show change that occurs in the book by comparing the differences at the end.

Journal 8

I think the title of the book is meant for the women of the novel. In this time in history women weren't considered equal to men, so they have no control over their own lives. They watch God because they need him to tell them what to do with their lives . Janie is searching for her place throughout the book, and eventually she realizes that it's up to her to decide. The title is meant to empower women by pointing out how they need to take a hold of their own destiny.

Journal 7

Mrs. Turner is somewhat racist towards her own race in the novel. I believe this is because of her resentment of her husband. She generalizes all black people to be like him, uneducated and lazy. This explains why she likes Janie so much, because Janie gives her hope that black people will rise up to be more civil. Compared to Tea Cake and Janie the Turners are unloving and cold. In fact it may be a foil for the marriage of Tea Cake and Janie to highlight cetain features like their youthful happiness. Mrs. Turner is stubborn like Janie and holds the same values of women's rights.