english

Upon ending our group work with all the wiki’s, I would have to say that I very much enjoyed it. I feel as though working with others on a webpage about the novel gave you a more in depth look into each piece of literature. My group members pointed things out that I necessarily wouldn’t of if I were to have done the wiki page all on my own.

The novel that my group concentrated on was, “Their Eyes were Watching God.” Together as a group we discussed the various themes that were floating around the pages of this piece of literature. We all agreed that this novel includes both canonical themes and non- canonical themes. Which I think make this piece of literature that much more interesting to read. Some non-canonical themes we picked up upon were: Speech v. Silence (which talks about Janie‘s choice of silence against her husbands verbal abuse), Control and Liberation (which represents Janie throughout the book, she basically is controlled all her life by everyone that surrounds her until the very end when she is alone in the world, this is where she finally reaches liberation from control), and self-representation (is something that Janie seeks throughout the novel). Now, there were also many many other themes throughout this novel that are considered canonical, such as forced marriage, death, materialistic values, Not loving your husband/wife, loving/loosing, etc. However, I feel as though the non-canonical themes were the most important in the novel and were what made it that much more interesting.

Compared to the Hemingway stories, The Great Gatsby, and The Sound and the Fury, the non-canonical literature that we have read in groups was way less stressful and boring. Personally with the novel my group read, I didn’t spend the whole time wanting to tear my hair out with confusion.