Their Eyes Were Watching God

What happens when the townspeople ask Janie to make a speech as the newly elected mayor's wife?

• She does so well that her speech receives more compliments than her husband's speech.
• She starts to talk but gets nervous and stutters, eventually making a graceless exit.
• Her husband steps in and says that his wife isn't a speech-making sort of woman.
• She refuses.

Hurston spends a lot of time describing the goings-on that occur in the space in front of a building—whether that space is a porch or the store front. Which of the following is not an accurate statement regarding that space?

• Town members exchange news, gossip, and other pleasantries in front of the store and on porches.
• The storefront and porches are community meeting places.
• Porches and storefronts provide a space for practicing and celebrating the oral nature of a traditional southern community like the one in Eatonville.
• Women dominate what occurs on porches and in front of the store.

What does Janie lecture about when she finally interjects into a conversation of men?

• She confronts Joe about his insensitivity to her and her opinions.
• Janie tells the men that they ought to get busy doing something productive rather than just sit around stirring up trouble.
• She speaks up specifically in defense of Mrs. Tony, telling the men that they have no business making fun of her.
• Janie tells the men two things: that men don't know half of what they think they know about women and that they ought to be ashamed of themselves for acting so mighty and great when their only competition is women (who are not supposed to stand up to the men)

What does Janie do to cope with her feelings of being trapped in a meaningless life and marriage?

• She reads a lot as a way of escaping into an imaginary world.
• She cheats on her husband, Joe.
• She becomes bitter and argumentative.
• She pretends to watch herself from a distance—for example, her spirit or imagination will go sit under a tree while her body remains in the store.

Why is Joe so preoccupied with calling Janie old?

• It's a sort of coping mechanism: Joe knows that he's getting old, so he wants project that age on her (especially because she's still youthful and beautiful).
• Joe is still jealous of other men looking at Janie, so he figures that if he makes her seem old and ugly, they'll stop.
• Joe has become mean. He knows that Janie is self-conscious, so this is a way to hurt her.
• Joe wants to crush the spirit out of her.

What one incident is the tipping point in Joe's and Janie's relationship? In other words, what is the one moment that seems to have revealed how empty their marriage has become?

• Joe's refusal to allow Janie to attend the mule's funeral
• Joe's decision to accept help from others but not from Janie
• The fact that Janie and Joe now sleep in separate rooms
• Janie's decision to stand up for herself in the store when an audience is present—her response to Joe's criticism of her looks and age basically reveals that Joe is not the man he pretends to be

What event in Janie's marriage convinces her that Joe isn't the wonderful man she thought she was marrying?

• Joe slaps her around the kitchen because the dinner she cooks for him isn't good.
• Joe is angry that Janie wanted to save the mule.
• Janie does not keep the house tidy.
• Joe slapped Janie for trying to make a large purchase without him.

What does Janie tell her husband just before he dies?

• She wants him to know that he isn't the man she runs down the road with.
• He is a man who wants to hear only his own voice.
• He is going to die and there is not hope of recovery.
• Janie tells him everything that is in the other answer choices.

The woman was ______________ herself before the judge because she did not want to be convicted and sent to prison.

• commiserating
• fractious
• ostentatiously
• prostrating

The supervisor of Walmart walked out in high _______________ because the employees broke some expensive merchandise.

• bridled
• fractious
• dudgeon
• ponderous