Assignment One:
Hurston is a very well established author that writes about black people from the South. What Hurston is well known for doing is to utilize folk sayings to articulate her points to her readers. What Hurston’s writing style signifies is the potential for there to be an interest in the occult for races or religions that are being oppressed by another. This quotation depicts a unique psychological angle to Hurston’s works that have enthralled literary audiences. This theme can be seen in many passages from her books. A sample quotation that illustrates this point is “In the swamp at the head of the lake, she saw Jack-O-Lanterns darting here and darting there and three hundred years of America passed like the mist of morning. Africa reached out its dark hand and claimed its own. Drums Strange demons seized her. Witch doctors danced before her, laid hands upon her alternately freezing and burning her flesh,” (Hurston Neale, Zora, 2016).
First, this quotation presents a very provocative tie to the occult that had not been seen in American literature for some time due to the resistance towards any writing or author that expressed connections to concepts or religions that countered the Puritan roots of the United States since the Witchcraft Trials in Salem. Second, Hurston expresses that there was another form of religious practice in the south with this quotation and guides the reader through an almost voodoo practice that is linked to some sort of coven or occult in her text.
Finally, Hurston uses a great style in this quotation because she describes the scene so vividly with drastic comparisons and contrasts that truly enthrall her reader. Hurston utilizes a vivid metaphorical style in her writing that this distinct to the reader.
Assignment Two:
A Farewell to False Love by Sir Walter Ralegh provides a psychological exploration of the feeling of rage through investigating the themes of reason and passion. From the beginning of the quotation, there is harsh language that immediately alerts to the reader the anger of the passage. An example of this can be seen in the quote, “A mortal foe, and enemy to rest, an envious boy, from whom all cares arise, A bastard vile, a beast with rage possessed,” (Ralegh, Sir Walter, 2016). Right away, the reader is alerted to how angry the author is about something. Additionally, the lines “A quenchless fire, a nurse of trembling fear, a path that leads to peril and mishap,” (Ralegh, Sir Walter, 2016). First, this language demonstrates how far one can go between the emotions of love and hate. Second, the passage explores the balance between reason and passion.
Finally, the end of the passage closes with the strong language stating “Sith then thy trains my younger years betrayed,” (Ralegh, Sir Walter, 2016). This closing is brilliant on the part of the author because it leaves the reader with an impression of how the love affair wasted the best years of the author’s life. This depicts the severity of the emotions experienced by the author and how the author is forever tainted by the pain that they love affair caused to his psyche. Language such as this when so severe provokes a reaction from the reader to the text that they are reading and truly brings the texts and its pain to life. This line also explores the themes of reason and passion because it shows how angry the author is and how that anger has festered during the passage and abandoned all traditional notions of reason that one has before they fall in love or have their heart broken. The reason that the author once possessed as left due to their broken heart.
Works Cited
Hurston, Neale Zora. “Black Death”. Theresamartinfshs.files.wordpress.com. N.d Web. 1 Apr 2016.
Ralegh, Sir Walter. “A Farewell to False Love.” N.d Web. 22 April 2016.
