Short Essays. Respond to one of the following prompts. (Worth 30 points)
1. Read Cutler’s story about Reverend Gates closely. Relate this story to other issues/instances of black male identity, racial power dynamics, or cultural appropriation in the play. Why does Cutler tell this story at this particular time? What do the other character’s reactions to this story reveal about them (Levee and Toledo in particular)?
2. How does Janie’s physical journey – from West Florida, to Eatonville, to the Everglades –parallel her emotional/psychological growth and the novel’s increasing immersion in African-American culture and traditions?
3. In many of the documentaries, we see/hear stories of the mythical/stereotypical/real lifestyle of the blues performer. Choose one of the performers from these documentaries—Robert Johnson, R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, T Model-Ford and relate elements of their biography to specific characters or other parts of the novel and play we have read so far this semester.
How do they depart from and fulfill these blues stereotypes? Why is the iconic blues lifestyle so closely related to the music itself? Draw connections between the lives of these performers and one or more of the characters we’ve encountered in our literary works.
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