Where is Zora Neale Hurston?

Alice Walker discovers Zora Neale Hurston and is captivated by her amazing writing skills and the life she has lived through her autobiography. Alice decides she wants to know everything there is to know about her, she even goes as far as telling people that she is her niece to get information. She starts by visiting her hometown of Eatonville and feels like she knows it from everything she has read. She talks to a women in town to see if she knows anything and the lady tells her she died of malnutrition and is in an unmarked grave. She wants to know if there is anyone in town who knew Zora and might still be alive. She is exuberant when she finds out that one lady, though old now, did grow up with Zora. When she gets the information the woman who knew Zora is willing to tell her she goes on a search to find her grave.

Searching for Zora's grave gives Alice mixed emotions, she wants to find Zora, but she is mad and upset that she can not honor her the way that she deserves to be honored. She does buy a tombstone with the money that she does have so that there is a marking, at the least, to show that there is greatness buried in that spot. Alice and her partner know of a doctor that knew Zora very well when she was alive, so they go to him to see if he would tell them anything, since he might not believe the niece lie. He tells them a lot about Zora, how she loved to eat, and how amazing her English was, which she thinks is him trying to tell her that she didn't use the common "black" dialogue found in her novel's. And many other things, one of which is where she used to live and the fact that she did not die of malnutrition, but of a stroke. Everything he tells her she takes her own way, she now wants to go see where Zora lived since she missed her flight and asked the man that knew her there if she like flowers of all things.

Alice Walkers quest to find Zora made her think of the way things were in the past and why so many people back then didn't like the way Zora Neale Hurston wrote, while today she is an acclaimed writer. It could be argued that the quest was as much to find Alice as it was to find Zora.

Janie sings the blues...

Janie sings the blues,
she doesn't know what to do.
She isn't happy with her man,
this was not her plan.
She wants to fall deep in love,
and sing like the birds up above.
Killicks was not her dream man,
and Starks isn't turning out like she planned.
She just wants be happy,
and get to do what she please's.

The years ahead...

There are years in life when all you do is ask questions, I personally am not looking forward to this with Angel. When we are young we want to know everything, we think there is a reason for everything, and if we are not told the reason for something then we will make up something that makes since. I think that for Janie, the upcoming year will be the year that answers the questions that she has now, but may bring up some new questions as she goes along. Like she is questioning if she really loves her husband, but does she even really know what love is, these are things she will eventually have to think of in the upcoming year, but as she thinks of these things some of the questions she already has will be answered.

Should at least one family member approve of who you marry?

    When you marry a person, it should be because you want to marry them, not because your family thinks it is what would be best for you. When I get married it is going to be to the person that I think is right for me. I would hope that my parents approve of him, but if they don't then I guess they just won't be happy. If I am in love with someone, but my parents don't like him, I am not going to change the way that I feel just to make my parents happy. The way I see it, if I am happy, then my parents should be happy too.

    If the man I decide to marry is faithful, hard working, not a felon, loves both my daughter and I, then I am going to marry him no matter what any of my family thinks. If they love me then they will learn to love him also. My family means the world to me, but sometimes I need to things for myself. And I would hope that when they saw what a great guy he was then they would realize how wrong they were in hating him. So I don't think you should base who you marry on what your family thinks as long as they are good to you and treat you right and you love them then you should just follow your heart.

Gastby Questions

Why did Nick make a list of all the people who came to Gatsby's?

Why does Nick tell you about all the people who came to Gatsby's that he wrote down?

Why didn't Tom want Myrtle to say Daisy's name?

How did all of Gatsby's family die?

Why did Gatsby get embarrased when Nick introduced him to Tom?

Floating Balloon

The only completely stationary object
 In the room was an enormous couch
On which two young women were buoyed up as though upon an anchored balloon.
They were both in white,
And their dresses were rippling and fluttering
As if they had just been blown back in after a short flight around the house.
 I must have stood for a few moments
Listening to the whip and snap of the curtains
And the groan of a picture on the wall.
 Then there was a boom as Tom Buchanan shut the rear windows
 And the caught wind died out about the room,

And the curtains and the rugs and the two young women ballooned slowly to the floor.

Should you change or should society?

Being yourself is something that we as Americans talk about being proud of, but most Americans change the person they really are so that they fit in with society. Most people nowadays cannot say that they have always been themselves for their whole lives, even though they may be happy with who they are now. At some point in every person's life they have changed to be what society wanted.

When you are a child you are expected to be a good kid, except when you are two to three because those are the "bad" years. Society has marked what is to be expected of us as teenagers now as well. Of course things are slightly different because times have changed and kids now do not do what they did fifty or so years ago.

You shouldn't have to change yourself to fit society, if you do you may end up losing yourself in the process. And I personally don't think it is worth it. Why change yourself, make society change instead. Times are different and the expectations society has should be too. Nobody should have to change to be accepted because that isn't really being accepted at all, it is just living a lie and nobody should have to do that.