Discussion Question Ch. 15-16

  1. Mrs. Turner is very clearly prejudiced. How does Janie react to her? Why does Mrs. Turner like Janie?
  • Janie acted friendly to Mrs. Turner at first to be nice, but then later on Janie would be mean and ignore Mrs. Turner because of her racist remarks. Mrs. Turner still likes Janie because Janie is light skinned people because they look similar to her, she doesn’t like dark skinned people like Tea Cake.
  • Janie doesn’t like her very much because she keeps telling Janie to leave Tea Cake and go with Mrs. Turner’s brother’s whose educated. Janie doesn’t like Mrs. Turner because of her persistence even though Janie continually tells her she is not interested.
  1. Why doesn’t Mrs. Turner like Tea Cake?
  • This is because Mrs. Turner doesn’t like dark skinned people and she doesn’t think Tea Cake is good enough for Janie.
  • Also because she thinks that her brother is a better match for Janie than Tea Cake.
  1. Why does Hurston call Mr. Turner’s laugh “powerless”? How is he characterized? Why?
  • Hurston calls Mr. Turner’s laugh “powerless” because he is dominated by his wife and Hurston is therefore powerless as a person.
  • He is characterized as a person who is submissive almost and depressed because he has no power in their relationship.

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Discussion Questions Ch. 17-18

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