...“Spunk” A Literary Analysis “Spunk” A Literary Analysis Zora Neale Hurston was born in 1901. She was raised in Eatonville, Florida. Zora went to Howard University and progressed on to Barnard College. Zora’s work reflected the use of African American legends in her short stories. Zora Hurston is a vital figure who composed stories and plays during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s and 1930s. She was committed to telling the stories of many cultures to allocate their social legacy with deference and love with an end goal to beat the unrefined stereotyping of the period. In 1925 during the Harlem Renaissance, Zora wrote a story called “Spunk”. In the story “Spunk”, Zora used the literary terms like character, setting, and conflict that catches the reader’s attention and makes the story “Spunk” a page turner. Zora used the literacy term character in her story “Spunk”, to give the readers an idea about the character personalities. The term character was also used to help the readers to connect with the characters in the story, making the story very interesting. “Spunk”, started out by describing “a giant of a brown skinned man ...” (Hurston, 1925, 502). The character described in the previous sentence, we later found out his name is Spunk Banks. Spunk Banks is described as a giant muscular man who is fearless and confident, which makes everyone scared of him. “But that’s one thing Ah likes about Spunk Banks – he ain’t skeered of nothin’ on God’s green...
Words: 1586 - Pages: 7
...Spunk Kenny Leon’s True Color Theatre Company’s production of Spunk: Three Tales by Zora Neale Hurston at the 14th Street Playhouse on September 25, 2013, presented the audience with a very culturally embellished version of Hurston’s original three tales: “Sweat,” “Story in Harlem Slang,” and “The Gilded Six Bits.” Zora Neale Hurston strived to portray the reality of life as an African American in the early 1900s through native dialect in her short stories and novels. Her most notable production, Their Eyes Were Watching God, is a prime example of her effort to illustrate the life of the everyday Negro in search of a better life. Each of the short stories portrays a different, yet comparable view on African American culture in separate areas of the United States. Director Hilda Willis depicts this play, adapted by George C. Wolfe, in the most literal variation of Hurston’s original stories; the actors from True Colors Theatre Company perform the short stories verbatim. This production is energized with selections of blues music to help the audience feel the attitude of the era in which the play occurs. Wolfe’s adaptation of Hurston’s Spunk infused the original three short stories with delineative and characteristic blues music, highlighting the mood during the era of the Harlem Renaissance and Black Migration. “Sweat” tells the story of a woman named Delia who suffers in an abusive relationship with her husband, Sykes. Her husband tries multiple methods of coercing Delia to...
Words: 1407 - Pages: 6
...Hurston’s use of language in her short story Spunk allows the reader to become part of the community in which this story takes place. The story is told from the point of view of the characters, and Hurston writes the dialogue in their broken English dialect. Although the language is somewhat difficult to understand initially, it adds to the mystique of the story. Spunk is a story about a man that steals another man’s wife, kills the woman’s husband and then he ends up dying from an accident at the saw mill. Spunk believed that it was Lena’s husband, Joe Kanty, who shoved him into the circular saw, and the people in the village agreed that Joe Kanty had come back to get revenge. The language used by the characters helps to establish the setting of the story and gives the reader an understanding of why voodoo is a plausible explanation for the outcome. “Looka theah folkses!” is what Elijah Mosley states to the others in the store. This is the first indication that the characters in this short story are not the most educated, and are probably from some small backwoods town. We quickly get confirmation of this when we learn that he is alerting them that Spunk Banks, a giant, brown-skinned man, “who aint skeered of nothin’ on God’s green footstool”, is sauntering up the one street in the village, with a small pretty woman clinging lovingly to his arm. Clearly, the store is where people hang out, and everyone knows that the woman with Spunk is Lena Kanty, Joe’s wife. Coming from a...
Words: 867 - Pages: 4
...Spirted The short story “Spunk” by Zora Neale Hurston is about a man who steals another man’s wife from him, and shoot and kills the husband then dies from being in an accident at the mill. The town knows about the affair and what the husband Joe to do coming about. Karma happens when a person does wrong like killing, lying, and stealing. Men feel that they have to is masculinity in order to have a woman but don’t realize the dangers. Spunk as being very known around town he the type of person who goes for what he wants and achieve at it. He is wrong to take another man’s wife but when you have a lively spirt it doesn’t matter to a person. Spunk feels that he is powerful and no one can defeat him. Joe unlike Spunk is weaker and gets killed because of listing to others and feeling less of a man The reader can feel bad for poor Joe but he gains the courage to go against Spunk which of course was not the smartest thing to do but he wanted his wife back he says, “Ah’m goin’ an’ fetch her back, Spunk’s done gone too fur.” (215) He knows he has to get his wife back from Spunk so he can stop being the clown of the town and he loves and missing her even with her being a terrible wife. The dialogue in the short story was hard to understand and it that is very bad because most of...
Words: 644 - Pages: 3
...Zora Neale Hurston is the author of “Spunk” set in a rural all-black Southern town believed to be in the early 1900s. Spunk Banks is a large brown skinned man who is a saw mill worker with flashy clothes. Joe Kanty is the complete opposite of Spunk, he is a small man that has clothes that do not fit correctly and is very nervous. Lena is Joe’s wife and the woman that Spunk wants to marry, Joe calls her Spunk’s “Call her.” The story begins with Spunk and Lena walking down the street while men watch and gossip. Joe takes a razor and declares he is going to confront Spunk and get his wife back. Although the men doubt that Joe will go through with his plan for he is too timid and weak. However Joe does follow through with his plan and approaches...
Words: 280 - Pages: 2
..."At first we were glad that Miss Emily would have an interest" Argiro, T. R. (2011). Miss Emily after dark. The Mississippi Quarterly, 64(3-4), 445+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA290112231&v=2.1&u=lincclin_ircc&it=r&p=GLS&sw=w&asid=ab1c4f8f108ba94a3690a16d4389c9a0 "Conviction that death redeems a sexually dishonored woman" Argiro, T. R. (2011). Miss Emily after dark. The Mississippi Quarterly, 64(3-4), 445+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA290112231&v=2.1&u=lincclin_ircc&it=r&p=GLS&sw=w&asid=ab1c4f8f108ba94a3690a16d4389c9a0 When Miss Emily Grierson died, “our whole town” went to her funeral. During the long years of isolation and what one might think would be oblivion, the town has remembered Miss Emily. She has become a “tradition, a duty and a care” Skei, H. H. (2014). A Rose for Emily. In L. J. Trudeau (Ed.), Short Story Criticism (Vol. 200). Farmington Hills, MI: Gale. (Reprinted from Reading Faulkner’s Best Short Stories, pp. 151-164, 1999, Columbia: U of South Carolina P) Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CH1420118200&v=2.1&u=lincclin_ircc&it=r&p=GLS&sw=w&asid=3e296f3eea61b2ea02b0889c77b400de He returns at dusk one evening after the cousins have left: “And that was the last we saw of Homer Barron” Skei, H. H. (2014). A Rose for Emily. In L. J. Trudeau (Ed.), Short Story Criticism (Vol. 200). Farmington Hills, MI: Gale. (Reprinted from Reading Faulkner’s Best Short Stories, pp...
Words: 552 - Pages: 3
...& Low Books If there was anything in the world better than playing baseball, Marcenia Lyle didn’t know what it was. As a young girl in the 1930s, she chased down fly balls and stole bases, and dreamed of one day playing professional ball. With spirit, spunk, and a great passion for the sport, Marcenia struggled to overcome the objections of family, friends, and coaches, who felt a girl had no place in the field. When she finally won a position in a baseball summer camp sponsored by the St. Louis Cardinals, Marcenia was on her way to catching her dream. Full of warmth and youthful energy, Catching the Moon is the story of the girl who grew up to become the first woman to play for an all-male professional baseball team. Readers everywhere will be inspired by her courage to dream and determination to succeed. Catching the Moon: The Story of a Young Girl’s Baseball Dream Written by: Crystal Hubbard Read by: Kevin Costner and Jillian Estell Published by: Lee & Low Books If there was anything in the world better than playing baseball, Marcenia Lyle didn’t know what it was. As a young girl in the 1930s, she chased down fly balls and stole bases, and dreamed of one day playing professional ball. With spirit, spunk, and a great passion for the sport, Marcenia struggled to overcome the objections of family, friends, and coaches, who felt a girl had no place in the field. When she finally won a position in a baseball summer camp sponsored by the St. Louis Cardinals, Marcenia...
Words: 345 - Pages: 2
...exceptionally troublesome work. This thought of women and labor is particularly valid, especially African-American women and domestic labor in the American South. Delia's better half Skye, steps all over the garments, demonstrating his hatred for her activity and for her, despite the fact that her "job" pays for their home. This shows his lack of paying attention to her and their life together. The mess Skye’s makes with his clothing also represents the mess in their marriage. Where he doesn't care nor appreciate what she does or how hard she works to clean his clothes. Whereas for her, she tries her hardest to keep thing nice and clean for him (shmoop). From Zora Neale Hurston’s “Spunk” 2.23“Now you know a women don’t want no man like that.” While being married, Lena falls in love with another man by the name of Spunk. He’s a bigger more confident and masculine man which whom she feels more comfortable with. While her husband is on the weak side, insecure and needs her love in order to be someone. She doesn’t confide in that therefore she is turned off. She looks at him in total disgust. Although Lena wasn’t the one who says it, it’s pretty clear everyone knows Joe (Lena’s husband) needs Lena to survive. In his eyes and other, she is the total package. Her father leaves her a house to live in which can be another reason he finds comfort in her. Being that it was the early 1900’s, it was unlikely for couples to get divorces. People stayed together and worked things out or perhaps the man...
Words: 1162 - Pages: 5
...scenes of the siblings trading off shoes in the alley as one races home from school and the other races off are filled with more drama than one might expect. The girl sees her threadbare shoes one day on the feet of the rag-picker's daughter; the boy's school career is jeopardized by his constant tardiness. The poverty that is at the heart of the situation is in prominent relief, yet there is a happiness about their lives that defies sheer gloss. Here is a brother and sister who truly love each other and are bonded by their complicity. Their hard lives are relieved by such things as playing with the bubbles they create with the soap as they wash the workaholic sneakers. It's poignant but not unhappy. These two know no other reality. Their spunk and ingenuity will likely keep them afloat -- as will their family's love and devotion. Children of Heaven sets these tykes on a quest, yet for a change in the Iranian cinema there is the sense that these...
Words: 340 - Pages: 2
... people I am dealing with before writing the report. Therefore, I know what they are looking for in the reports when they read it. If I don’t know my audience, How can I please them so to speak. I cannot please someone I do not know or at least I don’t think so. Knowing what your audience likes, is looking for, and or don’t care for, will take you a long way in any part of life, I think. Leading is knowing and knowing is success I have always heard from family members on my fathers side. I like to try to add some charisma But if the managers are not so open minded or as charming as me then no, I won’t add any spunk to my reports. I have a good trait from my fathers side as well and that’s outgoing. Some people do not like how outgoing I can be so for those type people I calm it down until I know they are comfortable with me. I like to make the higher level positions think they have referent power over me but really I could go over them and show them the leader in me. I like the lower position for now. That is a risk I will take later in my career, just in case it backfire’s on me because of their connections. Risking not knowing your audience is not something you want to do. Not knowing can bring you down if you are...
Words: 317 - Pages: 2
...Poem Analysis “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks portrays a fasting living life and dying young. It talks about rebellious youngsters who are not fond of attending school so skip and find solace and pleasure at a pool. This poem holds the whole lives of a teenage gang, from their coolness to their demise. It could be a motto, it could be a song, a chant, a lyric rage against the powers that be. It has end rhyme and internal rhyme which is technically full – cool and school, sin and gin and the repetitive we; this is rhyme that binds together the brotherhood of the gang. The poem is not too long to induce boredom. The tone is one of defiance and stubborn allegiance to the gang. This is a group...
Words: 284 - Pages: 2
...music, it gave life a better feeling. “Jazz was the sound of the 1920s. Jazz and individuality blossomed in the Roaring Twenties, and there was no better medium to nurture the pure jazz sound than 1920's Harlem.” (Boland) It’s important to realize, Jazz was one of the most popular genres during the Harlem Renaissance. Not to mention, people felt extremely connected with jazz music. It was a type of genre for everyone, it gave many people a pleasant feeling. In other words, people, when jazz would play, felt more safe around that type of music, it made them feel more at home. Therefore, people would just go to clubs and admire all the performances, just soaking in all the raw talent. Given that, one of the musicians that brought a lot of spunk was, Louis Armstrong, he was an unbelievable, heartwarming musician. Louis inserted every piece of his heart and soul into his performances. When he would sing, or play his trumpet, people would listen to every detail, transferring every note into a beautiful synopsis. “From a New Orleans boys’ home to Hollywood, Carnegie Hall, and television, the tale of Louis Armstrong’s life and triumphant six-decade career epitomizes the American success story. His trumpet playing revolutionized the world of music, and he became one of our century’s most recognized and best loved entertainers. Now, thirty years after his death, Armstrong’s work as an instrumentalist and vocalist continue to have a profound impact on American music. As a black man living...
Words: 458 - Pages: 2
...Zora Neale Huston ever heard of such a beautiful name. Zora Neale Hurston was an influential author and anthropologist. She was also an appurtenance of the Harlem renaissance. Zora In the year of 1891 was born in Alabama. Zora was known for changing her birth year and day. It was also said that Zora wrote in her autobiography that she was born in Eatonville Florida being that she had moved there as a toddler. She was a daughter of two former slaves. Zora was born into a family of eight being the fifth child of John Hurston and Lucy Potts Hurston. Her father was a preacher and he mother was a schoolteacher. Zora Hurston moved to Harlem New York in the 1920s. She became a hero in the areas like art, with her apartment becoming a sanctuary for...
Words: 397 - Pages: 2
...He called her Lucia after Joyce's mad daughter, or sometimes he said she was Santa Lucia, singing her song at the top of his voice whenever she stepped into the studio He never had problems telling them apart - Sophia, Maude, Cassandra, Sinbad, Costello, Tatiana, Hamlet, Icarus, Jezebel or the dozen or so children by the secondary mothers. 'Lucrezia!' he'd call out, without turning his head. 'O mercy to myself I cried, if Lucy should be dead!' There he'd be at his easel, dressed in a spattered blue shirt like the one Kirk Douglas wore in Lust for Life, surrounded by the paintings that he turned out so effortlessly. Portraits mostly - not just of women, though these were his most famous. The faces of madmen and vagrants from his Dublin sketchbooks, and of his own children when they were young. Sometimes he even said she was named after Lucian Freud, that cold fish, just to tease her. Lucian Freud! The London establishment. To Ridley, painting was just a fragment of what he was about. His great enterprise was the gathering of hidden knowledge, and for him the true meaning of art transcended craftsmanship. All of his offspring were talented. Costello was playing Horatio at the Old Vic. Tatiana's first novel was on the Booker shortlist, while Cassandra was a furniture designer and Icarus a potter. Only Lucia had chosen a more conventional career. She taught at a school in a small town far away. She loved the bright eyes and the squirrelling bodies of the little...
Words: 458 - Pages: 2
...beginning of the school week and so it is rather gloomy because I still have the whole week ahead of me.” |Day |What color represents the day? |Why did you select that color? | |Monday | |I think my Monday is best represented by the color orange. Most people do not like | | | |Mondays because it’s just the beginning of the week and their fun weekend has ended, | | |Orange |however, I use this as an opportunity to motivate my clients with my enthusiasm and | | | |spunk. | |Tuesday | |I think my Tuesday is best represented by pink because pink stands for appreciation, | | |Pink |sympathy and love, so I make Tuesday Customer appreciation day. | |Wednesday | |My Wednesdays are best represented by the color gray because as many think of this as| | |Gray |a gloomy color I look at the...
Words: 397 - Pages: 2
