ELA 2 Honors; How It Feels to Be Colored Me

"Among the thousand white persons, I am a dark rock surged upon, and overswept, but through it all, I remain myself. When covered by the waters, I am; and the ebb but reveals me again." The figure of speech used is

metaphor

"The sobbing school of Negrohood" is referring to

negroes who complain about the past

"I shall get twice as much praise or twice as much blame." In this phrase, the figure of speech used is

parallelism

"This orchestra grows rambunctious, rears on its hind legs and attacks the tonal veil with primitive fury, rending it, clawing it until it breaks through to the jungle beyond" The figure of speech used in this sentence is

personification

Zora Neale Hurston Information

- Born: 1891 in Alabama - Death: 1960 - Moved to all-black town of Eatonville, FL until the age of 13 - In Jacksonville, FL experienced segregation (Jim Crow Laws) - Dust Tracks off a Road, Their Eyes were Watching God, "What it Feels like to be Colored Me" - Most important pre-WWII African American female writer

The thesis of the selection is most likely

... the world is to the strong regardless of a little pigmentation more of less.

True or False, In paragraphs 9-11, Zora thinks that when you are with the opposite race the only reason that you stand out is because of the difference in skin color?

False

True or False, this is an example of polysyndeton: "A first-water diamond, an empty spool, bits of broken glass, lengths of string, a key to a door long since crumbled away, a rusty knife-blade, old shoes saved for a road that never was and never will be..."

False

Zora still feels the pain of slavery

False

According to Hurston, how does her white male companion respond to the music that has affected her so deeply?

He says, "Good music they have here."

Hurston employs a metaphor to demonstrate that she does not accept the self-pitying role of a victim. What is that metaphor?

I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife.

"I feel my race. Among the thousands of white persons, I am a dark rock surged upon, and overswept, but through it all, I remain myself. When covered by the waters, I am; and the ebb but reveals me again." What rhetorical device is used in this paragraph?

Metaphor

According to Hurston, white people would pass through Eatonville on their way to or from what large Florida city?

Orlando

Which of the following best restates the meaning of, "I am off to a flying start and I must not halt in the stretch to look behind and weep."

She is doing so well that she isn't going to be caught in the past.

What is the meaning of the sentence, "I remember the very day that I was colored."

She remembers the situation she was in when she stepped into a community where everyone did not have darker complexion as her like in her old community.

Why is race super important to Zora Neale in her story "How it Feels to be a colored me"?

She thinks it is important to maintain her cultural identity

Hurston employs another metaphor to evaluate the effects of slavery ("sixty years in the past") on her life. What is that metaphor?

The operation was successful, and the patient is doing well.

The allusion made to God is "Great Stuffer of Bags"

True

In the end of paragraph 17, Zora writes, "so much like the jumble in the bags, could they be emptied, that all might be dumped in a single heap and the bags refilled without altering the content of any greatly..." What is she trying to communicate to the audience?

We are all so similar that everything else shouldn't really matter.

In paragraph 7, Zora writes "Someone is always at my elbow reminding me that I am the granddaughter of slaves. It fails to register depression with me." Why does she fail to register depression?

Zora chooses to focus on the progress made for African Americans, and not submit to the past in slavery.

Re-read paragraph 6: In the last line Zora says "No, I do not weep at the world--I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife." What does this metaphor mean?

Zora is more focused on making progress for her race, not be sad about what has happened/is happening

In the final paragraph of the essay, Hurston compares herself to

a brown bag of miscellany

When Hurston recalls sitting in The New World Cabaret, she introduces the metaphor of a wild animal, which "rears on its hind legs and attacks the tonal veil with primitive fury, rending it, clawing it until it breaks through to the jungle beyond." What is she describing with this metaphor?

a jazz orchestra

Hurston interprets her move from Eatonville to Jacksonville as a personal transformation: from "Zora of Orange County" to

a little colored girl

By using the word "Hegira", Zora is referring to

her journey of transformation

When Zora alludes to the lions on 42 St Library, she is describing

her pride

How It Feels to Be Colored Me by Zora Neale Hurston PDF

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8nvpiZF_sz4a0Y2WDFFdUc5NE0/view

Toward the end of the essay, Hurston refers to Peggy Hopkins Joyce, an American actress known in the 1920s for her lavish lifestyle and scandalous affairs. In comparison to Joyce, Hurston says that she herself is

the cosmic Zora ... the eternal feminine with its string of beads

Hurston recalls that when greeting travelers as a child her "favorite place" to perch was atop

the gatepost

The tone of the selection is most likely

triumphant