22 pages • 44 minutes read
Zora Neale HurstonA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Blades appear throughout the story as symbols of death and danger. The sawmill, where Spunk works, features a circular saw. Spunk takes on the most dangerous position, feeding the lumber to the circular saw, which symbolizes his reckless approach to life. Early mentions of the saw serve to foreshadow Spunk’s death, including Elijah’s mention of Tes’ Miller, Spunk’s predecessor, who died after being “cut to giblets” (55). When Joe follows Spunk and Lena into the woods, he takes a blade described as a “hollow ground razor” or, later, as a “meatax” (56-58), suggesting that he intends to exterminate Spunk like he would an animal. Through the imagery of blades, Hurston depersonalizes the violence that defines the lives of the men in the community. By falling victim to their steely ferocity, the characters can distance themselves from the true progenitors of the violence, like jealousy or even an unsafe work environment. Following Spunk’s death, his body is propped up on sawhorses, as though he is a plank of wood, again depersonalizing his violent death. Like the trees he felled for a living, Spunk is cut down and humbled.
By Zora Neale Hurston
Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo"
Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo"
Zora Neale Hurston
Drenched in Light
Drenched in Light
Zora Neale Hurston
Dust Tracks on a Road
Dust Tracks on a Road
Zora Neale Hurston
Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick
Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick
Zora Neale Hurston
How It Feels To Be Colored Me
How It Feels To Be Colored Me
Zora Neale Hurston
Jonah's Gourd Vine
Jonah's Gourd Vine
Zora Neale Hurston
Moses, Man of the Mountain
Moses, Man of the Mountain
Zora Neale Hurston
Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life
Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life
Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston
Mules and Men
Mules and Men
Zora Neale Hurston
Seraph on the Suwanee
Seraph on the Suwanee
Zora Neale Hurston
Sweat
Sweat
Zora Neale Hurston
Tell My Horse
Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica
Zora Neale Hurston
The Eatonville Anthology
The Eatonville Anthology
Zora Neale Hurston
The Gilded Six-Bits
The Gilded Six-Bits
Zora Neale Hurston
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Zora Neale Hurston
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection