ENGLISH 1301 SYLLABUS
ENGLISH 1301 COURSE INFORMATION
Fall 2012
CRN 26053
English 1301-0102
This class is enhanced with www.turnitin.com
Instructor: Lynn Pennington [email protected]
Office hours: before class and by appointments
^^^You will need a Flash drive to save your work^^^
Textbooks: Making Literature Matter (2012) 5th ed. John Schilb and John Clifford
Harbrace Grammar Handbook
Textbooks are at the HCC Bookstore
Other Materials
 Loose Leaf Paper and pens/ dark blue and black
 Flash drive
GRADED ASSIGNMENTS: During the semester, you will have four different essays.
These essays will generally fall as the types of readings are listed on your syllabus, but the
dates may change due to the nature of class progress. All essays and journals will be
submitted on Turnitin.com per instructor’s given assignments.
Grade Percentages
Essay #1: (20%) 750 Argumentative Essay
Essay #2: (20%) 500 word in-class Essay
Essay #3: (30%) 2,000 word researched and documented literary essay
on ethics/morality/criticism (Instructor approved topic)
Essay #4: (20%) 500 word in-class final exam essay
Other grades:
Daily grades (10%) Journals, Reading Quizzes, Reading Responses, Attendance,
Homework, Class participation, and Presentations
Grading Scale
90 – 100 = A
80 – 89 = B
70 – 79 = C
60 – 69 = D
0 – 59 = F
Get your library card ahead of time. Get it now and a print card.
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Use HCCS email Address ONLY
Set up Profile on www.turnitin.com Class ID#5333821 Password lynnpenn1
Do not use personal email address. Use HCCS student email address. No
exceptions!!!! HCC Student Email Accounts
All students who have registered and paid for courses at HCC automatically have
an
HCC
email
account
generated
for
them.
Please
go
to
http://www.hccs.edu/students/email/ to review how to send email using this
account.
Policy enforced
Attendance Policy:
Attendance will be taken every class period, and this policy will be enforced. HCCS policy
states that a student who is absent more than 12.5% (6 hours) of class may be
administratively dropped from the course. Coming in late or leaving early will constitute
a tardy. All tardies will be counted toward your allotted absences. All leaving early will be
counted toward your allotted absences. DO NOT COME IN TO CLASS LATE. Your
participation is required. Students who intend to withdraw from the course must do so
by the official last day to drop. Students who prefer to receive an F rather than a W
will need to attend classes throughout the semester and take the final exam or
discuss the situation with me (the instructor) before they stop attending the class.
After the HCCS policy attendance absences (6 hours), you will be dropped from the
class.
Withdrawal Policy:
The State of Texas has begun to impose penalties on students who drop courses
excessively. For example, if you repeat the same course more than twice, you have to pay
extra tuition. Beginning in the Fall of 2007, the Texas Legislature passed a law limiting first
time entering students to no more than six total course withdrawals throughout their
academic career in obtaining a certificate or baccalaureate degree. There may be future
penalties imposed.
**If you do not withdraw before the deadline, you will receive the grade that you are
making as the final grade. This grade will probably be an “F.” **You should visit with your
instructor, an HCC counselor, or HCC Online Student Services to learn what, if any, HCC
interventions might be offered to assist you to stay in class and improve your performance.
Such interventions could include tutoring, childcare, financial aid, and job placement.
International Students:
Receiving a “W” in a course may affect the status of your student visa. Once a “W” is given
for the course, it will not be changed to an “F” because of the visa consideration. Please
contact the International Student Office at 713-718-8520 if you have any questions about
your visa status and any other transfer issues.
Late Paper Policy and Make-Up Exams or Essays
All assignments (hardcopy) are required to be submitted at the beginning of class the date
they are due and submitted on Turnitin.com. Due dates will be on posted on Turnitin. No
papers will be accepted late on Turnitin. If you fail to submit papers on Turnitin,
Forty (40) points will be subtracted from the hardcopy you hand in, minus any other
mechanical composition errors. No make-ups on daily quizzes! Occasionally, the due
date may be adjusted, so please refer to Turnitin assignment sheet. No late papers
(hardcopy) will be accepted more than one day late per class meeting. Please arrange a
conference with me to discuss the reasons for any late essay (#1, or #3) papers. Essay #2
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and #4 cannot not be late or a make-up. Please keep a copy of your papers for your
own file; should a paper be lost, it is your responsibility to give me another copy. The
English Department regards a two-week turnaround for the return of major essays an
appropriate timeframe. Unless modified, all essays and journals will be submitted on
Turnitin. See rubric for grading scale. All exams must be taken on the scheduled date.
I do not give make-ups on daily quizzes. Once the class has begun a quiz, you may
not begin to take it and thus will miss it. Grade is a zero. NO EXCEPTIONS. Please
understand that I do not accept late papers. Papers must be handed in during the class
time when they are due. Being absent on the day a paper is due is not an excuse and they
will not be accepted. There are always extenuating circumstances, and I try to work with
students who have real emergencies. However, extended time for papers is not allowable.
Students who cannot do the work within the allotted time should withdraw and take
the class when it is more convenient to their schedules.
Academic Honesty
Plagiarism results in a grade of zero (“F”) on that project. Consult your on-line student
handbook on scholastic dishonesty. Cheating and/or collusion also result in a grade of
zero (“F”) on that project. Two instances of plagiarism will sabotage the course grade and
will result in an (“F”) in the course. Consult your on-line student handbook for more details
on scholastic dishonesty. No opportunities for rewriting/resubmitting the plagiarized project
will be given.
Electronics Policies
1. Turn off and put away all cell phones, beepers, text-messaging devices
and other electronic devices when class starts. The sounds of cell
phones ringing during class are disruptive. Students should not leave the
class to make a call or answer one (or worse—answer a call in class).
No cell phones permitted on top of desks.
2. No Bluetooth devices in ears allowed during class.
3. No MP3 players or other music devices with earphones allowed during class.
4. No laptops open during class.
5. You can answer your calls and make calls during your break in the two or
three hour class sessions.
6. If you cannot adhere to these electronic policies, I will ask you to leave the
class, and you will be marked absent and any work that was due the class,
will receive a grade of zero. There will be no make-up.
Use of Cameras and Recording Devices
Use of recording devices, including camera phones and tape recorders, is
prohibited in classrooms, laboratories, faculty offices, and other locations where
instruction, tutoring, or testing occurs. These devices are not allowed to be used in
campus restrooms. Students with disabilities who need to use a recording device
as a reasonable accommodation should contact the Office for Students with
Disabilities for information regarding reasonable accommodations.
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COURSE DESCRIPTION, PURPOSE, AND OBJECTIVE
MISSION STATEMENT OF THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
The purpose of the English Department is to provide courses that transfer to fouryear colleges; introduce students to literature from diverse traditions; prepare
students to write clear, communicative, well-organized, and detailed prose; and
develop students’ reading, writing, and analytical skills.
II. EXEMPLARY EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: ENGLISH 1302
By the time they have completed English 1302, students will
 demonstrate the ability to use consistently and effectively the writing
process for both in-class and out-of-class essays (thus reinforcing English
1301 instruction);
 understand and apply the basic principles of critical thinking—evaluation,
analysis, and synthesis— as they write essays that persuade or argue;
be able to analyze, in writing, readings by professional and student writers
(for such elements as purpose, audience tone, style, writing strategy, and
for much deeper meanings);
 be able to develop a critical and creative essay in response to an issue
related to reading(s) or other class projects;
 demonstrate the ability to resist simplistic formulations, whether in their own
or others’ texts; understand the characteristics of imaginative texts and
write effective analyses of various genres; be able to acknowledge, as
appropriate, their own history, interests, and biases as they discuss a topic,
thus placing themselves credibly in the discussion;
 develop the ability to research and write a documented paper; make
effective stylistic choices (diction, tone, sentence structure) in all writing
assignments, depending upon the audience and purpose of a piece of
writing;
 apply suggestions, as appropriate, from evaluated compositions to other
writing tasks; and fulfill the writing requirements of the course, writing at
least 6000 words during the semester.
Student Learning Outcomes for English 1301
1. Demonstrate knowledge of writing as process.
2. Apply basic principles of critical thinking in analyzing reading selections,
developing expository essays, and writing argumentative essays.
3. Analyze elements such as purpose, audience, tone, style, strategy in essays
and/or literature by professional writers.
4. Write essays in appropriate academic writing style using varied rhetorical
strategies.
5. Synthesize concepts from and use references to assigned readings in their own
academic writing.
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EDUCATIONAL COMPETENCIES IN HCCS CORE CURRICULUM
Reading: Reading material at the college level means having the ability to analyze and
interpret a variety of printed materials--books, articles, and documents.
Writing: Writing at the college level means having the ability to produce clear, correct, and
coherent prose adapted to purpose, occasion, and audience. In addition to knowing
correct grammar, spelling and punctuation, students should also become familiar with the
writing process, including how to discover a topic, how to develop and organize it, and how
to phrase it effectively for their audience. These abilities are acquired through practice and
reflection.
Speaking: Effective speaking is the ability to communicate orally in clear, coherent, and
persuasive language appropriate to purpose, occasion, and audience.
Listening: Listening at the college level means the ability to analyze and interpret various
forms of spoken communication.
Critical Thinking: Critical thinking embraces methods for applying both qualitative and
quantitative skills analytically and creatively to subject matter in order to construct
alternative strategies. Problem solving is one of the applications of critical thinking used to
address an identified task.
Computer Literacy: Computer literacy at the college level means having the ability to use
computer-based technology in communicating, solving problems, and acquiring
information. Core-educated students should have an understanding of the limits,
problems, and possibilities associated with the use of technology and should have the
tools necessary to evaluate and learn new technologies as they become available.
EXEMPLARY EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES
 To understand and demonstrate writing and speaking processes through invention,
organization, drafting, revising, editing, and presenting.
 To understand the importance of specifying audience and purpose and to select
appropriate communication choices.
 To understand and appropriately apply modes of expression (descriptive,
expositive, narrative, scientific, and self-expressive)
 To participate effectively in groups with emphasis on listening, critical and reflective
thinking, and responding.
 To understand and apply basic principles of critical thinking, problem solving, and
technical proficiency in the development of exposition and argument.
 To develop the ability to research and write a documented paper and/or to give an
oral presentation.
Free English Tutoring
The Southwest College offers you numerous opportunities for free English tutoring at our
tutoring centers (Stafford and West Loop) or our electronic tutoring services. . On-line
tutoring services include AskOnline and mycomplab.com. You will find the AskOnline
tutoring icon on the HCC homepage for students.
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Course Policies
1. All out of class work will be typed. Arial, 1.5 spacing, 12 font
2. No late daily work is accepted. Refer to Turnitin.com on late policy for essays and
journals. All out of class writing will be corrected using GRB for editing. No
corrections grade becomes a zero (0). Come to class prepared to make sound
contributions to class discussions, peer editing, and constructive assessments for
each assignment.
3. Please turn off cell phones and beepers prior to entering the classroom
HCCS Policy. Do not email me any assignments.
4. No late work is submitted on Turnitin.com. Do not email me any assignments.
5. Follow the syllabus and be prepared to discuss and participate in each class.
Read all assigned selections before class. Do not email me any assignments.
6. This syllabus is subject to change.
7. Please do not chat with class colleagues during discussion.
8. If you should miss class for any reason, it is your responsibility to follow the
syllabus and refer to Turnitin.com for assignments. No make-up work,
quiz/test, if you come to class late/class has started. It is also strongly
recommended that you obtain the phone number of a classmate to aid you in
this situation. If you come to class late and the quiz has been given/started,
there is no make-up,
9. Attendance will be checked daily.
10. No food or drink in the computer lab or classroom. HCCS Policy
Open Computer Lab
You have free access to the Internet and word processing in the open computer lab in
the Scarcella Science Center
Important Dates:
Fall 2012 Academic Calendar
FALL 2012 -SECOND-START 12 - WEEK SESSION
May 7- July 27
Priority Registration
August 27
Monday
Second-Start Reopens
September 3 Monday
Offices Closed -Labor Day Holiday
September 21 Friday
Last Day for 100 % Refund
September 21 Friday
Last Day for Drop/Add/Swap/ Registration Ends (ONLINE ONLY)
September 22 Saturday
Classes Begin
September 22- October 5 70% Refund
October 2
Tuesday
Official Date of Record
October 6- 9 Sat- Tues
25% Refund
October 15
Monday
Priority Deadline for Fall Completion of Degrees or Certificates
November 12 Monday
Last Day for Administrative/ Student Withdrawals- 4:30 PM
November 21 Wednesday No Night Classes before Thanksgiving
November 22- 25
Thurs- Sun
Offices Closed- Thanksgiving Holiday
December 9 Sunday
Instruction Ends
December 10-16
Mon - Sun
Final Examinations
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December 16 Sunday
December 17 Friday
December 21 Monday
Semester Ends
Grades Due by- 12:00 Noon
Grades Available to Students
Offices Closed- Christmas Break
Link to HCCS Calendar: HCCS School Calendar
AskOnline Tutoring
http://hccs.askonline.net/
Book Store
HCCS Bookstore
HCCS Library
http://library.hccs.edu/
Student Handbook note pages 34, 35, and 36. Read these pages from the handbook.
Visit Teacher Learning Web for new attendance rule and other information Resource Folder
Teacher Learning Web
http://learning.hccs.edu/
FX Grade Syllabus Statement
ADA Syllabus Statement
ENGLS3 Instructor Evaluation --- Syllabus Statement
New Withdrawal Procedure Effective Summer II 2011/'FX' grade explanation
Other assignments and reading selections may be given during this class.
Week 1: 9/22 Registration check, Introduction to the course, lab overview; Diagnostic essay.
The Writing Process “Salvation” by Langston Hughes; p.118 “What’s Your
Name, Girl?” p.31 by Maya Angelou David Mamet “The Rake” p. 158 Read
“Superman and Me”, p.27
http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/alexie/superman.html
http://www.courses.vcu.edu/ENG200-dwc/mamet.htm
http://www.courses.vcu.edu/ENG200-dwc/hughes.htm
Assignment for Week #2: Purchase and preview textbooks. Read
WP E. B. White’s “Once More to the Lake.” p. 260. If you don’t have
The Writer’s Presence yet, read “Once More to the Lake”
http://www.moonstar.com/~acpjr/Blackboard/Common/Essays/OnceLake.html
Week 2: 9/29
The Writing Process - Introduction to Narration; “Once More to
the Lake, p.260 E. B. White, “In the Combat Zone” by Leslie
Marmon Silko
http://www.moonstar.com/~acpjr/Blackboard/Common/Essays/OnceLake.html
http://cavesofcoral.com/ArmedandSafe/combat.html
Description: Figurative Language, Imagery, simile, metaphor
Sentence Structure, Narration





Writing purposes: Expository, Reflective, Narration
Critical analysis/discussion “Salvation”, “Superman and Me”
Critical analysis/discussion “Once More to the Lake”
Critical analysis/discussion “The Rake”, “What’s Name”
Critical analysis/discussion “Combat Zone”
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Process Analysis - “Drafting and Revising” Sherman Alexie, “This
Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona” p. 873 possible another
short story handout by Sherman Alexie.”The Only Traffic
Signal on the Reservation Doesn’t Flash Red Anymore”
Katha Pollitt’s “Why Boys Don’t Play with Dolls.” p. 555, Marjane
Satrapi “The Socks” Teacher Learning Web – print copy
Week 3: 10/6
Writing Process (Sentence Structure; Narration) Essay #1
assigned and discussed Process Analysis continued; “Learning
to Read and Write” by Frederick Douglass, p.86, Annie Dillard
“Death of a Moth” p.371. How It Feels to Be Colored” by Zora Neale
Hurston, Jamaica Kincaid “Girl”, p.894, Raymond Carver “What We
Talk About” p.884
Week 4: 10/13
Description: Read WP: Judith Ortiz Cofer’s “Silent Dancing.” p. 64.
WP Danielle Ofri’s “SAT.” p. 503. Cause and Effect; “No Name
Woman” by Maxine Hong Kingston p.458, “The Way to Rainy
Mountain” by N. Scott Momaday p.504. Raymond Carver “My
Father’s Life” p.60,”In the Kitchen” Gates p.97
Week 5: 10/27
Process Analysis; Cause and effect. Read WP Katha Pollitt’s
“Why Boys Don’t Play with Dolls.” p. 522 Marjane Satrapi “The
Socks” possible handout, “My Speech at West Point” p. 230.
“Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell p. 180. Judith Ortiz Cofer
“Silent Dancing” p.68, “The Things They Carried”. Tim O’Brien,
p.915, Flannery O’Connor, “Good Man Is Hard”, p. 930
In-class Essay 2, NO MAKE –UP, NO EXCEPTIONS, TURNITIN.COM
Week 6: 11/3
Process Analysis continued; “Learning to Read and Write” by
Frederick Douglass; How It Feels to Be Colored” by Zora Neale
Hurston, Begin Research Process. Essay #3: (30%) Library
Orientation 2000 word research and documented literary essay on
ethics/ morality/criticism (Instructor approved/assigned topic
Cause and Effect; “No Name Woman” by Maxine Hong Kingston
Week 7: 11/10
Research Process Continues, Adhere to process due dates
Cause and Effect “The Way to Rainy Mountain” by N. Scott
Momaday
Compare and Contrast; Read WP Scott Russell Sanders’ “The
Men We Carry in Our Minds” p. 828.
Week 8: 11/17
Research Process Continues, Adhere to process due dates
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Week 9: 11/17
Research Process Continues, Adhere to process due dates
Definition; Sherman Alexie, “This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix,
Arizona” and possible another short story handout by S. Alexie
Week 10: 12/1
Research Process Continues, Adhere to process due dates
Essay 3 due on www.Turnitin.com
Argument; The basics of understanding the rhetoric behind
argument; “In the Combat Zone” by Leslie Marmon Silko
http://cavesofcoral.com/ArmedandSafe/combat.html
Week 11: 12/8
Week 12: 12/15
Review for Semester Exam
Final exams during last class December 12 Semester Ends
TH
THE WRITER’S PRESENCE, 7 EDITION READING LIST: (Please Note: ITALICIZED WORKS
ARE RECOMMENDED READINGS AND WILL NOT BE COVERED DURING THE STANDARD
SEMESTER)
Michihiko Hachiya, “From Hiroshima Diary” (107-12)
Sherman Alexie, “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me” (27-30)
“This is what it means to Say Phoenix, Arizona (873-83)
Maya Angelou, “What’s Your Name, Girl?” (31-36)
Raymond Carver, “My Father’s Life” (60-67)
Judith Ortiz Cofer, “Silent Dancing” (68-75)
Bernard Cooper, “A Clack of Tiny Sparks: Remembrances of a Gay Boyhood” (78-85)
Edward Hoagland, “On Stuttering” (113-16)
Langston Hughes, “Salvation” (118-20)
Nancy Mairs, “On Being a Cripple” (142-52)
Malcolm X, “My First Conk” (142-57)
David Mamet, “The Rake: A Few Scenes from My Childhood” (158-63)
Barrack Obama “Grant Park Victory Speech” (769-73)
George Orwell, “Shooting an Elephant” (180-86)
Richard Rodriguez, “Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” (187-203)
Marjane Satrapi, “My Speech at West Point” (207-209)
David Sedaris, “Me Talk Pretty One Day” (212-216)
Brent Staples, “Just Walk on By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space” (217-21)
Andrew Sullivan “The M-Word: Why It Matters to Me” (223-225)
Amy Tan, “Mother Tongue” (232-237)
Alice Walker, “Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self” (244-250)
E. B. White, “Once More to the Lake” (260-265)
David Brooks, “People Like Us” (330-336)
Amy Cunningham, “Why Women Smile” (347-354)
Lars Eighner, “On Dumpster Diving” (377-387)
James Fallows, “Throwing Like a Girl” (400-406)
Malcolm Gladwell, “Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted” (411-421)
Maxine Hong Kingston, “No Name Woman” (458-467)
Azar Nafisi, “Reading Lolita in Tehran” (511--519)
Danielle Ofri, “SAT” (520-527)
George Orwell, “Politics and the English Language” (527-537)
Katha Pollitt, “Why Boys Don’t Play with Dolls” (555-557)
Calvin Trillin, “A Traditional Family” (581-583)
Annie Dillard, “The Death of a Moth” (371-373)
Nora Ephron, “The Boston Photographs” (655-660)
Martin Luther King Jr., “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (716-731)
Errol Morris, “Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire” (753-760)
Scott Russell Sanders, “The Men We Carry in Our Minds” (793-797)
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Leslie Marmon Silko, “In the Combat Zone” (807-813)
John Edgar Wideman, “Street Corner Dreamer” (856-859)
Jamaica Kincaid, “Girl” (894-894)
Joyce Carol Oates, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” (898-911)
Flannery O’Connor, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” (930-942)
John Updike, “A & P” (949-954)
Links to HCC Fall 2012 Academic Calendars (Regular Term/16 weeks; 2nd
Start/12 weeks; Block 1/1st 8 weeks; Block 2/2nd 8 weeks; Holiday Mini
Term)
The link address is:
http://www.hccs.edu/portal/site/hccs/menuitem.5fc1e5d66248062f3227a2ced0
7401ca/?vgnextoid=eba11e5bf6c6f110VgnVCM2000001b4710acRCRD&vgnex
tfmt=default&caltype=week
“A Small, Good Thing” by Raymond Carver
http://wings.buffalo.edu/AandL/english/courses/eng201d/asmallgoodthing.html
The Harlem Renaissance: Zora Neale Hurston’s First Story Spunk
Hundreds of writers and artists lived in Harlem in the 1920s and 1930s and were
part of a vibrant, creative community that found its voice in what came to be called
the “Harlem Renaissance.” Alain Locke’s 1925 collection The New Negro—a
compilation of literature by and essays about “New Negro” artists and black
culture—became a “manifesto” of the movement. Some of black America’s
foremost writers contributed stories and poems to the volume. The work of these
artists drew upon the African-American experience and expressed a new pride in
black racial identity and heritage. Zora Neale Hurston—novelist, folklorist, and
anthropologist—was known during the Harlem Renaissance for her wit,
irreverence, and folk writing style. She won second prize in the 1925 literary contest
of the Urban League’s journal, Opportunity, for her short story “Spunk,” which also
appeared in The New Negro.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------A giant of a brown-skinned man sauntered up the one street of the Village and out
into the palmetto thickets with a small pretty woman clinging lovingly to his arm.
“Looka theah, folkses!” cried Elijah Mosley, slapping his leg gleefully. “Theah they
go, big as life an' brassy as tacks.”
All the loungers in the store tried to walk to the door with an air of nonchalance
but with small success.
“Now pee-eople!” Walter Thomas gasped. “Will you look at 'em!”
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“But that’s one thing Ah likes about Spunk Banks—he ain’t skeered of nothin‘ on
God’s green footstool—nothin’! He rides that log down at saw-mill jus‘ like he
struts ’round wid another man’s wife—jus‘ don’t give a kitty. When Tes’ Miller got
cut to giblets on that circle-saw, Spunk steps right up and starts ridin'. The rest of us
was skeered to go near it.”
A round-shouldered figure in overalls much too large, came nervously in the door
and the talking ceased. The men looked at each other and winked.
“Gimme some soda-water. Sass’prilla Ah reckon,” the newcomer ordered, and
stood far down the counter near the open pickled pig-feet tub to drink it.
Elijah nudged Walter and turned with mock gravity to the new-comer.
“Say, Joe, how’s everything up yo‘ way? How’s yo’ wife?”
Joe started and all but dropped the bottle he held in his hands. He swallowed
several times painfully and his lips trembled.
“Aw ‘Lige, you oughtn’t to do nothin’ like that,” Walter grumbled. Elijah ignored
him.
“She jus‘ passed heah a few minutes ago goin’ theta way,” with a wave of his hand
in the direction of the woods.
Now Joe knew his wife had passed that way. He knew that the men lounging in
the general store had seen her, moreover, he knew that the men knew he knew. He
stood there silent for a long moment staring blankly, with his Adam’s apple
twitching nervously up and down his throat. One could actually see the pain he
was suffering, his eyes, his face, his hands and even the dejected slump of his
shoulders. He set the bottle down upon the counter. He didn’t bang it, just eased it
out of his hand silently and fiddled with his suspender buckle.
“Well, Ah’m goin‘ after her to-day. Ah’m goin’ an' fetch her back. Spunk’s done
gone too fur.”
He reached deep down into his trouser pocket and drew out a hollow ground
razor, large and shiny, and passed his moistened thumb back and forth over the
edge.
“Talkin‘ like a man, Joe. Course that’s yo’ fambly affairs, but Ah like to see grit in
anybody.”
Joe Kanty laid down a nickel and stumbled out into the street.
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Dusk crept in from the woods. Ike Clarke lit the swinging oil lamp that was almost
immediately surrounded by candle-flies. The men laughed boisterously behind Joe’s
back as they watched him shamble woodward.
“You oughtn’t to said whut you did to him, Lige—look how it worked him up,”
Walter chided.
“And Ah hope it did work him up. 'Tain’t even decent for a man to take and take
like he do.”
“Spunk will sho' kill him.”
“Aw, Ah doan’t know. You never kin tell. He might turn him up an‘ spank him fur
gettin’ in the way, but Spunk wouldn’t shoot no unarmed man. Dat razor he
carried outa heah ain’t gonna run Spunk down an‘ cut him, an’ Joe ain’t got the
nerve to go up to Spunk with it knowing he totes that Army 45. He makes that
break outa heah to bluff us. He’s gonna hide that razor behind the first likely
palmetto root an‘ sneak back home to bed. Don’t tell me nothin’ 'bout that rabbitfoot colored man. Didn’t he meet Spunk an‘ Lena face to face one day las’ week an‘
mumble sumthin’ to Spunk ‘bout lettin’ his wife alone?”
“What did Spunk say?” Walter broke in—“Ah like him fine but ‘tain’t right the way
he carries on wid Lena Kanty, jus’ cause Joe’s timid ‘bout fightin’.”
"You wrong theah, Walter. ‘Tain’t cause Joe’s timid at all, it’s cause Spunk wants
Lena. If Joe was a passle of wile cats Spunk would tackle the job just the same. He’d
go after anything he wanted the same way. As Ah wuz sayin’ a minute ago, he tole
Joe right to his face that Lena was his. ‘Call her,’ he says to Joe. ‘Call her and see if
she’ll come. A woman knows her boss an’ she answers when he calls.‘ ’Lena, ain’t I
yo‘ husband?’ Joe sorter whines out. Lena looked at him real disgusted but she
don’t answer and she don’t move outa her tracks. Then Spunk reaches out an‘ takes
hold of her arm an’ says: ‘Lena, youse mine. From now on Ah works for you an’
fights for you an‘ Ah never wants you to look to nobody for a crumb of bread, a
stitch of close or a shingle to go over yo’ head, but me long as Ah live. Ah’ll git the
lumber foh owah house to-morrow. Go home an‘ git yo’ things together! '
" ‘Thass mah house,’ Lena speaks up. ‘Papa gimme that.’
"‘Well,’ says Spunk, ‘doan give up whut’s yours, but when youse inside don’t forgit
youse mine, an’ let no other man git outa his place wid you!'
“Lena looked up at him with her eyes so full of love that they wuz runnin‘ over, an’
Spunk seen it an‘ Joe seen it too, and his lip started to tremblin’ and his Adam’s
apple was galloping up and down his neck like a race horse. Ah bet he’s wore out
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half a dozen Adam’s apples since Spunk’s been on the job with Lena. That’s all he’ll
do. He’ll be back heah after while swallowin‘ an’ workin‘ his lips like he wants to
say somethin’ an' can’t.”
“But didn’t he do nothin‘ to stop ’em?”
“Nope, not a frazzlin‘ thing—jus’ stood there. Spunk took Lena’s arm and walked
off jus‘ like nothin’ ain’t happened and he stood there gazin‘ after them till they
was outa sight. Now you know a woman don’t want no man like that. I’m jus’
waitin‘ to see whut he’s goin’ to say when he gits back.”
II
But Joe Kanty never came back, never. The men in the store heard the sharp report
of a pistol somewhere distant in the palmetto thicket and soon Spunk came walking
leisurely, with his big black Stetson set at the same rakish angle and Lena clinging to
his arm, came walking right into the general store. Lena wept in a frightened
manner.
“Well,” Spunk announced calmly, “Joe come out there wid a meatax an' made me
kill him.”
He sent Lena home and led the men back to Joe—Joe crumpled and limp with his
right hand still clutching his razor.
“See mah back? Mah cloes cut clear through. He sneaked up an‘ tried to kill me
from the back, but Ah got him, an’ got him good, first shot,” Spunk said.
The men glared at Elijah, accusingly.
“Take him up an‘ plant him in ’Stoney lonesome,”‘ Spunk said in a careless voice.
“Ah didn’t wanna shoot him but he made me do it. He’s a dirty coward, jumpin’
on a man from behind.”
Spunk turned on his heel and sauntered away to where he knew his love wept in
fear for him and no man stopped him. At the general store later on, they all talked
of locking him up until the sheriff should come from Orlando, but no one did
anything but talk.
A clear case of self-defense, the trial was a short one, and Spunk walked out of the
court house to freedom again. He could work again, ride the dangerous log-carriage
that fed the singing, snarling, biting, circle-saw; he could stroll the soft dark lanes
with his guitar. He was free to roam the woods again; he was free to return to
Lena. He did all of these things.
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III
“Whut you reckon, Walt?” Elijah asked one night later. “Spunk’s gittin' ready to
marry Lena!”
“Naw! Why, Joe ain’t had time to git cold yit. Nohow Ah didn’t figger Spunk was
the marryin' kind.”
“Well, he is,” rejoined Elijah. “He done moved most of Lena’s things—and her
along wid ‘em—over to the Bradley house. He’s buying it. Jus’ like Ah told yo‘ all
right in heah the night Joe wuz kilt. Spunk’s crazy ’bout Lena. He don’t want folks
to keep on talkin‘ ’bout her—thass reason he’s rushin‘ so. Funny thing ’bout that
bob-cat, wan’t it?”
“What bob-cat, ‘Lige? Ah ain’t heered ’bout none.”
“Ain’t cher? Well, night befo‘ las’ was the fust night Spunk an‘ Lena moved together
an’ jus‘ as they was goin’ to bed, a big black bob-cat, black all over, you hear me,
black, walked round and round that house and howled like forty, an‘ when Spunk
got his gun an’ went to the winder to shoot it he says it stood right still an‘ looked
him in the eye, an’ howled right at him. The thing got Spunk so nervoused up he
couldn’t shoot. But Spunk says twan’t no bob-cat nohow. He says it was Joe done
sneaked back from Hell! ”
“Humph!” sniffed Walter, “he oughter be nervous after what he done. Ah reckon
Joe come back to dare him to marry Lena, or to come out an' fight. Ah bet he’ll be
back time and agin, too. Know what Ah think? Joe wuz a braver man than Spunk.”
There was a general shout of derision from the group.
“Thass a fact,” went on Walter. “Lookit whut he done took a razor an‘ went out to
fight a man he knowed toted a gun an’ wuz a crack shot, too; ‘nother thing Joe
wuz skeered of Spunk, skeered plumb stiff! But he went jes’ the same. It took him a
long time to get his nerve up. ‘Tain’t nothin’ for Spunk to fight when he ain’t
skeered of nothin‘. Now, Joe’s done come back to have it out wid the man that’s
got all he ever had. Y’ll know Joe ain’t never had nothin’ nor wanted nothin‘
besides Lena. It musta been a h’ant cause ain’ nobody never seen no black bob-cat.”
“‘Nother thing,” cut in one of the men, “Spunk wuz cussin’ a blue streak to-day
‘cause he ’lowed dat saw wuz wobblin‘—almos’ got ‘im once. The machinist come,
looked it over an’ said it wuz alright. Spunk musta been leanin‘ t’wards it some.
Den he claimed somebody pushed ’im but ‘twant nobody close to ’im. Ah wuz glad
when knockin' off time come. I’m skeered of dat man when he gits hot. He’d beat
you full of button holes as quick as he’s look etcher.”
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IV
The men gathered the next evening in a different mood, no laughter. No badinage
this time.
“Look, ‘Lige, you goin’ to set up wid Spunk?”
“New, Ah reckon not, Walter. Tell yuh the truth, Ah’m a lil bit skittish. Spunk died
too wicket—died cussin' he did. You know he thought he wuz done outa life.”
“Good Lawd, who’d he think done it?”
“Joe.”
“Joe Kanty? How come? ”
“Walter, Ah b’leeve Ah will walk up theta way an' set. Lena would like it Ah
reckon.”
“But whut did he say, 'Lige?”
Elijah did not answer until they had left the lighted store and were strolling down
the dark street.
“Ah wuz loadin‘ a wagon wid scantlin’ right near the saw when Spunk fell on the
carriage but ‘fore Ah could git to him the saw got him in the body—awful sight. Me
an’ Skint Miller got him off but it was too late. Anybody could see that. The fust
thing he said wuz: ‘He pushed me, ’Lige—the dirty hound pushed me in the
back!‘—He was spittin’ blood at ev’ry breath. We laid him on the sawdust pile with
his face to the East so’s he could die easy. He heft mah hen‘ till the last, Walter, and
said: ’It was Joe, ‘Lige—the dirty sneak shoved me . . . he didn’t dare come to mah
face . . . but Ah’ll git the son-of-a-wood louse soon’s Ah get there an’ make hell too
hot for him. . . . Ah felt him shove me. . .!' Thass how he died.”
“If spirits kin fight, there’s a powerful tussle goin‘ on somewhere ovah Jordan ’cause
Ah b’leeve Joe’s ready for Spunk an‘ ain’t skeered any more yes, Ah b’leeve Joe
pushed ’im mahself.”
They had arrived at the house. Lena’s lamentations were deep and loud. She had
filled the room with magnolia blossoms that gave off a heavy sweet odor. The
keepers of the wake tipped about whispering in frightened tones. Everyone in the
village was there, even old Jeff Kanty, Joe’s father, who a few hours before would
have been afraid to come within ten feet of him, stood leering triumphantly down
upon the fallen giant as if his fingers had been the teeth of steel that laid him low.
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The cooling board consisted of three sixteen-inch boards on saw horses, a dingy
sheet was his shroud.
The women ate heartily of the funeral baked meats and wondered who would be
Lena’s next. The men whispered coarse conjectures between guzzles of whiskey.
Source: Zora Neale Hurston, “Spunk,” in Alain Locke, ed., The New Negro (New
York: A and C Boni, 1925), 105–111.
Zora Neale Hurston
"The Characteristics of Negro Expression" (1934)
Sweat. Ed. Cheryl Wall. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1997. 55-71.
THE Negro's universal mimicry is not so much a thing in itself as an evidence of
something that permeates his entire self. And that thing is drama.
His very words are action words. His interpretation of the English language is
in terms of pictures. One act described in terms of another. Hence the rich
metaphor and simile.
The metaphor is of course very primitive. It is easier to illustrate than it is to
explain because action came before speech. Let us make a parallel. Language is like
money. In primitive communities actual goods, however bulky, are bartered for
what one wants. This finally evolves into coin, the coin being not real wealth but a
symbol of wealth. Still later even coin is abandoned for legal tender, and still later
for cheques in certain usages.
Every phase of Negro life is highly dramatised. No matter how joyful or how
sad the case there is sufficient poise for drama. Everything is acted out.
Unconsciously for the most part of course. There is an impromptu ceremony always
ready for every hour of life. No little moment passes unadorned.
Now the people with highly developed languages have words for detached
ideas. That is legal tender. "That-which-we-squat-on" has become "chair." "Groancauser" has evolved into "spear," and so on. Some individuals even conceive of the
equivalent of cheque words, like "ideation" and "pleonastic."
Perhaps we might say that Paradise Lost and Sartor Resartus are written in
cheque words.
The primitive man exchanges descriptive words. His terms are all close fitting.
Frequently the Negro, even with detached words in his vocabulary--not evolved in
him but transplanted on his tongue by contact--must add action to it to make it do.
So we have "chop-axe," "sitting-chair," "cook-pot" and the like because the speaker
has in his mind the picture of the object in use. Action. Everything illustrated. So we
can say the white man thinks in a written language and the Negro thinks in
hieroglyphics.
A bit of Negro drama familiar to all is the frequent meeting of two opponents
who threaten to do atrocious murder one upon the other. Who has not observed a
robust young Negro chap posing upon a street corner, possessed of nothing but his
clothing, his strength and his youth? Does he bear himself like a pauper? No, Louis
XIV could be no more insolent in his assurance. His eyes say plainly "Female, halt!"
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His posture exults "Ah, female, I am the eternal male, the giver of life. Behold in my
hot flesh all the delights of this world. Salute me, I am strength." All this with a
languid posture, there is no mistaking his meaning.
A Negro girl strolls past the corner lounger. Her whole body panging* [* from
"pang"] and posing. A slight shoulder movement that calls attention to her bust, that
is all of a dare. A hippy undulation below the waist that is a sheaf of promises tied
with conscious power. She is acting out "I'm a darned sweet woman and you know
it."
These little plays by strolling players are acted out daily in a dozen streets in a
thousand cities, and no one ever mistakes the meaning.
Will to Adorn
The will to adorn is the second most notable characteristic in Negro expression.
Perhaps his idea of ornament does not attempt to meet conventional standards, but
it satisfies the soul of its creator. In this respect the American Negro has done
wonders to the English language. It has often been stated by etymologists that the
Negro has introduced no African words to the language. This is true, but it is
equally true that he has made over a great part of the tongue to his liking and has
had his revision accepted by the ruling class. No one listening to a Southern white
man talk could deny this. Not only has he softened and toned down strongly
consonanted words like "aren't " to "aint " and the like, he has made new force
words out of old feeble elements. Examples of this are "ham-shanked," "battlehammed," "double-teen," "bodaciously," "muffle-jawed."
But the Negro's greatest contribution to the language is: (1) the use of
metaphor and simile; (2) the use of the double descriptive; (3) the use of verbal
nouns.
1. Metaphor and Simile
One at a time, like lawyers going to heaven.
You sho is propaganda.
Sobbing hearted.
I'll beat you till: (a) rope like okra, (b) slack like lime, (c) smell like onions.
Fatal for naked.
Kyting along.
That's a rope.
Cloakers--deceivers.
Regular as pig-tracks.
Mule blood--black molasses.
That's a lynch.
Syndicating--gossiping.
Flambeaux--cheap cafe (lighted by flambeaux).
To put yo'self on de ladder.
2. The Double Descriptive
High-tall.
Little-tee-ninchy (tiny).
Low-down.
Top-superior.
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Sham-polish.
Lady-people.
Kill-dead.
Hot-boiling.
Chop-axe.
Sitting-chairs.
De watch wall.
Speedy-hurry.
More great and more better.
3. Verbal Nouns
She features somebody I know.
Funeralize.
Sense me into it.
Puts the shamery on him.
'Taint everybody you kin confidence.
I wouldn't friend with her.
Jooking--playing piano or guitar as it is done in Jook-houses (houses of ill-fame).
Uglying away.
I wouldn't scorn my name all up on you.
Bookooing (beaucoup) around--showing off.
Won't stand a broke.
She won't take a listen.
He won't stand straightening.
That is such a compliment.
That's a lynch.
The stark, trimmed phrases of the Occident seem too bare for the voluptuous
child of the sun, hence the adornment. It arises out of the same impulse as the
wearing of jewelry and the making of sculpture--the urge to adorn.
On the walls of the homes of the average Negro one always finds a glut of
gaudy calendars, wall pockets and advertising lithographs. The sophisticated white
man or Negro would tolerate none of these, even if they bore a likeness to the
Mona Lisa. No commercial art for decoration. Nor the calendar nor the
advertisement spoils the picture for this lowly man. He sees the beauty in spite of
the declaration of the Portland
Cement Works or the butcher's announcement. I saw in Mobile a room in which
there was an over-stuffed mohair living-room suite, an imitation mahogany bed and
chifferobe, a console victrola. The walls were gaily papered with Sunday
supplements of the Mobile Register. There were seven calendars and three wall
pockets. One of them was decorated with a lace doily. The mantel-shelf was
covered with a scarf of deep home-made lace, looped up with a huge bow of pink
crepe paper. Over the door was a huge lithograph showing the Treaty of Versailles
being signed with a Waterman fountain pen.
It was grotesque, yes. But it indicated the desire for beauty. And decorating a
decoration, as in the case of the doily on the gaudy wall pocket, did not seem out
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of place to the hostess. The feeling back of such an act is that there can never be
enough of beauty, let alone too much. Perhaps she is right. We each have our
standards of art, and thus are we all interested parties and so unfit to pass judgment
upon the art concepts of others.
Whatever the Negro does of his own volition he embellishes. His religious
service is for the greater part excellent prose poetry. Both prayers and sermons are
tooled and polished until they are true works of art. The supplication is forgotten in
the frenzy of creation. The prayer of the white man is considered humorous in its
bleakness. The beauty of the Old Testament does not exceed that of a Negro
prayer.
-- Negro Folklore
Negro folklore is not a thing of the past. It is still in the making. Its great variety
shows the adaptability of the black man : nothing is too old or too new, domestic
or foreign, high or low, for his use. God and the Devil are paired, and are treated
no more reverently than Rockefeller and Ford. Both of these men are prominent in
folklore, Ford being particularly strong, and they talk and act like good-natured
stevedores or mill-hands. Ole Massa is sometimes a smart man and often a fool. The
automobiles is ranged alongside of the oxcart. The angels and the apostles walk and
talk like section hands. And through it all walks Jack, the greatest culture hero of the
South; Jack beats them all--even the Devil, who is often smarter than God.
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