Write a pastiche of Hurston by duplicating a theme that she uses and three stylistic elements. Use these elements with your own characters, setting, and conflict. After you finish your pastiche clarify what theme and techniques you used and how they were used in a way that mirrors Hurston's own use of them.
"Welcome to Microsoft, Mr. Tybalt. We look forward to having you on this accounting team and I wish you the best of luck," said Mr. Coleman.
"I look forward to being here," answered Frank Tybalt, a new hire at the Microsoft accounting department.
He traversed the maze of cubicles and found his newly assigned station next to a middle-aged, brunette woman named Nora. Her heels were kicked off under her desk as she vigorously crunch numbers into a computer. As the days turned into weeks, paychecks were due to be handed out. Frank opened the envelope at his desk and glared at the $5800 check and gasped, "$5800 for my first month?! Woo-hoo!" Nora glanced at him and then back to her usual paycheck of $4600.
"This job does have it's ups," she said with slight sarcasm.
Later that night as she lay in her bed, thinking to herself, she spoke, "How can that hotshot just come in here, do the same amount of work at the same position as myself and get that much more money?! I can't believe it! I have been crunching numbers for six years and i haven't been offered one raise! But, should i bring this up to Mr. Coleman? I could ultimately lose my job, but I'm not sure I can take much more of this sexism. I suppose I shall make up my mind tomorrow."
The next day, Nora was going to confront Mr. Coleman about the paycheck discrepancies. Each step walking to his office felt like someone had nailed Nora's shoes to the ground as she was trying to pick up her feet to get closer and closer to her future with Microsoft accounting. As she opened the door, Frank walked out grinning and greeted her with a "Hello." She slipped in.
"Mr. Coleman, I must inquire as to why Frank has been making more than me when we are working the same position."
"What about it? You both rightfully earned the money you make and that should be all that matters."
"We both do the same work! How is our payout not the same?"
"Can we save this for later? I have an appointment."
"No we can not," she barked at him, "As of today I am no longer putting up with your sexism and male dominance crap! I am going to find a job that respects my gender and will treat me equally with men. I quit."
Theme: To find confidence and recognize themselves as an individual liberated from coercion by male figures, a woman must take in the luxury of empowering herself to fulfill her rights.
1.) Apostrophe - Nora talks to herself and projects her thoughts to show the reader what is really going on inside herself with her feelings. Hurston uses apostrophes with Janie to better project her internal conflicts and mixed emotions about the men in her life.
2.) Simile - The shoes being nailed to the ground represents how much reservation Nora had against confronting Mr. Coleman. Hurston uses similes and metaphors all over her book to put emphasis on what the characters are feeling. She even injects it into the dialogue when characters are describing details of important events.
3.) Diction - During the apostrophe, Nora described Mr. Coleman's actions as "sexist" which provokes a stronger reaction than if "biased" was used. Hurston uses diction to strike a stronger vibe during important thoughts by characters to illustrate their more precise feelings.
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