document_title: Conscription in the United Kingdom

question_text: when was national service abolished in the uk

root

text: Conscription in the United Kingdom

text: First World War[edit]

text: Conscription during the First World War began when the British government passed the Military Service Act in 1916. The act specified that single men aged 18 to 40 years old were liable to be called up for military service unless they were widowed with children or ministers of a religion. There was a system of Military Service Tribunals to adjudicate upon claims for exemption upon the grounds of performing civilian work of national importance, domestic hardship, health, and conscientious objection. The law went through several changes before the war ended. Married men were exempt in the original Act, although this was changed in June 1916. The age limit was also eventually raised to 51 years old. Recognition of work of national importance also diminished, and in the last year of the war there was some support for the conscription of clergy.[1] Conscription lasted until mid-1919.

tag: p

text: Due to the political situation in Ireland, conscription was never applied there; only in England, Scotland and Wales.

text: Second World War[edit]

text: Conscription legislation lapsed in 1920. However, as a result of the deteriorating international situation and the rise of Nazi Germany, Leslie Hore-Belisha, Secretary of State for War, persuaded the cabinet of Neville Chamberlain to introduce a limited form of conscription on 27 April 1939, with the Military Training Act being passed the following month. Only single men 20 to 22 years old were liable to be called up, and they were to be known as "militiamen" to distinguish them from the regular army. To emphasise this distinction, each man was issued with a suit in addition to a uniform. The intention was for the first intake to undergo six months of basic training before being discharged into an active reserve. They would then be recalled for short training periods and attend an annual camp.

text: At the outbreak of war, on 3 September 1939, the Military Training Act was overtaken by the National Service (Armed Forces) Act, and the first intake was absorbed into the army. This act imposed a liability to conscription of all men 18 to 41 years old. Men could be rejected for medical reasons, and those engaged in vital industries or occupations were "reserved" at a particular age beyond which no one in that job would be enlisted. For example, lighthouse keepers were "reserved" at 18 years old. From 1943, some conscripts were directed into the British coal mining industry and become known as the "Bevin Boys". Provision was also made for conscientious objectors, who were required to justify their position to a tribunal, with power to allocate the applicant to one of three categories: unconditional exemption; exemption conditional upon performing specified civilian work (frequently farming, forestry or menial hospital work); exemption from only combatant service, meaning that the objector had to serve in the specially created Non-Combatant Corps or in some other non-combatant unit such as the Royal Army Medical Corps.

text: By 1942 all male British subjects between 18 and 51 years old and all females 20 to 30 years old resident in Britain were liable to be called up, with some exemptions:

text:
British subjects from outside Britain and the Isle of Man who had lived in the country for less than two years
Police, medical and prison workers
Northern Ireland
Students
Persons employed by the government of any country of the British Empire except the United Kingdom
Clergy of any denomination
Those who were blind or had mental disorders
Married women
Women who had one or more children 14 years old or younger living with them. This included their own children, legitimate or illegitimate, stepchildren, and adopted children, as long as the child was adopted before 18 December 1941.

tag: ul

text: Pregnant women were not exempted, but in practice were not called up.[2]

text: Men under 20 years old were initially not liable to be sent overseas, but this exemption was lifted by 1942. People called up before they were 51 years old but who reached their 51st birthday during their service were liable to serve until the end of the war. People who had retired, resigned or been dismissed from the forces before the war were liable to be called back if they had not reached 51 years of age.

text: Britain did not completely demobilise in 1945, as conscription continued after the war. Those already in the armed forces were given a release class determined by length of service and age. In practice, releases began in June 1945, and the last of the wartime conscripts had been released by 1949. However, urgently needed men, particularly those in the building trades, were released in 1945, although some restrictions on their immediate employment were supposed to be enforced. All women were released at the end of the war.

text: After 1945[edit]

text: National Service as peacetime conscription was formulated by the National Service Act 1948. From 1 January 1949, healthy males 17 to 21 years old were expected to serve in the armed forces for 18 months, and remain on the reserve list for four years. They could be recalled to their units for up to 20 days for no more than three occasions during these four years. Men were exempt from National Service if they worked in one of the three "essential services": coal mining, farming and the merchant navy for a period of eight years. If they quit early, they were subject to being called up. Exemption continued for conscientious objectors, with the same tribunal system and categories.

text: In October 1950, in response to the British involvement in the Korean War, the service period was extended to two years; in compensation, the reserve period was reduced by six months. National Servicemen who showed promise could be commissioned as officers. National Service personnel were used in combat operations, including the Malayan Emergency, the Cyprus Emergency, in Kenya against the Mau Mau Uprising, and the Korean War, where conscripts to the Gloucestershire Regiment took part in the last stand during the Battle of the Imjin River. In addition, National Servicemen served in the Suez Crisis in 1956.

text: During the 1950s there was a prohibition on serving members of the armed forces standing for election to parliament. A few National Servicemen stood for election in the 1951 and 1955 general elections in order to be dismissed from service.[3]

text: National Service ended gradually from 1957.[4] It was decided that those born on or after 1 October 1939 would not be required, but conscription continued for those born earlier whose call-up had been delayed for any reason.[5] In November 1960 the last men entered service, as call-ups formally ended on 31 December 1960, and the last National Servicemen left the armed forces in May 1963.[6]

text: British Overseas Territories[edit]

text: Currently, the British overseas territory of Bermuda practises conscription. Recruitment into the part-time military reserves in Bermuda (from 1895; service in the old Bermuda Militia, as in that in England and Wales, had been compulsory for all able-bodied, military-aged males) had originally followed the practices in England for the militia, in which soldiers voluntarily enlisted for six years, and in the later Volunteer Force, in which part-time soldiers served voluntarily and could quit their service with 14 days' notice, except while embodied for training, war, or national emergency. The Militia, Volunteer force, and Yeomanry were merged into the Territorial Force (later renamed the Territorial Army) in Britain in 1907, with the introduction of terms of service (specific lengths of service for which volunteers enlisted), but this did not occur in Bermuda until the 1920s. Conscription into the Bermuda Militia Artillery and the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps was discussed during the First World War, but had not been put into place before the cessation of hostilities. It was introduced during the Second World War, with conscripts serving full-time for the duration in the BMA, BVRC, the Bermuda Volunteer Engineers, or the Bermuda Militia Infantry. Those unable to serve full-time were directed into the Bermuda Home Guard. Although conscription ended with the war, a shortfall of volunteers led to its reintroduction to the BVRC in 1957 and the BMA in 1960. Since the two units were amalgamated in 1965, conscription has been retained, making the Bermuda Regiment the only conscripted force still serving under the British Crown. Conscription is for three years of part-time service, with the terms of service otherwise identical to those which originally applied to Territorial soldiers in Britain (with a basic service requirement of one drill night per week, one weekend camp per month, and one two-week annual camp per year, not including embodiment for active service. Service is for home defence purposes, and soldiers cannot be compelled to serve in overseas campaigns).

text: Support for reintroduction of conscription[edit]

text: In 2015 Prince Harry made a call for bringing back conscription. [7][8][9] Following the launch of his 2009 film Harry Brown, English actor Michael Caine called for the reintroduction of national service in the UK to give young people "a sense of belonging rather than a sense of violence".[10]

text: In popular culture[edit]

text: Film and TV

text: The following productions have content inspired by British conscription or National Service:

text:
Down Among the Z Men (1952) featuring The Goon Show comics.
Queen and Country (2014) Character undergoes National Service training prior to Korean war.
Privates (2013) Mini-series about soldiers at an Army base.
Father Brown, Series 3, The Sign of the Broken Sword. (2013) Crime-drama set on a 1950s Army base.
Bad Lads Army (2002-06) Reality TV series.
The Krays (1990) Barrack room scene.
Stand Up, Virgin Soldiers (1977) Based on the novel of the same name.
Get Some In (1975-78) TV sitcom set in an RAF base.
The Virgin Soldiers (1969) Based on the novel of the same name.
Idol on Parade (1959) Character undergoes two years National Service.
Carry On Sergeant (1958) Comedy.
The Army Game (1957-61) TV sitcom contemporary with National Service.
Private's Progress (1956) Film.

text: Literature

text:
Baxter, D; Two Years to Do, 1954. - Memoir.
Camp, W; Idol on Parade, 1958. Fiction.
Ions, E; Call to Arms: Interlude with the Military, 1972. - Memoir.
Lodge, D; Ginger, You're Barmy, 1962. - Fiction.
Thomas, L; The Virgin Soldiers, 1966. - Fiction.
Thomas, L; Stand Up, Virgin Soldiers, 1975. Fiction.
Weston, P; A Stranger to Khaki: Memoir of a National Service Officer, 1997.


document_title: Ferris Bueller's Day Off

question_text: who plays genie in ferris bueller's day off

question_tokens: who plays genie in ferris bueller 's day off

text: Ferris Bueller's Day Off

text: Plot[edit]

text: In suburban Chicago, near the end of the high school year, senior Ferris Bueller fakes sickness to stay home. Throughout the film, Ferris frequently breaks the fourth wall to talk about his friends and give the audience advice on how to skip school. His parents believe him, though his sister Jeanie is not convinced. Dean of Students Edward R. Rooney suspects Ferris is being truant again and commits to catching him. Ferris convinces his friend Cameron Frye, who really is absent due to illness, to help get Ferris' girlfriend Sloane Peterson out of school by reporting that her grandmother has died. To trick Rooney, Ferris sways Cameron to let them use his father's prized 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder to collect Sloane. Cameron is dismayed when Ferris continues to use the car to drive them into downtown Chicago to spend the day, but Ferris promises they will return it as it was.

text: The trio leave the car with parking garage attendants who immediately take the car for a joy ride after they leave. Ferris, Cameron, and Sloane sightsee around the city, including the Art Institute of Chicago, Sears Tower, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and Wrigley Field, while narrowly dodging sight by Mr. Bueller. Cameron remains disinterested, and Ferris attempts to cheer him up by impromptu joining a parade float during the Von Steuben Day parade and lip-syncing Wayne Newton's cover of "Danke Schoen", as well as a rendition of The Beatles' "Twist and Shout" that excites the gathered crowds.

text: Meanwhile, Rooney investigates the Bueller home to try to prove Ferris' truancy, getting into several pratfalls. At the same time, Jeanie, frustrated that the entire school believes Ferris has come down with a deadly illness, skips class and returns home to confront him, only to hear someone outside trying to break in. Rooney flees while she calls the police; when they arrive they arrest her for filing a false report and contact her mother to collect her. While waiting, she meets a juvenile delinquent who advises her not to worry so much about Ferris. Mrs. Bueller arrives at the station, upset about having to forgo a house sale, only to find Jeanie kissing the delinquent, infuriating her more.

text: Ferris and his friends collect the Ferrari and depart for home, but shortly discover many miles have been added to the odometer and Cameron becomes catatonic. Back at Cameron's garage, Ferris sets the car on blocks and runs it in reverse to try to take miles off the odometer without success. Cameron finally snaps, and lets out his anger against his controlling father by repeatedly kicking the car. This causes it to fall off the blocks and race in reverse through the back of the garage and into the ravine below. Ferris offers to take the blame, but Cameron asserts he will stand up against his father.

text: Ferris returns Sloane home and realizes his parents are due home soon. As he races on foot through the neighborhood he is nearly hit by Jeanie, who is driving their mother home. She speeds off trying to beat Ferris home. Ferris makes it home first to find Rooney waiting for him outside. Jeanie races into the house as their mother talks to their father about her behavior that day. Jeanie discovers Rooney threatening Ferris and tells Rooney that she was just helping to return Ferris from the hospital and shows Rooney his wallet that she had found from his earlier break-in. Rooney flees from the family dog while Ferris rushes back to his bedroom to greet his parents while feigning his waning illness. As they leave, Ferris reminds the audience, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

text: A defeated Rooney heads home and is picked up by a school bus, further humiliated by the students.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Matthew Broderick as Ferris Bueller
Alan Ruck as Cameron Frye
Mia Sara as Sloane Peterson
Jennifer Grey as Jeanie Bueller
Jeffrey Jones as Edward R. Rooney
Lyman Ward as Tom Bueller
Cindy Pickett as Katie Bueller
Edie McClurg as Grace
Ben Stein as Economics Teacher
Del Close as English Teacher
Charlie Sheen as Garth Volbeck
Virginia Capers as Florence Sparrow
Richard Edson as Garage Attendant
Larry "Flash" Jenkins as Attendant's co-pilot

text: Production[edit]

text: Writing[edit]

text: As he was writing the film in 1985, John Hughes kept track of his progress in a spiral-bound logbook. He noted that the basic storyline was developed on February 25. It was successfully pitched the following day to Paramount Studios chief Ned Tanen. Tanen was intrigued by the concept, but wary that the Writers Guild of America was hours away from picketing the studio.[5] Hughes wrote the screenplay in less than a week.[6] Editor Paul Hirsch explained that Hughes had a trance-like concentration to his script-writing process, working for hours on end, and would later shoot the film on essentially what was his first draft of the script. "The first cut of Ferris Bueller's Day Off ended up at two hours, 45 minutes. The shortening of the script had to come in the cutting room", said Hirsch.[7] "Having the story episodic and taking place in one day...meant the characters were wearing the same clothes. I suspect that Hughes writes his scripts with few, if any costume changes just so he can have that kind of freedom in the editing."[7]

text: Hughes intended the movie to be more focused on the characters rather than the plot. "I know how the movie begins, I know how it ends", said Hughes. "I don't ever know the rest, but that doesn't seem to matter. It's not the events that are important, it's the characters going through the event. Therefore, I make them as full and real as I can. This time around, I wanted to create a character who could handle everyone and everything."[8]

text: Casting[edit]

text: Hughes said that he had Broderick in mind when he wrote the screenplay, saying Broderick was the only actor he could think of who could pull off the role, calling him clever and charming.[9] "Certain guys would have played Ferris and you would have thought, 'Where's my wallet?'" Hughes said. "I had to have that look; that charm had to come through. Jimmy Stewart could have played Ferris at 15...I needed Matthew."[9] Other actors who were considered for the role included Jim Carrey, John Cusack, Tom Cruise and Michael J. Fox.[10]

text: Sara surprised Hughes when she auditioned for the role of Sloane Peterson. "It was funny. He didn't know how old I was and said he wanted an older girl to play the 17-year-old. He said it would take someone older to give her the kind of dignity she needed. He almost fell out of his chair when I told him I was only 18."[11] Molly Ringwald had also wanted to play Sloane, but according to Ringwald, "John wouldn't let me do it: he said that the part wasn't big enough for me."[5]

text: Ruck had previously auditioned for the Bender role in The Breakfast Club which went to Judd Nelson, but Hughes remembered Ruck and cast him as the 17-year-old Cameron Frye.[12] According to Hughes, the character of Cameron was largely based on a friend of his in high school. "He was sort of a lost person. His family neglected him, so he took that as license to really pamper himself. When he was legitimately sick, he actually felt good, because it was difficult and tiring to have to invent diseases but when he actually had something, he was relaxed."[13] Ruck said the role of Cameron had originally been offered to Emilio Estevez who turned it down. "Every time I see Emilio, I want to kiss him", said Ruck. "Thank you!"[5] Ruck, then 29, worried about the age difference. "I was worried that I'd be 10 years out of step, and I wouldn't know anything about what was cool, what was hip, all that junk. But when I was going to high school, I didn't know any of that stuff then, either. So I just thought, well, hell—I'll just be me. The character, he's such a loner that he really wouldn't give a damn about that stuff anyway. He'd feel guilty that he didn't know it, but that's it."[12] Ruck was not surprised to find himself cast young. "No, because, really, when I was 18, I sort of looked 12", he said. "Maybe it's a genetic imbalance."[12]

text: Ruck and Broderick had previously acted together in the Broadway production of Biloxi Blues. Cameron's Mr. Peterson voice was an in-joke imitation of their former director Gene Saks.[5] Ruck felt at ease working with Broderick, often crashing in his trailer. "We didn't have to invent an instant friendship like you often have to do in a movie", said Ruck. "We were friends."[5]

text: Jones was cast as Rooney based on his role in Amadeus, where he played the emperor; Hughes thought that character's modern equivalent was Rooney.[13] "My part was actually quite small in the script, but what seemed to be the important part to me was that I was the only one who wasn't swept along by Ferris", recalls Jones.[14] "So I was the only one in opposition, which presented a lot of opportunities, some of which weren't even in the script or were expanded on. John was receptive to anything I had to offer, and indeed got ideas along the way himself. So that was fun, working with him."[14] "Hughes told me at the time — and I thought he was just blowing his own horn — he said, 'You are going to be known for this for the rest of your life.' And I thought, 'Sure'... but he was right."[15] To help Jones study for the part, Hughes took him to meet his old vice principal. "This is the guy I want you to pay close attention to," Jones explained to Hughes' biographer Kirk Honeycutt. While meeting him, the VP's coat momentarily flew open revealing a holster and gun attached to the man's belt. This made Jones realize what Hughes had envisioned."The guy was 'Sign up for the Army quick before I kill you!'" Jones exclaimed.[16]

text: Stein says he got the role of Bueller's Economics teacher through six degrees of separation.[17] "Richard Nixon introduced me to a man named Bill Safire, who's a New York Times columnist. He introduced me to a guy who's an executive at Warner Brothers. He introduced me to a guy who's a casting director. He introduced me to John Hughes. John Hughes and I are among the only Republicans in the picture business, and John Hughes put me in the movie", Stein said.[17] Hughes said that Stein was an easy and early choice for the role of the teacher: "He wasn't a professional actor. He had a flat voice, he looked like a teacher."[13]

text: Filming[edit]

text: "Chicago is what I am," said Hughes.[2] "A lot of Ferris is sort of my love letter to the city. And the more people who get upset with the fact that I film there, the more I'll make sure that's exactly where I film. It's funny—nobody ever says anything to Woody Allen about always filming in New York. America has this great reverence for New York. I look at it as this decaying horror pit. So let the people in Chicago enjoy Ferris Bueller."[2]

text: For the film, Hughes got the chance to take a more expansive look at the city he grew up in. "We took a helicopter up the Chicago River. This is the first chance I'd really had to get outside while making a movie. Up to this point, the pictures had been pretty small. I really wanted to capture as much of Chicago as I could, not just the architecture and the landscape, but the spirit."[2] Shooting began in Chicago on September 9, 1985.[18] In late October 1985, the production moved to Los Angeles, and shooting ended on November 22.[19] The Von Steuben Day Parade scene was filmed on September 28. Scenes were filmed at several locations in downtown Chicago and Winnetka (Ferris's home, his mother's real estate office, etc.).[20] Many of the other scenes were filmed in Northbrook, Illinois, including at Glenbrook North High School, on School Drive, the long, curvy street on which Glenbrook North and neighboring Maple Middle School are situated.[21] The exterior of Ferris's house is located at 4160 Country Club Drive, Long Beach, California.[20]

text: The modernist house of Cameron Frye is located in Highland Park, Illinois. Known as the Ben Rose House,[22] it was designed by architects A. James Speyer, who designed the main building in 1954, and David Haid, who designed the pavilion in 1974. It was once owned by photographer Ben Rose, who had a car collection in the pavilion. In the film Cameron's father is portrayed as owning a Ferrari 250 GT California in the same pavilion.[23] According to Lake Forest College art professor Franz Shulze, during the filming of the scene where the Ferrari crashes out of the window, Haid explained to Hughes that he could prevent the car from damaging the rest of the pavilion.[24] Haid fixed connections in the wall and the building remained intact. Haid said to Hughes afterward, "You owe me $25,000", which Hughes paid.[24] Other scenes were shot in Chicago, River Forest, Oak Park, Northbrook, Highland Park, Glencoe and Winnetka, Lake Forest and Long Beach, California. After Ben Rose's death in 2009 the house was offered for sale and was sold in 2014.

text: According to Hughes, the scene at the Art Institute of Chicago was "a self-indulgent scene of mine—which was a place of refuge for me, I went there quite a bit, I loved it. I knew all the paintings, the building. This was a chance for me to go back into this building and show the paintings that were my favorite." The museum had not been shot in, until the producers of the film approached them.[13] "I remember Hughes saying, 'There are going to be more works of art in this movie than there have ever been before,'" recalled Jennifer Grey.[5]

text: According to editor Paul Hirsch, in the original cut, the museum scene fared poorly at test screenings until he switched sequences around and Hughes changed the soundtrack.[25]

text: The piece of music I originally chose was a classical guitar solo played on acoustic guitar. It was nonmetrical with a lot of rubato. I cut the sequence to that music and it also became nonmetrical and irregular. I thought it was great and so did Hughes. He loved it so much that he showed it to the studio but they just went "Ehhh." Then after many screenings where the audience said "The museum scene is the scene we like least", he decided to replace the music. We had all loved it, but the audience hated it. I said, 'I think I know why they hate the museum scene. It's in the wrong place.' Originally, the parade sequence came before the museum sequence, but I realized that the parade was the highlight of the day, there was no way we could top it, so it had to be the last thing before the three kids go home. So that was agreed upon, we reshuffled the events of the day, and moved the museum sequence before the parade. Then we screened it and everybody loved the museum scene! My feeling was that they loved it because it came in at the right point in the sequence of events. John felt they loved it because of the music. Basically, the bottom line is, it worked.[25]

text: The music used for the final version of the museum sequence is an instrumental cover version of The Smiths' "Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want", performed by The Dream Academy. A passionate Beatles fan, Hughes makes multiple references to them and John Lennon in the script. During filming, Hughes "listened to The White Album every single day for fifty-six days".[26] Hughes also pays tribute to his childhood hero Gordie Howe with Cameron's Detroit Red Wings jersey.[27] "I sent them the jersey", said Howe. "It was nice seeing the No. 9 on the big screen."[28]

text: Car[edit]

text: In the film, Ferris convinces Cameron to borrow his father's rare 1961 Ferrari GT California. "The insert shots of the Ferrari were of the real 250 GT California", Hughes explains in the DVD commentary. "The cars we used in the wide shots were obviously reproductions. There were only 100 of these cars, so it was way too expensive to destroy. We had a number of replicas made. They were pretty good, but for the tight shots I needed a real one, so we brought one in to the stage and shot the inserts with it."[13]

text: Prior to filming, Hughes learned about Modena Design and Development who produced the Modena Spyder California, a replica of the Ferrari 250 GT.[29] Hughes saw a mention of the company in a car magazine and decided to research them. Neil Glassmoyer recalls the day Hughes contacted him to ask about seeing the Modena Spyder:

text: The first time he called I hung up on him because I thought it was a friend of mine who was given to practical jokes. Then he called back and convinced me it really was him, so Mark and I took the car to his office. While we were waiting outside to meet Hughes this scruffy-looking fellow came out of the building and began looking the car over; we thought from his appearance he must have been a janitor or something. Then he looked up at a window and shouted, 'This is it!' and several heads poked out to have a look. That scruffy-looking fellow was John Hughes, and the people in the window were his staff. Turned out it was between the Modena Spyder and a Porsche Turbo, and Hughes chose the Modena.[29]

text: Automobile restorationist Mark Goyette designed the kits for three reproductions used in the film and chronicled the whereabouts of the cars today: [30]

text:
"Built by Goyette and leased to Paramount for the filming. It's the one that jumps over the camera, and is used in almost every shot. At the end of filming, Paramount returned it to Goyette, with the exhaust crushed and cracks in the body. "There was quite a bit of superficial damage, but it held up amazingly well", he said. He rebuilt it, and sold it to a young couple in California. The husband later ran it off the road, and Goyette rebuilt the front end for him. That owner sold it in the mid-90s, and it turned up again around 2000, but hasn't emerged since."[30]
"Sold to Paramount as a kit for them to assemble as their stunt car, they did such a poor job that it was basically unusable, aside from going backwards out the window of Cameron's house. Rebuilt, it ended up at Planet Hollywood in Minneapolis and was moved to Planet Hollywood in Cancun when this one was closed."[30]
"Another kit, supposed to be built as a shell for the out the window scene, it was never completed at all, and disappeared after the film was completed. Goyette thinks he once heard it was eventually completed and sold off, but it could also still be in a back lot at Paramount."[30]

tag: ol

text: One of the "replicars" was sold by Bonhams on April 19, 2010, at the Royal Air Force Museum at Hendon, United Kingdom for £79,600.[31][32]

text: The "replicar" was "universally hated by the crew", said Ruck. "It didn't work right." The scene in which Ferris turns off the car to leave it with the garage attendant had to be shot a dozen times because it would not start.[5] The car was built with a real wheel base, but used a Ford V8 engine instead of a V12.[33] At the time of filming, the original 250 GT California model was worth $350,000.[5] Since the release of the film, it has become one of the most expensive cars ever sold, going at auction in 2008 for $10,976,000 [34] and more recently in 2015 for $16,830,000.[35] The vanity plate of Cameron's dad's Ferrari spells NRVOUS and the other plates seen in the film are homages to Hughes's earlier works, VCTN (National Lampoon's Vacation), TBC (The Breakfast Club), MMOM (Mr. Mom), as well as 4FBDO (Ferris Bueller's Day Off).

text: Economic lecture[edit]

text: Ben Stein's famous monotonous lecture about the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act was not originally in Hughes's script. Stein, by happenstance, was lecturing off-camera to the amusement of the student cast. "I was just going to do it off camera, but the student extras laughed so hard when they heard my voice that (Hughes) said do it on camera, improvise, something you know a lot about. When I gave the lecture about supply-side economics, I thought they were applauding. Everybody on the set applauded. I thought they were applauding because they had learned something about supply-side economics. But they were applauding because they thought I was boring...It was the best day of my life", Stein said.[17]

text: Parade scene[edit]

text: The parade scene took multiple days of filming; Broderick spent some time practicing the dance moves. "I was very scared", Broderick said. "Fortunately, the sequence was carefully choreographed beforehand. We worked out all the moves by rehearsing in a little studio. It was shot on two Saturdays in the heart of downtown Chicago. The first day was during a real parade, and John got some very long shots. Then radio stations carried announcements inviting people to take part in 'a John Hughes movie'. The word got around fast and 10,000 people showed up! For the final shot, I turned around and saw a river of people. I put my hands up at the end of the number and heard this huge roar. I can understand how rock stars feel. That kind of reaction feeds you."[36][37]

text: Broderick's moves were choreographed by Kenny Ortega (who later choreographed Dirty Dancing). Much of it had to be scrapped though as Broderick had injured his knee badly during the scenes of running through neighbors' backyards. "I was pretty sore", Broderick said. "I got well enough to do what you see in the parade there, but I couldn't do most of Kenny Ortega's knee spins and things like that that we had worked on. When we did shoot it, we had all this choreography and I remember John would yell with a megaphone, 'Okay, do it again, but don't do any of the choreography,' because he wanted it to be a total mess." "Danke Schoen" was somewhat choreographed but for "Twist and Shout", Broderick said, "we were just making everything up".[5] Hughes explained that much of the scene was spontaneously filmed. "It just happened that this was an actual parade, which we put our float into—unbeknownst to anybody, all the people on the reviewing stand. Nobody knew what it was, including the governor."[13]

text: Wrigley Field[edit]

text: Wrigley Field is featured in two interwoven and consecutive scenes. In the first scene, Rooney is looking for Ferris at a pizza joint while the voice of Harry Caray announces the action of a ballgame that is being shown on TV. From the play-by-play descriptions, the uniforms, and the player numbers, this game has been identified as the June 5, 1985, game between the Atlanta Braves and the Chicago Cubs.[18][38] The batter rips a foul ball into the left field stands, and as Rooney looks away from the TV briefly, the TV cameras show a close up of Ferris a moment after catching it. The scene in the pizza joint continues as Rooney tries to banter about the game with the guy behind the counter.

text: In the next scene, Sloane, Cameron, and Ferris are in the left field stands inside Wrigley. Ferris flexes his hand in pain after supposedly catching the foul ball. During this scene, the characters enjoy the game and joke about what they would be doing if they had played by the rules. All these "in the park" shots, including the one from the previous scene where Ferris catches the foul ball on TV, were filmed on September 24, 1985, at a game between the Montreal Expos and the Cubs. During the 1985 season, the Braves and the Expos both wore powder blue uniforms during their road games. And so, with seamless editing by Hughes, it is difficult to distinguish that the game being seen and described in the pizza joint is not only a different game but also a different Cubs' opponent than the one filmed inside the stadium.[39]

text: John Hughes had originally wanted to film the scene at the baseball game at Comiskey Park, as Hughes was a Chicago White Sox fan. However, due to time constraints, the location was moved to Wrigley Field at the last minute.

text: On October 1, 2011, Wrigley Field celebrated the 25th anniversary of the film by showing it on three giant screens on the infield.[40]

text: Deleted scenes[edit]

text: Several scenes were cut from the final film; one lost scene entitled "The Isles of Langerhans" has the three teenagers trying to order in the French restaurant, shocked to discover pancreas on the menu (although in the finished film, Ferris still says, "We ate pancreas", while recapping the day). This is featured on the Bueller, Bueller Edition DVD. Other scenes were never made available on any DVD version.[41] These scenes included additional screen time with Jeanie in a locker room, Ferris' younger brother and sister (both of whom were completely removed from the film), and additional/alternate lines of dialogue throughout the film, all of which can be seen in the original theatrical trailer. Hughes had also wanted to film a scene where Ferris, Sloane, and Cameron go to a strip club. Paramount executives told him there were only so many shooting days left, so the scene was scrapped.[5]

text: Music[edit]

text: Limited edition fan club soundtrack[edit]

text: An official soundtrack was not originally released for the film, as director John Hughes felt the songs would not work well together as a continuous album.[42] However, according to an interview with Lollipop Magazine, Hughes noted that he had sent 100,000 7" vinyl singles containing two songs featured in the film to members of his fan mailing list.[43]

text: Hughes gave further details about his refusal to release a soundtrack in the Lollipop interview:

text: The only official soundtrack that Ferris Bueller's Day Off ever had was for the mailing list. A&M was very angry with me over that; they begged me to put one out, but I thought "who'd want all of these songs?" I mean, would kids want "Danke Schoen" and "Oh Yeah" on the same record? They probably already had "Twist and Shout", or their parents did, and to put all of those together with the more contemporary stuff, like the (English) Beat—I just didn't think anybody would like it. But I did put together a seven-inch of the two songs I owned the rights to—"Beat City" on one side, and... I forget, one of the other English bands on the soundtrack... and sent that to the mailing list. By '86, '87, it was costing us $30 a piece to mail out 100,000 packages. But it was a labor of love.[43]

text: Songs in the film[edit]

text: Songs featured in the film include:

text:
"Love Missile F1-11" (Extended Version) by Sigue Sigue Sputnik
"Jeannie" (Theme from I Dream of Jeannie)
"Beat City" by The Flowerpot Men
"Main Title" by John Williams (From Star Wars)
"Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want" (instrumental) by The Dream Academy (a cover of a song by The Smiths)
"The Celebrated Minuet" by Luigi Boccherini (Performed by the Zagreb Philharmonic Chamber Studio)
"Danke Schoen" by Wayne Newton
"Twist and Shout" by The Beatles
"Radio People" by Zapp
"I'm Afraid" by Blue Room
"Taking the Day Off" by General Public
"The Edge of Forever" by The Dream Academy
"March of the Swivelheads" (a remix of "Rotating Head") by The (English) Beat
"Oh Yeah" by Yello
"BAD" by Big Audio Dynamite
"Go Down Moses" credited to the Fisk Jubilee Singers in 1871 (The dirge-like song that Cameron sings to himself while lying in his sick bed)

text: "Danke Schoen" is one of the recurring motifs in the film and is sung by Ferris, Ed Rooney, and Jeanie. Hughes called it the "most awful song of my youth. Every time it came on, I just wanted to scream, claw my face. I was taking German in high school—which meant that we listened to it in school. I couldn't get away from it."[13] According to Broderick, Ferris's singing "Danke Schoen" in the shower was his idea. "Although it's only because of the brilliance of John's deciding that I should sing "Danke Schoen" on the float in the parade. I had never heard the song before. I was learning it for the parade scene. So we're doing the shower scene and I thought, 'Well, I can do a little rehearsal.' And I did something with my hair to make that Mohawk. And you know what good directors do: they say, 'Stop! Wait till we roll.' And John put that stuff in."[44]

text: 2016 soundtrack[edit]

text:
Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Soundtrack album by various artists

Released
September 13, 2016

Genre
new wave

Length
76:47

Label
La-La Land Records

tag: table

text: The soundtrack for the film, limited to 5,000 copies, was released on September 13, 2016 by La-La Land Records. The album includes new wave and pop songs featured in the film, as well as Ira Newborn's complete score, including unused cues.[45] Due to licensing restrictions, "Twist and Shout," "Taking The Day Off," and "March of the Swivelheads" were not included, but are available elsewhere. The Flowerpot Men's "Beat City" makes its first official release on CD with a new mix done by The Flowerpot Men's Ben Watkins and Adam Peters that differs from the original 7" fan club release.[45][46]

text:
No.
Title
Performer
Length

1.
"Love Missile F1-11 (Ultraviolence Mix)"
Sigue Sigue Sputnik
6:58

2.
"Oh Yeah"
Yello
3:08

3.
"Beat City"
The Flowerpot Men
3:37

4.
"B.A.D."
Big Audio Dynamite
5:47

5.
"Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want"
The Dream Academy
3:09

6.
"Danke Schoen"
Wayne Newton
2:35

7.
"Radio People"
Zapp
5:40

8.
"I'm Afraid"
Blue Room
4:51

9.
"The Edge of Forever"
The Dream Academy
4:21

text:
Original Score by Ira Newborn

No.
Title
{{{extra_column}}}
Length

10.
"Ferris in Bed"

0:57

11.
"Cameron in Bed/Ferris Goes Hawaiian"

1:44

12.
"I’ll Go (unused)"

1:02

13.
"Nurse"

0:11

14.
"Ferris on Line 2"

0:43

15.
"Bueller, Ferris Bueller"

0:08

16.
"Mom Checks on Ferris"

1:40

17.
"Jeanie Turns Ugly"

0:34

18.
"Rooney on Patrol"

1:26

19.
"Save It, Ferris (unused)"

0:40

20.
"Rooney Sneaks Around/Star Wars (Main Title)"

2:25

21.
"Going to Take a Stand (unused)"

3:30

22.
"Cameron Takes the Heat"

0:55

23.
"Oh Shauna Jeanie"

0:46

24.
"He’s Gonna Marry Me (unused)"

1:22

25.
"Dog Food Rooney/Ferris Goes to Bed"
Hollywood Studio Symphony
0:59

26.
"Mom, Dad and Ferris"

1:34

27.
"Ferris on Line 2 (alternate)"

0:41

text:
Alternate Score Cues

No.
Title
Length

28.
"Theme from Star Trek (unused)"
0:30

29.
"Cameron Takes the Heat (alternate)"
0:57

text:
Source Cues

No.
Title
{{{extra_column}}}
Length

30.
"Coughlin Bros. Mortuary"
Hollywood Studio Symphony
0:27

31.
"Celebrated Minuet"
Hollywood Studio Symphony
1:37

32.
"Ballpark Baloney"
Hollywood Studio Symphony
1:10

33.
"Polka Medley"
Hollywood Studio Symphony
3:18

text:
Bonus Tracks

No.
Title
Performer
Length

34.
"I’m Afraid (Instrumental Film Version)"
Blue Room
4:51

35.
"Twist and Shout (Marching Band Overlay)"

2:35

text: Reception[edit]

text: Critical[edit]

text: The film largely received positive reviews from critics. It is "Certified Fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes, having an aggregated score of 79% (based on 63 critics' reviews), and an average rating of 7.7/10. The site's consensus reads "Matthew Broderick charms in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, a light and irrepressibly fun movie about being young and having fun."[47] Roger Ebert gave it three out of four stars, calling it "one of the most innocent movies in a long time,” and “a sweet, warm-hearted comedy."[48] Richard Roeper called the film "one of my favorite movies of all time. It has one of the highest 'repeatability' factors of any film I've ever seen ... I can watch it again and again. There's also this, and I say it in all sincerity: Ferris Bueller's Day Off is something of a suicide prevention film, or at the very least a story about a young man trying to help his friend gain some measure of self-worth ... Ferris has made it his mission to show Cameron that the whole world in front of him is passing him by, and that life can be pretty sweet if you wake up and embrace it. That's the lasting message of Ferris Bueller's Day Off."[49] Roeper pays homage to the film with a license plate that reads "SVFRRIS".[50] Conservative columnist George Will hailed Ferris as "the moviest movie," a film "most true to the general spirit of the movies, the spirit of effortless escapism."[51]

text: Essayist Steve Almond called Ferris "the most sophisticated teen movie [he] had ever seen," adding that while Hughes had made a lot of good movies, Ferris was the "one film [he] would consider true art, [the] only one that reaches toward the ecstatic power of teendom [sic] and, at the same time, exposes the true, piercing woe of that age." Almond also applauded Ruck's performance, going so far as saying he deserved the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor of 1986: "His performance is what elevates the film, allows it to assume the power of a modern parable."[52] The New York Times reviewer Nina Darnton criticized Mia Sara's portrayal of Sloane for lacking "the specific detail that characterized the adolescent characters in Hughes's other films", asserting she "created a basically stable but forgettable character."[53][54] Conversely, Darnton praised Ruck and Grey's performances: "The two people who grow in the movie—Cameron, played with humor and sensitivity by Alan Ruck, and Ferris's sister Jeanie, played with appropriate self-pity by Jennifer Grey—are the most authentic. Grey manages to play an insufferably sulky teen-ager who is still attractive and likable."[53]

text: National Review writer Mark Hemingway lauded the film's celebration of liberty. "If there's a better celluloid expression of ordinary American freedom than Ferris Bueller's Day Off, I have yet to see it. If you could take one day and do absolutely anything, piling into a convertible with your best girl and your best friend and taking in a baseball game, an art museum, and a fine meal seems about as good as it gets," wrote Hemingway.[55]

text: Others were less enamored with Ferris, many taking issue with the film's "rebel without a cause" hedonism. David Denby of New York Magazine, called the film "a nauseating distillation of the slack, greedy side of Reaganism."[56] Author Christina Lee agreed, adding it was a “splendidly ridiculous exercise in unadulterated indulgence,” and the film “encapsulated the Reagan era's near solipsist worldview and insatiable appetite for immediate gratification—of living in and for the moment....”[57] Gene Siskel panned the film from a Chicago-centric perspective saying “Ferris Bueller doesn't do anything much fun ... [t]hey don't even sit in the bleachers where all the kids like to sit when they go to Cubs games.”[58] Siskel did enjoy the chemistry between Jennifer Grey and Charlie Sheen. Ebert thought Siskel was too eager to find flaws in the film's view of Chicago.[58]

text: Accolades[edit]

text: Broderick was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 1986 for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

text: Box office[edit]

text: The film opened in 1,330 theaters in the United States and had a total weekend gross of $6,275,647, opening at #2. Ferris Bueller's Day Off's total gross in the United States was approximately $70,136,369, making it a box office success.[1] It subsequently became the 10th-highest-grossing film of 1986.[59]

text: Rankings[edit]

text: As an influential and popular film, Ferris Bueller's Day Off has been included in many film rating lists. The film is number 54 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies", came 26th in the British 50 Greatest Comedy Films and ranked number 10 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the "50 Best High School Movies".[60]

text: Cultural impact[edit]

text: First Lady Barbara Bush paraphrased the film in her 1990 commencement address at Wellesley College: "Find the joy in life, because as Ferris Bueller said on his day off, 'Life moves pretty fast; if you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it!'" Responding to the audience's enthusiastic applause, she added "I'm not going to tell George ya clapped more for Ferris than ya clapped for George."[61]

text: Other phrases from Ferris Bueller's Day Off such as Stein's nasally-voiced "Bueller? ...Bueller? ...Bueller?" (while taking roll call in class), and "Anyone? Anyone?" (trying to probe the students for answers) as well as Kristy Swanson's cheerful "No problem whatsoever!" also permeated popular culture.[62] In fact, Stein's monotone performance launched his acting career.[63] In 2016, Stein reprised the attendance scene in a campaign ad[64] for Iowa Senator Charles Grassley; Stein intoned the last name of Grassley's opponent (Patty Judge), to silence, while facts about her missed votes and absences from state board meetings were listed. Stein then calls out "Grassley," which gets a response; Stein mutters, "He's always here."[65]

text: Broderick said of the Ferris Bueller role, "It eclipsed everything, I should admit, and to some degree it still does."[5] Later at the 2010 Oscar tribute to Hughes, he said, "For the past 25 years, nearly every day someone comes up to me, taps me on the shoulder and says, 'Hey, Ferris, is this your day off?'"[66]

text: Ruck says that with Cameron Frye, Hughes gave him "the best part I ever had in a movie, and any success that I've had since 1985 is because he took a big chance on me. I'll be forever grateful."[67] "While we were making the movie, I just knew I had a really good part", Ruck says. "My realization of John's impact on the teen-comedy genre crept in sometime later. Teen comedies tend to dwell on the ridiculous, as a rule. It's always the preoccupation with sex and the self-involvement, and we kind of hold the kids up for ridicule in a way. Hughes added this element of dignity. He was an advocate for teenagers as complete human beings, and he honored their hopes and their dreams. That's what you see in his movies."[67]

text: Broderick starred in a television advertisement prepared by Honda promoting its CR-V for the 2012 Super Bowl XLVI. The ad pays homage to Ferris Bueller, featuring Broderick (as himself) faking illness to skip out of work to enjoy sightseeing around Los Angeles. Several elements, such as the use of the song "Oh Yeah", and a valet monotonously calling for "Broderick... Broderick...", appear in the ad. A teaser for the ad had appeared two weeks prior to the Super Bowl, which had created rumors of a possible film sequel.[68] It was produced by Santa Monica-based RPA and directed by Todd Phillips.[69] AdWeek's Tim Nudd called the ad "a great homage to the original 1986 film, with Broderick this time calling in sick to a film shoot and enjoying another day of slacking."[69] On the other hand, Jalopnik's Matt Hardigree called the spot "sacrilegious".[70][71]

text: In March 2017, Domino's Pizza began an advertising campaign parodying the film, featuring actor Joe Keery in the lead role.[72]

text: Music[edit]

text:
Yello – Oh Yeah excerpt

An excerpt from "Oh Yeah"

Problems playing this file? See media help.

text: The film's influence in popular culture extends beyond the film itself to how musical elements of the film have been received as well, for example, Yello's song "Oh Yeah". As Jonathan Bernstein explains, "Never a hit, this slice of Swiss-made tomfoolery with its varispeed vocal effects and driving percussion was first used by John Hughes to illustrate the mouthwatering must-haveness of Cameron's dad's Ferrari. Since then, it has become synonymous with avarice. Every time a movie, TV show or commercial wants to underline the jaw-dropping impact of a hot babe or sleek auto, that synth-drum starts popping and that deep voice rumbles, 'Oh yeah . . .'"[74] Concerning the influence of another song used in the film, Roz Kaveney writes that some "of the finest moments in later teen film draw on Ferris's blithe Dionysian fervour — the elaborate courtship by song in 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) draws usefully on the "Twist and Shout" sequence in Ferris Bueller's Day Off".[75]

text: The bands Save Ferris and Rooney were named in allusion to Ferris Bueller's Day Off.[76][self-published source][77]

text: "Twist and Shout" charted again, 16 years after the Beatles broke up, as a result of its prominent appearance in both this film and Back To School (where Rodney Dangerfield performs a cover version) which was released the same weekend as Ferris Bueller's Day Off. The re-released single reached #23 in the U.S; a US-only compilation album containing the track The Early Beatles, re-entered the album charts at #197. The version heard in the film includes brass overdubbed onto the Beatles' original recording, which did not go down well with Paul McCartney. "I liked [the] film but they overdubbed some lousy brass on the stuff! If it had needed brass, we'd had stuck it on ourselves!"[73] Upon hearing McCartney's reaction, Hughes felt bad for "offend[ing] a Beatle. But it wasn't really part of the song. We saw a band [onscreen] and we needed to hear the instruments."[13]

text: Sequel[edit]

text: Broderick and Hughes stayed in touch for a while after production. "We thought about a sequel to Ferris Bueller, where he'd be in college or at his first job, and the same kind of things would happen again. But neither of us found a very exciting hook to that. The movie is about a singular time in your life."[44] "Ferris Bueller is about the week before you leave school, it's about the end of school—in some way, it doesn't have a sequel. It's a little moment and it's a lightning flash in your life. I mean, you could try to repeat it in college or something but it's a time that you don't keep. So that's partly why I think we couldn't think of another", Broderick added. "But just for fun", said Ruck, "I used to think why don't they wait until Matthew and I are in our seventies and do Ferris Bueller Returns and have Cameron be in a nursing home. He doesn't really need to be there, but he just decided his life is over, so he committed himself to a nursing home. And Ferris comes and breaks him out. And they go to, like, a titty bar and all this ridiculous stuff happens. And then, at the end of the movie, Cameron dies."[5]

text: Academic analysis[edit]

text: Many scholars have discussed at length the film's depiction of academia and youth culture. For Martin Morse Wooster, the film "portrayed teachers as humorless buffoons whose only function was to prevent teenagers from having a good time".[78] Regarding not specifically teachers, but rather a type of adult characterization in general, Art Silverblatt asserts that the "adults in Ferris Bueller's Day Off are irrelevant and impotent. Ferris's nemesis, the school disciplinarian, Mr. Rooney, is obsessed with 'getting Bueller.' His obsession emerges from envy. Strangely, Ferris serves as Rooney's role model, as he clearly possesses the imagination and power that Rooney lacks. ... By capturing and disempowering Ferris, Rooney hopes to ... reduce Ferris's influence over other students, which would reestablish adults, that is, Rooney, as traditional authority figures."[79] Nevertheless, Silverblatt concludes that "Rooney is essentially a comedic figure, whose bumbling attempts to discipline Ferris are a primary source of humor in the film".[79] Thomas Patrick Doherty writes that "the adult villains in teenpics such as ... Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) are overdrawn caricatures, no real threat; they're played for laughs".[80] Yet Silverblatt also remarks that casting "the principal as a comic figure questions the competence of adults to provide young people with effective direction—indeed, the value of adulthood itself".[79]

text: Adults are not the stars or main characters of the film, and Roz Kaveney notes that what "Ferris Bueller brings to the teen genre, ultimately, is a sense of how it is possible to be cool and popular without being rich or a sports hero. Unlike the heroes of Weird Science, Ferris is computer savvy without being a nerd or a geek — it is a skill he has taken the trouble to learn."[81]

text: In 2010, English comedian Dan Willis performed his show "Ferris Bueller's Way Of..." at the Edinburgh Festival, delving into the philosophy of the movie and looking for life answers within.[82]

text: Home media[edit]

text: The film was first released on VHS and Laserdisc in 1987, and then re-released on VHS in 1996. The film has been released on DVD three times; including the original DVD release October 19, 1999, the Bueller... Bueller edition January 2006, and the I Love the '80s edition August 19, 2008.[83] The original DVD, like most Paramount Pictures films released on DVD for the first time, has very few bonus features, but it does feature a commentary by Hughes. Though this is no longer available for sale, the director's commentary is available here.[84] The Bueller... Bueller re-release has several more bonus features, but does not contain the commentary track of the original DVD release. The I Love the '80s edition is identical to the first DVD release (no features aside from commentary), but includes a bonus CD with songs from the 1980s. The songs are not featured in the film. The Bueller... Bueller edition has multiple bonus features such as interviews with the cast and crew, along with a clip of Stein's commentaries on the film's philosophy and impact. The Blu-ray Disc release (which is a part of the Bueller... Bueller edition, with the same bonus material) was first released on May 5, 2009. A 25th anniversary edition for DVD and Blu-ray were both released on August 2, 2011.[83]

text: Television series[edit]

text: In 1990, a series called Ferris Bueller started for NBC, starring Charlie Schlatter as Ferris Bueller, Jennifer Aniston as Jeanie Bueller[85], and Ami Dolenz as Sloane Peterson. The series served as a prequel to the film. In the pilot episode, the audience sees Schlatter cutting up a cardboard cutout of Matthew Broderick, saying that he hated Broderick's performance as him. It was produced by Maysh, Ltd. Productions in association with Paramount Television. In part because of competition of the similar series on the Fox Television Network, Parker Lewis Can't Lose,[86] the series was canceled after the first thirteen episodes aired. Both Schlatter and Aniston later had success on other TV shows, Schlatter on Diagnosis: Murder and Aniston on Friends.


document_title: Their Eyes Were Watching God

question_text: who was the main character in their eyes were watching god

text: Their Eyes Were Watching God

text: Historical context[edit]

text: Racial Climate in the Early 1900s[edit]

text: With legislation like the Jim Crow laws, enacted from 1890 to 1910, many African-Americans were disfranchised. Groups like the Ku Klux Klan terrorized black citizens, leading to the steady decline of African-American political representation. Tenant farming and sharecropping systems constituted the de facto re-enslavement of African Americans in the South, where Hurston's novel is based.[4]

text: Racism was gaining legitimacy in the decades leading up to Hurston's writing of Their Eyes Were Watching God. Baptist preacher Thomas Dixon, Jr. wrote The Leopard's Spots: A Romance of the White Man's Burden in 1902, asserting white supremacy amidst supposed African-American evil and corruption. The book was so popular that Dixon wrote a trilogy. His second novel, The Clansman, was adapted for the silent film The Birth of a Nation, portraying African-American men in an unintelligent, sexually aggressive light (1915).[4] During the Harlem Renaissance, African-American writers were urged to write toward an Uplift program, to improve the image of African-Americans in society.[5]

text: Hurston, Racial Uplift, and the Harlem Renaissance[edit]

text: Where many of her fellow writers were participating first in W. E. B. Du Bois' Uplift agenda and, later, in the Harlem Renaissance, Hurston refused to comply. The renaissance was meant to be a liberating response to the restrictive standards of the Racial Uplift program, encouraging writers and artists to expose racist oppression in American society. In an essay by Nick Aaron Ford, Hurston is quoted to have to said, "Many Negroes criticise my book, because I did not make it a lecture on the race problem."[6] When asked why she chose not to comment on the race problem in her novel, Hurston replied, "Because I was writing a novel and not a treatise on sociology. [...] I have ceased to think in terms of race; I think only in terms of individuals. I am interested in you now, not as a Negro man but as a man. I am not interested in the race problem, but I am interested in the problems of individuals, white ones and black ones."[6]

text: Similar to Hurston, Wallace Thurman rejected both the traditional Uplift politics and the agenda of the "New Negro".[7] He organized a group of authors including Hurston to create their own magazine, FIRE!!, that would publish the African-American experience without any filters or censors. Hurston's contributions, like Their Eyes Were Watching God, used vernacular southern African-American English. Hurston viewed her work as distinct from the work of fellow Harlem Renaissance writers she described as the "sobbing school of Negrohood" that portrayed the lives of black people as constantly miserable, downtrodden and deprived.[8] Instead, Hurston celebrated the rural, southern African-American communities as she found them. In addition, Hurston refused to censor women's sexuality, writing in beautiful innuendo to embrace the physical dimension of her main character's romances. Completely rejecting the Uplift agenda, the magazine also included homoerotic work as well as portrayals of prostitution.[9] Foreshadowing the African-American community's response to Their Eyes Were Watching God, FIRE!! sold very poorly and was condemned as maligning the image of the community. A Baltimore Afro-American reviewer wrote that he "just tossed the first issue of FIRE!! into the fire".[10]

text: Plot synopsis[edit]

text: The main character Janie Crawford, an African-American woman in her early forties, tells the story of her life to her best friend Pheoby Watson through an extended flashback. Readers receive the story of her life in three major periods corresponding to her marriages to three very different men.

text: The flashback in the book begins with Janie's sexual awakening which she compares to a pear blossom in spring. Not long after, Janie allows a local boy, Johnny Taylor, to kiss her, which Janie's grandmother, Nanny, witnesses.

text: Nanny is an elderly woman who, as a slave, was raped by her owner and gave birth to a mixed-race daughter Leafy. Nanny escaped from her jealous mistress and found a good home after the end of the American Civil War. Nanny tried to create a good life for her daughter, but Leafy was raped by her school teacher and became pregnant with Janie. Shortly after Janie's birth, Leafy began to drink and stay out at night. Eventually, she ran away, leaving her daughter Janie with Nanny.

text: Nanny, afraid Janie's life may follow Leafy's or her own, transfers all the hopes she had for Leafy to Janie and arranges for Janie to marry Logan Killicks, an older farmer looking for a wife. Although Janie is not interested in either Logan or marriage, her grandmother wants her to have the stability she never had; legal marriage to Killicks, Nanny believes, will give Janie opportunities. Nanny feels that Janie will be unable to take care of herself, so she must marry a man who will take care of her.[11] Janie marries Logan Killicks.

text: Janie's image of the pear tree causes her to imagine that marriage must involve love—in Janie's pear tree scene, she sees bees pollinating a pear tree and believes that marriage is the human equivalent to this natural process. However, Killicks wants a domestic helper rather than a lover or partner; he thinks Janie does not do enough around the farm and that she is ungrateful. Janie speaks to Nanny about how she feels, but Nanny, too, accuses her of being spoiled. And so, Janie's idea of the pear tree is tarnished. Soon afterward, Nanny dies.

text: Unhappy, disillusioned, and lonely, Janie chooses to leave Killicks and runs off with the glib Jody (Joe) Starks, who takes her to Eatonville, Florida. Finding the small town residents unambitious, Starks arranges to buy more land, establishes a general store which he has built by local residents, and is soon elected as mayor of the town. Janie soon realises that Starks wants her as a trophy wife, to reinforce his powerful position in town. He asks her to run the store, but forbids her from participating in the substantial social life that occurs on the store's front porch. He treats her as his property, controlling what she wears and says, and criticizes her mistakes. He also begins to strike her occasionally. As time passes, he teases her in public about being old, even though she is only in her thirties.

text: Eventually, she cannot bear it and snaps back at Joe to look at himself. Starks hits her as hard as he can. Later, he gets sick, and refuses to let Janie see him. He does not realize that he has a failing kidney, a likely fatal illness. When Janie learns that he might die, she goes to talk to him. She tells him who she really is and says that he never knew because he would not let her be free.

text: After Starks dies, Janie becomes financially independent through his estate. She is beset with suitors, some of whom are men of some means or have prestigious occupations, and all of whom she turns down. She meets a young drifter and gambler named Vergible Woods who goes by the name "Tea Cake". Tea Cake plays the guitar for her and initially treats her with kindness and respect. At first Janie is doubtful of his affections, as she is older and has wealth, but eventually falls in love with him.

text: Deciding to run away with him, Janie has a friend look after the store, and the two head to Jacksonville to marry. They move to the Everglades region ("the muck") where they find work planting and harvesting beans. While their relationship has its ups and downs, including mutual bouts of jealousy and an episode in which Tea Cake whips Janie in order to demonstrate his possession of her, Janie realizes she now has the marriage with love that she's always wanted; her image of the pear tree blossom is revived.

text: However, the area is hit by the great Okeechobee hurricane, and in the chaos of surviving, Tea Cake is bitten by a rabid dog while saving Janie from drowning, and he contracts the disease. While the disease runs its course, he becomes increasingly jealous and unpredictable despite Janie's best efforts. He ultimately tries to shoot Janie with his pistol, and she is forced to shoot him first with a rifle in self-defense. She is charged with murder.

text: At the trial, Tea Cake's black male friends show up to oppose her, but a group of local white women arrive to support Janie. The all-white jury acquits Janie, and she gives Tea Cake a lavish funeral. Tea Cake's friends are apologetic and forgive her, wanting her to remain in the Everglades. However, she decides to return to Eatonville.

text: As she expected, the residents gossip about her when she arrives back in town. The story ends where it started, and Janie finishes telling her story to Pheoby.

text: Themes[edit]

text: Gender Roles[edit]

text: The novel explores traditional gender roles and the relationship between men and women. Nanny believes that Janie should marry a man not for love but for 'protection'.[12] Janie's first two husbands: Logan Killicks and Jody Starks both believe Janie should be defined by her marriage to them. Both men want her to be domesticated and silent. Her speech, or silence, is defined by her physical locations, most often. For example, Joe forces her silence in the store, a public—and therefore, male—space. Joe says, "...Muh wife don't know nothin' bout no speech-makin'. Ah never married her for nothin' lak dat. She's uh woman and her place is in de home."[13] Janie is also forbidden from socialising with the men on the porch. Her place is seen as in the home and not out on the porch, a public space which can be defined as male. Tea Cake is Janie's last husband who treats her as more of an equal than Killicks and Starks did, by talking to her and playing checkers with her. Despite his equal treatment in the beginning, Tea Cake does hit Janie in order to show his possession over her. Thus, Janie's life seems defined by her relation to male-centric spaces.

text: Liberated Woman[edit]

text: Janie is searching for her own identity throughout the novel. She is seen as separated from the other women in the novel who follow the traditions in place and do not find a life independent of men. Janie's womanliness is a source of jealousy for both Starks and Tea Cake who shame her for her looks. Starks orders Janie to cover her hair as other men found it a source of attraction. Similarly, Tea Cake is conscious of Janie's lighter skin and her appeal to Mrs. Turner's brother. Janie finds her independence as a woman after the death of Tea Cake. She returns to Eatonville with her hair down and she sits on her own porch chatting with her friend Pheoby. She has overcome the traditional roles of a woman by the end of the novel, thereby cultivating an image of the "liberated black woman."[14]

text: Value of Women in a Relationship[edit]

text: Throughout the novel, Hurston vividly displays how African American women are valued, or devalued, in their marital relationships. By doing so, she takes the reader on a journey through Janie's life and her marriages. Janie formed her initial idea of marriage off the image of unity she witnessed between a pear tree and a bee. This image and expectation sets Janie up for disappointment when it finally came time to marry. From her marriage to Logan Killicks to Tea Cake, Janie was forced to acknowledge where she stood as a female in her relationship.

text: Starting with her marriage to Logan, Janie was put in a place where she was expected to work. On top of all the physical labor expected from her, Janie endured physical beatings from her male counterpart. Hoping for more value, Janie decides to leave Logan and run off with Joe Starks. However, in reaction to this decision, she's only faced with more beating and devaluement. Joe expected her stay in the home, work in the kitchen, and when she was in public, Janie was expected to cover her hair and avoid conversation with the locals. With one last hope, Janie engaged in a marriage with Tea Cake, a much younger soul, and things finally seemed to look up for her, even though she was still expected to help in the fields and tend to her womanly duties. Overall, throughout her marriages, Janie experienced the hardships that most African American women went through at that time. From the physical labor to the physical beatings, Janie was presented with the life that a woman was expected to live. [See detailed argument and synopsis in Addison Gayle, Jr.'s article, "The Outsider"[15]]

text: Voice and Language[edit]

text: Janie is the narrator and protagonist of her own story. She spends the novel seeking a voice for herself which she achieves in the end of her story. Later in her life, Janie is able to sit on her own porch and chat just like the men. Throughout the novel, there is a strong use of dialect and colloquial language which reiterates that this is a story of a black woman from the South.

text: Race[edit]

text: While the novel is written about black people in the South, it is not primarily a book about racism. Nanny is the first character to mention the notion of slavery. "Ah was born back due in slavery so it wasn't for me to fulfil my dreams of whut a woman oughta be and to do. Dat's one of de hold-backs of slavery."[16] The novel, while mentioning the issue of racism between the white and black communities, depicts the treatment of minorities within the black community. Starks is compared to as the master of the plantation due to his huge house in the centre of the town. "The rest of town looked like servants' quarters surrounding the 'big house'.[17] Starks becomes a figure of authority in the town due to his access to money and his determination to create the first black town. However his plans of creating a town in which blacks can live as equals creates a hierarchy between the townsfolk. "Us talks about de white man keepin' us down! Shucks! He don't have tuh. Us keeps our own selves down."[18] The divide between the black community is not only seen in Eatonville. When Janie marries Tea Cake and moves to the Everglades she becomes friendly with a woman named Mrs. Turner. Mrs. Turner compliments Janie on her light skin and her Caucasian features. She disagrees with Janie's marriage to Tea Cake, since he is darker skinned with more African features. Mrs. Turner tries to get Janie to leave Tea Cake and marry her brother, Mr. Turner. This results in Tea Cake's jealousy and distrust of Mrs. and Mr. Turner.

text: Inspirations and influences[edit]

text: Perhaps the strongest inspiration for Hurston's writing of Their Eyes Were Watching God was her former lover Percival Punter.[19] Hurston writes in her autobiography that the romance between Janie and Tea Cake was inspired by a tumultuous love affair. She described falling in love with the man as "a parachute jump".[20] Like Janie in the novel, Hurston was significantly older than her lover. Like Tea Cake, Punter was sexually dominant and sometimes violent.[21] Hurston wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God three weeks after the tumultuous conclusion of her relationship with Punter. She wrote in her autobiography that she had "tried to embalm all the tenderness of [her] passion for him."[22] With this emotional inspiration, Hurston went on to paint the picture of Their Eyes Were Watching God using her personal experience and research as a template.

text: In 1927, a decade before writing Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston traveled south to collect folk songs and folk tales through an anthropological research fellowship arranged by her Barnard College mentor Franz Boas.[23] The all-black Eatonville of Their Eyes Were Watching God is based on the all-black town of the same name in which Hurston grew up. The town's weekly announced in 1889, "Colored People of the United States: Solve the great race problem by securing a home in Eatonville, Florida, a Negro city governed by negroes."[24] The hurricane that symbolizes the climax of Hurston's story also has an historical inspiration; in 1928, "a hurricane ravaged both coastal and inland areas of Florida, bringing torrential rains that broke the dikes of Lake Okeechobee".[25] Scholars of the African diaspora note the cultural practices common to the Caribbean, Africa, and the United States in Their Eyes Were Watching God.[26]

text: Hurston wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God while on a Guggenheim Fellowship in Haiti to research Obeah practices in the West Indies.[27]

text: Reception[edit]

text: Initial reception[edit]

text: Hurston's political views in Their Eyes Were Watching God were met with resistance from several leading Harlem Renaissance authors.

text: Novelist and essayist Richard Wright condemned Their Eyes Were Watching God, writing in a review for New Masses (1935):

text: Miss Hurston seems to have no desire whatsoever to move in the direction of serious fiction… [She] can write; but her prose is cloaked in that facile sensuality that has dogged Negro expression since the days of Phyllis Wheatley... Her characters eat and laugh and cry and work and kill; they swing like a pendulum eternally in that safe and narrow orbit in which America likes to see the Negro live: between laughter and tears.[28]

text: Ralph Ellison said the book contained a "blight of calculated burlesque."[29]

text: Alain Locke writes in a review: "when will the Negro novelist of maturity, who knows how to tell a story convincingly—which is Miss Hurston's cradle gift, come to grips with motive fiction and social document fiction?"[30]

text: The New Republic's Otis Ferguson wrote: "it isn't that this novel is bad, but that it deserves to be better". But he went on to praise the work for depicting "Negro life in its naturally creative and unselfconscious grace".[31]

text: Not all African-American critics had negative things to say about Hurston's work. Carter G. Woodson, founder of The Journal of Negro History wrote, "Their Eyes Were Watching God is a gripping story... the author deserves great praise for the skill and effectiveness shown in the writing of this book." The critic noted Hurston's anthropological approach to writing, "She studied them until she thoroughly understood the working of their minds, learned to speak their language".[32]

text: Meanwhile, reviews of Hurston's book in the mainstream white press were largely positive, although they did not translate into significant retail sales. Writing for The New York Times, Ralph Thompson states: "the normal life of Negroes in the South today—the life with its holdovers from slave times, its social difficulties, childish excitements, and endless exuberances... compared to this sort of story, the ordinary narratives of Negroes in Harlem or Birmingham seem ordinary indeed."[33]

text: For the New York Herald Tribune, Sheila Hibben described Hurston as writing "with her head as with her heart" creating a "warm, vibrant touch". She praised Their Eyes Were Watching God as filled with "a flashing, gleaming riot of black people, with a limitless sense of humor, and a wild, strange sadness".[34]

text: New York Times critic Lucille Tompkins described Their Eyes Were Watching God: "It is about Negroes... but really it is about every one, or at least every one who isn't so civilized that he has lost the capacity for glory."[35]

text: Rediscovery[edit]

text: As universities across the country developed Black Studies programs in the 1970s and 1980s, they created greater space for Black literature and academia. Several prominent academics, including Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Addison Gayle, Jr., established a new "Black Aesthetic" that "placed the sources of contemporary black literature and culture in the communal music and oral folk tradition".[36] This new respect coupled with a growing Black feminism led by Mary Helen Washington, Audre Lorde, Alice Walker, and others would create the space for the rediscovery of Hurston.[36]

text: Hurston first achieved a level of mainstream institutional support in the 1970s. Walker published an essay, "Looking for Zora," in Ms. magazine in 1975. In that work, she described how the Black community's general rejection of Hurston was like "throwing away a genius". The National Endowment for the Humanities went on to award Robert Hemenway two grants for his work to write Hurston's biography.[37] The 1977 biography was followed in 1978 by the re-issue of Their Eyes Were Watching God.

text: In 1975, the Modern Language Association held a special seminar focusing on Hurston.[37] In 1981 professor Ruth Sheffey of Baltimore's Morgan State University founded the Zora Neale Hurston Society. Hurston had attended the school, then known as Morgan Academy, in 1917.[38]

text: In 1978, Harper and Row leased its rights to Their Eyes Were Watching God to the University of Illinois Press. However, the printing was so profitable that Harper and Row refused to renew the leasing contract and instead reprinted its own new edition.[37] This new edition sold its total print of 75,000 in less than a month.[39]

text: The New York Times's Virginia Heffernan explains that the book's "narrative technique, which is heavy on free-indirect discourse, lent itself to poststructuralist analysis".[40] With so many new disciplines especially open to the themes and content of Hurston's work, Their Eyes Were Watching God achieved growing prominence in the last several decades. It is now firmly established in the literary canon.[36]

text: Critical analysis[edit]

text:
In Maria J. Johnson's article "'The World in a Jug and the Stopper in [Her] Hand': Their Eyes Were Watching God as Blues Performance," she states that Hurston's novel takes a similar structure and aesthetic to blues culture. Johnson also shows how the contrast of Hurston's images, such as the pleasure and pain dynamic of the bee, can be seen in songs by singers like Bessie Smith.[41]
The article "The Cognitive Construction of the Self in Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God", by Patrick S. Bernard,[42] highlights the connection between the construction of self and cognition in Hurston's novel. According to Bernard, cognition is the inner essence of an individual that embodies the idea of "thinking, seeing, speaking, and knowing", but is often determined by one's exterior environment. Janie, the protagonist, uses her cognitive skills in order to find her identity and throughout the novel develops her cognition further. While Janie is living in a sexist society, she continues to rise above her opposition, specifically that of her three husbands. Bernard demonstrates this,

text: In a conversation with Jody, Janie defends 'womenfolk,' disagreeing with the sexist claim that God made men "different" because they turn "out so smart" (70). When she states that men "don't know half as much as you think you do," Jody interrupts her saying, 'you getting too moufy Janie... Go fetch me de checker-board and de checkers' (70-71) so that he and the other men could play (Bernard 9).

text: In "The Hierarchy Itself: Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God and the Sacrifice of Narrative Authority," Ryan Simmons argues that Hurston made a statement against models of authority that supplant an oppressive system with other oppressive systems and offered an alternative. By models of authority, Simmons means the narrative voice of the author and Janie's narrative voice. Hurston represented the different ideologies of Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois through the characters of Logan Killicks and Joe ("Jody") Starks. Like Washington, Logan models the path of "gradual progress" that would not threaten the white-dominated sphere of power and Hurston presents his practices as a tradeoff between liberty and modest prosperity. Joe models the path advocated by Du Bois, which is one of assertion of dignity and less compromise. However, the issue shown by Joe's eventual isolation from the community dialogue he helped establish and Janie's overpowering of him through a usurpation of authority, Hurston shows that the weakness with Joe's approach is that it mirrors that of white suppression.

text: Instead, Hurston introduces a third way of achieving self-autonomy through Tea Cake. He represents an independence from reliance on communal validation, and instead serves as a mirror for Janie to discover her narrative power. In relation to the author's narrative power, Tea Cake is the epitome of a good reader, one that is receptive to the transformative message of the text. Language is the understanding and sharpening of one's identity while communication comes second. In Hurston's innovative narrative, she is attempting to fulfill the "ideal narrative", which is one that nurtures and changes both the reader and the author.[43]

text: Adaptations for theater, film and radio[edit]

text:
In 1983, the graduate repertory Hilberry Theater at Wayne State University produced To Gleam It Around, To Show My Shine, which is based on Their Eyes Were Watching God. The play was written by Bonnie Lee Moss Rattner and directed by Von Washington.[citation needed]
In 1988, To Gleam It Around, To Show My Shine was produced by the Crossroads Theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The production was enhanced by an award from The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' Fund for New American Plays. Denise Nicholas played Janie, Novella Nelson played Pheoby. Rick Khan directed. Writing in The New York Times on October 16, 1988, in a review entitled "Luminous' Drama On Black Woman's Struggle", Alvin Klein said, of "the dialogue that is so pure and lyrical, it positively sings and pierces the heart. Out of an unutterably beautiful book, a luminous play has evolved."[citation needed]
In 2003, To Gleam It Around, To Show My Shine a.k.a. Eatonville was to have opened at the ATA (American Theatre for Actors) in co-production with Amas Musical Theatre and Sage Hill Productions, with a score composed by Wynton Marsalis. (see "Wynton Marsalis Pens Music for Rattner's 'Eatonville'", Playbill, August 21, 2003.)
In 2012, the new artistic director of the State Theater of Maryland, the Centerstage in Baltimore, chose to produce "Gleam" a.k.a. "To Gleam It Around, To Show My Shine" written by Bonnie Lee Moss Rattner. The play was directed by Marion McClinton. The production was enhanced by a grant of $55,000 from the National Endowment of the Arts. Writing in "DC Theatre Scene," Debbie Jackson says "Gleam hits a glorious stride at the Centerstage in Baltimore mainly because of the well-tuned script by Bonnie Lee Moss Rattner in the capable hands of director Marion McClinton."[January 18, 2012] Andrea Appleton writing in the "Citypaper" on 1/20/2012, wrote a headline that states "Gleam: A classic novel comes to breathtaking life." Donna Owen writing in Grio [1/18/2012] says GLEAM "practically leaps off the stage with power, witty dialect, and poignancy."
Oprah Winfrey served as executive producer of the made-for-TV adaptation Their Eyes Were Watching God in 2005. Harpo Productions sponsored the film directed by Darnell Martin and with a screenplay written by Suzan-Lori Parks, Misan Sagay, and Bobby Smith, Jr. The show was broadcast on ABC on March 6, 2005, at 9 pm. Catering to its TV audience, the film largely avoided the more controversial themes of race, gender, and power. Karen Valby of Entertainment Weekly comments, "While the book chews on meaty questions of race and identity, the movie largely resigns itself to the realm of sudsy romance."[44] New York Times critic Virginia Heffernan writes, "the film is less a literary tribute than a visual fix of Harlequin Romance: Black Southern Series—all sensual soft-core scenes and contemporary, accessible language."[45]
In 2011, the novel was adapted into a radio play for BBC World Drama, dramatized by Patricia Cumper. The play first aired on February 19, 2011.[46]
In 2012, a live radio play performance of Their Eyes Were Watching God written by Arthur Yorinks was broadcast on February 29 and March 1 to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the book's publication.[47]

text: Notes[edit]

text:
Jump up ^ National Endowment for the Arts website.
Jump up ^ Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Zora Neale Hurston: Critical Perspectives Past and Present (New York: Amistad, 1993), p. xi.
Jump up ^ "All Time 100 Novels". Time. October 16, 2005.
^ Jump up to: a b ↑ King. The Cambridge Introduction to Zora Neale Hurston, p. 20.
Jump up ^ The Crisis, Vol. 32, October 1926: pp. 290–297.
^ Jump up to: a b Bloom, Harold (1986). Modern Critical Views: Zora Neale Hurston. New York: Chelsea House Publishers. p. 8. ISBN 0-87754-627-4.
Jump up ^ King. The Cambridge Introduction to Zora Neale Hurston. p. 28.
Jump up ^ Bray, Rosemary L. "Renaissance for a Pioneer of Black Pride". New York Times, 02 09, 1990.
Jump up ^ King. The Cambridge Introduction to Zora Neale Hurston. p. 29.
Jump up ^ Baltimore Afro-American review, cited in Harris, E. "Renaissance Men." The Advocate, 07 11, 2008.
Jump up ^ "Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston". Plot Summary, Book Notes, Summary. BookRags.com. 18 Aug 2010.
Jump up ^ Hurston, Zora (1937). Their Eyes Were Watching God. USA: University of Illinois Press. pp. Page 20.
Jump up ^ Hurston, Zora (1937). Their Eyes Were Watching God. USA: University of Illinois Press. pp. Page 53.
Jump up ^ Bloom, Harold (1986). Modern Critical Views: Zora Neale Hurston. New York: Chelsea House Publishers. pp. 29–33, 40. ISBN 0-87754-627-4.
Jump up ^ Bloom, Harold (1986). Modern Critical Views: Zora Neale Hurston. New York: Chelsea House Publishers. pp. 35–46. ISBN 0-87754-627-4.
Jump up ^ Hurston, Zora (1937). Their Eyes Were Watching God. USA: University of Illinois Press. pp. Page 21.
Jump up ^ Hurston, Zora (1937). Their Eyes Were Watching God. USA: University of Illinois Press. pp. Page 58.
Jump up ^ Hurston, Zora (1937). Their Eyes Were Watching God. USA: University of Illinois Press. pp. Page 48.
Jump up ^ King. The Cambridge Introduction to Zora Neale Hurston. p. 25.
Jump up ^ Hurston, Zora. Dust Tracks on a Road: An Autobiography. New York: J. B. Lippincott, 1942, p. 205. as cited in Bloom, Harrold. Bloom's Guides - Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2009, p. 15.
Jump up ^ Bloom, Bloom's Guides - Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, p. 15.
Jump up ^ Hurston, Dust Tracks on a Road, p. 188. as cited in Bloom, Bloom's Guides - Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, p. 15.
Jump up ^ King, The Cambridge Introduction to Zora Neale Hurston. p. 7.
Jump up ^ The Eatonville Speaker, 1889. cited in Lester, Neal. Understanding Their Eyes Were Watching God. London: The Greenwood Press, 1999, p. 148.
Jump up ^ Bloom, Bloom's Guides - Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. p. 14.
Jump up ^ Wall, Cheryl A. Their Eyes Were Watching God - A Casebook. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. p. 6.
Jump up ^ Miles, Diana. "Diana Miles on Female Identity and Rebirth". Bloom's Guides - Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. Edited by Harrold Bloom. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2009, p. 66.
Jump up ^ Wright, Richard. Review in New Masses, October 5, 1935. cited in Bloom, Bloom's Guides - Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, p. 15.
Jump up ^ Ellison, Ralph. As cited in Burt, Daniel. The Novel 100. Checkmark Books, 2003, p. 366.
Jump up ^ Locke, Alain. Opportunity, 06 01, 1938. (accessed April 18, 2012).
Jump up ^ Ferguson, Otis. The New Republic, 13 October 1937. (accessed April 18, 2012).
Jump up ^ Forrest, Ethel. "Book Reviews" The Journal of Negro History. January 1, 1938. (Accessed April 12, 2012).
Jump up ^ Thompson, Ralph. "Books of the Times." The New York Times. October 6, 1937. accessed March 30, 2012.
Jump up ^ Hibben, Sheila. "Book Review". New York Herald Tribune, 09-26, 1937. As cited in Bloom, Bloom's Guides - Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. p. 16.
Jump up ^ Tompkins, Lucille. "Book Review." The New York Times. September 26, 1937. As cited in King, The Cambridge Introduction to Zora Neale Hurston. p. 113.
^ Jump up to: a b c Spencer, Stephen. "On Hurston's Contribution to the Canon." Bloom's Guides - Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. Edited by Harrold Bloom. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2009, p. 87.
^ Jump up to: a b c Carby, Hazel. "The Politics of Fiction, Anthropology, and the Folk: Zora Neale Hurston." Bloom's Interpretations - Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. Edited by Harrold Bloom. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2008, p. 23.
Jump up ^ Bray, Rosemary L. "Renaissance for a Pioneer of Black Pride." The New York Times, 02 09, 1990.
Jump up ^ Carby, Hazel. "The Politics of Fiction, Anthropology, and the Folk: Zora Neale Hurston." Bloom's Interpretations - Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. Edited by Harrold Bloom. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2008, p. 24.
Jump up ^ Heffernan, Virginia. "A Woman on a Quest, via Hurston and Oprah." The New York Times. March 5, 2005. (accessed April 3, 2012).
Jump up ^ Johnson, Maria J. "'The World in a Jug and the Stopper in [Her] Hand': Their Eyes Were Watching God as Blues Performance". African American Review, 32(3) 1998: 401-414. MLA International Bibliography. EBSCO. October 23, 2012.
Jump up ^ Bernard', Patrick. "The Cognitive Construction of the Self in Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God". Purdue University.
Jump up ^ Simmons, Ryan. "The Hierarchy Itself: Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God and the Sacrifice of Narrative Authority". African American Review 36.2 (Summer 2002): 181-93. Print.
Jump up ^ Valby, Karen. "Review of film Their Eyes Were Watching God." Entertainment Weekly. November 25, 2005. (accessed March 28, 2012).
Jump up ^ Heffernan, Virginia. "A Woman on a Quest, via Hurston and Oprah" The New York Times. March 4, 2005. (accessed April 5, 2012).
Jump up ^ "Their Eyes Were Watching God". BBC World Drama. BBC World Service. 2011. Retrieved February 20, 2011.
Jump up ^ Itzkoff, Dave. "Radio Play of 'Their Eyes Were Watching God' Is Set" The New York Times, February 8, 2012. (accessed March 25, 2012).