Spunk

Spunk is short story about a love triangle in a small village told by a disconnected third person narrator. Lena, who is married to Joe is seen walking into the brush hand in hand with a man named Spunk Banks. This starts gossip in the village store and as luck would have it, Lena's husband Joe walks into the store. As a man named Elijah mocks Joe by saying he is too coward to approach Spunk and get his wife back, Joe storms out of the store headed straight for the brush to attack Spunk and prove his courage. As Joe approaches, Spunk does not hesitate to shoot him dead. Soon after killing Joe and enduring trials, he is set free and Lena stands waiting to greet him as she is still in love with him. One night, soon before Lena and Spunk were going to wed, a black bobcat shows up at the door. This scares Spunk deeply which is out of the ordinary due to his brave repuatation working at the sawmill. Black bobcats are not a common animal in the village and are said to have never been seen before. This leads Spunk to believe that the bobcat was Joe, coming back from the dead to keep him from marrying Lena. Spunk is now frightened to the core for weeks, even his bravery at the sawmill changes and he trembles in fear. Eventually one day Spunk ends up getting into a fatal accident at the mill and before he dies claims that it was Joe, coming back from the dead, and pushing him from behind like the coward he always was.
 * Summary:**

Topics that are discussed and explored in this story are cheating, uncondiotional love, gossip, courage, and vengeance.
 * Topics:**

This story, in my opinion had poor readability/clarity. It takes place in a all black Southern town. The characters in the story speak in what seems to be a think Southern African American accent. It reminded me of when I read huckleberry finn, difficult to read and understand what the characters are trying to say. But I do understand that this sets the tone of the story and makes it more realisitic and also helps to visualize the setting. Little sayings like "Looka theah, folkses!" are hard to interpret. One thing I did enjoy was the theme of this story. I thought the love triangle aspect of it was interesting and also was shocked when Lena still loved Spunk after shooting and killing Joe. My favorite part of this story was the fact that Joe came back for revenge. Even though Spunk killed him, he still wasn't going to let him have the love his life, and he made sure of that. Overall, I liked this story in general, I just didn't really take to the way it was written. But if extensively cultured reading is something that you seek out, I think this would be an excellent choice for you!
 * Evaluation:**

Citation: Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) “Spunk” // Hurston, Zora Neale. “Spunk”. Literature and the Writing Process, // Ed. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X Day, Robert Funk, and Linda Coleman. 9th Edition. Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2009. Print.

= Wiki Part 2 =

__Resources:__

 * Database Resource ** - Information on [|Zora Neale Hurston]

This site gave very good information about Hurston as an author. It explains her background and how where she came from really affected her style of writing. She was a folklore novelists and wrote short stores, novels, and essays. It describes Hurston as "Award-Winning" which proves her credibility and appreciation. It also provides information about the fact that Hurston incorporated real life stories and events into her works of literature and that most black women of that time (1920s) "were writing serious novels of protest and social realism" and Hurston got criticized for embracing her ethnicity and cultural background. This link was very resourceful and gives links to related topics and subjects and Hurston and her work that would be extremely beneficial.

Valentic, Suzanne M. "Zora Neale Hurston: Overview." //Twentieth-Century Young Adult Writers //. Ed. Laura Standley Berger. Detroit: St. James Press, 1994. Twentieth-Century Writers Series. //Literature Resource Center //. Web. 1 Apr. 2015.


 * Internet Resource- **Information on [|"Spunk"]

This source, "Spunk: A Literary Analysis" is a literary analysis and interpretation on Hurstons short story Spunk. It delves into the ideas that both men in the story, Spunk and Joe, are causing their own downfall ball being insensitive and unable to make sacrifices. The idea is that, rather than thinking logically and either Spunk asking Lena to divorce Joe to be with him or for Joe to realize that Lena obviously has a strong desire for Spunk and to just let her go, both men decide to be impulsive which indeed causes both of their downfalls. "However, the inability of both men to sacrifice is what ends up bringing about their deaths. Hence in more that one way, their deaths act as a sacrifice for their inability to make sacrifices." This interpretation makes the reader think more into the fact that what happened between the men and Lena may had nothing to do with Lena at all, but more so about not being able to sacrifice something in order to save your life.

Jones, Sharon. Critical companion to Zora Neale Hurston: a literary reference to her life

and work. Infobase Publishing, 2009.