full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Tanya Boucicaut: Can love and independence coexist?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Baritone thunder. Snarling winds. Consuming downpours. Okeechobee, the drtisusaos hurricane of 1928, tore through the North Atlantic basin, laying waste to entire communities. In Eatonville, fldiora, the storm forced many to flee. But for Janie Crawford, it inspired an utexenpced hocmnmoeig.

Janie’s return bgeins “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” Zora Neale Hurston’s acclaimed novel about a Black woman’s quest for love and agency in a time that sought to dirvepe her of both. When Janie arrives back in eaonvltile, her arrival is shrouded in mystery. Her neighbors and friends are quick to gossip about her reappearance, her facnenis, and most importantly, the whereabouts of her missing husband. But only Janie’s friend Pheoby gets to hear the whole story. Over the course of a conversation that spans most of the novel, Hurston untangles Janie’s life story; from her ctclomapied cdhiolohd and her life in Eatonville, to her scandalous departure and the shocking eenvts that followed.

Open Cloze


Baritone thunder. Snarling winds. Consuming downpours. Okeechobee, the __________ hurricane of 1928, tore through the North Atlantic basin, laying waste to entire communities. In Eatonville, _______, the storm forced many to flee. But for Janie Crawford, it inspired an __________ __________.

Janie’s return ______ “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” Zora Neale Hurston’s acclaimed novel about a Black woman’s quest for love and agency in a time that sought to _______ her of both. When Janie arrives back in __________, her arrival is shrouded in mystery. Her neighbors and friends are quick to gossip about her reappearance, her ________, and most importantly, the whereabouts of her missing husband. But only Janie’s friend Pheoby gets to hear the whole story. Over the course of a conversation that spans most of the novel, Hurston untangles Janie’s life story; from her ___________ _________ and her life in Eatonville, to her scandalous departure and the shocking ______ that followed.

Solution


  1. complicated
  2. deprive
  3. finances
  4. childhood
  5. eatonville
  6. unexpected
  7. events
  8. disastrous
  9. homecoming
  10. florida
  11. begins

Original Text


Baritone thunder. Snarling winds. Consuming downpours. Okeechobee, the disastrous hurricane of 1928, tore through the North Atlantic basin, laying waste to entire communities. In Eatonville, Florida, the storm forced many to flee. But for Janie Crawford, it inspired an unexpected homecoming.

Janie’s return begins “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” Zora Neale Hurston’s acclaimed novel about a Black woman’s quest for love and agency in a time that sought to deprive her of both. When Janie arrives back in Eatonville, her arrival is shrouded in mystery. Her neighbors and friends are quick to gossip about her reappearance, her finances, and most importantly, the whereabouts of her missing husband. But only Janie’s friend Pheoby gets to hear the whole story. Over the course of a conversation that spans most of the novel, Hurston untangles Janie’s life story; from her complicated childhood and her life in Eatonville, to her scandalous departure and the shocking events that followed.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
zora neale 2


Important Words


  1. acclaimed
  2. agency
  3. arrival
  4. arrives
  5. atlantic
  6. baritone
  7. basin
  8. begins
  9. black
  10. childhood
  11. communities
  12. complicated
  13. consuming
  14. conversation
  15. crawford
  16. departure
  17. deprive
  18. disastrous
  19. downpours
  20. eatonville
  21. entire
  22. events
  23. eyes
  24. finances
  25. flee
  26. florida
  27. forced
  28. friend
  29. friends
  30. god
  31. gossip
  32. hear
  33. homecoming
  34. hurricane
  35. hurston
  36. husband
  37. importantly
  38. inspired
  39. janie
  40. laying
  41. life
  42. love
  43. missing
  44. mystery
  45. neale
  46. neighbors
  47. north
  48. okeechobee
  49. pheoby
  50. quest
  51. quick
  52. reappearance
  53. return
  54. scandalous
  55. shocking
  56. shrouded
  57. snarling
  58. sought
  59. spans
  60. storm
  61. story
  62. thunder
  63. time
  64. tore
  65. unexpected
  66. untangles
  67. waste
  68. watching
  69. whereabouts
  70. winds
  71. zora