third post

I was reading and I saw Sam’s name reoccur a lot. I did some research on “http://www.zelo.com/firstnames/findresults.asp?name=Sam&Submit=Find+It” and found out that the meaning of the name Sam is “listener”. I found that ironic because Sam is doing all the talking to Matt. I thought Sam doesn’t do much listening at all but then I realized that he was part of the watchers described in the beginning of the book. Maybe the irony of Sam describes the irony of the watchers. The watchers talk about everything but they know nothing. They make up what they want to hear just to please themselves. The watchers listen all day and talk until its dark. Another meaning of Sam is “God’s name” or “God’s heart”. I found this interesting because Sam is always annoying Matt. “You’se uh stinkin’ lie, Sam”. When you think of God you think of something truthful but because Sam is always teasing Matt, Sam becomes less god-like. I think Hurston does this to make Sam’s character more complex and to emphasize the irony of Sam’s name.

Random thoughts:

Another name I found was Roberts. Roberts is referring to the child that almost got trampled by the mule. Why this is ironic is because Roberts means “bright fame” but Roberts is just a small side character.