“Ah been a delegate to de big ‘ssociation of life. Yessuh! De Grand Lodge, de big convention of livin’ is just where Ah been” (Hurston 6). Janie begins in chapter two to retell her story to Phoeby. She decides to start at the beginning, with her family history,to shows her roots and to give solid ground around her story. Hurston seemingly uses this retelling to show Janie’s journey, from child to adult, which is a hugely spiritual journey. The first section of Janie spiritual journey is seen in chapter two when she experiences love for the first time; “She was stretched on her back beneath the pear tree soaking in the alto chant of the visiting bees, the gold of the soon and the panting of the breeze when the inaudible voice of it all came to her” (10). Janie’s experience with Johnny Taylor puts an end to her innocent childhood, and moves her into a pre-womanhood mindset. Janie has tasted love for the first time, and it becomes something that she quests for a long the steps in her journey. Janie’s journey is also a journey infused with feminist themes combined with black self determination. In the forward, Mary Helan Washington states about Janie that “unlike so many other questing figures in black literature, her journey would take her, not away from, but deeper and deeper into blackness” and that she “was a woman on a quest for her own identity”(ix). This foreshadows that this book will be more about female African American self determination, than the self discrimination seen in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. Janie’s journey will most likely be a search for true love and emotional fulfillment, and I expect Hurston has filled the novel with many facets of this journey, so the reader can watch Janie grow and discover herself.
J. Affel
In the end, Janie ends up killing the man she truly loves, Tea Cake. She then had to go to court to face her fate. I thought it was very weird that the white people gave her more support than the black people who looked down on her. I thought it was odd that the white men found her not guilty so fast. I also thought it odd that the black men thought it was a sure thing that Janie would get off because “uh white man and uh n***** woman is de freest thing on earth. Dey do as dey please.” (Hurston 180). I would think it be twice as hard for a white jury to convict a black woman because there was a strong prejudice against blacks and woman. The ending of the book did not satisfy me at all. It felt very disjointed and had little conclusion. I was happy, though, in the end that Janie found somebody she loved and who, in turn, didn’t treat her that badly. I thought it was unfair that Tea Cakes friends blamed her and tried to hurt her, but she took it gracefully knowing that they loved Tea Cake a whole lot.
-Megan
Chapter 19 ended with Tea Cake’s friends finally acknowledging that Tea Cake’s death was not Janie’s fault, and that she loved him more than anything. She was hurting, and they wanted to help support her. Janie hadn’t minded though because she knew that they “loved Tea cake and didn’t understand”(Hurston 180). But as chapter 20 opens, instead of admitting they were wrong they blamed Tea Cakes’s death and their hatred on Mrs. Turner’s brother. Janie didn’t seem to mind this either, but it bothered me. Janie was in a lot of pain, and they, her only friends, showed hate towards her in her darkest hours. They also changed their attitude for selfish reasons: “because they wanted to think well of themselves, they wanted their hostile attitudes forgotten”(Hurston 181). Instead of thinking of Janie and her battle with grief during this time in her life, they wanted to feel good about themselves. Janie leaves them, but waits a little while “to keep them from feeling bad”(Hurston 182), and goes back to Eatonvillle. The setting goes back to the present when she is talking to her friend Pheoby from the beginning of the book, and she says “Ah’m back home agin and Ah’m satisfied tuh be heah. Ah done been tuh de horizon and back and now Ah kin set heah in mah house and live by comparisons. Dis house ain’t so absent of things lak it used tuh be befo’ Tea Cake come along. It’s full uh thought, ’specially dat bedroom”(Hurston 182). Her house which used to bring memories of Jody, now reminds her of Tea Cake, and comforts her. She has found fulfillment through Tea Cake and their love, and she doesn’t care who knows it. She tells Phoeby to tell the porch talkers her story if they want to hear it, which they almost definitely will. Then she goes up stairs to bed and experiences something wonderful. She plays through the events of Tea Cake’s death in her mind and everything seems to feel with her and sobs. But then Tea Cake appears “prancing around her where she was”(Hurston 183), and all the sadness leaves through the windows. She is immensely comforted, and realizes that Tea Cake is not dead until she no longer exists. She relishes in these thoughts and falls into a world of peace.
The afterword runs through all of Hurston’s accomplishments, and delves into her use of real black culture and artistic ability to compose amazing writing pieces. She was a brilliant anthropologist, and graduated from Barnard. Unfortunately, her writing was looked down upon during her time, with other male black writers such as Richard Wright dominated the black author scene. Her works were not uncovered until much later, and now are admired by writers everywhere.
-Evelyn
Janie’s voice is drowned by the events that occur. Hurston’s use of the language may be genuine, and accurate, but it takes away from the big picture of the novel. In Chapter sixteen, during the off-season for working, Janie becomes good friends with Mrs. Turner. However, through her discussions with the lady, much of what actually occurs outside of their new-found friendship is drowned until the last part of the chapter. The difficulty in the language also adds to this confusion. “[T]he construction of African American identity requires a voice that can make you see, a voice that celebrates the visible presence of black bodies” (Clarke 2). Most definitely the language of the story restricts this view. Sure, the story is readable, and difficult, but the language, especially in the dialogue in chapter 16 and 17, do not paint a clear picture and disinterest the reader.
Another part that Hurston seemed to miss was the show-don’t tell theory. When she attempted to create her setting in the first few chapters the visual was strong and understandable. Yet, as the play continues forward, this visual gets lost in the difficult narration that followed Janie and her accomplices. This hazy setting does not help the retention of knowledge after the story. “Thus to expand ‘what we see’ increases what we know” (Clarke 2). There is no doubting that in Hurston’s novel the ideas and characterization she uses are phenomenal. She certainly “reclaim[s] the visual as a mean of black expression and black power” (Clarke 2), yet this is lost through the tangled web of changing settings, Janie’s emotional stability wavering, and Janie’s search for true love.
Do you believe that Hurston paints a clear picture for the reader (in terms of setting of course)?
Is Janie’s voice “drowned” (no pun intended) during Chapter 16-18? If so, how?
-Chris C.
In chapter 8, Joe Starks experiences the downfall of an antagonist. He serves throughout the beginning as a foil character to Janie’s emotional aspects. His introduction to the novel came with a flourish of new opportunity and emotion, and by the end of his life he had transformed into a structure in Eatonville: sturdy and resolute. However, his stubbornness towards tradition (especially the role of women) made Janie see the inherent flaws within “love.”
The image of Joe at the end of his life symbolizes Janie’s newfound disenchantment with love. At the beginning of their relationship, Joe is portly and somewhat pompous, adding to his image of sturdiness and reliability. However, at his death, Janie “noticed how baggy Joe was getting all over. Like bags hanging from an ironing board” (Hurston 77). These bags, along with other signs of sickness and age, signify his decreasing strength love for Janie.
During the duration of his illness, Janie experiences woe and sorrow for her dying husband. Her increasing unhappiness is personified in Joe’s disease: as she continues to grow more unhappy, he continues to grow ill until their grief is culminated in their argument. Janie finally finds her voice and tells Joe exactly how she feels by saying “You done lived with me for twenty years and you don’t half know me atall. And you could have but you was so busy worshippin’ de works of yo’ own hands, and cuffin’ folks around in their minds till you didn’t see uh whole heap uh things yuh could have” (Hurston 82). Janie’s discontent with his ignorance towards her comes out, and the negative feelings between the two become fatal.
Joe’s death brings the close of a chapter of Janie’s life. The image of Janie as a “yound girl was gone, but a handsome woman had taken her place” (Hurston 83). Her ordeal with Joe taught Janie that love cannot be taken for granted. While she had loved Joe, and still had a place for him in her heart, his treatment made her learn that not all love was like a bee’s relationship with a flower.
-Sarah Ellen
Voice is an important factor and well known symbol throughout the novel of Their Eyes Were Watching God. When Janie was with Jody and Logan, she never had her own say, her own voice and expression with how she felt. Now that Tea Cake is in her life, everything changes for Janie. Now that Janie is with Tea Cake, she is starting to express herself more and have a new, spiritual look on life. In chapter 13 Tea Cake and Janie get married and show their love with passion. Janie becomes completely in love with Tea Cake and the reader can see how she matures since she and Jody split. After reading chapters 12 through 15, it is evident that speech is significant in this section. “So in the beginnin’ new thoughts had tuh be though and new words said. After Ah got used tuh dat, we gits ‘long just’ fine. He done taught me de maiden language all over” (Hurston, 109). This quote is significant because it is showing the Tea Cake not only inspired Janie’s quest of self, but the quest to find her own voice.
Questions for commenting:
Do you think that Tea Cake is a good influence on Janie?
Do you think Janie has matured since she’s been with Tea Cake?
Has Janie’s voice been found since Tea Cake came into her life?
-Samantha
Early in the novel, the reader realizes that Janie wants to find true love. She does not just want to marry someone because it is what her grandmother wants. Janie wants someone who she really loves and cares for. In her mind, Janie knows what she wants, but she is to naive and “falls in love” with the first person she thinks represents what she wants. She marries Logan because it was arranged by her grandmother. Then, while Logan is out of town, Janie meets Joe Starks, and immediately feels a connection to him. Joe and Janie eventually go off and get married and move to a small town in Florida. Their marriage seems to be great, but every now and then Joe will say something that represents his true feelings. One example of this is when Joe does not allow Janie to make a speech to the town, “Thank yuh fuh yo’ compliments, but mah wife don’t know nothin’ ’bout no speech makin’… She’s uh woman and her place is in de home,” (Hurston 41). It is at this point when Joe takes away Janie’s voice and the reader can see that there will be problems in their marriage. In chapter six however, Joe and Janie begin to fight and their marriage becomes terribly strained, “The spirit of their marriage had left the bedroom and took to living in the parlor,” (67). This quote demonstrates how Joe and Janie are losing their love for each other and that any interaction they have with each other now exist in their store. Joe also becomes increasingly demanding and violent when he feels something is not done right, “So when the bread didn’t rise, and the fish wasn’t quite done at the bone, and the rice was scorched, he slapped Janie until she had a ringing sound in her ears…” (67). After this event, the reader becomes aware Joe is not what Janie thought he was when Hurston writes, “[Janie] had no more blossomy openings dusting pollen over her man, neither any young fruit where the petals used to be,” (68). By making comparisons to nature in a way that do not give off happiness and joy, the reader knows Janie is losing, or has already lost, her love for Joe. Later, at the end of chapter seven, Joe strikes Janie again. This time because they got into an argument about hoe Janie cut a piece of tobacco. After Joe recut the tobacco, Joe and Janie “play the dozens,” this upsets Joe to the point where he hits Janie even harder this time (74-76).
-Is Janie to naive to find her true love, or do you think she will find it by the end of the novel?
-Eamonn
Chapters 3-5
Elements from Chapters 3-5 closely resembled elements from The Great Gatsby. First, Janie seemed to be pursuing her American Dream. This was evident in the fact that she left Logan to be with Joe Starks, a man with grand ambitions. Joe, or later “Jody,” tells Janie that he has come from Georgia with a bunch of money, in pursuit of an up and coming black town to start a new life. Eventually, these dreams of Jody’s engulf Janie, and lead to her leave her unhappy marriage with Logan.
However, just as in The Great Gatsby, Janie never seems to be able to achieve her dreams. Even though she moves to Florida with Jody, she never seems to be completely happy. For example, Janie and Jody get in an argument after Janie is asked to give a speech. Jody says that wives shouldn’t give speeches, and prohibits Janie from doing so. Even though Janie now lives in a big house and is the envy of the town, it seems as if Janie is not completely satisfied with her life, thus strengthening the suggestion that Janie doesn’t/hasn’t achieve the American Dream.
Do you feel as if Janie has achieved the American Dream?
Is there any other connection to The Great Gatsby? Such as the big town light in chapter 5?
Brandon
Jody continually silences Janie through out the story. While he first tries to win her affection, he changes as soon as they marry. Jody begins to boss her around, and treat her much differently. He makes Janie run the store and take on many other obligations. Still, Janie relies on Jody to help her with these duties. He repeatedly holds her back in chapter six. He was “the rock she was battered against” (Hurston 51). He decided “her hair was NOT going to show in the store” (Hurston 51). Janie felt as though “she was there in the store for him to look at…” (Hurston 52). As the story continues, Jody realizes he must cater at least somewhat to Janie’s emotional needs. He does this through allowing a funeral for the yellow mule. Yet “he would rather keep up the appearance of his wife as a perfect lady than indulge her emotions” (Sparknotes.com). He does not care about her emotions, dreams, or desires; he simply wants to keep her silent in order to keep up the appearance of a perfect marriage. Jody’s attitude towards Janie led her to “bury her own desires to the point where she loses sight of them altogether” (Cantarow 30-33).
At the end of chapter six, Janie transcends the reader’s expectations of her as a dominated woman. “Janie did what she had never done before, that is, thrust herself into the conversation” (Hurston 70). She kept quiet about many things so far in the story, and did not want to keep quiet anymore. She didn’t say anything to Jody when he silenced her as the town asked her to make a speech, and she didn’t say anything when Jody told her to tie her hair up while at the store. “Her outburst at the end of the chapter represents an attempt to break out from Jody’s silencing control…” (Sparknotes.com). The end of chapter six leaves the reader with a feeling that this “chapter” of Janie’s life might end soon.
What does everything think will happen next? Will Janie break from Jody and fight out against her silencing? Will this chapter of Janie’s life end soon, or is there more to come?
-Carrie
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, male dominance is clearly represented, especially through Jody Starks. Starks, the “mayor” of the town Janie goes to visit, is represented as domineering and controlling. He not only is those things, but “For all his faults, Joe is not merely what Janie and Hurston define themselves against. He also represents a type of power that, Hurston suggests, must be sacrificed only with regret” (Simmons).
One very important aspect of Jody is his money. Since he has a lot of money, he is in control. Many of the townspeople see him in a similar light to a slave driver. Jody is a very smart political figure, as he does things that seem beneficial towards the town and himself. Because of this, the people follow him and have some respect for what he does. “For her part, Hurston recognizes the positive aspects of Joe’s authority, but indicates that what is gained in material prosperity is overwhelmed by what is lost in personal freedom when an individual amasses too much power” (Simmons). That quote is significant towards Jodyy because it is clear that Joe is so power hungry that he cares much less about the people than his own personal benefit.
Joe also essentially compromises the ideals of the town in which he is the mayor of. He wants it to be an allbl ack town, in the sense of having no sort of white influence that is controlling and commanding. Though he claims to want this, he does the same thing when he becomes in control. Essentially, he is everything he claims to be trying to get away from, and is very representative of the theme of male dominance.
Questions:
Are any other male characters very controlling?
What do you think about Joe’s controlling attitude?
