The words become easier to understand if you say them aloud but there are a few that I still can’t grasp. They are zigaboos (pg 7), handksher (pg 22), mein (pg 29), and freezolity (pg 31).
Through out the story I noticed that food seemed to be an important symbol like in the beginning when Phoebe brought Janie some Mulatto rice or when Janie’s grandmother nanny is talking to Janie about love she is cooking. Another example is when Coker told Hicks that “You can’t git her wid no fish sandwich.” (pg 47) Whenever food appears something important is about to happen like Janie telling her life story or her nanny dyeing. Everything circles around food.
Tea Cake is a leader of his community just like Joe was except instead of oppressing his community, he leads their laughter and encourages them to play in the field; music/humor versus “big voice”
"Janie starched and ironed her face and came set in the funeral behind her veil. It was like a wall of stone and steel.” Ambiguity causes the reader to question whether if the wrinkles are of an actual veil or the “expensive” wrinkles acquired caused by her stressful and oppressive relationship with Joe—folds are expensive since they cause Janie her youth
Throughout the novel, Joe and Tea Cake are covertly compared. For example, both men have a consistent phrase that they say to Janie, revealing more about their different personalities. Joe's constant saying, "Ah'm an educated man, Ah keep mah arrangements in mah hands," shows that Joe is a self-centered man who only wants the power to rest within his own hands. This makes Janie feel low and limited. However, Tea Cake's repeated phrase, "You got de keys tuh de kingdom," reveals his compassion and pure hope that Janie will share his power and status with him. --Haley Goldman
The entire novel revolves around images of springtime. The images appear when Janie is happy or in love, and the flowers or trees symbolize this life she feels inside of her. The symbol really presents itself in chapter 19 when Tea Cake refers to Janie as prettier than flowers. This solidifies her feelings of springtime and love because Tea Cake also recognizes it. --Haley Goldman
A main symbol of the book is definitely spring and the trees blooming because Janie feels like she is blooming, too, but I was considering another symbol to be gossip and lies because a lot of the book focuses on porch gossip and the talk of the town. Certainly what other people think of a person can change their story a bit and the way they tell it.
Jody's first impression on Janie seals the deal with her and Logan's relationship. His ambition for higher, greater things steals Janie's from her husband leaving hope of love for Logan to instant love for Jody. But first impressions aren't always true of the way a person acts all the time as they grow apart from each other over time. Over time her "love for Jody" is only short term.
When Jody dies, Janie is released from the values and morals she had known and lived by for so long. Wealth and fame had no more value for Janie. Her emotions that were previously concealed for so long are revealed, symbolizing her escape from the world of the past to the world she wants to live in.
I don't know whether it was in all copies of the book but the foreword that was in my copy was really interesting and I liked learning about the history of the book then seeing how it related to the book's contents.
One of the main things I noticed was the differences and similarities between Mr. Killicks, Jody, and Tea Cakes. Janie marries Jody to get away from the work Mr. Killicks expects her to do, but Jody ends up making her work even more, whereas Tea Cakes doesn't appear to make her work but eventually she ends up working with him too, albeit enjoying the work more.
One of my favorite quotes in the book was "'our beloved mayor,' it was one of those statements that everybody says but nobody actually believes like "God is everywhere,'" for it allows the reader to understand the characters in the text better (Hurston 48). The quote stays true to modern society, relevant to the country’s view of the president. Joe’s power starts to become the envy of the town, for the fact that he was black made the town feel even more belittled than if a white person were to be mayor. Joe had the power over everyone because everyone gave him the power. This power goes along with Joe and Janie’s marriage. Joe discounted Janie, which Janie never objected, due to her dependence on Jody to make her someone of worth.
An interesting part about Janie would be that she never actually grows up in her marriage with Joe, rather she grows old. This immediately changes once Tea Cake arrives in her life. Furthermore, the springtime imagery proves to be significant with symbols such as the sunset and the blooming of flowers; these particular symbols represent rebirth and the longing of something Janie tries to find throughout the entire text. The explanation of the pear tree shows the perfect relationship Janie has with nature. She encounters a moment of bliss by witnessing harmony between the bee and the pear tree – erotic energy is evident in this part. My favorite part of the book hands down would have to be the bringing in of the title towards the end of the novel. Motor Boat, Tea Cake, and Janie are in awe – trying to understand why God can create such chaos in the world, yet such beauty. This exhibits more about the spiritual nature of the text.
I find it interesting at the end of chapter five that Hurston talks about power and leadership. We look at our leadership today and scoff at how corrupt they are. Yet the Constitution was founded on the idea of the "power of the people." Hurston says "They bowed down to him rather because he was all these things...and he was all these things because the town bowed down." (Pg 50) We give power to our government. As a general community we give the power of law making to our leaders. If we were truly unhappy with our government we could change it. Whether because of laziness or being scared of change, our government has not truly changed in over 300 years. Just as how Jody remained in power because the town gave him power, the leadership we have now remains in power because we give them power.
Mrs. Turner represents what is wrong with society these days. The whole belief that the lighter the better is untrue.Many cultures believe this and discriminate against one another when in reality we should be helping each other.Mrs. Turner's ideals taint the minds of many African American today causing the rising epidemic of black on black crimes.
Janie's life works in reverse order due to the fact that her grandmother always took care of her. Janie never learned how to fend for herself until teacake showed up into her life. her beauty created a false perception of her. She desired a life of freedom but everyone sheltered her and told her she was too pretty for that kind of lifestyle
I noticed that gender differences was a huge theme throughout the novel and that it was presented within the first two paragraphs of the novel: "Ships at a distnace... and do things accordingly." In these two paragraphs, I found it extremely interesting how Hurston says that women are known for acting to accomplish their dreams unlike men who sometimes never do anything to accomplish their dreams. The theme also appears with each of Janie's different husbands. For instance when she is living with Joe at age 35, and he begins to call her old hen. I believe Hurston is attempting to show that the seperate spheres for men and women during this era of the novel plays a large role in the life of everyday people and the novel's characters. Isabella Tondi Resta
While reading, a question between Sam Watson and Lige Moss caught my attention. Lige asks, "Whut is it dat keeps uh man from getting' burnt on uh red hot stove--caution or nature?" (pg 64).
This brings about a very interesting argument, as I still try to piece together the importance of this question. Sam says its nature that keeps a man from burning himself; Lige vehemently declares it to be caution. What exactly is the force of nature? What causes that to keep someone from doing something. Caution on the other hand, is like fear. People do not touch the hot stove because they fear they will be burnt. Maybe, they touched it once, and know not to touch it again - like in the case of Moses from the Bible.
Sam continues to argue that "nature makes caution". Maybe this could be a part of sexism. Man controls the woman, as commonly seen in "Their eyes were watching God." Possibly, the question spurs the idea that men knew not to touch the stove, but the cautious woman knows not to do it out of fear. I could be wrong here, but Hurston seems to sneak in another critical point about the relationship between man and woman here.
Isabella brings up an interesting point about the gender seperations, but I do not believe Hurston was saying that men do not seek their dreams, on the contrary I believe she is saying that men dream larger than possible in life and are constantly plagued by their quest to seek their glorious goal. Such can be seen by the men in Janie's life specifically Joe who had only wanted to live the powerful life of his white predecessors only to be cut down by the limit of time on his life and mocked by his own wife and the people he worked hard for to bring to a higher stance in life. Then there comes Tea Cake, a simple man who only wanted to love Janie so dearly, but in turn because of his want to save Janie so desperately, succumbs to an illness that all but leads to kill the woman he loved more than life itself and not without trying. But Janie as a woman did not seek her dream, she only rebelled against her social norms and her clear decision that she had not found what she wanted and therefore led to her journey with the men that were Joe and Tea Cake, she still obeyed, she was still the same Janie she had been but she found what she was looking for, comfort, which she made up in her mind was what she wanted. This was never a goal she set in her head to find but only a discovery of the journey. I may have written too much lol.
I also want to bring a attention to that when discussing this novel we cannot ignore the society of which the story takes place and heiarchy. Janie is a mulatto woman who by definition holds higher standing in society that any person of darker shade and therefore because of her color and European features is deemed beautiful because of the uniqueness that she holds. The men she deals with are of dark complexion, being the low class of society unworthy of anything lighter, higher in society and are deemed only fit to serve and for grunt work. Then there is always the existence of the white man, the highest in society that makes all rules and provides final judgement in all matters which provides constant reminder of the society that existed and the rules that are in place which effect the story's characters, setting and events.
I wanted to comment on Honeiah's second comment about Janie growing old in her relationships instead of growing up. I agree with Honeiah's comments and wanted to add that the concept of growing old instead of growing up is physically seen on the character. I believe the town noticed her younger attitude with her appearance when they were wondering "What dat ole forty year ole 'oman doin' wid her hair swingin' down her back lak some young gal?" (Hurston 2). Since she did get married at such a young age, Janie was unable to finish enjoying her last adolescent years so she was never able to learn and grow from those last experiences. I also wanted to note that the novel has several antagonists (which can be argued). Each of these characters treat Janie differently and influence her character differently. I believe Joe was the most influencial antagonist because of his change of character towards his wife after they marry and he becomes mayor of Eatonville. This made Janie stronger in personality and I feel more independent. Does anyone else have an opinion about a certain antagonist and how he or she affects Janie? Isabella Tondi Resta
I really like Jenny Cadet's train of thought. I think that Janie is a precursor to the "modern woman" of today. When Janie stood up for herself she had not only a large impact on herself and her life but the greater community as well. The lessons and themes in Hurston's novel can still be applied to modern day situations (specifically gender roles in this example)
I agree with Becca about the forward. I find it interesting that Hurston, though a good writer, was ostrascized from the black writing community. They thought her story was not "harsh" enough. The black writers of the 30's wanted to scare whites into realizing their faults, but in the end whites only suppressed them further. I believe that Hurston's book provided a leveler, or an equalizer. Most women could pick up this book and find a part of themselves in the different stages of Janie's life. Thus I believe that black authors would have been better received if they had written books more as equalizers than pointed fingers.
My favorite quote in this novel is the opening of chapter 1. "Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board." It represents the novel in such a beautiful way. It symbolizes the hope that those in the story hold on to. The characters in the story are hopeful of some intangible dream or wish. This is why they hold on to the stories of people around them. They are so intertwined, because their own lives are not what they want. An example is when the ladies on the porch sat and talked about Janie. They envied her. The quote is an extension of the lives that surface in the novel, they all just want one thing. That thing may vary by person, but the hope instilled in each of their hearts are the same.
Janie's beautiful hair is a symbol of her individuality. It sets her apart from others. In the beginning of the novel, Hurston makes known the attractiveness of Janie's attention grabbing hair. When Jody forces Janie to cover her hair with a rag, he represses her personality and her beauty. He wants to hog her good lucks from other people's eyes. Janie is a rather boring person during the time she is married to Jody. She rarely speaks out of turn, and does little but cook and manage the store. Jody has taken Janie's spirit. Upon his death, Janie wastes no time burning the rags. This is an act to demonstrate her newfound independence from Jody's dictatorship.
Janie's new husband, Tea Cake, does nothing of the sort to restrict Janie's femininity and personality. In fact, he tells her that she should have the best of the best from stores in Orlando and such. Tea Cake serves as an authority figure in Janie's life, but not as restrictive as Jody.
Also, I agree with Honeiah's comment about the title. I liked the way that the title was woven into the story during the a time of chaos. Janie and Tea Cake were leaving God and fate to determine the rest of their relationship and existence of earth. It proves their faith in God during a testing time. Their faith and will to survive, is what caused them to survive what many did not.
ok sooo i don't know about you guys but how she came to the conclusion that love is likje a bee polinating a flower baffles me beyond all reason. like where in your head does that click? and do we ever find out what happened to her parents?
Iinnocence is closely linked to youth, in my mind she didn't really start aging until she met tea cake (weird name by the way!) up until then her first two husbands had sheltered her protectivly and her nanny did the same. janies loss of innocence has as much to do with the destruction of her dreams with her first two husbands, which she only married to complie with nannys wish of living the leisure life of a white woman. her innocence was also regained, somewhat, through true love,which she found in tea cake. YAY
In the book where Janie says she feels like she's blooming, I finally understand what she meant. With each marriage she went through she learned more about her self. I think that it's too bad though that she had to go through two bad marriages to find true love.
After reading the book, I decided to compare all three of her husbands. What Janie had with Logan Killicks, I wouldn't call a marriage. It was more so of an arrangement, because the love wasn't there and a marriage can't exist without love. What Janie and Jody had, I would say that it was a marriage. There was love at first, but when he started to become controlling and abusive that's when the love left. What Janie had with Tea Cake was a real marriage. They loved eachother, they complimented eachother well, and I would say it was love at first sight. Janie was honestly happy.
I just wanted to point out how many underlying gender roles themes. Whether it is in the very beginning of the book with the scene about the tree and the bee or Janie's relationships with her husbands. I believe that alot of the messages that Hurston is portraying can be applied to modern day gender issues. For example Janie is unhappy in her first marriage (Logan), flirts with a new guy then runs away to go marry the new guy (Jody). Personally, this sounds like a relatively common situation in modern day America.
While Jody is trying to bring up his status as well the status of his race by modernizing and improving the town of Eatonville, he unknowingly creates the "white man vs. slave" situation during his position as mayor. "'You kin feel a switch in his hand when he's talkin' to yuh.'" (Hurston 49)
I like how Hurston changed the point of view from first person to third person towards the beginning of the book when Janie was explaining her life story to Phoeby on page 10. I thought it was to make it easier to read for the audience and easier to write for the author herself.
One of my favorite parts of the novel is when Jody passed away, the scene represented a moment of liberation for Janie. She was silenced for so long, and the moment before Jody passes she is finally able to voice her opinion without fear. Once her husband is actually gone, she lets down her hair, in this moment Janie now feels beautiful, feminine and free, elements of life that were absent due to her detainment. The most interesting part however, about the scene is that after allowing her hair to fall she quickly ties is back up, and begins to cry. "She starched and ironed her face, forming it into just what people wanted to see..." despite Jody's mistreatment of Janie she pretends to feel sorrow for his passing, just so people wouldn't judge her. This in itself shows her heart and care for what people think about her contrary to someone such as Jody.
I noticed that Janie is only shown to go through all of the seasons with one of her husbands, Tea Cake, in the Everglades. Each season represents a phase of life, so this shows that Janie can go through all of the phases of life, mature, and be happy and in love with Tea Cake. The setting in the Everglades highlights her love of nature. -Michelle Plavnik
The story was told in a flashback. I liked that the whole book was written in flashback mode, and that the flashack started with childhood and ended with the current situation. (Janie came back from the funeral and is talking to Phoebe.) The beginning and ending of the flashback made the story easy to follow and the point of view made it engaging. -Michelle Plavnik
There were a couple of symbols in the book that spoke out to me. The head-rags that Jody forced her to wear and the sun.
-I found the head-rags to be an important symbol of freedom and individuality. Because Janie has such beautiful hair, Joe forces his wife bind her hair to prevent others from seeing it. This constraints Janie’s femininity and stifling her identity. In an attempt to keep Janie all to himself, he suffocates her and loses her completely.I wasn't too surprised when Janie was anxious to burn all the rags when Jody died. To me the head rag represents the constraints imposed on women by men in power.
-The sun was a symbol of rebirth. The sun demonstrates, simply by rising day after day, that life goes on – no matter how tragic yesterday was. For Janie, Tea Cake’s memory will be as enduring as the sun.
I liked the way the title tied into the book. Their Eyes Where Watching God: the line appears in the book a couple of times near the end. Janie tells Pheoby “two things everybody got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin' fuh theyselves." Janie believes in God and that he will help you in time of need but not all the time. Her eyes were watching God to help Tea Cake make it through and not die. But Tea Cake did die. The people watching God are waiting helplessly for him but sometimes you have to take charge for yourself. Also, if you don’t take advantage of the signs God does give (the Indians warning Janie before the Hurricane) you then you really are on your own.
Even though the novel, I believe, is very difficult to understand because of the intense dialect of the characters, the form of speech that Zora Hurston uses allows Janie to find her voice and then transforms her character throughout the book by self-empowerment.
I also believe that because of a strong voice Janie develops helps to define her relationships as the novel progresses. Her independence begins to control how she interacts with people, and in the end is what keeps her strong.
I would like to discuss the symbolism in the last scene. First of all, Janie chooses her house in Orange County because it represents the beginning of fundamental happiness in her life from her relationship with Tea Cake. She spends most of her last days in upstairs her bedroom which is metaphorically closer to God and Heaven. As she approaches Death, she literally locks up the lower level of her house which equates to closing of all ties to her Earthly life. The image of Tea Cake's spirit forming two lights at the top of the pine trees symbolizes an end of life and growth for Tea Cake and Janie. By pulling in the horizon over her shoulders, she is at peace with nothing unknown in the distant future. This entire scene depicts Janie's acceptance of moving on spiritually and the end of her quest to truly live.
Because of the symbol of the blossoming pear tree and Janie's determination to find a decent husband, this novel may seem to send a message revolving around the importance of love; however, in the end, Hurston values independence, inner happiness, and a strong sense of self over lasting relationships. Although Janie's happiness with each marriage itself varies, each man she is involved with serves as a metaphorical stepping stone to her ultimate spiritual peace and identity. Logan helps her to realize the power she has in changing her own life. Jody promises freedom but does not deliver, so when she stands up to him, he teaches her how to be strong in defending oneself. Tea Cake treats her as an equal if not someone superior to himself, allowing her to value her own existence. The accumulation of these realizations is what finally forces Janie to choose protecting her own life and practical reason over trusting her sick lover with her fate.
The language in this novel was the first thing i noticed while reading. There are two very distinctive styles. The first is a third person, metaphorical style full of imagery and symbols. The second is Janie's first person voice. Her dialogue, like every other character in the novel has a distinct dialect and use of language. The contrast between the metaphorical and colloquial languages is interesting and stylistically amazing!
One of the characteristics that jumped out at me while reading this book was the repetition of certain numbers. Throughout the novel, Hurston continuously uses 2, 3, and 6, and occasionally their multiples. These can be found in numerical mentions like 2 years (the time Janie was married to Tea Cake) and 3 hundred dollars (the amount of money saved), but they are also seen in descriptions, like Janie's three husbands, or the three people struggling to escape the hurricane. Taken individually, these numbers hold the common and somewhat religious connotations of duality and trinity. The duality portion appears in the novel as the constant comparisons between light and dark, and Janie's struggle between dreams and reality. Three, as a trinity, represents the number needed for balance. It was only after her third husband that Janie finally came to understand and accept life and love. Finally, 6 is a combination of two and three. When Janie and Tea Cake are fleeing the hurricane, the 6-mile bend is a place of safety they strive to reach and then move on from. I interpreted this to mean that a combination between struggle and balance will bring safety and stability in life. Clarice Reid
One motif ( and I'm not really sure if it truly is a motif...but i feel that it is) that I seemed to connect with more then anything was the myriad amount of comparisons ands imagery that had to do with trees. The ones that stuck out the most to me was the comparisons to Janie as a tree. But what I found most interesting was when Hurtson juxtaposed Janie's different stages of trees. Her grandma compares her and the people around her as "tree branches without roots" (p.16) Se is young and really has no roots. I mean its not like her parrents raised her. Or in the beginning (which seems to be really the end) She "saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered" (P.8) And even when Hurtson does not directly state it, Janie acts like a tree. Strong and rigid, but quiet and peacefull when need-be. Moved by the winds, or husbands like Jody, around her, yet never enough to be knocked over. And when she is with Tea Cake, she acts young. The older the tree, the stronger and more beautiful it is, just like Janie. With her long flowing hair, or leaves like a willow, that sometimes weeps. But even then the people, or shrubs, around her are so much more envious of her striking height and care. In personality, Janie is so much higher above the rest of them but she's so modest she pretends not to care. But everyone knows it and they respect her for it. The name Janie even means noble, which trees very much are, providing shade for permeant dwellers or even visitors. Janie carries herself like a tree andI feel that Hurtson (weather she meant to or not) really planted a seed which grew when she created a tree like Janie.
On another note, I would like to point out that above, people are saying that this novel is a "love story" and I would like to agree with that. However, when I think about it, I feel like this story isn't as much about love as it is Life, and maybe how much love is an effective player in life. Nowadays I look at life and I think, "why are we here?". And I hear things like "to have sex and recreate" or "to finish unfinished business" or " to pay taxes" or "to fall in love and share out lives with someone" but my favorite is "there is a reason, and we don't know it" and some of us connect that to this thing/being called "God". And people say that he/she knows so therefore we don't need to know. But those peoples "eyes are watching God" for a signal, for a guide. And I feel like Hurtson would have named the novel something like "Tea Cake, Beans and Janie" if it was a love story. But I feel like its more leaning to a Life story and thats why she named it "Their eyes were watching God" -Mariah Pepper Berkowitz
I waited and waited and waited for the title to come up in the novel, and finally it did on page 159. Well, sort of. It was phrased as eyes "questioning" God. Which I thought was rather interesting. The paragraph says, "They just didn't use another part of their bodies, and they didn't look at anything but the door. The time was past for asking the white folks what to look for through that door. Six eyes were question God (that's italicizes). This paragraph was very moving, because in that moment of great turmoil, race and gender and discrimination were not thought of. Everyone recognized that the storm was beyond anything they could control. And all they could do was watch.
Age was a major motif throughout the novel. From the very beginning when the old women gossip about Janie, to the last time Tea Cake mentions Janie's age. I love that Tea Cake talks about Janie's life like she lived it in reverse. He says, "God made it so you spent yo' ole age first wid somebody else, and saved up yo' young girl days to spend wid me." I love that. I never really thought about it as I was reading along until Tea Cake says it. She spent her oldest and most unhappy days with her first husband, and gradually grew younger in a sense with her second marriage to Joe Starks. Just when she thought she couldn't feel younger after Joe died, Tea Cake came along and that marriage allowed her to gain back the years she lost early on.
The dialect is killing me... Im halfway through and have just stopped where Tea Cake and Janie meet at the store.
I am really enjoying reading about the development of Janie's character. I think her physical, spiritual, and sexual growth are all a part of everyone's life. You can see her independence grow with each passing relationship. It's interesting to think that Janie grows to know herself better from being with another person (even if it must be from abuse/ constraint).
Oh my goodness this dialect is making my head hurt. However, the book overall is very interesting. I love the questioning from Janie whether marriage brings love. When it does not, Janie says she just wants love like the pear tree. The pear tree is generally referenced to in a sexual way or insinuating marriage.
I feel as though the head rags that Joe forces Janie to wear in public are a huge symbol within the novel. Janie's hair was so beautiful and attractive that he wants her all for himself. The act of her hair being bound in a head rag represents the binding of her femininity. After Joe dies, Janie burns all of the head rags he made her wear in an attempt to release her from the hold Joe had on her. She had lost her identity within the marriage and regained it through releasing herself from him.
The novel is overall good but the dialect used can be somewhat difficult to understand at times. Janie is truly a dynamic character, and changes alot because of her experiences and relationships with the men she encounters and the community she lives in. At first she is independent and does not really know who she is, but later she she becomes strong and discovers her true self.
I agree with Savannah about Janie's head rags being a huge symbol in the novel, but her hair itself is also an important symbol. Janie has beautiful hair, and this already seperates her from most women in the community. It symbolizes her independence and how much different she is from the other women in the novel.
At first the dialect used in the novel was a struggle for me to read, but it became easier the longer I read the novel. However, the dilect makes the characters feel more realistic to me.
I just finished chapter 10, which is when Janie meets Tea Cake while the rest of Eatonville is at the ball game. I am hoping Janie and Tea Cake's time together is a happier relationship for Janie, although during the first chapter of the novel Janie says, "Yes, Phoeby, Tea Cake is gone" (Hurston 6).
One thing I have noticed with this novel is that it is a framed narrative. It begins with Janie sitting with Phoeby and proceeding to tell her the story of her life. I checked the back of the book, and it ends with Janie and Phoeby sitting together, too.
The story is of Janie and her struggle to find her idea of love. Her grandmother wants her to marry Logan, and although that does not make her happy, she does it because she hopes she will fall in love for him the way she feels in necessary to be happy. Later when she meets Jody, she feels that this is what she was missing in her life. She thinks the love she felt is what a real marriage was suppose to be about she found with him. It does not really seem like she has other goals for herself besides staying somewhat independent and of finding a man that she's truly in love with. By the time Jody dies, she has figured out that he was not the one for her and that she is still in search of the love that she yet to feel for a man and has felt by a man.
Finished the book, hooray. Interesting ending. Janie's done with relationships I hope. From 3 relationships she has developed self-worth and is content with life.
I did not enjoy this book. The dialect was hard to follow and the story of having three lovers to satisfy your self-discovery is absurd.
The mule symbolizes Joe. When the mule is alive its all anybody talks about, mainly because there seems to be nothing else to talk about. The mule must learn to settle down and rest during the last few months of its life just like Joe does. Once both of them die they are forgotten about and the town moves on. - Charlotte Cronley
In this book, men played the most important role. They brought the money and food home while women stayed home. Janie is a woman with ambitions and has a heart for adventure, which made her a terrible wife in the first two marriages.
Janie's first two marriages made her feel confined and imprisoned. The third marriage with Tea Cake was less work because he treated Janie as an equal and helped Janie feel free. -- Celeste Hnakins
One of the aspects that I absolutely loved about this novel was Hurston's style. The fact that she incorporated so much African American culture into Janie's story was unique and kept me intrigued. I loved how she wrote the dialogue and how she provided many minor characters. It was nice to have some lighthearted comedy in such a deep book.
This question has remained in my mind ever since I finished the book. Why didn't Janie have any children? I was expecting at least one of her husbands to want a child, but it seemed that handling Janie was enough for each of the men. Since Janie's character development was such a major part of this novel, I thought Janie having a child would show her reaching a new level of maturity, the love for a child rather than the love for a man.
Even though it did not hit me until just before Tea Cake’s death, there seems to be an ongoing comparison of Tea Cake and Joe, as Haley mentioned. Though Jaine clearly loved Tea Cake over Joe the characters were almost identical besides the fact that Tea Cake lets Jaine be herself and that Joe was much older than Jaine and Tea Cake was much younger. Both Tea Cake and Joe took Jaine off from her old home and promised her a better life, but all too soon they made her work, wither it was in the bean fields or at the store. Both men’s jealousy over male attention towards Jaine caused them to react harshly (Joe not letting Jaine speak or Tea Cake beating her). Finally both of Jaine’s husbands died of illness that could have been prevented (Joe’s kidney failure and Tea Cake’s rabies). Even though both men are similar, I think Jaine had more love for Tea Cake because he let her be herself and enjoy her youth that she was denied of at an early age.
Throughout the book it was hard not to notice all the biblical allusions, but the pear tree stuck out the most to me. In the bible, trees represent life or hope and in Jaine’s case, dreams. When Nanny mentions that she wants Jaine to marry Logan Killicks Jaine’s pear tree image starts to disappear, along with her hope of finding true love. I thought it was interesting when describing her grandmother, Jaine expressed that, “Nanny’s head and face looked like the standing roots of some old tree that had been turn away by a storm,” using the tree symbolism to show that Jaine’s grandmother’s life and hope has been ripped from her . The symbolism all but disappears until Jaine is acquainted with Tea Cake love comes back to her as well as a new sense of life.
One of the leading symbols I noticed was Spring. The focus of flowers and the color blue. The novel never mentions Winter or Fall.Spring is representative of rebirth and every time Jaine would start a new chapter in her life the trees and flowers were always blooming.
I noticed that Janie gained something more with her each of her marriages. With Logan Killicks she gained a loving husband, even if she did not love him and became disillusioned with him. When she ran away with Joe Starks, she gained money, respect, and wonderful possessions, but she was treated as an object instead of a person. With her third and final marriage to Tea Cake, she gained freedom and independence, and because of this her first true love.
Hurston places a great deal of importance on descriptions of the light and dark places in the novel. The sun is a provider of energy and an enemy to tire the workers. The dark is living in fleshed-out shadows and comforting in secret escapades with Tea Cake. One especially significant mention of the Light/Dark motif was the scene in which Joe installs the town lamp. Even after dark has fallen, Joe believes he has the power to keep the light. While this might be interpreted as Joe being a hope in dark times, it really came across as a man who refused to accept the natural order of things and allow life to flow. Joe was a man who needed to be in control, and the lamp allowed him that. In contrast to Joe was Tea Cake, who stole Janie away into the dark for fishing and stargazing. Although he woos Janie in the dark, he is later describes as "son of the Evening Sun." Tea cake accepts the dark, but holds the promise of the light that will come again. He is the epitome of the promise of happiness that sunlight has offered Janie since she ran from her first husband at daybreak. At the beginning/end of the book, when Janie sits with Sophie in the gathering shadows, Hurston is suggesting that Janie's bright sunny love has been found and then let go, and she is now moving into the natural night that comes afterwards.
In this novel, Janie disproved the idea that a stable home will make someone happy. She showed that riches do not matter. What truly matters is freedom, something she did not have with Jody. While she lived in relative poverty with Tea Cup, she was free to choose and with this power of choice, Janie grew as a person and experience that peace she had seen in the beauty of the pear tree.
Hurston created a parallel between Janie and the pear tree, describing her as having glossy leaves and bursting buds, measuring their lives by the seasons "Janie waited a bloom time, and a green time and an orange time". Her love was a search for a pear tree, as she describes her relationships lacking in pollen. The tree also reflects her wonder and imagination of youth. Not until her relationship with Tea Cake is she brought back to the wonder of nature and brought back to her youth with finally a true love.
With Jody i found his speech interesting. Though Hurston wrote in the vernacular she gave Joe the phrase "I god,.." like by god, but it reveals his ego and his drive to be a great creator. He builds a town and brings them light just like the creation story, but in this case with a lamp post. Jody becomes this great man, freeing the mules and all. He builds himself up to much that when Janie publicly brings him down it is the death of him.
In this novel, there is a recurring symbol of nature overpowering human abilities. Jody is overpowered by disease. Tea Cake is trapped in the hurricane and contracts rabies. Though nature has negative effects in the novel, it also proves to be helpful for Janie. Disease helped her to escape from her overbearing husband, Jody. The hurricane and rabies may not have been helpful at the time it happened, but it soon allowed Janie to appreciate her life and look back on the memories she had with Tea Cake and feel fulfillment because she knew that because if him her journey towards enlightenment had been reached. Nature provided happiness and closure.
I think that in the novel nature and the world was more so the meaning of God than a religious meaning of God. Janie struggle is to find her place in nature and the world and nature and the world broke her down and built her up to find happiness and to find her place.
One thing I noticed throughout this book was the way every character was so influenced by the position society expected them to be in. Even the minor characters' banter revealed a lot about the stereotypes they succumbed to within their own communities, such as Mrs. Turner's contempt towards the darker skinned black people, as if they were dragging her down as she tried to become as white as she could - like pretending to be more white would help her social situation. It's like every time she saw them they reminded her that she was also black, and was simply a poser to try and inject herself into the white people's world. Also, the men always seemed to be worried about the submissiveness of their wives. It's like they were using violence against their own kind to compensate for the helplessness they felt living in a "white man's world." I just noticed a lot of self-destructiveness in this particular book in regards to the black community. Really harrowing.
Janie's relationship with her grandmother seemed loving at first. Nanny sacrificed to give Janie the life she had. Unfortunately, Nanny valued a stable lifestyle given the uncertainty and poverty that she experienced throughout her life so when Janie was offered a secure life with a husband, Nanny pushed the marriage whether or not it would make Janie happy. Janie later resented her for this.
For Janie, Joe’s death means freedom. Right after she stands up to Joe, he dies, proving the Janie should have spoken he mind more frequently before. - Charlotte Cronley
I wanted to point out the natural imagery that appears in the novel, mainly the references of springtime. Throughout the first chapters, when Janie receives her first kiss and when she marries Logan, the springtime imagery is most often. She states, "Oh to be a pear tree- any tree in bloom! With the kissing bees singing of the beginning of the world!" These references tie directly into her life because they are most frequent when Janie is making the transition from a little girl to a young lady. Later on in the novel, the springtime references become less frequent and more images of the sun appear, like the men of her life represent different seasons. As Janie and Joe's relationship grows, so does the sun imagery. At the beginning of chapter 7 Hurston states that Janie's emotional disturbances were like shade patterns in the woods - come and gone with the sun.
Throughout the novel, I feel that Janie experiences an ongoing internal conflict. Her entire life she is searching for the perfect man to complete her life, but when in a relationship she’s constantly looking to be freed. However, Janie considers being a freed from one man by escaping to another. This thought process starts of a cycle of unhealthy marriages, when in reality Janie needed to clarify who she was before getting into any relationships. Janie’s light skin and long hair symbolizes her destiny to be an individual. Although she never realizes this, the men she ends up with recognize it and therefore feel the need to suppress it to keep her around. Such as Jody’s insistence that Janie wear head rags on her beautiful hair, and when Tea Cake beats Janie just to show who is boss. Janie’s individuality is suppressed for so long that she only realizes it after her Tea Cakes death.
One motif I followed throughout the book was age. Janie’s age clearly changed as the book continued and her lifestyle changed with it. When she was sixteen she kissed Johnny Taylor and decided that that would be the end of her childhood, which seems like a big decision especially looking back from this time period. Shortly after deciding she was no longer a child, she was forced into marriage by her grandmother to an older and uglier man who Janie did not love. Even though she was about to live an adult life of marriage she had no choice in it, displaying just how childlike she still was. Her next marriage was to Joe Starks, a man who was also older than Janie. That was after only being married to Logan for a short period. It’s funny that although she does stay with Jody for a long time, her next marriage is to someone about a decade younger than herself, almost as if it was to even herself out. Tea Cake was younger than Janie, but provided the trait of being younger than her previous husbands in spirit. The three all promised Janie things they couldn’t provide, but Tea Cake had the youthful drive to at least work himself as hard as he could to save Janie from having to do work. As far as Janie’s age goes, as she got older, her body retained its youthful figure and beauty but instead gained a lot of wisdom to apply to her life. --Bailey Moran
I enjoyed the novel because it empowered Janie in a period where women did not have power. During that time period, divorces were scandalous and a woman leaving her husband was shocking. I love that Janie refuses to settle for anything less than love in her life. Too many people it seems give up their dreams of love ad stay with a habitual marriage because they're afraid of taking risks. -Nicole Motahari
This book reminded me of the multiple novels we read in 10th grade about finding spiritual enlightenment. In all the fairy-tales I've read it is implied that finding a relationship is the key to finding enlightenment. However, Janie only finds enlightenment in her last relationship and finds contentment when she is alone.Her journey to enlightenment and independence has been long and hard. Bith Jody and Logan tried to stop her from becoming self-sufficient, but ultimately failed to prevent enlightenment. Frankly, I'm surprised that they didn't know better than to get in her way. Men should never get in the way of a persevering woman. Anything that stands between a woman and her freedom. Truly, her previous marriages were like shackles on a slave, if anyone's ever read the old slave folktale about the slaves who sprouted wings and flew away. That folktale seems to be a metaphor for Janie's life. -Nicole Motahari
The value of money was often discussed in the book. Logan believed that his sixty acres would please Janie, but she didn’t love him and his money couldn’t buy that from her. That’s why she was excited to marry Joe because he was charming and promised her she’d never have to work again. He gave her a lavish life and showed her off around town, but she still worked and her love for him died slowly as she realized that he didn’t truly love her either. Tea Cake loved her and she loved him back. He couldn’t offer her more than that. They both worked day in and day out and managed to live that way, but it was in no way lavish, they didn’t even own land. But that was enough for her. --Bailey Moran
The main thing that hindered me at first when reading the novel was the choice of diction that Hurston used to tell Janie's story. Without the southern diction that the story is told in, I think the message and tone of the story would be completely changed. For the most part, the southern dialect is associated with friendly people, story telling, and a group of people who are set in their more traditional ways. The choice of this dialect as opposed to something else shows how much the southern mentality of the characters in that time period-- the 1930's-- affected their every thought and action. Janie's point of view juxtaposes with the Hurston's diction choice, because as she continues to recall the past, Janie realizes that she was never meant to be confined to the constrains of the rigid southern black society.
I also noticed throughout the novel, that much attention was brought to Janie's hair. A women's hair is usually a symbol of femininity, but in the novel Janie's hair is a source of her strength and uniqueness in the south. As a black woman, if your hair is long an straight, you are more "white" than other blacks living in the south. Due to her hair, Janie was expected to act different, carry herself differently, and withstand more hate from others of the same race. As Janie journey's through her memories to find her individuality, her hair changes with her. For example, when she was married to Jody, she was expected to keep it wrapped up in a rag while she worked in the store. That symbolized the confinement she felt while married to Jody. When the story finally circles back to when she returns to her home with her overalls on and her hair hanging down her back, the reader can tell that she's found some new strength in herself. She see the beauty that is uniquely Janie's and her hair's freedom coincides with her personal transformation.
I would like to comment about April's second post about the reason behind Nanny's reaons for pushing Janie into marriage. Not only had uncertainty and poverty shaped Nanny's mentality but also the sexual abuse she had faced as a slave. She also saw her daughter live through the same fate. Nanny viewed Janie's marriage not as a symbol of love or happiness but that of protection. --Adnan Sayed
The idea of innocence is a subject of conflict and development for Janie. Innocence referring to youth, idealism and virginity. Early in the novel her first kiss leads to the loss of her innocence. With her first sexual act she had become a women of age who had given up on her idealistic views of love. Later on in the novel Janie overcome this antagonizing role that womanhood has with innocence though her love for Tea Cake which which enables her to regain her youth to an extent. --Adnan Sayed
While reading, I have found that this novel contains many side stories that reflect what is happeing in the novel, such as in chapter six when Janie tells the story of the vultures actions towards their "white-headed leader" (Hurston 61). This reflects how the people of Eatonville act towards Joe. -- Alexa Zack
I found it interesting that the blacks complained so much about being devauled by whites, and yet some of them have the same outlook on other blacks and on Native Americans. The idea that the closer you are to being white the prettier you are is often displayed but the constant admiration for Janie's hair. Ashley Gibbs
Going off what Adnan said up there, Tea Cake allows Janie to have her springtime rebirth and be young again because he is the first man to allow Janie to be herself. With Joe, Janie was trying to achieve the indefinable and unreachable image of what a high-class woman should be like (I believe she refers to being on a pedestal), but with Tea Cake people begin to truly respect her because herself and she's normal. Janie becomes the best aspects her friends can strive for instead of the best aspects her friends can never have. She inspires admiration instead of jealousy.
I believe Unrest is a major theme in the novel. Janie is unable to find satisfaction in one marriage and is put through many trials and is unable to cope with one man for an extended period of time. Each relationship bound Janie down and forced her to be unlike herself. It is my belief that the author designed Janie's relationships with men this way to show that men are untrustworthy or incapable of love over a long time.
It is highly likely that the author chose for Janie to never find love because love doesn't exist. Janie does everything in her power to find a strong emotional attachment to another man, but it never occurs. The tragedy that Janie calls her life consists of a a stronger search for love, rather than being in love.
Throughout much of the novel, Janie seeks true love. I beleive Janie feels that she needs to find love because she does not love herself. Fortunately, in her search for the perfect mate she finds Tea Cake. Because Tea Cake treats Janie as an equal, Janie is able to discover her true identity and love herself. Through this revelation, Janie becomes a stronger person and maintains her happiness even after she loses Tea Cake. Janie's relationship with Tea Cake brings her peace and happiness with who she is as a person. Caroline Mayberry
I think it is unfair of Janie to resent her grandmother for teaching her the value of practicality. Though following her granmother's advice would not have given Janie the true happiness she recieves from her relationship with Tea Cake, she would have has security in her life. Her grandmother's values were much different from Janie's because they grew up in different times. Even though her mother abandoned her, Janie grew up in a pretty stable home with her grandmother looking after her. Janie never witnessed the horrors of slavery as her grandmother did and thus does not value practicality or stability to the same degree. Caroline Mayberry
I found it strange that throughout the novel Hurston includes multiple feminist ideas and provides an arguably strong female character, but then somewhat glorifies Tea Cake's beating of Janie in chapter 17. Is marital abuse acceptable as long as two are in love? She leaves her first husband and eventually gives Joe a piece of her mind. However, when Tea Cake whips Janie, Hurston describes the occurrence as, "No brutal beating at all. He just slapped her around a bit to show he was boss" (145). I understand the author lived in the early 1900s, but I regard this book as a revolutionarily feminist piece. It was upsetting to read this nonchalant justification of a man beating his wife.
Tea Cake's death is entirely ironic. Allow me to explain. Deciding to challenge Nature, Tea Cake ignores the warnings about the hurricane. Because of this lapse of judgement, he becomes physically drained from helping Janie swim. He then cannot fully defend himself against the rabid dog due to his exhaustion. The rabies contracted from the wild animal eventually causes the transformation into a wild animal himself, and he dies biting Janie's arm. Let's not forget that Tea Cake taught Janie how to use a gun, and she eventually shoots him. If that's not irony, I don't know what is.
I though that Janie and Tea Cake were the cutest couple (even though I couldn't actually see them); they just seemed cute. Tea Cake's love and endeavor for Janie's happiness was strong. When he got rabies and his outlook toward Janie began to take the worst turn possible, it just broke my heart to see them crumble.
It was unnerving when Janie's grandmother victimized herslef and made Janie feel bad about not wanting to marry Logan Killicks. I understand that she had a rough time raising Janie's own mother and that she just wants the best for Janie, but Janie should be able to make her onw decisions. I see this as a control issue for Janie and her grandmother. You're suppose to learn by making mistakes but Janie's grandmother is already preventing any type of mistake to happen, hindering Janies ability to grow as an individual. Janie should have been able to go out and find her own love.
I wonder if Janie's grandmother lived longer would she have stayed with Logan just to make her happy? I know her grandmother was ecstatic to even live to see her get married; but I don't think she should have rushed it like she did.
Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others, they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men.
Now, women forget all the things they don't want to remember, and remember all the things they don't want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly.
The first two paragraphs of Their Eyes Were Watching God threw my mind for a spin. I’ve attempted to diagnose the significance behind Hurston’s poeticism. Men, it appears, indifferently see what reality presents, taking that which life shows to them. Although they may wish or dream, these wishes and dreams can only be satisfied by factors beyond their human control. Events and situations seem to represents "ships at a distance." Men are commanded by Time. If it does not support their dreams, it will "mock" them, raze them. "That is the life of men": Life is given, not created. Women, however, make their own lives from their understanding of reality. This centers around a discriminatory process of intentional forgetting and remembering. Eventually it leads to the conceptualization of an individual image of life, a "dream." Through this "truth" of life women base their actions, living their dreams. Time does not dictate here; in this procedure the past is redesigned and transported into the present, contributing to the events of the future.
Existing as a story within a story, the enigma of the Hurston’s novel layout is indivisible from considerations of its theme. Janie Stark relays the story of her upbringing, her life, and her lovers to her best friend Phoebe, as well as to the people to which she has just come back to. This characteristic of the Their Eyes Were Watching God is fundamental to its theme, for Janie Stark and her tales were not developed in a void; she is an inherent part of a community to which she brings back her life and its richness, bliss and grief.
I agree with Cara that the opening two paragraphs are two of the most significant of the novel. There's a contrast between male and female established here that remains throughout the rest of the work. Much of this book, I feel, is about gender equality - or inequality, in many cases. Janie's first and second marriages are with men who treat her as inferior and as a possession. Joe is so jealous about other men lusting over his beautiful wife that he makes her cover her hair and forbids her from interacting with many of the people in the town. Tea Cake, however, treats her as an equal from the start. He teaches her how to play chess the first time they meet, which is apparently something that Joe never would have thought her female mind capable of. Caroline Bagley
At the beginning of her story, Janie does not view love as being an important prerequisite to marriage or sex. But as the novel progresses and as her first two marriages fall apart, she starts to see that she was wrong in believing that she could learn to love a man simply because he was her husband. Janie married first to pacify her grandmother, then later to get away from her first husband, but it wasn't until she met Tea Cake that she married simply for love. Ironically, this is the marriage she was most criticized for. Caroline Bagley
I agree with Caroline that the novel constantly compares females and males. Janie is not treated equally by her first two husbands (Logan and Joe) because they believed they were superior to her and females shouldn't do certain things. For example, when the mule died, Joe told Janie to watch the shop while the whole town went to the funeral. Joe did not want his wife to be seen at such an event even though Janie would like to have gone. Joe also demands that she not talk too much and when she finally stands up for herself, he becomes upset with her. On page 43 Joe says, "She's a woman and her place is in the home". He did not believe that Janie should participate in social events. Joe focused more on achieving power and control of Eatonville than on his marriage. So when Janie met Tea Cake after Joe's death she was very much in love with him. Tea Cake treated Janie as an equal which created mutual respect in the relationship. He let her go fishing, to work, and other things that her first two husbands would never let her do. Though many people criticized Tea Cake and Janie’s marriage, mostly because of their age difference, this relationship made Janie the happiest compared to her other marriages in the novel. - Elizabeth Kelly
Nature is repeatedly mentioned throughout the novel. The first significant scene was at the beginning of the novel when Janie spent most of her time under a pear tree. This signified that she was maturing and becoming a woman ready for a relationship. She describes nature as passionate, energetic, and blissful. Janie’s interaction with nature compares to her relationships and the struggles she faces to find herself and independence. The hurricane at the end of the novel also represents Janie’s struggles. Her first two marriages were destructive and even though they were hard to get through she ended up okay in the end. Janie’s strength and independence got her through the hardships she faced and created peace in the later years of her life. - Elizabeth Kelly
I enjoyed the novel being a frame story. In the first chapter, we know no detailed information about Tea Cake, but as Janie tells her story to Pheoby the reader expects to learn more about him. Since Janie showed up in town without him in the beginning, I wasn't sure whether or not to trust his character as his story developed. I believed that Tea Cake was a scam artist after Janie's money, but he changed her life and aided her with enjoying it too. Janie wanted to experience real love and Tea Cake supplied her with all the love she could ever need.
I thought it interesting the way Janie mentioned at one time that she hated her grandmother, and felt that her grandmother was not acting out of love when she set up her marriage to Logan. It made sense the way Janie described her grandmother as trying to live the life she always wanted through Janie, and thinking that every path she chose for her was for the best. That was her own delusional way of masking her selfish intentions of experiencing a life that she wasn't able to live, even if it wasn't her own. I thought this was a really interesting relationship and it kind of reminded me of those super-competitive beauty pageant moms you see so much of nowadays.
It is quite ironic that Janie has such a feminist attitude that she doesn't need a man, yet, for the majority of her life, she jumps from man to man, never going long without one.
Mrs. Turner is mulatto like Janie, but Mrs. Turner is prejudice towards black folks. According to Mrs. Turner, mulattoes deserve their own class because they are better than black folks. I thought her character was ignorant. She shouldn't belittle what partly created her. Having fairer skin doesn't make her better than anyone else. I believe Mrs. Turner is simply bitter because her reasons for disliking black folks are absurd.
I agree with Eva's second comment. Instead of Janie trying to improve her life and self-worth by spending time alone to reflect on herself, she jumped from one bad relationship to the next. I understand that once someone is in love it changes their viewpoints on many things, but I still believe that Janie should have been able to stand alone and find peace by herself. That might have been more difficult for her though, since her grandmother (and mother) suffer hard, loveless lives, and her Nanny instills in her mind that marriage is the only sure key to happiness.
I also noticed that innocence was a theme in this novel. Almost every time nature or springtime is referenced, Janie's innocence is an underlying theme. She was on a quest to experience life and find herself, but all the while she remains pure. This is ironic because all the gossipy women in her community believe nothing but foul things about her and are completely envious of her, while Janie is a pure and peaceful character.
The one thing said in this novel that stuck out the most to me was when Janie said the she lived her old life first, with Logan Hillicks and Jodie, and then she was living her young life out with Tea Cake. It was the truth too, when she was younger, all she was told to do was basically be quiet and sit pretty. She loathed this life and when Tea Cake "rescued" her, she was doing all type of new activities and living as a person.
I always adore the moment when you realise why the title of a book was chosen. While, in this book, the title may not be as subtle, it an be interpreted so many different ways. To me, Their Eyes Were Watching God refers entirely to Janie. Throughout her lifetime, Janie lived many different lives; she was many different people. However, her entire life was left to God's will and made her many aspects of her life and, ultimately, who she was as a person.
Tate's point about Janie jumping from man to man is intriguing. I think that Janie is a very independent woman, but she is not happily independent until she meets Tea Cake. With her first husband, she becomes angry when he expects her to partake in household chores. In the era of her first marriage, it was common for the wife of a farmer to help with things around the land. So, she moves on to Jodie. However, Janie remains discontented because Jodie only allows her to run the store. Janie yearns for more freedom with both of these men, but in different ways. Finally, Janie found freedom with Tea Cake. Jodie had been dead for a while when she met him, and Janie was finally given time on her own to rediscover herself. Perhaps it was less of a rediscovery than a recovery, if I may say so. Janie is finally won over by Tea Cake when he comes to her house late at night and suggests a fishing trip. We have all learned that water is a symbol of rebirth, and even though we don't exactly witness Janie's experience with the water (we don't know if she went on a boat on it [though presumably she did not because Tea Cake is so poor], or if she merely sat by it), the aftermath of the trip suggests that Janie has resolved to move on from Eatonville to wherever Tea Cake takes her.
It took me a while to adjust to the dialect in this novel. It was a lot easier for me to actually read it out loud, though after about 50 pages I was able to read it in my head and understand it completely. Therefore, I gradually became accustomed to Janie's ways (kind of like she gradually realized that none of her marriages would work out). To continue on the feminist literary criticism track, I've got to admit that Janie was not very strong-willed. The fact that she adjusted herself to fit her husband's lifestyle each time she married made me feel that Janie's actions--and I do refute what I said in my previous comment about Janie being very independent--completely rely on her husband's own actions. I also find it really interesting that Janie didn't seem to have official ceremonies for marriage. I don't mean a wedding, though. For example, she and Jodie were married en route to the new town, and she and Tea Cake kind of just decided they were married. The fact that she didn't have a marriage certificate or anything (was that around back then?) may have foreshadowed that her marriages would not last. But I might be going out on a limb there.
I found it very interesting that Hurston originally studied anthropology, receiving a bachelor’s degree in from Barnard College. It was something I did not expect.
The words become easier to understand if you say them aloud but there are a few that I still can’t grasp. They are zigaboos (pg 7), handksher (pg 22), mein (pg 29), and freezolity (pg 31).
ReplyDeleteAvery Bachus
Through out the story I noticed that food seemed to be an important symbol like in the beginning when Phoebe brought Janie some Mulatto rice or when Janie’s grandmother nanny is talking to Janie about love she is cooking. Another example is when Coker told Hicks that “You can’t git her wid no fish sandwich.” (pg 47) Whenever food appears something important is about to happen like Janie telling her life story or her nanny dyeing. Everything circles around food.
ReplyDeleteAvery Bachus
Tea Cake is a leader of his community just like Joe was except instead of oppressing his community, he leads their laughter and encourages them to play in the field; music/humor versus “big voice”
ReplyDelete"Janie starched and ironed her face and came set in the funeral behind her veil. It was like a wall of stone and steel.”
ReplyDeleteAmbiguity causes the reader to question whether if the wrinkles are of an actual veil or the “expensive” wrinkles acquired caused by her stressful and oppressive relationship with Joe—folds are expensive since they cause Janie her youth
Throughout the novel, Joe and Tea Cake are covertly compared. For example, both men have a consistent phrase that they say to Janie, revealing more about their different personalities. Joe's constant saying, "Ah'm an educated man, Ah keep mah arrangements in mah hands," shows that Joe is a self-centered man who only wants the power to rest within his own hands. This makes Janie feel low and limited. However, Tea Cake's repeated phrase, "You got de keys tuh de kingdom," reveals his compassion and pure hope that Janie will share his power and status with him.
ReplyDelete--Haley Goldman
The entire novel revolves around images of springtime. The images appear when Janie is happy or in love, and the flowers or trees symbolize this life she feels inside of her. The symbol really presents itself in chapter 19 when Tea Cake refers to Janie as prettier than flowers. This solidifies her feelings of springtime and love because Tea Cake also recognizes it.
ReplyDelete--Haley Goldman
A main symbol of the book is definitely spring and the trees blooming because Janie feels like she is blooming, too, but I was considering another symbol to be gossip and lies because a lot of the book focuses on porch gossip and the talk of the town. Certainly what other people think of a person can change their story a bit and the way they tell it.
ReplyDeleteJody's first impression on Janie seals the deal with her and Logan's relationship. His ambition for higher, greater things steals Janie's from her husband leaving hope of love for Logan to instant love for Jody. But first impressions aren't always true of the way a person acts all the time as they grow apart from each other over time. Over time her "love for Jody" is only short term.
ReplyDeleteWhen Jody dies, Janie is released from the values and morals she had known and lived by for so long. Wealth and fame had no more value for Janie. Her emotions that were previously concealed for so long are revealed, symbolizing her escape from the world of the past to the world she wants to live in.
ReplyDeleteI don't know whether it was in all copies of the book but the foreword that was in my copy was really interesting and I liked learning about the history of the book then seeing how it related to the book's contents.
ReplyDeleteRebecca Addison
One of the main things I noticed was the differences and similarities between Mr. Killicks, Jody, and Tea Cakes. Janie marries Jody to get away from the work Mr. Killicks expects her to do, but Jody ends up making her work even more, whereas Tea Cakes doesn't appear to make her work but eventually she ends up working with him too, albeit enjoying the work more.
ReplyDeleteRebecca Addison
One of my favorite quotes in the book was "'our beloved mayor,' it was one of those statements that everybody says but nobody actually believes like "God is everywhere,'" for it allows the reader to understand the characters in the text better (Hurston 48). The quote stays true to modern society, relevant to the country’s view of the president. Joe’s power starts to become the envy of the town, for the fact that he was black made the town feel even more belittled than if a white person were to be mayor. Joe had the power over everyone because everyone gave him the power. This power goes along with Joe and Janie’s marriage. Joe discounted Janie, which Janie never objected, due to her dependence on Jody to make her someone of worth.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting part about Janie would be that she never actually grows up in her marriage with Joe, rather she grows old. This immediately changes once Tea Cake arrives in her life. Furthermore, the springtime imagery proves to be significant with symbols such as the sunset and the blooming of flowers; these particular symbols represent rebirth and the longing of something Janie tries to find throughout the entire text. The explanation of the pear tree shows the perfect relationship Janie has with nature. She encounters a moment of bliss by witnessing harmony between the bee and the pear tree – erotic energy is evident in this part. My favorite part of the book hands down would have to be the bringing in of the title towards the end of the novel. Motor Boat, Tea Cake, and Janie are in awe – trying to understand why God can create such chaos in the world, yet such beauty. This exhibits more about the spiritual nature of the text.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting at the end of chapter five that Hurston talks about power and leadership. We look at our leadership today and scoff at how corrupt they are. Yet the Constitution was founded on the idea of the "power of the people." Hurston says "They bowed down to him rather because he was all these things...and he was all these things because the town bowed down." (Pg 50) We give power to our government. As a general community we give the power of law making to our leaders. If we were truly unhappy with our government we could change it. Whether because of laziness or being scared of change, our government has not truly changed in over 300 years. Just as how Jody remained in power because the town gave him power, the leadership we have now remains in power because we give them power.
ReplyDeleteMrs. Turner represents what is wrong with society these days. The whole belief that the lighter the better is untrue.Many cultures believe this and discriminate against one another when in reality we should be helping each other.Mrs. Turner's ideals taint the minds of many African American today causing the rising epidemic of black on black crimes.
ReplyDeleteJanie's life works in reverse order due to the fact that her grandmother always took care of her. Janie never learned how to fend for herself until teacake showed up into her life. her beauty created a false perception of her. She desired a life of freedom but everyone sheltered her and told her she was too pretty for that kind of lifestyle
ReplyDeleteI noticed that gender differences was a huge theme throughout the novel and that it was presented within the first two paragraphs of the novel: "Ships at a distnace... and do things accordingly." In these two paragraphs, I found it extremely interesting how Hurston says that women are known for acting to accomplish their dreams unlike men who sometimes never do anything to accomplish their dreams. The theme also appears with each of Janie's different husbands. For instance when she is living with Joe at age 35, and he begins to call her old hen. I believe Hurston is attempting to show that the seperate spheres for men and women during this era of the novel plays a large role in the life of everyday people and the novel's characters.
ReplyDeleteIsabella Tondi Resta
While reading, a question between Sam Watson and Lige Moss caught my attention. Lige asks, "Whut is it dat keeps uh man from getting' burnt on uh red hot stove--caution or nature?" (pg 64).
ReplyDeleteThis brings about a very interesting argument, as I still try to piece together the importance of this question. Sam says its nature that keeps a man from burning himself; Lige vehemently declares it to be caution. What exactly is the force of nature? What causes that to keep someone from doing something. Caution on the other hand, is like fear. People do not touch the hot stove because they fear they will be burnt. Maybe, they touched it once, and know not to touch it again - like in the case of Moses from the Bible.
Sam continues to argue that "nature makes caution". Maybe this could be a part of sexism. Man controls the woman, as commonly seen in "Their eyes were watching God." Possibly, the question spurs the idea that men knew not to touch the stove, but the cautious woman knows not to do it out of fear. I could be wrong here, but Hurston seems to sneak in another critical point about the relationship between man and woman here.
Jaclyn Turner
Isabella brings up an interesting point about the gender seperations, but I do not believe Hurston was saying that men do not seek their dreams, on the contrary I believe she is saying that men dream larger than possible in life and are constantly plagued by their quest to seek their glorious goal. Such can be seen by the men in Janie's life specifically Joe who had only wanted to live the powerful life of his white predecessors only to be cut down by the limit of time on his life and mocked by his own wife and the people he worked hard for to bring to a higher stance in life.
ReplyDeleteThen there comes Tea Cake, a simple man who only wanted to love Janie so dearly, but in turn because of his want to save Janie so desperately, succumbs to an illness that all but leads to kill the woman he loved more than life itself and not without trying.
But Janie as a woman did not seek her dream, she only rebelled against her social norms and her clear decision that she had not found what she wanted and therefore led to her journey with the men that were Joe and Tea Cake, she still obeyed, she was still the same Janie she had been but she found what she was looking for, comfort, which she made up in her mind was what she wanted. This was never a goal she set in her head to find but only a discovery of the journey. I may have written too much lol.
I also want to bring a attention to that when discussing this novel we cannot ignore the society of which the story takes place and heiarchy.
ReplyDeleteJanie is a mulatto woman who by definition holds higher standing in society that any person of darker shade and therefore because of her color and European features is deemed beautiful because of the uniqueness that she holds.
The men she deals with are of dark complexion, being the low class of society unworthy of anything lighter, higher in society and are deemed only fit to serve and for grunt work.
Then there is always the existence of the white man, the highest in society that makes all rules and provides final judgement in all matters which provides constant reminder of the society that existed and the rules that are in place which effect the story's characters, setting and events.
I wanted to comment on Honeiah's second comment about Janie growing old in her relationships instead of growing up. I agree with Honeiah's comments and wanted to add that the concept of growing old instead of growing up is physically seen on the character. I believe the town noticed her younger attitude with her appearance when they were wondering "What dat ole forty year ole 'oman doin' wid her hair swingin' down her back lak some young gal?" (Hurston 2). Since she did get married at such a young age, Janie was unable to finish enjoying her last adolescent years so she was never able to learn and grow from those last experiences.
ReplyDeleteI also wanted to note that the novel has several antagonists (which can be argued). Each of these characters treat Janie differently and influence her character differently. I believe Joe was the most influencial antagonist because of his change of character towards his wife after they marry and he becomes mayor of Eatonville. This made Janie stronger in personality and I feel more independent. Does anyone else have an opinion about a certain antagonist and how he or she affects Janie?
Isabella Tondi Resta
I really like Jenny Cadet's train of thought. I think that Janie is a precursor to the "modern woman" of today. When Janie stood up for herself she had not only a large impact on herself and her life but the greater community as well. The lessons and themes in Hurston's novel can still be applied to modern day situations (specifically gender roles in this example)
ReplyDelete-Megan Eisenberg
I agree with Becca about the forward. I find it interesting that Hurston, though a good writer, was ostrascized from the black writing community. They thought her story was not "harsh" enough. The black writers of the 30's wanted to scare whites into realizing their faults, but in the end whites only suppressed them further. I believe that Hurston's book provided a leveler, or an equalizer. Most women could pick up this book and find a part of themselves in the different stages of Janie's life. Thus I believe that black authors would have been better received if they had written books more as equalizers than pointed fingers.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite quote in this novel is the opening of chapter 1. "Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board." It represents the novel in such a beautiful way. It symbolizes the hope that those in the story hold on to. The characters in the story are hopeful of some intangible dream or wish. This is why they hold on to the stories of people around them. They are so intertwined, because their own lives are not what they want. An example is when the ladies on the porch sat and talked about Janie. They envied her. The quote is an extension of the lives that surface in the novel, they all just want one thing. That thing may vary by person, but the hope instilled in each of their hearts are the same.
ReplyDeleteJanie's beautiful hair is a symbol of her individuality. It sets her apart from others. In the beginning of the novel, Hurston makes known the attractiveness of Janie's attention grabbing hair. When Jody forces Janie to cover her hair with a rag, he represses her personality and her beauty. He wants to hog her good lucks from other people's eyes.
ReplyDeleteJanie is a rather boring person during the time she is married to Jody. She rarely speaks out of turn, and does little but cook and manage the store. Jody has taken Janie's spirit.
Upon his death, Janie wastes no time burning the rags. This is an act to demonstrate her newfound independence from Jody's dictatorship.
Janie's new husband, Tea Cake, does nothing of the sort to restrict Janie's femininity and personality. In fact, he tells her that she should have the best of the best from stores in Orlando and such. Tea Cake serves as an authority figure in Janie's life, but not as restrictive as Jody.
Also, I agree with Honeiah's comment about the title. I liked the way that the title was woven into the story during the a time of chaos. Janie and Tea Cake were leaving God and fate to determine the rest of their relationship and existence of earth. It proves their faith in God during a testing time. Their faith and will to survive, is what caused them to survive what many did not.
Jaclyn Turner
ok sooo i don't know about you guys but how she came to the conclusion that love is likje a bee polinating a flower baffles me beyond all reason. like where in your head does that click? and do we ever find out what happened to her parents?
ReplyDeleteIinnocence is closely linked to youth, in my mind she didn't really start aging until she met tea cake (weird name by the way!) up until then her first two husbands had sheltered her protectivly and her nanny did the same. janies loss of innocence has as much to do with the destruction of her dreams with her first two husbands, which she only married to complie with nannys wish of living the leisure life of a white woman. her innocence was also regained, somewhat, through true love,which she found in tea cake. YAY
ReplyDeleteIn the book where Janie says she feels like she's blooming, I finally understand what she meant. With each marriage she went through she learned more about her self. I think that it's too bad though that she had to go through two bad marriages to find true love.
ReplyDeleteAriel Scott
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the book, I decided to compare all three of her husbands. What Janie had with Logan Killicks, I wouldn't call a marriage. It was more so of an arrangement, because the love wasn't there and a marriage can't exist without love. What Janie and Jody had, I would say that it was a marriage. There was love at first, but when he started to become controlling and abusive that's when the love left. What Janie had with Tea Cake was a real marriage. They loved eachother, they complimented eachother well, and I would say it was love at first sight. Janie was honestly happy.
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to point out how many underlying gender roles themes. Whether it is in the very beginning of the book with the scene about the tree and the bee or Janie's relationships with her husbands. I believe that alot of the messages that Hurston is portraying can be applied to modern day gender issues. For example Janie is unhappy in her first marriage (Logan), flirts with a new guy then runs away to go marry the new guy (Jody). Personally, this sounds like a relatively common situation in modern day America.
ReplyDelete-Megan Eisenberg
While Jody is trying to bring up his status as well the status of his race by modernizing and improving the town of Eatonville, he unknowingly creates the "white man vs. slave" situation during his position as mayor. "'You kin feel a switch in his hand when he's talkin' to yuh.'" (Hurston 49)
ReplyDeleteI like how Hurston changed the point of view from first person to third person towards the beginning of the book when Janie was explaining her life story to Phoeby on page 10. I thought it was to make it easier to read for the audience and easier to write for the author herself.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite parts of the novel is when Jody passed away, the scene represented a moment of liberation for Janie. She was silenced for so long, and the moment before Jody passes she is finally able to voice her opinion without fear. Once her husband is actually gone, she lets down her hair, in this moment Janie now feels beautiful, feminine and free, elements of life that were absent due to her detainment. The most interesting part however, about the scene is that after allowing her hair to fall she quickly ties is back up, and begins to cry. "She starched and ironed her face, forming it into just what people wanted to see..." despite Jody's mistreatment of Janie she pretends to feel sorrow for his passing, just so people wouldn't judge her. This in itself shows her heart and care for what people think about her contrary to someone such as Jody.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that Janie is only shown to go through all of the seasons with one of her husbands, Tea Cake, in the Everglades. Each season represents a phase of life, so this shows that Janie can go through all of the phases of life, mature, and be happy and in love with Tea Cake. The setting in the Everglades highlights her love of nature.
ReplyDelete-Michelle Plavnik
The story was told in a flashback. I liked that the whole book was written in flashback mode, and that the flashack started with childhood and ended with the current situation. (Janie came back from the funeral and is talking to Phoebe.) The beginning and ending of the flashback made the story easy to follow and the point of view made it engaging.
ReplyDelete-Michelle Plavnik
There were a couple of symbols in the book that spoke out to me. The head-rags that Jody forced her to wear and the sun.
ReplyDelete-I found the head-rags to be an important symbol of freedom and individuality. Because Janie has such beautiful hair, Joe forces his wife bind her hair to prevent others from seeing it. This constraints Janie’s femininity and stifling her identity. In an attempt to keep Janie all to himself, he suffocates her and loses her completely.I wasn't too surprised when Janie was anxious to burn all the rags when Jody died. To me the head rag represents the constraints imposed on women by men in power.
-The sun was a symbol of rebirth. The sun demonstrates, simply by rising day after day, that life goes on – no matter how tragic yesterday was. For Janie, Tea Cake’s memory will be as enduring as the sun.
I liked the way the title tied into the book. Their Eyes Where Watching God: the line appears in the book a couple of times near the end. Janie tells Pheoby “two things everybody got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin' fuh theyselves." Janie believes in God and that he will help you in time of need but not all the time. Her eyes were watching God to help Tea Cake make it through and not die. But Tea Cake did die. The people watching God are waiting helplessly for him but sometimes you have to take charge for yourself. Also, if you don’t take advantage of the signs God does give (the Indians warning Janie before the Hurricane) you then you really are on your own.
ReplyDeleteEven though the novel, I believe, is very difficult to understand because of the intense dialect of the characters, the form of speech that Zora Hurston uses allows Janie to find her voice and then transforms her character throughout the book by self-empowerment.
ReplyDeleteLyndsey Walsh
I also believe that because of a strong voice Janie develops helps to define her relationships as the novel progresses. Her independence begins to control how she interacts with people, and in the end is what keeps her strong.
ReplyDeleteLyndsey Walsh
I would like to discuss the symbolism in the last scene. First of all, Janie chooses her house in Orange County because it represents the beginning of fundamental happiness in her life from her relationship with Tea Cake. She spends most of her last days in upstairs her bedroom which is metaphorically closer to God and Heaven. As she approaches Death, she literally locks up the lower level of her house which equates to closing of all ties to her Earthly life. The image of Tea Cake's spirit forming two lights at the top of the pine trees symbolizes an end of life and growth for Tea Cake and Janie. By pulling in the horizon over her shoulders, she is at peace with nothing unknown in the distant future. This entire scene depicts Janie's acceptance of moving on spiritually and the end of her quest to truly live.
ReplyDeleteBecause of the symbol of the blossoming pear tree and Janie's determination to find a decent husband, this novel may seem to send a message revolving around the importance of love; however, in the end, Hurston values independence, inner happiness, and a strong sense of self over lasting relationships. Although Janie's happiness with each marriage itself varies, each man she is involved with serves as a metaphorical stepping stone to her ultimate spiritual peace and identity. Logan helps her to realize the power she has in changing her own life. Jody promises freedom but does not deliver, so when she stands up to him, he teaches her how to be strong in defending oneself. Tea Cake treats her as an equal if not someone superior to himself, allowing her to value her own existence. The accumulation of these realizations is what finally forces Janie to choose protecting her own life and practical reason over trusting her sick lover with her fate.
ReplyDeleteThe language in this novel was the first thing i noticed while reading. There are two very distinctive styles. The first is a third person, metaphorical style full of imagery and symbols. The second is Janie's first person voice. Her dialogue, like every other character in the novel has a distinct dialect and use of language. The contrast between the metaphorical and colloquial languages is interesting and stylistically amazing!
ReplyDeleteOne of the characteristics that jumped out at me while reading this book was the repetition of certain numbers. Throughout the novel, Hurston continuously uses 2, 3, and 6, and occasionally their multiples. These can be found in numerical mentions like 2 years (the time Janie was married to Tea Cake) and 3 hundred dollars (the amount of money saved), but they are also seen in descriptions, like Janie's three husbands, or the three people struggling to escape the hurricane. Taken individually, these numbers hold the common and somewhat religious connotations of duality and trinity. The duality portion appears in the novel as the constant comparisons between light and dark, and Janie's struggle between dreams and reality. Three, as a trinity, represents the number needed for balance. It was only after her third husband that Janie finally came to understand and accept life and love. Finally, 6 is a combination of two and three. When Janie and Tea Cake are fleeing the hurricane, the 6-mile bend is a place of safety they strive to reach and then move on from. I interpreted this to mean that a combination between struggle and balance will bring safety and stability in life.
ReplyDeleteClarice Reid
One motif ( and I'm not really sure if it truly is a motif...but i feel that it is) that I seemed to connect with more then anything was the myriad amount of comparisons ands imagery that had to do with trees. The ones that stuck out the most to me was the comparisons to Janie as a tree. But what I found most interesting was when Hurtson juxtaposed Janie's different stages of trees. Her grandma compares her and the people around her as "tree branches without roots" (p.16) Se is young and really has no roots. I mean its not like her parrents raised her. Or in the beginning (which seems to be really the end) She "saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered" (P.8) And even when Hurtson does not directly state it, Janie acts like a tree. Strong and rigid, but quiet and peacefull when need-be. Moved by the winds, or husbands like Jody, around her, yet never enough to be knocked over. And when she is with Tea Cake, she acts young. The older the tree, the stronger and more beautiful it is, just like Janie. With her long flowing hair, or leaves like a willow, that sometimes weeps. But even then the people, or shrubs, around her are so much more envious of her striking height and care. In personality, Janie is so much higher above the rest of them but she's so modest she pretends not to care. But everyone knows it and they respect her for it. The name Janie even means noble, which trees very much are, providing shade for permeant dwellers or even visitors. Janie carries herself like a tree andI feel that Hurtson (weather she meant to or not) really planted a seed which grew when she created a tree like Janie.
ReplyDelete-Mariah Pepper Berkowitz
On another note, I would like to point out that above, people are saying that this novel is a "love story" and I would like to agree with that. However, when I think about it, I feel like this story isn't as much about love as it is Life, and maybe how much love is an effective player in life.
ReplyDeleteNowadays I look at life and I think, "why are we here?". And I hear things like "to have sex and recreate" or "to finish unfinished business" or " to pay taxes" or "to fall in love and share out lives with someone" but my favorite is "there is a reason, and we don't know it" and some of us connect that to this thing/being called "God". And people say that he/she knows so therefore we don't need to know. But those peoples "eyes are watching God" for a signal, for a guide. And I feel like Hurtson would have named the novel something like "Tea Cake, Beans and Janie" if it was a love story. But I feel like its more leaning to a Life story and thats why she named it "Their eyes were watching God"
-Mariah Pepper Berkowitz
I waited and waited and waited for the title to come up in the novel, and finally it did on page 159. Well, sort of. It was phrased as eyes "questioning" God. Which I thought was rather interesting. The paragraph says, "They just didn't use another part of their bodies, and they didn't look at anything but the door. The time was past for asking the white folks what to look for through that door. Six eyes were question God (that's italicizes). This paragraph was very moving, because in that moment of great turmoil, race and gender and discrimination were not thought of. Everyone recognized that the storm was beyond anything they could control. And all they could do was watch.
ReplyDeleteAge was a major motif throughout the novel. From the very beginning when the old women gossip about Janie, to the last time Tea Cake mentions Janie's age. I love that Tea Cake talks about Janie's life like she lived it in reverse. He says, "God made it so you spent yo' ole age first wid somebody else, and saved up yo' young girl days to spend wid me." I love that. I never really thought about it as I was reading along until Tea Cake says it. She spent her oldest and most unhappy days with her first husband, and gradually grew younger in a sense with her second marriage to Joe Starks. Just when she thought she couldn't feel younger after Joe died, Tea Cake came along and that marriage allowed her to gain back the years she lost early on.
ReplyDeleteJessica Jarrett
The dialect is killing me... Im halfway through and have just stopped where Tea Cake and Janie meet at the store.
ReplyDeleteI am really enjoying reading about the development of Janie's character. I think her physical, spiritual, and sexual growth are all a part of everyone's life. You can see her independence grow with each passing relationship. It's interesting to think that Janie grows to know herself better from being with another person (even if it must be from abuse/ constraint).
Patrick Jones
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness this dialect is making my head hurt. However, the book overall is very interesting. I love the questioning from Janie whether marriage brings love. When it does not, Janie says she just wants love like the pear tree. The pear tree is generally referenced to in a sexual way or insinuating marriage.
ReplyDeleteSavannah Perdue
I feel as though the head rags that Joe forces Janie to wear in public are a huge symbol within the novel. Janie's hair was so beautiful and attractive that he wants her all for himself. The act of her hair being bound in a head rag represents the binding of her femininity. After Joe dies, Janie burns all of the head rags he made her wear in an attempt to release her from the hold Joe had on her. She had lost her identity within the marriage and regained it through releasing herself from him.
ReplyDeleteSavannah Perdue
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ReplyDeleteThe novel is overall good but the dialect used can be somewhat difficult to understand at times. Janie is truly a dynamic character, and changes alot because of her experiences and relationships with the men she encounters and the community she lives in. At first she is independent and does not really know who she is, but later she she becomes strong and discovers her true self.
ReplyDeleteVictor Lopez
I agree with Savannah about Janie's head rags being a huge symbol in the novel, but her hair itself is also an important symbol. Janie has beautiful hair, and this already seperates her from most women in the community. It symbolizes her independence and how much different she is from the other women in the novel.
ReplyDeleteVictor Lopez
At first the dialect used in the novel was a struggle for me to read, but it became easier the longer I read the novel. However, the dilect makes the characters feel more realistic to me.
ReplyDeleteI just finished chapter 10, which is when Janie meets Tea Cake while the rest of Eatonville is at the ball game. I am hoping Janie and Tea Cake's time together is a happier relationship for Janie, although during the first chapter of the novel Janie says, "Yes, Phoeby, Tea Cake is gone" (Hurston 6).
One thing I have noticed with this novel is that it is a framed narrative. It begins with Janie sitting with Phoeby and proceeding to tell her the story of her life. I checked the back of the book, and it ends with Janie and Phoeby sitting together, too.
-Alexa Zack
The story is of Janie and her struggle to find her idea of love. Her grandmother wants her to marry Logan, and although that does not make her happy, she does it because she hopes she will fall in love for him the way she feels in necessary to be happy. Later when she meets Jody, she feels that this is what she was missing in her life. She thinks the love she felt is what a real marriage was suppose to be about she found with him. It does not really seem like she has other goals for herself besides staying somewhat independent and of finding a man that she's truly in love with. By the time Jody dies, she has figured out that he was not the one for her and that she is still in search of the love that she yet to feel for a man and has felt by a man.
ReplyDeleteAshley Gibbs
Finished the book, hooray. Interesting ending. Janie's done with relationships I hope. From 3 relationships she has developed self-worth and is content with life.
ReplyDeleteI did not enjoy this book. The dialect was hard to follow and the story of having three lovers to satisfy your self-discovery is absurd.
~Patrick Jones
The mule symbolizes Joe. When the mule is alive its all anybody talks about, mainly because there seems to be nothing else to talk about. The mule must learn to settle down and rest during the last few months of its life just like Joe does. Once both of them die they are forgotten about and the town moves on.
ReplyDelete- Charlotte Cronley
In this book, men played the most important role. They brought the money and food home while women stayed home. Janie is a woman with ambitions and has a heart for adventure, which made her a terrible wife in the first two marriages.
ReplyDelete-- Celeste Hankins
ReplyDeleteJanie's first two marriages made her feel confined and imprisoned. The third marriage with Tea Cake was less work because he treated Janie as an equal and helped Janie feel free.
ReplyDelete-- Celeste Hnakins
One of the aspects that I absolutely loved about this novel was Hurston's style. The fact that she incorporated so much African American culture into Janie's story was unique and kept me intrigued. I loved how she wrote the dialogue and how she provided many minor characters. It was nice to have some lighthearted comedy in such a deep book.
ReplyDelete-Lauren Richards
This question has remained in my mind ever since I finished the book. Why didn't Janie have any children? I was expecting at least one of her husbands to want a child, but it seemed that handling Janie was enough for each of the men. Since Janie's character development was such a major part of this novel, I thought Janie having a child would show her reaching a new level of maturity, the love for a child rather than the love for a man.
ReplyDelete-Lauren Richards
Even though it did not hit me until just before Tea Cake’s death, there seems to be an ongoing comparison of Tea Cake and Joe, as Haley mentioned. Though Jaine clearly loved Tea Cake over Joe the characters were almost identical besides the fact that Tea Cake lets Jaine be herself and that Joe was much older than Jaine and Tea Cake was much younger. Both Tea Cake and Joe took Jaine off from her old home and promised her a better life, but all too soon they made her work, wither it was in the bean fields or at the store. Both men’s jealousy over male attention towards Jaine caused them to react harshly (Joe not letting Jaine speak or Tea Cake beating her). Finally both of Jaine’s husbands died of illness that could have been prevented (Joe’s kidney failure and Tea Cake’s rabies). Even though both men are similar, I think Jaine had more love for Tea Cake because he let her be herself and enjoy her youth that she was denied of at an early age.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the book it was hard not to notice all the biblical allusions, but the pear tree stuck out the most to me. In the bible, trees represent life or hope and in Jaine’s case, dreams. When Nanny mentions that she wants Jaine to marry Logan Killicks Jaine’s pear tree image starts to disappear, along with her hope of finding true love. I thought it was interesting when describing her grandmother, Jaine expressed that, “Nanny’s head and face looked like the standing roots of some old tree that had been turn away by a storm,” using the tree symbolism to show that Jaine’s grandmother’s life and hope has been ripped from her . The symbolism all but disappears until Jaine is acquainted with Tea Cake love comes back to her as well as a new sense of life.
ReplyDeleteOne of the leading symbols I noticed was Spring. The focus of flowers and the color blue. The novel never mentions Winter or Fall.Spring is representative of rebirth and every time Jaine would start a new chapter in her life the trees and flowers were always blooming.
ReplyDelete- Ogundele Cain
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that Janie gained something more with her each of her marriages. With Logan Killicks she gained a loving husband, even if she did not love him and became disillusioned with him. When she ran away with Joe Starks, she gained money, respect, and wonderful possessions, but she was treated as an object instead of a person. With her third and final marriage to Tea Cake, she gained freedom and independence, and because of this her first true love.
ReplyDeleteHurston places a great deal of importance on descriptions of the light and dark places in the novel. The sun is a provider of energy and an enemy to tire the workers. The dark is living in fleshed-out shadows and comforting in secret escapades with Tea Cake. One especially significant mention of the Light/Dark motif was the scene in which Joe installs the town lamp. Even after dark has fallen, Joe believes he has the power to keep the light. While this might be interpreted as Joe being a hope in dark times, it really came across as a man who refused to accept the natural order of things and allow life to flow. Joe was a man who needed to be in control, and the lamp allowed him that. In contrast to Joe was Tea Cake, who stole Janie away into the dark for fishing and stargazing. Although he woos Janie in the dark, he is later describes as "son of the Evening Sun." Tea cake accepts the dark, but holds the promise of the light that will come again. He is the epitome of the promise of happiness that sunlight has offered Janie since she ran from her first husband at daybreak. At the beginning/end of the book, when Janie sits with Sophie in the gathering shadows, Hurston is suggesting that Janie's bright sunny love has been found and then let go, and she is now moving into the natural night that comes afterwards.
ReplyDeleteIn this novel, Janie disproved the idea that a stable home will make someone happy. She showed that riches do not matter. What truly matters is freedom, something she did not have with Jody. While she lived in relative poverty with Tea Cup, she was free to choose and with this power of choice, Janie grew as a person and experience that peace she had seen in the beauty of the pear tree.
ReplyDeleteHurston created a parallel between Janie and the pear tree, describing her as having glossy leaves and bursting buds, measuring their lives by the seasons "Janie waited a bloom time, and a green time and an orange time". Her love was a search for a pear tree, as she describes her relationships lacking in pollen. The tree also reflects her wonder and imagination of youth. Not until her relationship with Tea Cake is she brought back to the wonder of nature and brought back to her youth with finally a true love.
ReplyDeleteWith Jody i found his speech interesting. Though Hurston wrote in the vernacular she gave Joe the phrase "I god,.." like by god, but it reveals his ego and his drive to be a great creator. He builds a town and brings them light just like the creation story, but in this case with a lamp post. Jody becomes this great man, freeing the mules and all. He builds himself up to much that when Janie publicly brings him down it is the death of him.
ReplyDeleteIn this novel, there is a recurring symbol of nature overpowering human abilities. Jody is overpowered by disease. Tea Cake is trapped in the hurricane and contracts rabies. Though nature has negative effects in the novel, it also proves to be helpful for Janie. Disease helped her to escape from her overbearing husband, Jody. The hurricane and rabies may not have been helpful at the time it happened, but it soon allowed Janie to appreciate her life and look back on the memories she had with Tea Cake and feel fulfillment because she knew that because if him her journey towards enlightenment had been reached. Nature provided happiness and closure.
ReplyDeleteI think that in the novel nature and the world was more so the meaning of God than a religious meaning of God. Janie struggle is to find her place in nature and the world and nature and the world broke her down and built her up to find happiness and to find her place.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Janie finds herself through tea cake as much as I think she finds herself through her journey with tea cake and all her marriages.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I noticed throughout this book was the way every character was so influenced by the position society expected them to be in. Even the minor characters' banter revealed a lot about the stereotypes they succumbed to within their own communities, such as Mrs. Turner's contempt towards the darker skinned black people, as if they were dragging her down as she tried to become as white as she could - like pretending to be more white would help her social situation. It's like every time she saw them they reminded her that she was also black, and was simply a poser to try and inject herself into the white people's world. Also, the men always seemed to be worried about the submissiveness of their wives. It's like they were using violence against their own kind to compensate for the helplessness they felt living in a "white man's world." I just noticed a lot of self-destructiveness in this particular book in regards to the black community. Really harrowing.
ReplyDeleteDanielle Hawkins
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ReplyDeleteJanie's relationship with her grandmother seemed loving at first. Nanny sacrificed to give Janie the life she had. Unfortunately, Nanny valued a stable lifestyle given the uncertainty and poverty that she experienced throughout her life so when Janie was offered a secure life with a husband, Nanny pushed the marriage whether or not it would make Janie happy. Janie later resented her for this.
ReplyDeleteFor Janie, Joe’s death means freedom. Right after she stands up to Joe, he dies, proving the Janie should have spoken he mind more frequently before.
ReplyDelete- Charlotte Cronley
I wanted to point out the natural imagery that appears in the novel, mainly the references of springtime. Throughout the first chapters, when Janie receives her first kiss and when she marries Logan, the springtime imagery is most often. She states, "Oh to be a pear tree- any tree in bloom! With the kissing bees singing of the beginning of the world!" These references tie directly into her life because they are most frequent when Janie is making the transition from a little girl to a young lady. Later on in the novel, the springtime references become less frequent and more images of the sun appear, like the men of her life represent different seasons. As Janie and Joe's relationship grows, so does the sun imagery. At the beginning of chapter 7 Hurston states that Janie's emotional disturbances were like shade patterns in the woods - come and gone with the sun.
ReplyDeleteEva Cooke
Throughout the novel, I feel that Janie experiences an ongoing internal conflict. Her entire life she is searching for the perfect man to complete her life, but when in a relationship she’s constantly looking to be freed. However, Janie considers being a freed from one man by escaping to another. This thought process starts of a cycle of unhealthy marriages, when in reality Janie needed to clarify who she was before getting into any relationships. Janie’s light skin and long hair symbolizes her destiny to be an individual. Although she never realizes this, the men she ends up with recognize it and therefore feel the need to suppress it to keep her around. Such as Jody’s insistence that Janie wear head rags on her beautiful hair, and when Tea Cake beats Janie just to show who is boss. Janie’s individuality is suppressed for so long that she only realizes it after her Tea Cakes death.
ReplyDeleteEva Cooke
One motif I followed throughout the book was age. Janie’s age clearly changed as the book continued and her lifestyle changed with it. When she was sixteen she kissed Johnny Taylor and decided that that would be the end of her childhood, which seems like a big decision especially looking back from this time period. Shortly after deciding she was no longer a child, she was forced into marriage by her grandmother to an older and uglier man who Janie did not love. Even though she was about to live an adult life of marriage she had no choice in it, displaying just how childlike she still was. Her next marriage was to Joe Starks, a man who was also older than Janie. That was after only being married to Logan for a short period. It’s funny that although she does stay with Jody for a long time, her next marriage is to someone about a decade younger than herself, almost as if it was to even herself out. Tea Cake was younger than Janie, but provided the trait of being younger than her previous husbands in spirit. The three all promised Janie things they couldn’t provide, but Tea Cake had the youthful drive to at least work himself as hard as he could to save Janie from having to do work. As far as Janie’s age goes, as she got older, her body retained its youthful figure and beauty but instead gained a lot of wisdom to apply to her life.
ReplyDelete--Bailey Moran
I enjoyed the novel because it empowered Janie in a period where women did not have power. During that time period, divorces were scandalous and a woman leaving her husband was shocking. I love that Janie refuses to settle for anything less than love in her life. Too many people it seems give up their dreams of love ad stay with a habitual marriage because they're afraid of taking risks.
ReplyDelete-Nicole Motahari
This book reminded me of the multiple novels we read in 10th grade about finding spiritual enlightenment. In all the fairy-tales I've read it is implied that finding a relationship is the key to finding enlightenment. However, Janie only finds enlightenment in her last relationship and finds contentment when she is alone.Her journey to enlightenment and independence has been long and hard. Bith Jody and Logan tried to stop her from becoming self-sufficient, but ultimately failed to prevent enlightenment. Frankly, I'm surprised that they didn't know better than to get in her way. Men should never get in the way of a persevering woman. Anything that stands between a woman and her freedom. Truly, her previous marriages were like shackles on a slave, if anyone's ever read the old slave folktale about the slaves who sprouted wings and flew away. That folktale seems to be a metaphor for Janie's life.
ReplyDelete-Nicole Motahari
The value of money was often discussed in the book. Logan believed that his sixty acres would please Janie, but she didn’t love him and his money couldn’t buy that from her. That’s why she was excited to marry Joe because he was charming and promised her she’d never have to work again. He gave her a lavish life and showed her off around town, but she still worked and her love for him died slowly as she realized that he didn’t truly love her either. Tea Cake loved her and she loved him back. He couldn’t offer her more than that. They both worked day in and day out and managed to live that way, but it was in no way lavish, they didn’t even own land. But that was enough for her.
ReplyDelete--Bailey Moran
The main thing that hindered me at first when reading the novel was the choice of diction that Hurston used to tell Janie's story. Without the southern diction that the story is told in, I think the message and tone of the story would be completely changed. For the most part, the southern dialect is associated with friendly people, story telling, and a group of people who are set in their more traditional ways. The choice of this dialect as opposed to something else shows how much the southern mentality of the characters in that time period-- the 1930's-- affected their every thought and action. Janie's point of view juxtaposes with the Hurston's diction choice, because as she continues to recall the past, Janie realizes that she was never meant to be confined to the constrains of the rigid southern black society.
ReplyDelete--Jamila Wright
I also noticed throughout the novel, that much attention was brought to Janie's hair. A women's hair is usually a symbol of femininity, but in the novel Janie's hair is a source of her strength and uniqueness in the south. As a black woman, if your hair is long an straight, you are more "white" than other blacks living in the south. Due to her hair, Janie was expected to act different, carry herself differently, and withstand more hate from others of the same race. As Janie journey's through her memories to find her individuality, her hair changes with her. For example, when she was married to Jody, she was expected to keep it wrapped up in a rag while she worked in the store. That symbolized the confinement she felt while married to Jody. When the story finally circles back to when she returns to her home with her overalls on and her hair hanging down her back, the reader can tell that she's found some new strength in herself. She see the beauty that is uniquely Janie's and her hair's freedom coincides with her personal transformation.
ReplyDelete--Jamila Wright
I would like to comment about April's second post about the reason behind Nanny's reaons for pushing Janie into marriage. Not only had uncertainty and poverty shaped Nanny's mentality but also the sexual abuse she had faced as a slave. She also saw her daughter live through the same fate. Nanny viewed Janie's marriage not as a symbol of love or happiness but that of protection.
ReplyDelete--Adnan Sayed
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ReplyDeleteThe idea of innocence is a subject of conflict and development for Janie. Innocence referring to youth, idealism and virginity. Early in the novel her first kiss leads to the loss of her innocence. With her first sexual act she had become a women of age who had given up on her idealistic views of love. Later on in the novel Janie overcome this antagonizing role that womanhood has with innocence though her love for Tea Cake which which enables her to regain her youth to an extent.
ReplyDelete--Adnan Sayed
While reading, I have found that this novel contains many side stories that reflect what is happeing in the novel, such as in chapter six when Janie tells the story of the vultures actions towards their "white-headed leader" (Hurston 61). This reflects how the people of Eatonville act towards Joe. -- Alexa Zack
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that the blacks complained so much about being devauled by whites, and yet some of them have the same outlook on other blacks and on Native Americans. The idea that the closer you are to being white the prettier you are is often displayed but the constant admiration for Janie's hair.
ReplyDeleteAshley Gibbs
Going off what Adnan said up there, Tea Cake allows Janie to have her springtime rebirth and be young again because he is the first man to allow Janie to be herself. With Joe, Janie was trying to achieve the indefinable and unreachable image of what a high-class woman should be like (I believe she refers to being on a pedestal), but with Tea Cake people begin to truly respect her because herself and she's normal. Janie becomes the best aspects her friends can strive for instead of the best aspects her friends can never have. She inspires admiration instead of jealousy.
ReplyDeleteI believe Unrest is a major theme in the novel. Janie is unable to find satisfaction in one marriage and is put through many trials and is unable to cope with one man for an extended period of time. Each relationship bound Janie down and forced her to be unlike herself. It is my belief that the author designed Janie's relationships with men this way to show that men are untrustworthy or incapable of love over a long time.
ReplyDeleteIt is highly likely that the author chose for Janie to never find love because love doesn't exist. Janie does everything in her power to find a strong emotional attachment to another man, but it never occurs. The tragedy that Janie calls her life consists of a a stronger search for love, rather than being in love.
ReplyDeleteThroughout much of the novel, Janie seeks true love. I beleive Janie feels that she needs to find love because she does not love herself. Fortunately, in her search for the perfect mate she finds Tea Cake. Because Tea Cake treats Janie as an equal, Janie is able to discover her true identity and love herself. Through this revelation, Janie becomes a stronger person and maintains her happiness even after she loses Tea Cake. Janie's relationship with Tea Cake brings her peace and happiness with who she is as a person.
ReplyDeleteCaroline Mayberry
I think it is unfair of Janie to resent her grandmother for teaching her the value of practicality. Though following her granmother's advice would not have given Janie the true happiness she recieves from her relationship with Tea Cake, she would have has security in her life. Her grandmother's values were much different from Janie's because they grew up in different times. Even though her mother abandoned her, Janie grew up in a pretty stable home with her grandmother looking after her. Janie never witnessed the horrors of slavery as her grandmother did and thus does not value practicality or stability to the same degree.
ReplyDeleteCaroline Mayberry
I found it strange that throughout the novel Hurston includes multiple feminist ideas and provides an arguably strong female character, but then somewhat glorifies Tea Cake's beating of Janie in chapter 17. Is marital abuse acceptable as long as two are in love? She leaves her first husband and eventually gives Joe a piece of her mind. However, when Tea Cake whips Janie, Hurston describes the occurrence as, "No brutal beating at all. He just slapped her around a bit to show he was boss" (145). I understand the author lived in the early 1900s, but I regard this book as a revolutionarily feminist piece. It was upsetting to read this nonchalant justification of a man beating his wife.
ReplyDeleteTea Cake's death is entirely ironic. Allow me to explain. Deciding to challenge Nature, Tea Cake ignores the warnings about the hurricane. Because of this lapse of judgement, he becomes physically drained from helping Janie swim. He then cannot fully defend himself against the rabid dog due to his exhaustion. The rabies contracted from the wild animal eventually causes the transformation into a wild animal himself, and he dies biting Janie's arm. Let's not forget that Tea Cake taught Janie how to use a gun, and she eventually shoots him. If that's not irony, I don't know what is.
ReplyDeleteI though that Janie and Tea Cake were the cutest couple (even though I couldn't actually see them); they just seemed cute. Tea Cake's love and endeavor for Janie's happiness was strong. When he got rabies and his outlook toward Janie began to take the worst turn possible, it just broke my heart to see them crumble.
ReplyDeleteIt was unnerving when Janie's grandmother victimized herslef and made Janie feel bad about not wanting to marry Logan Killicks. I understand that she had a rough time raising Janie's own mother and that she just wants the best for Janie, but Janie should be able to make her onw decisions. I see this as a control issue for Janie and her grandmother. You're suppose to learn by making mistakes but Janie's grandmother is already preventing any type of mistake to happen, hindering Janies ability to grow as an individual. Janie should have been able to go out and find her own love.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Janie's grandmother lived longer would she have stayed with Logan just to make her happy? I know her grandmother was ecstatic to even live to see her get married; but I don't think she should have rushed it like she did.
ReplyDeleteShips at a distance have every man's wish on board. For
ReplyDeletesome they come in with the tide. For others, they sail
forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing
until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation,
his dreams mocked to death
by Time. That is the life of men.
Now, women forget all the things they don't want to
remember, and remember all the things they don't want to
forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things
accordingly.
The first two paragraphs of Their Eyes Were Watching God threw my mind for a spin. I’ve attempted to diagnose the significance behind Hurston’s poeticism. Men, it appears, indifferently see what reality presents, taking that which life shows to them. Although they may wish or dream, these wishes and dreams can only be satisfied by factors beyond their human control. Events and situations seem to represents "ships at a distance." Men are commanded by Time. If it does not support their dreams, it will "mock" them, raze them. "That is the life of men": Life is given, not created. Women, however, make their own lives from their understanding of reality. This centers around a discriminatory process of intentional forgetting and remembering. Eventually it leads to the conceptualization of an individual image of life, a "dream." Through this "truth" of life women base their actions, living their dreams. Time does not dictate here; in this procedure the past is redesigned and transported into the present, contributing to the events of the future.
Existing as a story within a story, the enigma of the Hurston’s novel layout is indivisible from considerations of its theme. Janie Stark relays the story of her upbringing, her life, and her lovers to her best friend Phoebe, as well as to the people to which she has just come back to. This characteristic of the Their Eyes Were Watching God is fundamental to its theme, for Janie Stark and her tales were not developed in a void; she is an inherent part of a community to which she brings back her life and its richness, bliss and grief.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Cara that the opening two paragraphs are two of the most significant of the novel. There's a contrast between male and female established here that remains throughout the rest of the work.
ReplyDeleteMuch of this book, I feel, is about gender equality - or inequality, in many cases. Janie's first and second marriages are with men who treat her as inferior and as a possession. Joe is so jealous about other men lusting over his beautiful wife that he makes her cover her hair and forbids her from interacting with many of the people in the town.
Tea Cake, however, treats her as an equal from the start. He teaches her how to play chess the first time they meet, which is apparently something that Joe never would have thought her female mind capable of.
Caroline Bagley
At the beginning of her story, Janie does not view love as being an important prerequisite to marriage or sex. But as the novel progresses and as her first two marriages fall apart, she starts to see that she was wrong in believing that she could learn to love a man simply because he was her husband. Janie married first to pacify her grandmother, then later to get away from her first husband, but it wasn't until she met Tea Cake that she married simply for love. Ironically, this is the marriage she was most criticized for.
ReplyDeleteCaroline Bagley
I agree with Caroline that the novel constantly compares females and males. Janie is not treated equally by her first two husbands (Logan and Joe) because they believed they were superior to her and females shouldn't do certain things. For example, when the mule died, Joe told Janie to watch the shop while the whole town went to the funeral. Joe did not want his wife to be seen at such an event even though Janie would like to have gone. Joe also demands that she not talk too much and when she finally stands up for herself, he becomes upset with her. On page 43 Joe says, "She's a woman and her place is in the home". He did not believe that Janie should participate in social events. Joe focused more on achieving power and control of Eatonville than on his marriage. So when Janie met Tea Cake after Joe's death she was very much in love with him. Tea Cake treated Janie as an equal which created mutual respect in the relationship. He let her go fishing, to work, and other things that her first two husbands would never let her do. Though many people criticized Tea Cake and Janie’s marriage, mostly because of their age difference, this relationship made Janie the happiest compared to her other marriages in the novel.
ReplyDelete- Elizabeth Kelly
Nature is repeatedly mentioned throughout the novel. The first significant scene was at the beginning of the novel when Janie spent most of her time under a pear tree. This signified that she was maturing and becoming a woman ready for a relationship. She describes nature as passionate, energetic, and blissful. Janie’s interaction with nature compares to her relationships and the struggles she faces to find herself and independence. The hurricane at the end of the novel also represents Janie’s struggles. Her first two marriages were destructive and even though they were hard to get through she ended up okay in the end. Janie’s strength and independence got her through the hardships she faced and created peace in the later years of her life.
ReplyDelete- Elizabeth Kelly
I enjoyed the novel being a frame story. In the first chapter, we know no detailed information about Tea Cake, but as Janie tells her story to Pheoby the reader expects to learn more about him. Since Janie showed up in town without him in the beginning, I wasn't sure whether or not to trust his character as his story developed. I believed that Tea Cake was a scam artist after Janie's money, but he changed her life and aided her with enjoying it too. Janie wanted to experience real love and Tea Cake supplied her with all the love she could ever need.
ReplyDeleteI thought it interesting the way Janie mentioned at one time that she hated her grandmother, and felt that her grandmother was not acting out of love when she set up her marriage to Logan. It made sense the way Janie described her grandmother as trying to live the life she always wanted through Janie, and thinking that every path she chose for her was for the best. That was her own delusional way of masking her selfish intentions of experiencing a life that she wasn't able to live, even if it wasn't her own. I thought this was a really interesting relationship and it kind of reminded me of those super-competitive beauty pageant moms you see so much of nowadays.
ReplyDeleteDanielle Hawkins
It is quite ironic that Janie has such a feminist attitude that she doesn't need a man, yet, for the majority of her life, she jumps from man to man, never going long without one.
ReplyDeleteMrs. Turner is mulatto like Janie, but Mrs. Turner is prejudice towards black folks. According to Mrs. Turner, mulattoes deserve their own class because they are better than black folks. I thought her character was ignorant. She shouldn't belittle what partly created her. Having fairer skin doesn't make her better than anyone else. I believe Mrs. Turner is simply bitter because her reasons for disliking black folks are absurd.
ReplyDelete-Ashley Holder
I agree with Eva's second comment. Instead of Janie trying to improve her life and self-worth by spending time alone to reflect on herself, she jumped from one bad relationship to the next. I understand that once someone is in love it changes their viewpoints on many things, but I still believe that Janie should have been able to stand alone and find peace by herself. That might have been more difficult for her though, since her grandmother (and mother) suffer hard, loveless lives, and her Nanny instills in her mind that marriage is the only sure key to happiness.
ReplyDeleteAyana Owens
I also noticed that innocence was a theme in this novel. Almost every time nature or springtime is referenced, Janie's innocence is an underlying theme. She was on a quest to experience life and find herself, but all the while she remains pure. This is ironic because all the gossipy women in her community believe nothing but foul things about her and are completely envious of her, while Janie is a pure and peaceful character.
ReplyDeleteAyana Owens
The one thing said in this novel that stuck out the most to me was when Janie said the she lived her old life first, with Logan Hillicks and Jodie, and then she was living her young life out with Tea Cake. It was the truth too, when she was younger, all she was told to do was basically be quiet and sit pretty. She loathed this life and when Tea Cake "rescued" her, she was doing all type of new activities and living as a person.
ReplyDeleteI always adore the moment when you realise why the title of a book was chosen. While, in this book, the title may not be as subtle, it an be interpreted so many different ways. To me, Their Eyes Were Watching God refers entirely to Janie. Throughout her lifetime, Janie lived many different lives; she was many different people. However, her entire life was left to God's will and made her many aspects of her life and, ultimately, who she was as a person.
ReplyDeleteTate's point about Janie jumping from man to man is intriguing. I think that Janie is a very independent woman, but she is not happily independent until she meets Tea Cake. With her first husband, she becomes angry when he expects her to partake in household chores. In the era of her first marriage, it was common for the wife of a farmer to help with things around the land. So, she moves on to Jodie. However, Janie remains discontented because Jodie only allows her to run the store. Janie yearns for more freedom with both of these men, but in different ways. Finally, Janie found freedom with Tea Cake. Jodie had been dead for a while when she met him, and Janie was finally given time on her own to rediscover herself. Perhaps it was less of a rediscovery than a recovery, if I may say so. Janie is finally won over by Tea Cake when he comes to her house late at night and suggests a fishing trip. We have all learned that water is a symbol of rebirth, and even though we don't exactly witness Janie's experience with the water (we don't know if she went on a boat on it [though presumably she did not because Tea Cake is so poor], or if she merely sat by it), the aftermath of the trip suggests that Janie has resolved to move on from Eatonville to wherever Tea Cake takes her.
ReplyDeleteleighton Rowell
It took me a while to adjust to the dialect in this novel. It was a lot easier for me to actually read it out loud, though after about 50 pages I was able to read it in my head and understand it completely. Therefore, I gradually became accustomed to Janie's ways (kind of like she gradually realized that none of her marriages would work out). To continue on the feminist literary criticism track, I've got to admit that Janie was not very strong-willed. The fact that she adjusted herself to fit her husband's lifestyle each time she married made me feel that Janie's actions--and I do refute what I said in my previous comment about Janie being very independent--completely rely on her husband's own actions. I also find it really interesting that Janie didn't seem to have official ceremonies for marriage. I don't mean a wedding, though. For example, she and Jodie were married en route to the new town, and she and Tea Cake kind of just decided they were married. The fact that she didn't have a marriage certificate or anything (was that around back then?) may have foreshadowed that her marriages would not last. But I might be going out on a limb there.
ReplyDeleteLeighton Rowell
I found it very interesting that Hurston originally studied anthropology, receiving a bachelor’s degree in from Barnard College. It was something I did not expect.
ReplyDeleteWhat does the title of the book mean? Why did the author choose this title? Is there a deep symbolic meaning? (there probably is) I just don't see it.
ReplyDelete