Hero Journey - The Ordeal

In Janie's Hero Journey, I feel like the Ordeal is Janie and Tea Cake's encounter with the huge hurricane. By definition, the Ordeal is the central life-or-death crisis in which the Hero faces her greatest fear and experiences some sort of "death." As Janie and Tea Cake escape the hurricane, they face death numerous times. Because they leave the Everglades late, they have to run with the storm rapidly pursuing them; with even a moment's hesitation, they could have died. Once they get to the Six Mile Bend, they see death everywhere. "They passed a dead man in a sitting position on a hummock, entirely surrounded by wild animals and snakes" (164). When they sit down to rest and Janie tries to get something to cover Tea Cake with, she falls into the tumultuous water, which is her closest encounter with death, her moment of greatest fear. She survives, but Tea Cake gets bitten by a rabid dog while trying to help her out of the water (this will play a central role in in the later stages of the Hero Journey).

Although they both survive the hurricane, in a way, Janie has "experienced 'death,'" another part of the Ordeal stage. "It was years later by their bodies. Winters and winters of hardship and suffering" (166). The hurricane takes a tremendous toll on Janie, but she survives this 'death,' and she and Tea Cake return to the 'Glades. For the next month or so, she and Tea Cake live a rather calm and peaceful life, rebuilding the house and finding work. All of this is part of the Reward, in which the Hero gets a chance to replenish herself, and the audience gets to "catch its breath." However, this respite won't last for long, because soon enough, the Road Back and the Resurrection will come, involving the Hero's most dangerous meeting with death. I won't go into that because Irene already explained those stages of the Hero Journey in her post.

Characters and Characterization- Janie's choice in men

While reading this novel I have noticed a cycle in Janie's choice in men. Throughout the novel Janie has appeared to choose men who seem at first to be meritorious in their treatment towards Janie, but over time have quickly turned into a more dominant figure. This is ironic because througout the novel so far, Janie's primary search has been that of freedom and identity, yet she continues to choose men who take both of those things away.

First there was Logan Killicks, a hardworking man chosen by her grandmother, who had lotss of lands and honerable prospects. Although Janie did not exactly choose Logan, she allowed Nanny to marry her off when she could have refused. Logan was a perfect husband at first adored her; chopping wood for her, stroking her hair, and speaking to her in rhymes. Later though, when Janie refused to comply to his wishes and be hardworking like himself, Logan became dominant over Janie. He stopped toting wood for her and tried to buy her a mule so she could work on the farm as well, but Janie refused to do such things and became angry with Logan. In turn he tried to belittle and shame her into complience saying," Ah'm too honest and hardworkin' for anyone in yo' family" (p. 32), and when she brings up talking about things for the first time his response is,"It's about time. Youse powerful independent around here all things considerin'." (p. 30) This directly shows his desire for dominence over her because he is averse to her independence and personal freedom and feels it is his need to control her.

After leaving Logan, Janie moves on to an even more dominant figure; Joe Starks. Joe also doesn't appear dominant at first glance. He tells Janie of his aspirations of a new town, and Janie finally feels love for the first time. He also strokes her beautiful hair and likes her to let it down around him. As time moves on, his adoration turns to excessive control. He makes her work in the store and cover her hair, her main source of empowerment. Joe is also a huge womanizer and believes women's place is behind their men, and forces Janie to live this out. She is not allowed to participate in conversations around the store or play chess with the men. Joe also has an obsession with being better than everyone, which he shows by his spit bowl, his giant stark white house, and his position as mayor. The brunt of this is cast upon Janie, and all of the things she does better than him make him more and more controlling and belittling to her. Eventually Joe dies and Janie is finally free for the first time in her life.

Janie experiences a short bit of freedom, in which even her store assistand Hezekiah is slightly dominant, acting more and more like Joe each day which Janie notices but laughs off. After only a short amount of time, Janie meets Tea Cake, and although her conscience tells her not to, she allows him to come into her life and begin to dominate him. Tea Cake seems like a perfectly harmless character, but he does show some signs of slight dominence. Janie is deeply in love with Tea Cake, and therefore easily complies to his wishes, but if she did not it seems as though he would turn into another Joe or Logan. First, Tea Cake tells her to wear blue and come off to marry her. Janie is happy to do this for Tea Cake because she loves him, but even so it would not be a choice, it is his command. Later, Tea Cake takes her money and leaves for a couple days partying and having a good time. This leaves Janie alone worrying herself sick, and he did not even consider to tell her. This shows a complete disregard for her feelings, even though he is apologetic afterwards. Because he doesn't care about her wishes one can infer that he only cares about his own, and wants her to live around them and do what he wants her too. Another act of his carelessness and selfishness his his flirting with Nunkie while they are living in the Evergaldes. If he considered Janie at all, he would have definitely figured that this would upset her. Instead he flirts and leads Nunkie on until Janie is so upset she speaks up. At this, Tea Cake acts as if it is obvious he wouldn't take Nunkie over Janie so she shouldn't be worried, and uses his smooth words to get her over it. He also uproots and moves them to the Everglades from Jackson. He has been moving Janie all around and she is expected to follow him. In regard to Janie's money, Tea Cake says, "From now on, you gointuh eat whutever mah money can buy yuh and wear de same. When I ain't got nothin' you don't git nothin'." (p.128) This shows that Tea Cake has a lot of pride and does not want to take money from Janie, or allow Janie to have her own money. To take money from Janie would make him better than her and for Janie to have her own money would make her more free and independent. Not allowing both of these things to happen shows Tea Cake as a dominant individual.

The similarity of Tea Cake, Logan, and Joe shows that Janie is attracted to dominence, and perhaps afraid or not ready for freedom. It also foreshadows a possible outcome of Janie and Tea Cakes marraige.

Symbols: The Hurricane

In chapter 18, a hurricane hits Eatonville and devastates the town turning lives upside down and creating chaos. So far in the novel, nature has been a postive symbol, such as with the horizon and the pear tree. However, the hurricane emerges as a symbol of the destructive power of nature and illuminates different personalities to characters within the story by placing them in a life threatening situation. Janie and Tea Cake refuse to leave from Eatonville when they first hear of the hurricane, and by the time that they want to leave, it is too late. When the hurricane hits the town, Janie and Tea Cake huddle inside their house. Janie reveals to Tea Cake how glad she is to be married to him and to be in his presence in such a time. This simple admission of feelings gives Tea Cake the security he needs after he had been questioning Janie's true feelings since meeting Mr. Taylor. Tea Cake's character grows as the hurricane becomes more intense. He is forced into a protector role and a leader as he has to make the decision for them to leave Eatonville and brave the elements. Tea Cake uses all of his energy towards their esacape, and does not shy away from takig action to save his wife,"Then they had to swim a distance, and Janie could not hold up any more than a few strokes at a time, so Tea Cake bore her up..." (164). When Tea Cake is bitten by the rabid dog as a result of trying to escape the devastation of the hurricane, Janie's character also changes. Janie is forced to make difficult decisions in order to try to save herself and Tea Cake from Tea Cake himself. The most important decision of course is the decision to shoot Tea Cake out of self-defense. The hurricane and events as a result of the disaster cause Janie to lose her free nature and become more hardened and defined. "It was the meanest moment of eternity. A minute before she was just a scared human being fighting for its life. Now she was her sacrificing self with Tea Cake's head in her lap... Then the grief of outer darkness descended" (184). Janie cannot fully go back to being her carefree self after the hurricane and Tea Cake's death, although her bond with Tea Cake allows her to maintain an inner peace. Janie gains a sense of self after sharing the intimacy with Tea Cake that allowed them to survive the hurricane.
The hurricane also becomes a symbol for divinity within the story as the winds are compared to Gabriel within the bible, and the hurricane's power is connected to other biblical stories and the force of God. "They sat in company with the others in the other shanties, their eyes straining against crude walls and their souls asking if He meant to measure their puny might against His. They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God" (160). As those who stayed behind in Eatonville seek refuge from the hurricane, they begin to search for God in the hope that He might save them from death and the power of nature. They sense the might of God and understand that they cannot hope to measure up to the power of nature and God himself. They can simply watch and pray for reckoning.

Location: The Everglades vs. Eatonville

Throughout the latter part of the novel, there are two places which in Janie's life which affect her most profoundly: The Everglades and Eatonville. There is a stark contrast between these two places; whereas Eatonville is a place of suppression, the Everglades is a place of freedom. However, this pattern almost reverses itself after the death of Tea Cake.

Janie is always chained to Joe's expectations at Eatonville. She feels trapped inside a box that is too small because she does not have the freedom to say and do what she wants. Janie is deprived of her autonomy, and this causes Eatonville to be rather stark despite the luxury that she lives in. Janie doesn't really love Joe after she sees him for who he really is, and this causes Eatonville to be nothing but a novelty. Their beautiful white house is nothing but an attractive facade that hides the true nature of the town -- a place where Joe dictates what can or cannot be done. Joe is a puppet-master controlling his little puppets from a pretty white house. Eatonville may be a town for all blacks, but this does not mean that all the townsfolk are happy and satisfied.

Janie runs away with Tea Cake to the muck to start a new chapter in her life. This chapter consists of hard work which results in happiness. Tea Cake insists that she leaves her wealth and Eatonville behind so that he can provide for them himself. Just before leaving for the Everglades, Tea Cake impugns Janie for stashing away money, saying, "Ah no need no assistance tuh help me feed mah woman. From now on, you gointuh eat whutever mah money can buy yuh and wear de same. When Ah ain't got nothin' you don't git nothing'" (128). This shows that Tea Cake clearly intends for the muck to be a place where he can build a life together with Janie. With his sweat and hard work, he hopes to provide for Janie so that she doesn't have to even think about using Joe's money.

This plan clearly succeeds with Janie, because she lives with him happily. Janie truely loves Tea Cake, which makes the Everglades a rather uptopic place compared to Eatonville. Though life is hard, the two of them manage to always find the silver lining. They interact with the townsfolk and Janie enjoys a life where she doesn't have her voice trapped behind a headrag. Even while battling a hurricane, when asked about choosing this new life, Janie replies, "Once upon uh time, Ah never 'spected nothing', Tea Cake, but bein' dead from the standin' still and tryin' tuh laugh. But you come 'long and made something' outa me. So Ah'm thankful fuh anything we come through together." Janie clearly is willing to battle out anything in the Everglades if only she can just be with Tea Cake. With this sentiment, Hurston easily portrays the Everglades as a kind of utopia, where Janie and Tea Cake work together to fend off the flames in order to earn eternal happiness. Evidently, this sentiment is rather short lived, as the death of Tea Cake changes everything. Janie finds the muck as a rather foreign place because "the muck meant Tea Cake and Tea Cake wasn't there. So it was just a great expanse of black mud" (191). The freedom that Janie felt at the muck was due to Tea Cake's presense, and the lack thereof sapped away the land's color.

After initially reading the text, I felt puzzled as to why Janie left the Everglades. Why didn't she continue living at the muck where the people liked her and forgave her after Tea Cake's death? Couldn't she just plant the seeds he saved where they used to live and continue to work where they left off? I have come to the conclusion that Janie now associates too much pain with the Everglades. Every time she returns to the home that she and Tea Cake shared, she would constantly remember his degredation and death. She no longer associates the house with Joe; rather, she associates it with memories of Tea Cake after he stumbled into her life. She comments that "love is lak de sea. It's uh movin' thing, but still and all, it tkaes its shape from de shore it meets, and it's different with every shore" (191). Perhaps Janie feels that she wants to return to the place where her love with Tea Cake began, prior to experiencing any complications. Her love for him changed like the sea to become too intense and complicated after he contracted rabies at the Everglades. Janie may want to go back to the beginning, when their love was as young and green as the seeds she wants to plant in his commemoration, similar to the flowers that he planted in her yard the first nine months they met.

A Reflection on Janie's Past Love: Joe Starks

Before moving on to greater ideals and themes, we should take a moment to remember the first man Janie falls in love with; Joe Starks, or as Janie called him, Jody. He is the key character that frees Janie from the caged marriage with Logan Killicks. Without him, Janie would not have been able to experience Eatonville, and better yet learn that she can be fooled easier than she thought. But it is easy to see why she left with him; he promised her the horizon when her current spouse wouldn't want to show her the backyard. So she left with him, and they plopped down in Eatonville, where she spent the next couple decades. Janie feels safe and confident in Jody at first, with his actions and his becoming mayor, but Janie still feels alone like she did with Logan. She was expecting it to feel like she did sitting under a blossoming tree, but sadly this is not so.
Jody had a lot of potential, and he took advantage of it. He also gave Janie a job, the store, and expected her to fulfill it. It was fine, but then he would come in and yell at her for any tiny mistake she made. It is true that Jody is hard working, but he is too busy for his own wife, and the only time he communicated with her is when she screws up. Then when he gets old and fat, he points out Janie's bad points, and expects her to deal with it. It is this type of behavior that made Janie realize her poor choice in spouse.
And alas, he succumbs to kidney failure, and frees Janie yet again to find and love Tea Cake, but all these decades taught her not to be fooled, and made her stronger to experience upcoming hardships like moving to the Glades and knowing how to trust Tea Cake.

External Conflict

At the beginning of Janie and Tea Cake's relationship, it is apparent that there is a conflict between the society and their relationship. The men and women of Eatonville frown upon their seemingly scandalous relationship. The reasons that give off the impression of a socially unacceptable relationship include the fact that Janie is twelve years older than Tea Cake. Also, everyone believes that Tea Cake is just pursuing after Janie to get her money.

However, the thoughts of the town do not influence Janie. She expresses her loyalty to Tea Cake during a conversation she has with Pheoby. Pheoby constantly warns Janie of the possible scenarios that might happen with Tea Cake. At the end of the discussion, Janie states, "Some of dese mornin's and it won't be long, you gointuh wake up callin' me and Ah'll be gone" (115). With this line, Janie not only illustrates her loyalty to Tea Cake but also elicits her independence and individuality. Ever since her call to adventure, Janie has been searching for a true marriage full of equality. When she meets Tea Cake, she thinks she has found the man who will give her that marriage. As a result of this reasoning, Janie stays true to Tea Cake. Also, Janie becomes her own individual when she firmly says that line. She ignores the warnings and caveats from her friends. She is unaffected by the little nagging from the town and continues to stick on her own path - to be with Tea Cake and eventually marry him. In a way, this external conflict served as both an annoyance and a guide for Janie's decision and her search for independence.

As for the picture, I really think the street sign captured Janie's conflict. She has several paths laid out in front of her and she has the liberty to choose any one of them she wants. Also, each path available to Janie does come with complications which the street sign shows with its confusing arrows. If Janie chose to side with the society, she would face complications such as regret for not following what would make her heart content. Janie ends up choosing to be with Tea Cake which came with the complications of the society secretly shunning her. I thought it was nice how the sign also included the words "GOOD LUCK", which is basically what the society is trying to tell her through their warnings and rumors about Tea Cake. Society doubts that Janie would be happy with Tea Cake, but she proves them wrong by choosing to side with Tea Cake and leading a more than satisfying life that satiated her heart's desire for an equal marriage.

Hero Journey - Never Ending

Janie has an amazing ability to constantly repeat her life. She is continually stuck in the first four stages and never crosses the threshold. Instead of crossing the threshold into the Special World, Janie changes her life and moves away to start again, running away from her Hero Journey. This can be seen in her list of mentors and her running away from life.

Janie does not have a traditional mentor, she has several that shape her opinions about life. Initally there was Nanny who tried to get Janie to only care about wealth. As a result of this blind pursuit, Janie grew to resent her grandmother. Janie's next mentor was Phoeby, who was a much better listener and give better advice. However, Phoeby seemed to care more about Janie's financial status than her emotional statues. Phoeby continually warned Janie about potential gold-diggers. Janie's latest mentor is Mrs. Turner. Like Nanny, she teaches Janie the opposite of what Janie needs to continue on her Hero Journey. Mrs. Turner spews racism towards black people, even though she herself is black. These mentors teach Janie many important things, just not what she needs to continue on her journey. For Janie to finish her journey, she must realize her true potential and stop being subservient and allowing herself to being relegated to poor conditions both emotionally and physically.

In addition, Janie has an amazing propensity to run away from life. Whenever she is tired of a location or feel that it does not suit her, she runs away. If she were to stay and begin to confront the problem then she could feel better about herself. Instead Janie marries a new man and moves away to a new home and starts all over again. If Janie continues on this path then she will never complete her Hero Journey. Conversely, it is possible that all of the turmoil and pain Janie has gone through has made her a stronger person and might confront and defeat her demons along the Hero Journey with ease when she is ready for it.

Internal Conflict

Although there are many conflicts throughout the novel, one that I found particularly compelling was Janie's internal conflict, a conflict with her belief in God. This conflict is fleeting one where the reader is led to consider what Janie must be feeling as she is faced with hardships, as the narrator only delves into the topic twice: the first time the conflict is preempted, and the second time the reader is shown Janie facing the conflict and "resolving" it.
Initially, the topic is brought up out of an analogy to Mrs. Turner's behavior: "She felt honored by Janie's acquaintance and she quickly forgave and forgot snubs in order to keep it. [...] All gods who receive homage are cruel. All gods dispense suffering without reason. Otherwise they would not be worshipped." (144-45). True, it is not Janie herself who is making these connections; but this is Janie's story so it is implied. I found this passage almost shocking because it was completely unexpected. At one moment the narrator is ridiculing Mrs. Turner for having "groveling submission"(145) towards Janie regardless of Janie's actions towards her; in the next moment the connection is drawn to believers and how they will forgive their gods for all atrocities, as Mrs. Turner will to preserve the relationship. It almost becomes an attack on belief! It is an attack as Janie's snubs are compared to the worshipped gods; Janie does not truly have an interest in Mrs. Turner, and thus it follows that the narrator says the same is true of the gods. However, I find this technique employed by Hurston extremely effective, as my mind was continually brought back to the question of how Janie can reconcile her God with the terrible events befalling her. Will she "accept any inconsistency and cruelty from her deity"(145) just as Mrs. Turner did with her, or will she repudiate her god (not necessarily stop believing, but to not see her god as fit for worship)?

Her actual confrontation takes place a bit later in the novel while Tea Cake's condition is deteriorating: "Was He noticing what was going on around here? He must be because He knew everything. Did He mean to do this thing to Tea Cake and her? [...] The sky stayed hard looking and quiet so she went inside the house. God would do less than He had in His heart."(178). Contrastingly to the narrator's use of "god" earlier on, the god referenced here is most likely the Christian god, meaning that the narrator is speaking for Janie here. This is her confrontation with her belief, as she stands outside questioning her god's actions in her life or the lack thereof. Being reminiscent of the earlier passage, the reader is thus forced to make the connection and see that Janie believes that her god has 'snubbed' her and does not actually care that much about her. She noticed how she snubbed Mrs. Turner yet still earned her devotion, but she feels she will not make the same mistake with her god. She will not pretend as if these inconsistencies do not exist like the fool Mrs. Turner is; she will face the truth and accept that she just might be alone in the situation. She thinks that "God would do less than He had in His heart", meaning that she has concluded that her god exists, but does not care for her as her fellow believers think he does.
This is an interesting conflict, as it is constructed by Hurston to be fleeting and quick, yet have a large impact. Janie is confronted with the possibility that her god is not the incredibly loving god she had liked to think, and that her god simply does not care. However, what she doesn't do is stop believing. She continues to believe that her god exists, but stops believing that her god is one to be worshiped wholly and without question.

External and Internal Conflict

I think that although it can be argued that Janie's conflicts are all person versus person, the underlying conflict and the source of all the dissension in the novel is person versus society. Needless to say, the person is Janie, and the "society" piece refers to society's expectations of Janie as a woman. What were society's expectations for Janie? The same as they were for any other woman. Janie was expected to act submissively towards men, to be dependent on a man, to stay in her "woman's sphere" (cooking and cleaning), and to be less intelligent than men. Society had relegated women to a subservient position.

If I were to argue for person versus person conflict, I would cite Janie v. Logan, Janie v. Joe, and Janie v. Nanny (An admittedly weak citation for pvp - Nanny is dead so its more like Janie v. Nanny's expectations.) However, I think that as a group, all of those people represent the expectations of society.

The aspect of society's expectations represented by Nanny is the expectations of women for other women. Hurston constructs a beautiful metaphor to illustrate Nanny's viewpoint: "[Janie] often spoke to falling seeds and said, "Ah hope you fall on soft ground," because she had heard seeds saying that to each other as they passed"(pg. 25). The seeds (women in the twenties) beleive they are helpless (need to marry a man because they are dependent on men) and that all they can do is hope to land on soft ground (find someone acceptable to marry). Nanny is one of those seeds, and she wants to see Janie land on soft ground before she dies. That ground ends up being Logan Killicks. Janie is neither enticed nor satisfied with her landing zone, but she gives in to her grandmother's wishes, which are really the expectations of society.

Logan and Joe embody men's expectations for women in society. They are both sexist, ignorant, and unappreciative of Janie. Logan expects Janie to take orders: he instructs Janie to do things like moving manure piles and hauling wood. He also expects her to be in love with him because they are married. Janie doesn't like either of these things, so she runs of with Joe Starks. He isn't much better. Although he doesn't ask her to do manual labor, he does expect her to stay in her "woman's sphere". She is not allowed to socialize with the men on the porch, and he subscribes to the belief that women are intellectually inferior to men. Janie eventually tires of his chauvenistic attitude, but fortunately Joe dies so she does not have to run away again. But had she felt the need to run away, she would not have been running from Joe. This is because janie's struggle with how she is treated by the men in her life is really her struggle with the expectations of society.

Random Thing: I think there is an important parallel between TEWWG and Gatsby. In both novels, the protagonist struggles to achieve a love related goal for a very long time, and although both protagonists do eventually achieve their goals, they only hold on to them for a short amount of time. Possibly because both Fitzgerald and Hurston believe that one cannot hold on to realized dreams? Is it possible that they knew each other? They did both go to parties in New York in the same era... But I think Fitzgerald was in France when Hurston was in NYC. Also, even if they were there at the same time, they would still have to somehow go to the same parties. But they were both well known writers so maybe...

The Road Back & The Resurrection

In the Hero's Journey, the Road Back is brought upon the hero by an event that forces the hero to return to the Ordinary World. In the novel, Janie's blissful life with Tea Cake is suddenly shattered by the storm. The storm breaks the barrier holding back the lake, and water floods the land. The happy life Janie has made with Tea Cake in their new home is swept away. She is thrown from the Special World onto the road that leads back to the Ordinary World when Janie and Tea Cake are forced to flee from their house in the Muck. This physical act of running away from the perfect life in the Mucks reflects her Hero Journey's act of running back into the Ordinary World. During this flight, Janie and Tea Cake encounter something that will bring about the Resurrection.

When Janie is almost hurt by a dog during the flood, Tea Cake saves her by fighting off the animal. However Tea Cake is bitten on the cheek by the dog, and this eventually causes Janie's 'most dangerous meeting with death', the Resurrection. Tea Cake falls ill, and the doctor recognizes that he has been bitten by a rabid dog, and that he has been infected. Instead of facing death herself, Janie faces death through Tea Cake, because of her love for him. This was also the case earlier on in the book when she faces death vicariously through Joe during the Ordeal, which Paavan said. However, this time the death she faces is even more harrowing because it is the death of someone she truly loves, instead of someone who has used and controlled her, as Joe had. This makes this encounter of death more dangerous since there is more at stake for Janie.

Janie's ordeal with death puts her whole world at stake, since she suddenly realizes that she may never experience a day where Tea Cake is surrounding her with joy and love again. She knows that Tea Cake's illness is killing a part of her when she thinks on page 178: "Well...that big old dawg with the hatred in his eyes had killed her after all...but to kill her through Tea Cake was too much to bear. Tea Cake, the son of Evening Sun, had to die for loving her." She battles with this death all through Tea Cake's illness, as his mind is growing further and further away from reality and more into an unpredictable insanity.

Janie 'dies' when she kills Tea Cake on page 184 in self defence. In that very moment, she is also reborn, when she realizes that Tea Cake had long since left her when his mind left. She knows that she is sacrificing the part of herself that loves Tea Cake in doing the right thing of setting him free: "...Now she was her sacrificing self with Tea Cake's head in her lap...No hour is ever eternity, but it has its right to weep. Janie held his [Tea Cake's] head tightly to her breast and wept and thanked him wordlessly for giving her the chance for loving service." (184). By killing Tea Cake, Janie is now back to the begining - she belongs to no man, so she is reborn. She regains freedom and satisfication in her life when she tells Pheoby, "So Ah'm back home agin and Ah'm satisfied tuh be heah. Ah done been tuh de horizon and back and now Ah kin set heah in my house and live by comparisons" (191)

Stages of the Hero Journey- The Ordeal, Chapter 19

**WARNING- DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT FINISHED THE BOOK (this post basically gives away EVERYTHING. And the end is really good, I would've been really upset if someone ruined it for me)**

In Chapter 19, Janie faces her ordeal. In the Hero Journey, the Ordeal is defined as "the central life-or-death crisis." Janie certainly experiences this after Tea Cake falls victim to rabies. After the disease sets in, Tea Cake begins to lose his mind. In his final moments, he asks Janie why she's not sleeping in the same bed with him, "How come you ruther sleep on uh pallet than tuh sleep in the bed wid me?" (183). Janie is only following doctor's orders, and tries to explains this, but Tea Cake is too far gone. He fires his pistol, but no bullet comes out (thanks to Janie's quick thinking in the previous pages). This moment is Janie's literal ordeal. In a few more shots, she will be dead. However, her instincts kick in and she makes a quick decision at the last possible moment: she shoots Tea Cake herself, in a moment of self-defense.

Actually shooting Tea Cake is the literal "life-or-death crisis." However, the ordeal is also defined as when "the Hero faces his greatest fear; experiences death." Janie too, has this experience. Janie has waited her whole life to be in love. She thought love would come when she married Logan, but there was nothing there. She thought love would come when she married Joe, and perhaps it did in the beginning, but if it had existed, it faded long before his death. Love finally arrived with Tea Cake, who allowed her to live as her own person. Sure, he was jealous of Mr. Turner, and acted possessive of Janie in those moments, but hey, the guy's only human. The bottom line is he made Janie happy, and she truly loved him. After Tea Cake's diagnosis, Janie faces her greatest fear: losing love. She even states, "Well...that big old dawg with the hatred in his eyes had killed her after all" (178). She feels as though she too is dying with Tea Cake, so she experiences death herself.
Due to Janie's literal life-or-death experience, and more figurative experience with death, she experiences the Ordeal in Chapter 19.

I thought putting up a picture of an actual rabid dog would be a little disturbing. I went for the cartoon "mean dog" instead... :)

Setting & Location

During the second portion of the novel, Hurston again uses a change in setting to correspond with a change in Janie’s lifestyle. This time Janie travels from Eatonville to the Everglades with Tea Cake. Referred to as “the muck,” the Everglades represent a completely different environment for Janie, especially compared to Eatonville. While Janie’s old town was full of people concerned with image and the status of different members of society the Everglades are different. For starters, they are completely filled with nature and fertile lands. Due to this, Tea Cake has the ability to prove himself by working the land while Janie has the ability to explore herself by learning to do such things as hunt and work the fields. While not as glamorous as her life in Eatonville, this change provided my Janie’s new setting allows her to better explore herself. This expansion of skills and power helps to satisfy Janie’s need to transcend the subservient role she played for so long when married to Joe back in Eatonville.

Other aspects of the Everglades are also important in the development of the story and Janie’s character. One such example is seen at the end of chapter 14 when Janie reveals how much she enjoys her new setting. This is shown in the following passage:

“Sometimes Janie would think of the old days in the big white house and the store and laugh to herself. What if Eatonville could see her now in her blue denim overalls and heavy shoes? … She was sorry for her friends back there and scornful of the others… Only here she could listen and laugh and even talk some herself if she wanted to” (134).

Through this passage Janie clearly states how she is much happier with her life in the Everglades compared to Eatonville. The freedoms that this new setting has provided have allowed Janie to develop as a character and move closer to her true desires and goals. After years of being trapped in the store with a man who did not love her, this new environment has finally giver her opportunity to exercise her own voice. Being herself and surrounded by nature will perhaps allow Janie to obtain her true desire: the moment under the pear tree with Johnny Taylor. In that moment Janie was in nature, without restrictions, and able to be herself. The Everglades has brought Janie back to a position without the restrictions and submissive requisites of Eatonville. Therefore this new location might represent the restitution Janie needs on her quest to find happiness after being without it for so many years.

Motif

In this novel, Janie's hair is a motif. It symbolizes her individuality and sexual power. Janie has very beautiful, long, straight, black hair that is envied by all. It is described as a "great rope of black hair swinging to her waist and unraveling in the wind like a plume." Janie unintentionally uses her hair to make Joe feel insecure and thrive to be better than her. "Her hair was NOT going to show in the store. It didnt seem sensible at all. That was because Joe had never told Janie how jealous he was. He never told her how often he had seen other men figuratively wallowing in it. "(page 55) Here we can see Joe's insecurities and feeling of inferiority towards Janie. When Joe has Janie cover her hair, she is stifled and more docile to his control. She no longer has power over him with her womanhood because he takes it away and controls it. Because of the appeal to her hair, Janie had often had a lot of power over men. Even her first husband Logan loved to finger it and was attracted to it, willing to do anything for her at first. The hair initially attracted Joe also, the first time she saw him while pumping water, heavy hair falling down.
The hair is also empowering because also adds to the feeling of Janie's whiteness, since it is long straight and different, like white skin is different. Janie has white surrounding her because she was raised with white people, is "above" everyone in the town with her status as Mayor's wife, and lives in a house painted stark white by Joe, because of his wishes to be white and act white which were in turn, cast upon her. The whiteness of her hair and the envy of the people make her hair empowering to Janie, and individualizing.

Themes

This is an image of a sculpture by Mary Edmonia Lewis, a 19th century black female artist. The sculpture is called Forever Free and was created in 1867 as a response to the Emancipation proclamation.

Having read further in the novel, I can now reflect on the words at the beginning on the novel, and understand Hurston's stance.
Hurston equates ships, far off on the horizon, with men's dreams. She says that sometimes the ships come to the men, and their dreams come true, and other times, they stay in their minds, never approaching reality, until those men give up. By using such imagery, Hurston establishes that these dreams are unrealistic, even unattainable, while, as she goes on to say, for women, our dreams are down to earth, they are "the truth," and are readily attained.
As in any instance where blanket generalizations are made concerning the sexes, I immediately looked for the sexism in that statement, and while every time you say "men are A women are B," it is always, ultimately, sexist, the statement is not a typical sexist depiction. It characterises women as sensible and efficient, rather than the typical sexist rhetoric that displays them us as flighty and emotional. And yet, it didn't deride men for being dreamers. I couldn't quite make sense of Hurston's motivations for such a statement, so I let it be, for a time.
In chapter 2, Nanny helps us to understand the state of life for the women Janie knew. She says:

"...de white man throw down his burden and tell de
nigger man to pick it up. he pick it up because he have
to, but he don't tote it. He hand it to his womenfolks. De
nigger women is de mule uh de world..."

Here, Nanny establishes that while all black people are disadvantaged and forced into subservience, women bare the brunt of the load and the burden. While it is difficult for a black man to have high hopes and dreams, as a slave, or the son of a slave, it is unthinkable for women to dream beyond their lot in life. Such is true, especially in this time, for all women. While men had the means and the advantages that allowed them to be unrealistic and hopeful, women were destined for the thankless task of keeping the world going, in the fields, in the kitchens, in the shops, and so only dreamed "the truth", only dreamed for what they could take the according steps to achieve.

"Ah wanted to preach a great sermon about colored women
sittin' on high but they wasn't no pulpit for me."

Here, Hurston clearly establishes, that though women, like all people, would like to dream, they do not have any such opportunity.

Janie, in chapter 2, as she becomes aware of her new found womanhood, begins to dream. She searches for answers, and feels a magical blossoming. She is "looking, waiting, breathing short with impatience. Waiting for the world to be made." She is not sensible or realistic; she is day dreaming; she is sensual, emotional, and free to imagine, to think, to hope, to feel. It is in this state that she experiments, kissing a boy she had no previous attraction to, who she has no expectation of a life with. Her free expression of maturity and sexuality is condemned and stifled by Nanny, who paints a different picture. Nanny shows how every women's sexuality is stolen from her, by white slave owners, by school teachers, and by necessity and the need for protection, which forces her into marriage (like Janie's with Logan) which does not satisfy or fulfill her.
Huston develops this theme, showing that instead of female sexuality being an expression of personal pleasure, choice, and freedom, it is a means of subjugation and survival. Likewise, the female mind and soul cannot be used for free thought and dreams, as it can be for men, but instead, for practicalities. Men may be able to express themselves how they wish, or dream unrealistically, but women, shouldering the burden of mankind, do not have that luxury.

Having established the difficulties and restraints that women face, Hurston can now show how miraculous it is that Janie is able to rise above what her peers thought possible, to disregard the standard way of things, in order to be her own person.

Language Appreciation and Interpretation

Hurston has a way with words. Her writing has the same beauty as a da Vinci painting. There are so many different examples of her phenominal writting in There Eyes Were Watching God, but the one that stood out to me the most was on page 89 and 90. It is when Janie is critiquing Nanny's thoughts about love. Janie reveals her hatred for her grandmother in this passage because Janie believes that the love wasn't genuine. It was "mislove" and in turn hurt her more than it helped. Instead of Nanny showing Janie off to the world, and having "the jewel down inside of her" shine, Nanny put her in the "marketplace to sell". While this is an important part in the novel because it shows Janie's true feelings about her grandmother and how she was raised, the beauty of her words that come after it are what caught my eye.

"When God had made The Man, he made him out of stuff that sung all the time and glittered all over. Then after that some angels got jealous and chopped him into millions of pieces, but still he glittered and hummed. So they beat him down to nothing and covered each one with mud. And the lonesomeness in the sparks made them hunt for one another, but the mud is deaf and dumb. Like all the other tumbling and mud-balls, Janie had tried to show her shine" (90) is the magnificent writing that I am referring to. I love how Hurston is putting forth the idea that everyone came from this greater being, and therefore, everyone is great in their own ways. Also that everyone has the potential to shine because they had glittered once, a long time ago. So no matter how low you feel you are, there is always ways to ameliorate yourself considering that once upon a time, everyone had an aura of perfection. This is an extremely motivating and uplifting quote from the novel because it encourages the reader to strive and allow their true self and their positive characteristics to shine through to the rest of the world.

Symbols and Imagery

"The brute jerked up his head, laid back his ears and rushed to the attack. Lum had to run for safety. Five or six more men left the porch and surrounded the fractious beast, goosing him in the sides and making him show his temper. But he had more spirit left than body. He was soon panting and heaving from the effort of spinning his old carcass about. Everybody was having fun at the mule-baiting. All but Janie." p. 56

The mule in these chapters is a symbolic metaphor for Janie. The mule intensifies and clarifies her need for freedom while paralleling her life. The mule is like Janie because he is dominated by Matt Bonner as she is dominated by Joe Starks. Matt does not feed the mule and overworks him, as Janie is over instructed by Joe and he does not "feed" her any independence. Janie watches the mule and feels his pain, because she too feels trapped and dreams of freedom. The bull further parallels Janie because when he is freed he stirs up all sorts of trouble, as does Janie after she is free from Joe because of his death. While the bull's fooleries include sleeping in houses and stealing dinners, Janie kicks up dust in the town with her activities with Tea Cake. Both characters are made stronger and happier by doing the things they enjoy rather than conforming to a masters wishes. Ultimately the Mule dies in his old age, but he is happy with his life. This could possibly foreshadow a similar situation for Janie, or, be parallel to the "death" of Janie's happiness and freedom by Tea Cake's death and her return to the town. The mule is also used to foreshadow Janie's gain of freedom, which one can infer would involve a drastic change in Joe, such as a death. This is because the mule gains freedom by Joe's hands and because he parallels Janie she must as well. Overall, the mule clarifies and simplifies Janie's want and need for freedom, and foreshadows Joe's death.

Characters and characterization - Joe Starks -

Joe Starks is quite an unusual and very dynamic character in the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. He begins the novel by stopping by Janine's house when Logan Killicks is off getting a mule. At first sight Joe seems like a caring man, someone Janie longs for in her life. She quickly develops a crush on Joe, and eventually Janie leaves her husband to run off with him. Joe has decided to move to an all black town, which is later known as Eatonville, so that he can have a voice in the town, something he was unable to do when he lived in white settlements. "But when he heard all about 'em makin' a town all outa colored folks, he knowed dat was de place he wanted to be. He had always wanted to be a big voice, but de white folks had all de sayso where he come from and everywhere else, exceptin' dis place dat colored folks was buildin' theirselves (28)" When Joe gets to Eatonville he buys much land to build the town on and gains respect from everyone in the village. He is made the mayor and he takes the job happily and is proud to finally be a big voice. He takes Janie along for the ride and makes her the number one woman in the village, but while doing this he never really thinks about what she wants, and he suppresses her thoughts and makes her do what he wants. At this point in the book we realize a change in Joe. Joe takes his power and manipulates it so he is the big shot, and with all the extra ego build-up he thinks he can do whatever he wants, and in the end it causes Janie to wish she never met him. When Joe is dying Janie tells him how she really feels about him and Joe realizes she is right and just wants her to leave him in peace while he is dying. Joe Starks shows many dynamic qualities in the novel, and he also helps to greatly shape Janin's view on men.

Characters and Characterization: How Much Of A Hero Joe Is To Me

Joe Starks was the most interesting character that caught my attention. He was Janie's chance for a new life, change, and romance. Relating to my previous post about the symbol of the tree and horizon, Joe was the fulfillment Jaine had hoped to find that lacked in Logan. However, Joe did not turn out to be the Prince Charming she had hoped for. I believe this is going to end in tragedy. His domineering and chauvinistic attitude toward women made him even less attractive. If I were Janie, I'd tell him to calm down. But then again IF I were a woman-in-the-1930s-Janie.....I probably would have just kept that to myself.

When he is first described by Hurston, it is in dialouge. However the reader is uncertain of who is speaking. I assumed it was Joe, who talked about himself in the third person...
"He had always wanted to be a big voice, but de white folks had all the sayso where he come from and everywhere else exceptin' dis place dat colored folks was buildin' theirselves. ...Da man dat built things oughta boss it......It had always been his wish and desire to be a big voice..." After reading this passage about himself in the third person (although strange to me at first but later discovered why Hurston did this) anyways, it is now obvious right off the bat that Joe "wanted to be a big voice". It makes sense that Joe would talk about himself in third person because he's arrogant. He thinks that since he has all this money, he deserves to have this "big voice" and be a leader. Anyone who is self-absorbed would talk about themself in third person, trying to make them sound more superior and important. Another instance where this is shown is when Hurston says, " With him [Joe] on it, it sat like some high, ruling chair", again proving that he wanted to be on a pedastal above everyone else. As you can probably tell already, JOE IS MY FAVORITE CHARACTER.

Now onto his sexist views. This makes me admire Joe's integrity even more.....First of all he makes Janie and object to sell himself. He makes her stand at the store, while other women envy her. Second of all, he undermines her intelligence by not allowing her to make a speech at the townspeoples' request. As a chauvanistic pig would say, "Ah never married her for nothin' lak dat. She's uh woman and her place is in da home". Very typical. Maybe I'm being harsh on him, but so far Joe only gave me annoyance when reading about his actions. But I only say this out of my admiration for him (in which there is none, so I guess I'm justified).

Setting & Location

I think that when Janie starts to describe her childhood, it is very important to how she grew up to be the woman she is at the beginning of the novel. Janie tells Pheoby about how she used to live with her Nanny in West Florida on the Washburn's land. She goes on to say that she was six before she even knew that she was not white. I think that growing up on the Washburn's land and being with all of the white children and being treated equal by them throughout her childhood greatly impacts how she views blacks and equality throughout the novel. She was never treated any worse then the white children and so she never knew racism throughout her childhood. Once she goes to school this is a different story. Janie is teased about living on the Washburn's land once she goes off to school, and to protect her, Nanny moves to her own land so Janie will stop being teased. This is important because Janie has to leave her childhood home and the place she loved because of the fact that she and her Nanny were living on white people's land, and this is the first moment in her life that Janie realizes she is different from white people. Janie also does lots of thinking under a blossoming pear tree in her new house's backyard. It is here that she first thinks about life and love and without this moment of thought her "childhood" would not have ended because of her first kiss and then her forced marriage.

Author's Biographical Information

As soon as Joe's character was introduced in the novel, I began to make connections between Janie and Zora Neale Hurston. Most important of these similarities, is the idea that both women felt as though they were being hindered by the men in their lives. Originally, Joe served as a convenient alternative to Logan. In Janie's mind, being with Joe meant the promise of a life in which she could someday find her true self. Janie believes that this is the love she has been searching for.When Joe and Janie later move to Eatonville and Joe takes up position as mayor, Janie soon comes to regret her decision to be with Joe. With his new found power, Joe becomes a new person. His attitudes become selfish and chauvinistic. He suppresses Janie's ideas and stifles her voice. It is not until Joe's deathbed that Janie finally confronts him and releases all of her bitterness towards him, but by that point it was too late. Janie could never get back that wasted time that she spent with Joe.

Zora Neale Hurston, like Janie, geared towards a very individual lifestyle. She married Herbert Sheen and their marriage lasted a mere four years. Her second marriage was to Albert Price was equally as unsatisfying to her and she ended it after just months. Both Hurston and Janie could not be tied down by men. They believed that they could not reach their ultimate potential when hindered by any one person.

As a side note: I truly dislike Joe's character. What I don't understand is why he abused his power when he knew what it was like to be the one whose ideas and voice was suppressed. The reason why Joe and Janie moved out the Eatonville in the first place was because he wanted a voice. He was unable to speak out and be heard in white-dominated neighborhood, yet when he is given power in Eatonville, one of the first things he does is suppress the opinions of others, but more signicantly, Janie.

Language Interpretation and Appreciation

"All things concerning death and burial were said and done. Finish. End. Nevermore. Darkness. Deep hole. Dissolution. Eternity. Weeping and wailing outside. Inside the expensive black folds were resurrection and life. She did not reach outside for anything, nor did the things of death reach inside to disturb her calm. She sent her face to Joe's funeral, and herself went rollicking with the springtime across the world. After a while the people finished their celebration and Janie went on home" (88).

Hurston uses a genius touch of irony to transform the death of Joe into a festivity. She starts out the passage using somber words such as "darkness", "black", and "weeping". However, the reader realizes that these are not words of mourning, but rather of celebration. This is actually the end of "darkness", because Janie is now free of her husband. Hurston puts up Janie's "calm" face as a facade, behind which is in fact a joyous celebrating. Rather than weeping, Janie is "rollicking with the springtime", a time of verdant rebirth. Hurston suggests that Janie's body, clothed in somber "black folds", should really be dancing at this "celebration". The townspeople don't seem sad at all, as the Elks band is playing a funeral song rather pompously and happily as well. Janie is tired of the years of silently listening to Joe. She is willing to don a veil for the last time at his funeral, but she has really been free ever since his death. She doesn't have to tolerate his overbearing demands anymore, and she is free to live life on her terms. She is done with her grandmother's advice, because even though her grandmother meant to give Janie a happy life, Janie was never happy in comfort and luxury. Janie has to trade her freedom for this comfort, and she would very much rather break free and suffer a little for true happiness.

All in all, Hurston uses word choice excellently by using grim words such as "stone", "steel", "end", and "deep hole" to make Joe's funeral seem like a somber event. However, reading more carefully reveals a joyous celebration and a rebirth freedom.

Symbols & Imagery

In chapter 2, Hurston reveals the image of the pear tree.
" Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone."
The image of the tree is a symbol in the novel. As Hurston introduces the tree, she relates it to a relationship. Janie sees it as a marriage between the bee and the tree. I think the pear tree represent love, relationships and dreams. Janie seemed to find peace and daydream thinking of the tree. And felt like herself as she described the interaction between the tree and the bee. The symbol of the pear tree then segwayed into the scene with Johnny Taylor, which seemed fitting and right on time. It seems like the pear tree overall symbolizes the passion Janie wants in her life and her own fulfillment and being.
In the novel, parts of nature seem to function as symbols. Another symbol that appears is the vision of the horizon or the sun rising.
"But when the pollen again glided the sun and sifted down on the world she began to stand around the fate and expect things. What things? She did not know exactly."
Janie is unsure of what the horizon will entail for her. However she is waiting and expecting to reach it without knowing what her future may be. The sun was a fresh beginning, a catalyst for change. This change can be seen later when Janie marries Joe Starks. she admired the form the sun took but is being held back by a gate. This gate is acting as a blockade. I think the sun represents Janie's goal to reach and achieve her fulfillments.

The imagery of nature almost everytime reminded me and made me think of transcendentalism.

Internal Conflict (Blog 3)

Conflict is what runs a story, and one instance in particular is Janie’s insecurities with regards to her marriage. In both marriages, Janie has been unhappy and dissatisfied. In her first marriage with Logan Killicks, there was a lack of love, not to mention the fact that she was told what to do and she was unable to do the things she wanted. When she got involved with Joe Starks in her second marriage, she had no clue that he was going to leave her with short of independence and satisfaction. She was trapped and subdued by her husband, unable to speak up or say what’s on her mind. Both marriages caused Janie to feel this way, and the internal conflict of self-fulfillment arose from it.
Janie struggles with these new feelings of confinement and she doesn’t know what to do with herself. There are many possibilities for her, such as she could leave Joe. Then, she would promise herself that she will not marry unless she truly knows the person for some time, because she jumped into her marriage with Joe. Then she should also make the decision to not marry and be tied down until she is self-fulfilled. Before she finds love and settles down, she must achieve her personal dreams and goals, or else she won’t ever feel like a whole person.
Janie is struggling with the internal conflict of whether marrying Joe was a good idea and if she feels happy, “Janie made her face laugh after a short pause, but it wasn’t too easy. She had never thought of making a speech, and didn’t know if she cared to make one at all. It must have been the way Joe spoke out without giving her a chance to say anything one way or another that took the bloom off things. But anyway, she went down the road behind him that night feeling cold. He strode along invested with his new dignity, thought and planned out loud, unconscious of her thoughts” (Hurston, 43).
Janie is being suppressed by Joe, and she recognizes that fact, but doesn’t know how to deal with it. She thought this marriage was right for her, but in chapter six she begins to have qualms. She doesn’t feel self-fulfilled, independent, or goal-driven. She is being forced, just like in her previous marriage, and she begins to abominate Joe after about twenty years of supression. She is always looking for adventure, but she continues choosing the wrong one. She cannot discover who she is when she is being forced to be quiet, reserved, and when your wants and needs are pushed out of the way. She isn’t able to do the things she wants to do and Joe orders her around. She cannot possibly concentrate on her dreams and be sedulous with her goals when there is someone else in the picture to worry and think about and to care for. She went into this marriage to fast and early, and she thought it was her calling, but she was wrong. Janie thought marriage and love was what she wanted and what she was supposed to do, but it was the wrong road to take, but possibly, this road will lead her to a path that will then bring her to success and self-fulfillment.

Language Appreciation and Interpretation

It took me around four chapters to really appreciate the writing of Zora Neale Hurston. In my opinion, her writing is more abstract than direct, which I praise but it takes me a long time to understand some lines. Her use of language is expressive and descriptive, hiding the meaning of her words at times.

One particular line that caught my attention was, "The icy sword of the square-toed one had cut off his breath and left his hands in a pose of agonizing protest" (87). The description in this line is absolutely stunning. I especially enjoy the personification Hurston uses, portraying Death as the "square-toed one". For some odd reason, describing Death as the "square-toed one" amuses me as well. I am unsure as to why Hurston associates square toes to Death, but my guess is that square-toes give the impression of nonhuman characteristics. When I think of square toes, I think of machines. Going along with my idea, machines have no heart which would explain the cruelty of Death Hurston wishes to illustrate. Also, when I read that line, I immediately related it to the song, Death and All His Friends, by Coldplay. The lyrics from that song do not exactly apply to the quote but it does cover the context of the quote. Right before Joe's death, Janie goes to talk to him. She tells him the truth that his health has failed him and he will die. "His eyes buckled in a vacant-mouthed terror and she saw the awful surprise in his face" (86). Clearly, Joe does not want to know that he will die and he is afraid of death. From my interpretation, the lyrics of the song also give the impression of being afraid of death and not wanting to die. The repeated line, "I don't want to follow death and all of his friends" help portray the impression. Also, another line in the song "...we dream of making our escape" shows the fear of death and unwillingness to die. This song is fitting for Joe as both the lyrics of the song and Joe express their reluctance to Death as both the "square toed one" and simply Death with all of his friends.

Another aspect of this line that I thought was clever of Hurston was the way she described Joe's last image - "his hands [were] in a pose of agonizing protest" (87). This phrase relays many characteristics of Joe. Joe was always a character that needed to justify himself until he was deemed correct. Between him and Janie, he would constantly undermine her accusations of his mistreatment towards her. Even up to his last minute of his life, he protested against Janie's accusations in denial. In addition, the word "agonizing" suggests that maybe Joe did regret treating Janie with inequality. Maybe Joe did realize that he was hurting Janie and making her suffer but still continued to retain the power over his wife. Just from those two words, Hurston revealed many possible as well as known characteristics of Joe.

Overall, the single line gives off the chilling feeling of death. Hurston beautifully crafts a line describing the death of Joe Starks all in one line while capturing the mood and feeling of the moment as well as encompassing his personality to be remembered at the time of his death.

External and Internal Conflict

I am writing this at the end of chapter seven because I feel like I need to write about Janie and how she can not succeed with men.

She was first matched Logan and that was a bust. He wanted her work and never treated her the way she wanted. As a result, when Joe Stark came into town, Jaine decided to join him on his emigration south to Eatonville. For a while Jody was a good man and husband. However, like Logan, Joe Stark did not care about what Janie wanted in life. He wanted a trophy wife who would do exactly what he would say. Janie is not a trophy, she is bright and spirited. But for a long time she bottled up all of the insults and hatred thrown at her by Jody. Janie is a human being and has emotions, but Jody wants a wife who will follow his every desire. This difference in opinion builds over time everntually ruining their marriage and results in Jain errupting in an emotional rant in public. In turn, Joe hits her. However, the damage has been done and the citizens of Eatonville have lost all respect for Joe Stark, the once esteemed mayor. For that reason I posted a picture of Bobby Brown. That is who Joe Stark reminds me of.

To me, Jaine is constantly involved with bad men. Logan never loved her and Jody just wants a shell. Jaine wants neither of these. She wants to be a women and a flowering fruit tree. But men and their expectations prevent her from living. Even her own grandmother would rather have Jaine be married for money rather for love. No characters appear to care about love besides Jaine, all of them want material items, be it wealth or food. Janie is alone in her world and everyone wants her to be different or does not understand what she wants.

Biographical Information (Blog 2)

There are many aspects of Hurston’s novel that reflect her own personal life. Hurston uses her hometown of Eatonville, Florida as the town that the characters Janie and Joe move to, to make a new life for themselves. It’s fascinating to think about whether the townspeople were based off of people Hurston actually knew. I wonder if there was someone like Joe, who came in to Eatonville and “fixed it up”, and if some events in her story actually took place while she grew up there.
Not only does Hurston’s hometown appear in her novel, but the “road” also. In Hurston’s childhood, there was a road that she used to look up and down, right outside her house, where travelers would pass by. This road is where Hurston “ran away” for a while. She would take rides for about half a mile or so and then walk back home. It was almost as if Hurston wanted to get away and wander into the unknown. She was longing for bizarre adventures, and this road seems to have the same meaning in her novel.
First, Janie meets Johnny Taylor. Nanny had seen “…Janie letting Johnny Taylor kiss her over the gatepost” (Hurston, 10). It didn’t exactly bring love, but it did bring a form of romance. The second time, though a different “road”, as it seemed to Janie, she found love through that road. “Joe Starks was the name, yeah Joe Starks from in and through Georgy” (Hurston, 28). Her marrige to Logan Killicks, who she was never truly in love with, was transient as she left her him to run away with Joe to Eatonville. Janie meeting Joe on this road outside her house and “running away” on an “adventure” seems to connect with Hurston’s wishes as a child, as shown by her stories of that “road”.

Possibly, the idea of the "road" may become a symbol for journey, discovery, passion, or adventure. In Hurston's history, that is what the "road" meant to her, and she incorporates it into her novel to give Janie something to lead her down the right path.

Janie's Internal and External Conflicts

Over the first ten chapters, Janie’s main conflict is with Joe. What begins as a seemingly good decision turns into a huge mistake for Janie. When she first meets Joe and decides to run off with him, she feels liberated from her lackluster life with Logan. She dreams of the change and adventure that a life with Joe would bring but soon realizes that Joe isn’t exactly who she thought he was. He isn’t her liberator, but rather a husband that seeks her submission. Time and time again, Joe suppresses Janie’s voice and independence, the two most precious things to her. The first instance is when Joe becomes mayor and Janie is asked to say a few words. Instead of encouraging her, Joe says “‘Thank yuh fuh yo’ compliments, but mah wife don’t know nothin’ ’bout no speech-makin’. Ah never married her for nothin’ lak dat. She’s uh woman and her place is in de home’” (43). While she is clearly upset after hearing this, Janie slaps a smile on her face and pretends to be okay with it all. However, Joe only gets more controlling as their marriage goes on. He forces her to maintain his store, and demands that she tie a cloth around her hair when he sees other men looking. He insults her. He goes to all extremes to assert his power and to make sure she lives by his rules, including that of physical abuse. One day, he finally pushes her over the edge, and she strikes back. “Ah’m uh woman every inch of me, and Ah know it. Dat’s uh whole lot more’n you kin say. [...] Humph! Talkin’ ’bout me lookin’ old! When you pull down yo’ britches, you look lak de change uh life” (79). Low blow it may be, but Janie’s standing up for herself definitely freed her. After that day, Joe never regained the strength to abuse her again. Soon afterwards, he died, and for the first time in twenty years, Janie was truly free.

While Janie faces problems with Joe, she also battles herself. Janie grew up with Nanny, who used to be a slave. Because of Nanny’s own upbringing, she wants Janie to grow up and grow old in a life filled with security and comfort, and she tries to instill those values in Janie at a young age. Thus, Janie grows up vacillating between Nanny’s traditional values and her own free spirit outlook on life. Janie attempts to go down the safe and traditional path by marrying Logan prior to Nanny’s death, but she soon grows bored with her mundane life and breaks away from Nanny’s traditional route. She embraces her free spirit side and seeks change and spontaneity in Joe, but as it turns out, he is domineering and abusive. However, she sticks by his side because she feels it is her duty as a wife. Only after Joe’s death is Janie once again liberated and free to embrace her independence. We don’t know what is yet to happen, but as of now, Janie seems to have an ongoing struggle with herself.

Language Appreciation and Interperetation - Blog 3

Two Notable Passages

" "Good evenin', Mis' Starks" he said with a sly grin as if they had a good joke together. She was in favor of the story that was making him laugh before she even heard it"

With this piece of narration, Hurston explains Janie's first impression of Tea Cake. I am impressed with her originality. By explaining it this way, Hurston conveys a feeling her readers can identify with without mentioning anything about how Janie felt. Hurston "says it without saying it", and she communicates a feeling in one line that would take a paragraph to explain. And that paragraph probably wouldn't match up to Hurston's narration either. Especially if I tried to write it. It is lines like this one that showcase Hurston's talent.


"The great one who lived in the straight house like a platform without sides to it, and without a roof"

Here, Hurston is Narrating about Janie's thoughts of death. In this line, she relates how hard it is for Janie to fully understand death. Hurston compares death to a platform without sides and a roof. The platform is the death of one's body. It is the definite beginning of death. But other than that, Janie doesn't understand it. Hence, the platform's lack of a roof or sides. It is an impressive analogy. Again, Hurston is "saying it without saying it."

Characters & Characterization (Janie as a child)

"She was sixteen. She had glossy leaves and bursting buds and she wanted to struggle with life but it seemed to elude her [...] She searched as much of the world as she could from the top of the front steps and then went down on the road. Looking, waiting, breathing short with impatience. Waiting for the world to be made." (11)

I was pleasantly surprised when I read this passage. Often times authors try to create a feeling or emotion that a character is undergoing, but it is often difficult for them to accurately portray this feeling or emotion as it affects a character of a younger age. Despite that Hurston was in her forties when she was writing Their Eyes Were Watching God, she was able to really captivate the emotion of a teenager coming to the realization of just how big the world is. Other authors often fail at recreating this feeling for the reader. Therefore they fail at generating a sense of empathy for the character from the reader. The fact that Hurston is able to do so is meritorious.

Personally, this passage describes just how I felt when I came to this realization. Though I was at a younger age than Janie was in this scene, I remember the wonder that I felt as I was sitting on a swing in my backyard, looking into what seemed to be an infinite array of trees. Previous to that moment, it had always seemed to me as though the entire world dwelled within my very yard. I had always felt as the the world was within my grasp. Looking back, I often find myself embarrassed at how naive I once was. I then have to convince myself that coming to the realization of how small of a role each of us play in such an enormous world, is an essential part of growing up. Even now, as a teenager I find it hard to conceive a world outside of Westford because it is all I have ever known. Perhaps that's why so many of us are all too keen to head off to college soon.

The portrayal of Janie's wonder and awe at the world as a child suggests that she is eager to learn. As soon as she realizes that the world in her own backyard does not satisfy her, Janie searches further. The line "Waiting for the world to be made", describes Janie's hunger to discover her significance and just how real the world is. She is ardent in finding out how everything and everyone is connected, how the world is made.

Imagery/ language appreciation & Interpretation

I love the last lines on page 99: "So she sat on the porch and watched the moon rise. Soon its amber fluid was drenching the earth, quenching the thirst of the day."
It sounds perfect - I can see what Janie must be seeing at the moment. There is a certain magnificence in a rising moon that just washes away the weariness of the day. The light from the moon satisfies those on Earth like water that quenches thirst. There is also something distinctively appealing about the "amber fluid" dripping from the moon onto the ground. I love how Hurston describes the light which is an abstract thing as if it is a tangible liquid. It seems to me, though, that the moon is more silver than amber in color.

This imagery of the rising moon's light quenching the thirst of the day also relfects Janie's current situation. Janie has always felt unfullfilled in her marriages. Since she was 16 she had thought about what a marriage is. Sitting under a tree in her yard she saw "a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch...frothing with delight. So this was a marriage!" (11). She wanted, "to be a pear tree - any tree in bloom!" (11) which shows her desire to have a wonderful marriage like the bees' union with the flowering trees. However both of the two marriages she has ends in disappointment. After Joe's death, she still has not experienced a partnership where there is mutual respect from both people, or a relationship where she can enjoy herself.

This changes when she meets a new character, Tea Cake. He is easy-going and adventurous. He treats her like a friend, instead of an object that should be jealously guarded. He teaches her to play checkers, something Joe never bothered to do, since Joe had thought she was incapable of playing games like that. Janie notices that it is nice to be treated like an equal when Tea Cake patiently teaches her how to play. "She found herself glowing inside. Somebody wanted her to play. Somebody thought it natural for her to play. That was nice" (96). This sort of treatment from Tea Cake brings out her confidence. She enjoys herself that day at the store, and she relishes how they can talk naturally, as if they had known each other for a long time.

Janie's new feelings of happiness reflects the quote. Her desire for a healthy relationship is begining to get satisfied after the two unhappy marriages, with the introduction of Tea Cake. The "amber fluid" makes me think of some precious liquid like molten gold. This represents the preciousness of Tea Cake's attention to Janie, who has not experienced this respect before. Tea Cake's attention makes her feel alive and wonderful, and it is finally quenching her thirst for a relationship that is fun and where she can show her true self.

Language Appreciation & Interpretation

“Joe Starks realized all the meanings and his vanity bled like a flood. Janie had robbed him of his illusion of irresistible maleness that all men cherish, [...] she had cast down his empty armor before men and they had laughed” (79).

The image Hurston paints here really shows her talent with words. I could feel the moment Joe felt his purpose for living drain out of him. Janie’s insult had torn down his carefully constructed facade, exposing him to everyone. In that one moment, all of his hidden insecurities rushed out of him in a hurry, and he felt humiliated and weak. As the mayor, everyone in town viewed him as the strong unbreakable leader that no one would dare to challenge. “They bowed down to him rather, because he was all of these things, and then again he was all of these things because the town bowed down” (50). Finally, with just a few words, Janie had dared to challenge him. In doing so, she took away the pride that was his blood, his being. Without the pride that defined him, he felt like “there was nothing to do in life anymore. Ambition was useless” (80).

I feel like there are many people who are defined by their pride. They can’t stand anyone defying them or criticizing them because it takes away from their feelings of superiority. Pride is all they have to cover up their insecurities and put on a brave face for the world. For so many, a challenge to their pride is like a stab to their heart because they need their pride to keep everything together. They can’t move on with life without the feeling that they are superior, that they are great.

Characters and characterization

When we initially met Joe Stark in the story I was expecting him to be a negative influence on Janie's life. His relationship with Janie quickly surpassed the one that Janie and Logan. However, it appeared that Stark was more than a few hollow promises. He treated Janie well and took her with him to Eatonville. There he near single-handedly created a new town. He was good for Janie, but also for the rest of the town. He was able to transform a little shanty town into a mildly respectable town. Unfortunately, Stark's sucess went to his head and he started taking advantage of the people of Eatonville. He did not directly assert his power, instead he allowed his meer presence to intimidate the citizens of Eatonville into following his orders.

Joe Stark is a very well educated black man who has decided he wants to make it big in the all black city of Eatonville. This desire for success is probably due to his association with successful white men from up north. He appears to ernestly care about others, but one can not be sure. It is possible that Stark simply picked up Janie on his way to Eatonville simply to have a trophy wife and further impress the locals. This is not altogether unlikely due to fact that he loves attention. When he decied that the town needed a lamp post, Stark made into a whole affair rather than quickly installing the post and moving on. This displays how self-centered Stark. This is ironic, because his Janie was called spoiled by Logan, her previous husband. But now she has married Joe Stark a very self-centered and self-interested man. It does not appear that he cares about the town, the town's success just happens to coincide with his own aggrandization. It is very likely that Joe Stark will be dethroned in the upcoming chapters and forced out of Eatonville.