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.