I loved the ending! Chapter 19 was rough to read, with Tea Cake getting sick, Janie shooting him, and her trial. Chapter 20 really brought the whole novel full circle and made everything fall into place and make sense.

Again I don't know what to connect this to, I'm blown away. I've never read anything that made me think or feel this much. I can't think of anything that is even close in comparison to these chapters.

Tea Cake getting sick is a symbol for not all good things last. Janie and Tea Cake had an amazing relationship and like all good things it must come to an end-so Tea Cake gets sick with rabies and goes after Janie with a gun so she shoots him and kills him. Later on she looks back and thinks of Tea Cake and gets sad, but she remembers all the good times they had and she realizes that while he may not be with her in person he is there in spirit.

                                    

Their Eyes Were Watching God Chapter 18

I love love love this chapter. From the symbolism of the storm to the way Janie finally finds what she has been looking for her entire life. This is undoubtedly the climax of the novel.

The only thing I can think of comparing how the characters become closer is in the movie "This is Where I Leave You", the father dies and the mother makes all the kids come home and stay together for a week and spend time getting to know one another again. The storm makes Janie, Tea Cake, and Motor Boat all work together to get to know one another better and work together to stay alive. 
This is the scene in the movie that I'm talking about.

The storm is a metaphor for God. The storm doesn't discriminate in who it harms or saves, God doesn't either. The storm is the end all be all of the area, God can be the end all be all of an area. Janie, Tea Cake, and Motor Boat were all watching the storm, when people go to church their eyes are said to be "watching God".

Life in the 'Glades Chapters 15-17

I neither like nor dislike this group of chapters. There were parts I enjoyed, but there were parts I did not like. I didn't like the parts with Nunkie flirting with Tea Cake, I also didn't like Mrs. Turner being racist towards her own race.

While reading these chapters I was trying to think of something to connect them to, but no matter how hard I though I couldn't come up with anything. I think I couldn't figure anything out because this book is unlike anything I've ever read before. It's amazing-one minute I love it the next I hate it.

Speech is used as an extended symbol throughout the course of the novel. The different ways of speaking that everyone in "control" of Janie use can symbolize shackles on Janie tying her to that person and their way of speaking.

Tea Cake and Wedding Cake?

I really love this group of chapters because Janie finally found what she thought she was looking for. She found a man that is truly in love with her and treats her how she wants to be treated. I think how Tea Cake treats her is going to be too good to be true in the end, I think he is going to end up betraying her.

While reading Janie's description of the Everglades my mind immediately went back to the pear tree. The Everglades are fertile nature and they seem to symbolize her and Tea Cake's love-just like the pear tree symbolized love to Janie when she was a teenager. So I think The Everglades is supposed to go back to the pear tree from the beginning of the book.

 


Janie compares her love for Tea Cake to learning the "Maiden" language all over again. I take this to mean that he speaks how she spoke when she was younger and being with Jody she lost this way of speaking. Now that she is with Tea Cake and he speaks it around her, she is picking back up on it. Janie loves the language that Nannie spoke to her growing up and neither of her previous husbands spoke it because they saw it as "low class" and they forced her to not speak it,but Tea Cake speaks it and she picks up on it because she is in love with him and the language.

Hear Ye Hear Ye The Mayor Has Died Chapters 7-10

I really enjoyed chapters 7-10. Janie is finally free from Jody's "rule". He dies and she has to appear sad when she is not. I have no remorse for Jody-he treated Janie like property instead of like a woman, it was necessary for him to die.





I imagine how Janie feels is a lot like Mrs. Mallard feels in "The Story of an Hour". Mrs. Mallard's husband was thought to have been killed and she felt free from his reign, much like Janie feels free from Jody's reign when he finally passes. But the town mourns Jody as a hero because he was the first mayor of their town, only Mr. Mallard's family mourns him. The only difference in how the women react to the news is Mrs. Mallard's husband isn't really dead and the shock of that news breaks her heart and kills her-Janie doesn't end up dead from a broken heart she ends up happy and free.







In a way Jody's death symbolizes Lincoln freeing the slaves to Janie. In my last post I talked about how ironic it was that the townspeople compared Jody to Abraham Lincoln for freeing the mule but keeping his wife captive. By dying he freed her much like by passing the Emancipation Proclamation Lincoln freed the slaves. His death finally brings the Lincoln analogy full circle… Meaning he goes from being a secret slave master while freeing the mule to finally being a good and decent person by finally freeing his wife from "slavery".

Chapter 6: Inequality in Relationships

Chapter 6 is alright, but I have a problem with how Jody treats Janie. He treats her like his property instead of like his wife. He makes all these rules for her and won't let her talk to the guys that gossip on the porch of the store-eventhough she loves hearing the stories they tell.

Janie and Jody's marriage can be compared to the slavery that they hate so much. He basically uses her as a slave in the store and by controlling every aspect of her life. He is pretty much being a slave master towards his wife-and honestly that's is disgusting and not how marriage should go. Marriage is about equality between both the wife and husband not the husband being in control of the wife. Albert Einstein once compared marriage to slavery. 

I find it extremely ironic that the townspeople compare Jody to Abraham Lincoln. As I mentioned above he treats his wife like a slave but he "freed" the mule from "slavery". He is pretty much hailed as a saint for freeing an animal that was going to die soon anyway but not judged for treating his wife like she is less than a person. As I read I couldn't believe Janie was putting up with his actions-then when I got to her little outburst I was proud of her. I was not surprised at Jody's reaction or rather his lack of one. 

Hi Ho Hi Ho off to Flordy Joe and Janie go Chapter 5

I really didn't like this chapter. I feel like Janie lost a lot of her independence by leaving Logan, Joe is really controlling towards her as the chapter goes on. Joe almost completely ignores Janie's needs as a wife for the "greater good" of the new town he is the mayor of.



The dynamic of Janie and Joe's marriage reminds me a lot of the "traditional" gender roles in marriages. This is not unheard of at this time to have more traditional roles in marriages. By "traditional" roles I mean the man does all the work and talking and the woman takes care of the house and if she must work she does what her husband tells her to. The traditional marriage roles can be represented in Leave It To Beaver Mrs. Cleaver stays home and takes care of the house and children and Mr. Cleaver works and earns the money for the family. Joe seems to expect Janie to keep the house in order and help out at the store while also keeping her mouth shut at all times.




I know I talk about symbolism a lot but there is some really great symbolism in this novel. I really love the symbolism of how Joe acts about the streetlight. First of all he buys it then asks for the towns approval-I've never ran a town before but I don't think that's how that works. Then after he gains approval he plans this huge party which is all well and good but at the end of the party when the lamp is lit they begin singing a traditional hymn. The singing of the hymn symbolizes the townspeople comparing Joe to God. The light symbolizes God's light in the world then in turn Joe symbolizes the townspeople's God. Hymns are sung in worship and the townspeople singing them shows that they view Joe as God in their little world.

Love Then Marriage or Marriage Then Love? Chapters 3&4

I am still loving Their Eyes Were Watching God, which makes it a million times easier to read. I really like how Ms. Hurston talks about marriage through Janie by saying that she will learn to love Logan. In my opinion that's not how marriage works-you should already love the person when you get married.

Logan and Janie's marriage can be connected to modern day arranged marriages across the world. In countries like India, Pakistan, Japan, China, and Israel arranged marriage is common and used by the families to acquire wealth and/or an heir to carry on the family name. Most arranged marriages done by families that are poorer and they marry their young daughters off to an older, rich man. Nannie married Janie off to Logan because he symbolized power and stability whereas the young man Janie kissed over the fence symbolized childish experimentation
.

Mules play a huge part in what I have read so far. The mule most commonly symbolizes Janie through her marriages. She is more or less bought from Logan by Joe. He buys her with the promise of taking her to an all black town away from the work Logan makes her do. She loves the idea so she goes with him after Logan yells at her to come help him in the barn.

Their Eyes Were Watching God Chapters 1 and 2

So far I am really liking "Their Eyes Were Watching God". I love the language and I love reading things written in southern dialects. I also LOVE when books have a strong female lead during earlier time periods when women were supposed to be weak and silent.


The pear tree and how Janie says it's in perfect
harmony with nature can be compared to "perfect"
marriages in the media that everyday people look to
 for guidance on how marriage should be. Even
though Janie can't see it there are problems within
the so called perfect harmony of the little ecosystem
 around the tree. Just like within these "perfect"
marriages that people compare theirs too there are
 problems that cannot be seen from the view of the
 media.

There is a lot of symbolism in the first two chapters: the horizon, the pear tree, nature, and mules. Ms. Hurston focuses a lot on the pear tree and nature around it. She uses this as a symbol for marriage and how couples interact with each other. The pear tree looks like it is in perfect harmony with nature to Janie, but some pear trees are harmful to animals-showing that some couples' relationships look perfect, but both people can be harmful to each other.