Janie Crawford is a stunning character in this novel. Her beauty sparks jealousy not only from other women, but from even some of the ‘protective’ men in her life. In the opening scene on page 2, the women are wondering what Janie is up to after leaving home for the Everglades with a younger man named “Tea Cake” years before. They conjure up many questions about “What dat ole forty year ole ‘oman doin’ wid her hair swingin’ down her back lack some young gal? – What he done with all her money?” As the woman gossip and speculate about her delicate situation (in a light manner), the men pay more attention to her generous physical attributes and beauty. What are your initial thoughts of her character in these opening pages? Do you find that her beauty ‘isolates’ her from many people she encounters?
We also learn that she never knew her parents. Her ‘Nanny’ was born as a slave and her mother was born as an illegitimate slave child when Nanny’s master raped her. This illegitimate slave child “Leafy” was raped by a schoolteacher and soon left her baby, Janie (our main character) alone with Nanny. Janie grows up thinking that she is a white child as she plays with the white neighbor’s children and is mocked at her black school for her ‘white’ clothes’ (9). This lack of origins can be detrimental to a girl growing up. How do we see this ‘lack of identity’ permeate through all of her failed romances from Logan and Jodie, the jealous mayor? How does she respond to how men bully women, when she compares them to helpless chickens? (Hint: page 75)
Within this novel there is a strong sense of gender differences. The first chapter opens up with a very compelling quote which seems to set the stage for the rest of the story,
Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men. Now, women forget all those things they don't want to remember, and remember everything they don't want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly.
What does this quote seem to be implying? What is it saying about how men and women choose to live their lives? Is there an underlying idea of feminism tied into this quote? Does seem to be Janie living according to this statement in the first six chapters?
After the people of West Maitland hold the funeral for the mule, the focus shifts from the townspeople to a flock of buzzards circling above the mule's carcass. Immediately, Hurston establishes the pecking order amongst the buzzards; they may not feast until the lead buzzard, the Parson, fully investigates the mule's body. Hurston describes the ravenous birds, saying, "As soon as the crowd was out of sight they closed in circles...Close in, close in till some of the more hungry or daring perched on the carcass. They wanted to begin, but the Parson wasn't there, so a messenger was sent to the ruler in a tree where he sat" (Hurston 61). Does this hierarchy and this mention of the buzzards relate to the townspeople in any way, and if so, how? Why would Hurston choose to discuss the buzzards' situation in detail, and why would she specifically choose a buzzard?
Th Jan. 15 Washington Irving, “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (Norton)
Tu Jan. 20 Abraham Lincoln, “A House Divided” and “Second Inaugural Address” (Norton) Assignment: watch Obama’s inaugural address (today at noon, or watch it online later) and compare to Lincoln’s inaugural addresses
Th Jan. 22 William Apess, An Indian’s Looking-Glass for the White Man (Norton) Catharine Maria Sedgwick, Hope Leslie, Vol. I, Chapter 4 (Norton)
Tu Jan. 27 Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Nature” (Norton)
Th Jan. 29 Hawthorne, “Young Goodman Brown,” “The Birth-Mark” (Norton)
Tu Feb. 3 Hawthorne, “Rappaccini’s Daughter” Edgar Allan Poe, “Ligeia” (Norton)
Th Feb. 5 Poe, “The Raven,” “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “William Wilson” (Norton)
Tu Feb. 10 Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (Norton)
Th Feb 12 Douglass, Narrative First paper due Friday, Feb. 13, 4 p.m.
Tu Feb 17 Herman Melville, “Bartleby the Scrivener” and “The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids” (Norton)
Th Feb 19 Rebecca Harding Davis, “Life in the Iron-Mills” (Norton)
Tu Feb 24 Walt Whitman, “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry,” “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d,” and “Song of Myself” parts 1-7 (Norton)
Eric Haley:
ReplyDeleteJanie Crawford is a stunning character in this novel. Her beauty sparks jealousy not only from other women, but from even some of the ‘protective’ men in her life. In the opening scene on page 2, the women are wondering what Janie is up to after leaving home for the Everglades with a younger man named “Tea Cake” years before. They conjure up many questions about “What dat ole forty year ole ‘oman doin’ wid her hair swingin’ down her back lack some young gal? – What he done with all her money?” As the woman gossip and speculate about her delicate situation (in a light manner), the men pay more attention to her generous physical attributes and beauty. What are your initial thoughts of her character in these opening pages? Do you find that her beauty ‘isolates’ her from many people she encounters?
We also learn that she never knew her parents. Her ‘Nanny’ was born as a slave and her mother was born as an illegitimate slave child when Nanny’s master raped her. This illegitimate slave child “Leafy” was raped by a schoolteacher and soon left her baby, Janie (our main character) alone with Nanny. Janie grows up thinking that she is a white child as she plays with the white neighbor’s children and is mocked at her black school for her ‘white’ clothes’ (9). This lack of origins can be detrimental to a girl growing up. How do we see this ‘lack of identity’ permeate through all of her failed romances from Logan and Jodie, the jealous mayor? How does she respond to how men bully women, when she compares them to helpless chickens? (Hint: page 75)
Within this novel there is a strong sense of gender differences. The first chapter opens up with a very compelling quote which seems to set the stage for the rest of the story,
ReplyDeleteShips at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men. Now, women forget all those things they don't want to remember, and remember everything they don't want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly.
What does this quote seem to be implying? What is it saying about how men and women choose to live their lives? Is there an underlying idea of feminism tied into this quote? Does seem to be Janie living according to this statement in the first six chapters?
Jen Andrake
ReplyDeleteAfter the people of West Maitland hold the funeral for the mule, the focus shifts from the townspeople to a flock of buzzards circling above the mule's carcass. Immediately, Hurston establishes the pecking order amongst the buzzards; they may not feast until the lead buzzard, the Parson, fully investigates the mule's body. Hurston describes the ravenous birds, saying, "As soon as the crowd was out of sight they closed in circles...Close in, close in till some of the more hungry or daring perched on the carcass. They wanted to begin, but the Parson wasn't there, so a messenger was sent to the ruler in a tree where he sat" (Hurston 61). Does this hierarchy and this mention of the buzzards relate to the townspeople in any way, and if so, how? Why would Hurston choose to discuss the buzzards' situation in detail, and why would she specifically choose a buzzard?