A New Life

At this point in the novel, Janie and Joe are about to get married and Janie is expressing her feelings for Joe. Janie has high hopes that her and Joe's relationship will go better than her previous one with Logan. Janie and Joe's wedding is unplanned and had such short notice, since the two only met a few days prior. Janie has just gained so much freedom by leaving Logan, and now she is losing some, hopefully not all, her freedom by marrying Joe, creating an interesting juxtaposition in the text. " It is the morning of Janie's wedding and it seems as if "the morning air was like a new dress",the air was so different than other days and this dress was  one that she knew she wanted and was finally getting. Janie's previous life with Logan was always about doing the best for others and not to do anything for yourself. When Janie left Joe, "she untied it (the apron) and flung it on a low bush beside the road and walked on," which shows how Janie has let Logan go and is now putting on the new dress that belongs to Joe. The speaker of this passage is not Janie, it is rather the narrator. This gives the reader  a better chance to see what is going on inside Janie's mind, while still seeking her outside, personal side of things. Overall, the tone of this passage is happy and excited, as for Janie is looking forward to this next step in her life, as is Joe. Janie is excited that she will have, "flower dust and springtime sprinkled on everything," which shows her childlike excitement, because her "bloom" will finally blossom.

-Anna Eckhoff (Red passage)

Reading Under A Microscope (PINK) Cooper and Dilip

           In this passage, we see Janie coming outside to see the road and have some inner thoughts. Imagery is shown through of the natural descriptions shown and used by the author such as, "Glossy leaves and bursting buds" or, "She searched as much of the world as she could". A tone in this passage reveals itself. A certain tone of detachment and neediness is shown by Janie looking up and down the road in desperation. The passage reads, "she searched as much of the world as she could from the top of the stairs to the bottom." This specific sentence begins to introduce a concept of detachment and isolation. The sense that these stairs have become the entire world in Janie's perspective is belittling to her confidence and worldly views in this passage. It is clearly evident that this shrinking in perspective directly relates to her life in general. Her family was belittled by the slavery in her Nanny's early years. Her childhood was belittled by inappropriately sexual men. Also, she suffered or a very long time in a harsh one-sided relationship with her dominating husband Jody. This passage is truly rife with figurative language and use of literary concepts.

Blooming Janie

The close reading passage uses many different types of figurative language, tone, and repetition. One type of figurative language used in this close reading is the personification of bees kissing and also bees singing. We think this represents Janie’s desire to grow up and be free just like the bees. The tone this passage has is hopeful but at the same time it also has a confused tone. Janie is not sure where she belongs or who she is, but she is hopeful that she will find out soon enough she just isn’t sure when. The repetition in this passage is used in different ways. Nature is a main idea that is repeated multiple times to show Janie’s thoughts on the world and how she feels about herself. She explains how trees bloom and grow and she pictures herself blooming and growing one day just the same. All in all the pink close reading passage on page 11 uses many differerent types of figurative language, tone, and repetition.

-Mufaro and Caitlynn

A Slave in a Free Wold

In the passage, Janie is caught kissing Johnny Taylor. Nanny is angry and tries to persuade her that Logan Killicks is a better match for Janie because he can ensure her safety and comfort. She is doing what she thinks is best, but her perspective of the world is different than Janie’s. Nanny grew up as a slave and was raped, while Janie grew up as a free black girl. Nanny’s bias is seen when in the passage, she says “...as Ah can see” (Hurston 14). “Maybe its some place of in de ocean where de black man is in power, but we don’t know nothin’...” (Hurston 14) is what Nanny says to Janie in her attempt to convince her to marry Logan. This quote signifies her lost hope in an America where everyone is free- the idea seems foreign and far into the future. For now, “de white man throw down de load and tell de n***er man tuh pick it up...because he have to” (Hurston 14). The men only pick it up to satisfy the white men, but “he hand it to his womenfolk...de n***er woman is de mule” (Hurston 14). This is similar to when an older sibling passes off their esignated chore to the younger, weaker child. The author explains that women are the truly oppressed people, which simultaneously takes a stand against slavery and patriarchy. She compares women to mules, which is also an example of them carrying the burden and plays on the animal imagery motif as well. While Nanny doesn't want Janie to make the same mistakes, she is also setting Janie up for failure, which can be seen later in the book.

Ali and Ira

Their Eyes were Reading the Pink Passage

    This Passsage is an introduction of the metaphor of the tree and an introduction of Janie as character situated at the beggining of the book. The introduction of the tree is also the intorduction of the novels complete comparison of Janie to the tree. One example is the passage talks about the tree blooming, which is a representation of Janie becoming an adult and in a sense"evolving". This setups compariosn between these two throughout the rest of the book. One other thing that happens in this passage is a characterization of Janie. Janie leaving the house while her Grandma is asleep shows that she is a free spirit and also a anxetious person because she was "...Waiting for the world to be made." This means that she couldn't wait to get older and expierence situatiosn in the real world. One last thing that occured in this passage was actuall where it was situated in the book which was at the beginging of the book. This is a perfect place to place this paragraph because it was an elegant introduction to many of the motifs that had been repeated thrughout the ovel. One example is the repition of the tree or even reoccurong visuals of Janie's character such as later on we see her free spirit shen she lets down her hair showing her rebelous ways towards Jody. Through this, we are introduced many ideas, creating a structure for the rest of the novel.

                       --Swivine and Adam

Cameron and Jonathan--Close Greending

This passsage contains multiple sections involved in close reading. The most important are context, concepts and speaker. For context, this passage is situated soon after Jody (Joe)nis elected mayor of Eatonville. The townsfolk say that Janie, being the mayor's wife, should give a speech. But before she can get started, Jody cuts it all off. They walk home together, and it creates an interesting juxtaposition. It creates a juxtaposition between Janie's sadness and dejectedness, and Jody's joy and pleasure. This juxtaposition occurs throughout the rest of the novel. There is one big concept that this passage conveys, because it occurs consistently through the book. That  is the concept of Janie's silence. Whenever she builds herself up to speak, she is shot down by Jody.  For speaker, it starts with Jody speaking, then moves on to the narrarator. This is important because it shows Jody's prominence in his voice, while Janie is really lacking.

Waiting For The World to be Made

The narrator uses figurative language, tone, and concepts to give the readers a better understanding of how Janie see's life.  The figuratice language is used to describe Janie and her thoughts. It says " Oh to be a pear tree- any tree in bloom!" (11) The narrator gives Janie the characteristics of a tree and uses the word bloom as a sexual term. This sentences is figurativly saying that Janie wants to find love and go on an adventure. She isnt blooming yet, which means that she hasn't found the love she is searching for. The passage uses an extended metaphor of trees bloosoming and of nature to describe how Janie sees life. In the passage Janie has a very dissapointed tone because she is unhappy with her life. Because of this she also has an anxious tone because she is waiting for a new chapter in her life to begin. In this passage the tone stays consistent to show that she wants a new life but it has not yet come. Some of the main ideas that help the reader understand Janie and what she wants for life are wanting to find her love and her waiting at the gate for her life to start. Together these ideas form a theme of " when the buds bloom, you will find your happiness."


Serah and Hannnah -pink

Their Place in the World (blue)

In the passage on the bottom of page fourteen, Nanny was talking to her very disgusted. This is because she kissed Jhonny Taylor and Jhonny is not one of the best people to be running around with especially because Janie is a young girl. In the passage Nanny was talking to Janie after she "slapped some sense into Janie".  The actual character Nanny is doing the talking or dialogue in this passage.  The speaker is reliable to a certain point, she is very wise due to her past expiriences in slavery and with her daughter(Janies Mother). The slavery does alter her point of view slightly, she says,"So de white man throw down de load and tell de nigger man tuh pick it up.  He pick it up because he have to, but he dont tote it.  He hand it to his womenfolk de nigger woman is de mule"(14) This shows a very strong impression of slavery however slavery was not that long ago, so the speaker is in fact reliable in this passage. Now moving on to tone, the tone in the passage is really strong and powerful. While reading you can "feel" the tension in the air from nanny with this tone. The tone is made up of fear,"Ah been prayin' fuh it tuh be different wid you. Lawd, Lawd, Lawd!"(14) and that is not the only thing, there is also realization. The passage is jam packed with tons of tension and fear from the connection with Janie and Nanny.


Spencer Perr
Mark Gutierrez  

"de mule uh de world"

In the book Their Eyes Were Watching God on page 14 Nanny is explaining to Janie why it is a good thing for her to marry Logan Killicks even though she may not want to. Janie believes that marrying Logan would go against her dreams of Freedom and love and would "desecrate" her pear tree (the pair tree is mentioned as a motif for her wants and dreams throughout the book). So Nanny who wishes for Janie to marry Logan is trying to convince her to marry him as it will make her life easier and clear her of burdens. Imagery in the passage includes the pair tree which is established throughout the book as a very important motif and is used to describe Janie's dreams and freedom. Another instance of imagery was when Nanny told Janie about roles in the world. She told Janie that the white man in in power and under them is the black man (at the time) who where given the burdens of the white man, then the black man handed off the burden to their women making the black woman the "mule" of the world. This describes the heirarchy of the time period in depth and shows with imagery (such as hard working mules) that the black woman was squarely at the bottom. The main concept of the passage is that Nanny is trying to get Janie to marry Logan as this will clear her of the burdens placed on the black woman. Nanny says that marrying Logan will provide Janie with wealth and a good life that will ease her burdens, and that Nanny always dreamed of seeing janie find peace, safety, and substance which she, as a slave never had.

-Griffen Cook, Whitney Marshall

Words unspoken

 

 

 

On page 43, Joe Starks has just opened the new store. The townspeople were excited because Eatonville is a community that is being developed still. In their excitment they ask Janie to make a speech about the occasion. But Joe interrupts and states that he doesn’t approve of it and thinks that his wife is uneducated. He rudely states that, “... but mah wife don’t know nothin’ ‘bout no speech makin’.... She’s uh woman and her place is in de home. “

He conveys the message that he is a patriachist who has authority over his wife. This signifies role playing, because in Eatonville, many of the women were uneducated and at that time period many’s job would be to take care of the house. Janie is seen as the sterotypical woman and Joe doesn’t realize that she is somewhat educated. He wants her to stay in the house.

“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 of things. But anyway she went down the road behind him feeling cold.” When the narrator explains this, it shows that they lost the love that they felt for each other. She felt like her opinion didn’t matter to him. He demands too much of her, and puts many rules on her to make her act the proper way for a mayor’s wife. She follows him most of their marriage, and never expresses her feeling about situations. By keeping her opinions inside, Joe never focuses on her and he always walks forward with dignity. He is very arrogant and focuses on the town and his accomplishments instead of her.


Danielle Pallarca and Drishti Patel

Are women completely dependent on men?

In this passage, there are different speakers, new concepts, and unique tones. The first speaker in this passage is Jody and he is talking about how Janie can't make a speech because she is a woman and is not capable of doing so. He says that, "mah wife don't know nothin' 'bout no speech makin" He is saying that she is uneducated and because she is a woman she doesn't know how to speak well and clearly. Jody is very sexist and does not appreciate Janie, he only thinks of her as a woman who serves him. The other speaker in this passage is the narrator who talks about what Janie does and how she feels after Jody says this. Janie wants to say something and feels like she should but she doesn't, she just follows and Jody and keeps quiet. Some main ideas or concepts in this passage are that women only exist to serve men and that they cannot think for themselves and they are completely dependent on man. The tone at the beginning of the passage is mocking and sexist because Jody says that Janie is stupid and is not capable of making a speech. Towards the end of the passage the tone begins to be sympathetic because the narrator is talking about Janie wants to speak but decides not to. One of the larger themes this conveys is that women completely depend on men and are not capable of acting for themselves Overall this passage conveyed very different speakers, similar concepts, and again different tones.

John-Michael Osley

The road to marriage

During the passage at the bottom of page 32, where Janie is describing her feeling of Joe on her wedding day. The unplanned and unprecedented wedding occur only  few days after they met, and Janie is hoping that Joe will be a better match for her than Logan. The fact that she is describing herself and her love as able to "have flower dust and springtime sprinkled over everything" shows her childish optimisim about Joe and her new Husband, which is eventually proven wrong as Joe begins to supress her and treat her like property. She abandons the "apron" of her old life of being a farmer's wife for a "new dress" of her life with the wealthy Joe Starks. During the passage, and passages around it in context, we see that she has met and is running of to marry Joe Starks, leaving her old husband Logan for the rich, seemingly loving Joe. She loves the thought of his love and also likes his wealth and ambission. She sees him as Royalty in his "ruling chair" with his autitude and air. Throughout the passage, the tone of happy exitment holds as the only main tone. The tone is to set even more emphasis on her new love of this man, and her idea of him as a good match for her, even though later in her life he beggins to fail her expectations.

Allan MacDougall and Tyler Jensen

Who Has The Power?

Nanny has experienced a lot in her life; all she knows is that white have always had more power than black people. In this scene, Nanny is talking to Janie about how blacks have always been put under whites, and how she wants Janie's life to be different. "Honey de white man is de ruler as fur as Ah been able tuh find out." Nanny is the one speaking in this passage, she has the most experience in life and has been the one guiding Janie. In the scene before this, Nanny has just slapped Janie to make Janie respect her. This is revelant because Nanny wants her to learn respect, for use later in life.

Austin and Gordon.

Janies Encasement

During this passage on page 11 of the novel, Janie is grieving over the fact that that she has to marry Logan Killicks. Janie is being forced by nanny to marry Logan by nanny because he gaurentes a safe marriage because he has a lot of money. To illustrate her emotional state, the author utilizes many different tyeps of figurative language including three outstanding metaphors. First, Janie i compared to glossy leaves and bursting buds, which illustrates how her life is just starting to begin and unfold but her life has been held back by this forced marriage. Another metahor utilized to illustrate a similar concept includes the metaphor of the bees singing of the beginning of the world. The last ooutstanding mataphor in the passage is when Janie scans the world, and is "Waiting for the world to unfold."This passage is not illustrated by any dominant tone. It is illustrated by the narrator who uses tones that include bitter, mocking, and it is very ironic. Janie is being represented by ivacious statements to illustrate he depressed state of emotional being.

New Janie replaced by Joe's Death

This passage relates to the time after Joe Starks dies and shows her initial reaction to the event. A motif that occurs in the passage is hair. Janie’s hair describes her youth and freedom. In the passage, her hair is represented by, “ The weight, the length, the glory was there. She took careful stock of herself, then combed her hair and tied it back up again (pg 87).” Her hair illustrates her beauty, because people take notice her long hair. This is an important idea to society because it shows her wishes versus her dead husband’s wishes. She obeyed her husband and it was clearly a patriarchal relationship and society where the men control the women. This also illustrates juxtaposition. It is odd that the narrator mentioned her letting her hair out and then in the next sentence she put it right back. The significant meaning of this is that she has to act according to society. Her feelings are influenced by society’s ideas and she has to follow them so that the people in Eatonville still respect her. “The young girl was gone, but a handsome woman had taken her place (pg 87).” This quote describes her physical qualities and looks. The young girl was the girl that was naive and believed in loving her husband. She thought she could love anyone, but when she ran away with Jody, she changed but still was young. It describes the sudden change that occurs in her when Joe dies. She no longer looks like a young girl learning things, but is now a woman. She understands the world, and the tone is ironic. It is ironic that she is described as a handsome woman, usually when handsome is to describe a man. It may be suggesting that she has gained power over the relationship and can now take on the jobs that men do by herself. She doesn’t need anyone to help her. This passage signifies a lot of importance of Janie’s new life.

Janie's Free?

In this passage Jody has just died and Janie looks at herself in the mirror and she realizes that she is not as sad as she should be but she decides to tie her hair backup and let the world think she was sad. “Set thought back and forth about what had happened in the making of a voice out of a man”(87). This sentence from the text shows that the tone of this passage is confused. It is confused because Janie doesn’t know if she should be sad or happy, but then she decides that she should act sad in front of the public. In this passage Janie’s hair is imagery for power. When her hair is up it shows how she is controlled or sad and when it is down she is free or happy. “She tore of the kerchief from her head and let down her plentiful hair. The weight, the length, the glory was there. She took careful stock of herself, then combed her hair and tied it back up again.”(87) This proves that she feels more free but if the public found out that she was happy she would be hated.

Freedom At Last

In this passage Joe Sparks has passed away with Janie was at his bedside. She was free. She went to look in the mirror and let down her hair. She had come to a realization that she has aged. She made herself presentable for the public and cried the news to the town. In the quote “ Years ago she had told her young girl self to wait in the looking glass. It had been a long time since she remembered. Perhaps she better go look. ” This describes her want to stay young and beautiful, and the motive to go look in the mirror. The looking glass shows what you are. She notices that, “The young girl was gone, but a handsome woman has taken her place.” She has accepted the fact that she is ageing, this is significant because she has noticed this on her own without Joe’s constant nagging about how she’s an old woman but, also shows she is still confident in her looks. “she tore off the kerchief from her head and let down her plentiful hair.” The letting down of her hair is symbolic of her freedom from Jody. She no longer has to hear his constant nagging to put it up. “ the she combed her hair and tied it back up again” she has done this out of respect for Joe. “she starched and ironed her face, forming it into just what people wanted to see...” Women have this unending expectation to be perfect. In order to cry out the window she needs to look decent and young. The tone of this passage is realization and respectful. We almost need inspirational music, its read with a slower speed out of respect for Joe. Janie no has the freedom to express her self and let her hair down.

The context of the passage puts the reader among Janie in her recollection of herself after she watches the life leave Jody’s body. She began to look back all that had happened, “She was full of pity for the first time in years.” She goes over to the mirror and looks at herself, it had been years since the young girl had left her face. Now, “... a handsome woman had taken her place.” She lets down her hair, the feeling of it empowered her with a sense of freedom. Now that Jody was dead, Janie feels sorry, because life had been hard on him just as much as others. In the passage, the speaker is a narrator seemingly limited only to the thoughts within Janie’s head. The passage conveys a sense or concept in which death and pity arise and a rebirth. The tone is somber in a way that shows Janie’s pity and sorrow but at the same time she realizes her maturity as a woman and she finally is free to be herself when she lets her hair down. This passage is a turning point that marks a transformation in Janie;s journey.

Close Reading: Their Eyes Were Watching God Free Janie

On page 87 in Their Eyes Were Watching God, the speaker is the narrator, and at the very end of the paragraph it is Janie yelling that her husband has died. The narrator is illustrating Janie's realization and how she can finally be free now that Jodie is dying. The speaker is reliable because they are stating the appearance of the situation without any opinions. Before the passage Jodie has always been over protective of Janie; he would not let her wear her hair down and force her to work in the store. Janie submits to Jodie and becomes quiet and bottles her emotions, in this passage she explodes and fiercely confronts Jodie to regain her power she has lost to him. The passage sheds light on the rest of the novel because Janie is changing her life and not allowing herself to be out spoken. She realizes she is still beautiful, not old and ugly like Jodie was accusing her of being. “She tore off the kerchief from her head and let down her plentiful hair. The weight, the length, the glory was there. She took careful stock of herself, then combed her hair and tied it back up again.”(pg87) The main idea of this passage conveys how Janie has broken free and is now going to show her own strength and not fall under others. She has grown as a woman and is no longer a child whose face has definition and a story to it. She no longer has Jodie to hold her back and her new journey is just beginning.
-Tiana 

The Women

The passage on page 87 shows Janie realizing how beautiful she is then yelling out the window “Come heah people! Jody is dead. Mah husband is gone from me.” The context of the passage is Jody is becoming very sick and is close to his time. Janie doesn’t show any sort of sadness when has lost her husband. This sheds light on all the times Jody had controlled Janie from doing what she wants. She goes to the dresser and learns that she is very different from when she was a little girl. “ The young girl was gone, but a handsome women had taken her place” (87). The imagery and figurative language is Janie has an epiphany of her freedom from Jody. She can now become who she wants to be unlike Jody controlling her life. “Let down her plentiful hair. The weight, the length, the glory was there” (87). Jody always makes Janie put her hair up because it shows off her beauty and Jody thinks that she is only for him and no one else. The hair is a motif in the novel because it is a reoccurring object and is symbolizes her inner self and who she wants to be. The little girl in the looking glass is herself at a younger age put on hold because she could not live the life she wanted because she had to get married for someone to take care of her.  The tone of the passage is a little depressing but in the end she has an epiphany that she is free and a strong woman. The words like ironed face, people wanted to see, dead, taken, and long time show sadness because she can not be the person she wants to be and she has flashbacks of herself when she was happier.


Mark

Triumphant Janie

When close reading this passage on page 87 of Their Eyes Were Watching God you can tell that it is situated in the text after Janie and Jody have an argument and Jody passes away. When he dies it persuades Janie into taking her hair down for the first time since Jody told her to keep it up and she feels free. “She tore off the kerchief from her head and let down her plentiful hair. The weight, the length, the glory was there.” (Hurston 87) There is much figurative language in this passage but one that sticks out is when Janie talks about her younger self and how she is older now. “Years ago, she told her girl self to wait for her in the looking glass. It had been a long time since she had remembered. Perhaps she’d better look. She went over to the dresser and looked hard at her skin and features. The young girl was gone, but a handsome woman had taken her place.” (Hurston 87) This sentence explains how Janie has grown and changed since the last time she really looked in the mirror but it is a good change. Thanks to Jody and all that Janie has gone through in this part of her life she has grown to be a strong, independent woman. The tone in this section starts out questioning herself and who she is then changes after she looks in the mirror, she feels triumphant which is the main tone of the passage. Janie has made it through the making of the town and the marriage with Jody where she was mistreated and not free to do what she wanted and she is proud of herself and feels successful.

New Beginnings

After Jody's death, Janie has some time to herself. She uses it to reflect on their life together, then his, and finally she analyzes her own life. There are multiple references to the mirror, or "the looking glass". The mirror in this context serves as a symbol for Janie's reflection, which she last saw in her youth. Now she goes back and sees that "a handsome woman had taken her place" (Hurston 87). Jody never allowed her to be herself due to his domineering nature, but after his passing Janie can truly see herself and the change and growth she experienced since her youth. Another recurring symbol is her hair- a motif for Janie's power and strength. With Jody, she was forced to hide her hair beneath a rag, representing her oppressed power under Jody's. After his passing, she lets down her hair, which represents her regaining her strength. "The weight, the length, the glory was there" (Hurston 87) describes not only Janie's hair but her newfound authority. However, after her period of reflection, she puts her hair back up and puts on a face of mourning for the townspeople; unlike Jody, she shows restraint with her power and is not careless. Inside, though, Janie feels free and liberated. The passage describes Janie and her recognition of self after she is liberated. The author conveys the message that Janie is truly free now, and that the following chapters will be through Janie's own voice- it is no longer subdued by Jody's. The passage itself is written in a reflective and thoughtful tone which is significant because Janie's voice doing the reflecting and thinking, because the focus is on her. After Jody's death comes a new beginning- a recurring idea and a pathway into Janie's next stage in life.

The Handsome Woman

In Their Eyes Were Watching God, the narrator explains that "She thought back and forth about what had happened in the making of a voice out of a man. Then she thought about herself." This literally means that Janie thought about how her husband, Jody, had changed after he became the voice of Eatonville.  He started as a kind, young gentlemen and slowly transformed into a bitter old man. Then she begins to think about herself and what she wants to do now that she doesn't have him bossing her around. The narrator goes further to explain that "Years ago, she had told herself to wait for her in the looking glass." This is a form of figurative language used to explain that Janie had been waiting to grow old. "She went over to the dresser and looked hard at her skin and features.  The young girl was gone, but a handsome woman had taken her place." The tone is almost lonesome but at the same time it has some hope and confidence.  The narrator uses these sentences to show that Janie has aged, and although the young girl in her is gone, she has turned into a woman. The word "handsome" almost brings out a manly feature in her that shows her growth in power since her husband had left her. The motif  "She tore off her kerchief from her head and let down her plentiful hair," was used to represent beauty and the power that was once lost when she got married and how it had returned to her again. In a metaphorical language, letting down her hair represents change. "Then she starched and ironed her face, forming it into just what people wanted to see, and opened up the window and cried, "Come heah people! Jody is dead. Mah husband is gone from me." The main idea of this quote is to explain to the reader that Janie covered her happiness of Jody's death with an act. This is important because throughout the book their has been a recurring idea of acting and covering up true feelings from "the people." These events come together to create an extremely important moment in the book about Janie.

Swirvine Close Read

  On page 87 the main idea is that Janie has changed quite a bit.  She thinks, "The young girl was gone..." Jody has turned Janie from the young free spirit she was to a new more conformed girl. She seems to long for the old Janie which is characterized by Janie letting he hair down.  The rag that had her hair tied was a symbol of her oppression via Jody.  The fact that Jody is dead and gone literally starts a new chapter in Janie's life.  The tone of the text is sentimental because throughout the whole passage she is thinking back to a fonder time of her life.  The narrator is the speaker.  She's reliable because she has been the narrator for the whole story.

Close Reading #1: "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston (pg 87)

After Joe Starks (her husband) dies, Janie becomes a changed woman: free & independent. When she was living with Joe, her life was in vain because she was forced to oblige to her husband in a patriarchy of a society. Especially since her husband was the mayor of Eatonville, she was restricted by her husband's power & authority. In this passage, Janie feels like she can let go and be a free & independent woman, confident in her own skin. In a way, she feels satisfied and blessed with the death of her husband because it has granted her a life that she can now make her own.

"She took careful stock of herself, then combed her hair and tied it back up again. Then she starched and ironed her face, forming it into just what people wanted to see, and opened up the window and cried, 'Come heah people! Jody is dead. Mah husband is gone from me.'" (pg 87)
This passage utilizes figurative language several times, especially metaphors emphasizing the positive connotation & tone the author uses to represent Janie's feelings prior to Joe's death. It represents her coming out of her shell with the tension released by the loss of the patriarchy and dominance of feminism. Even though she is no longer the young girl she used to be, she is rejuvenated because she feels she can finally live her life to her full potential- the way it should have been.

"She went over to the dresser and looked hard at her skin and features. The young girl was gone, but a handsome woman had taken her place. She tore off the kerchief from her head and let down her plentiful hair. The weight, the length, the glory was there." (pg 87)
Janie's physical appearance is a motif that comes up frequently in this passage, especially of her facial features and hair.It represents her beauty that develops and is released when she gains her true place in life. Her liberty, independence, & power she finally feels after her husband's death makes her life more meaningful & in it she becomes more confident, strong, & beautiful.

Janie's Magnifacent Freedom

This passage is about how Jody died because of a Kidney failure and how it affects Janie. It shows how she is happy but inside is very sad. Her master and husband has died and is lying on her own floor. Janie explains to herself that she has finally become a woman and has lost all those little girl features. She finally becomes the woman she was meant to be because of her loss. When it says, “The young girl was gone, but a handsome woman had taken her place” (87) it’s showing how she has finally become the person she was meant to be all along. When it says, “She tore off the kerchief from her head and let down her plentiful hair”, (87) it shows how she has become free from this power that was controlling her. The symbol of letting her hair down shows her freedom and power over herself. “Then she starched and ironed her face, forming it into just what people wanted to see,” (87). This quote shows that she is finally doing what she wants to do with no restrictions and becoming the person she wants everybody to see her as. 

Their Eyes Were Watching God Close Reading

This passage is right after Jody dies. In this passage Janie is putting herself together to show her sadness of Jody's death while she is actually relieved that she can now do what she wants. When Jody was alive, Janie would always obey him and remain silent despite her discontent with Jody. When she was putting on makeup, she knew that it would be the last time she did something for another person. Janie also realizes that even without Jody in her life, she still has a lot of beauty. She thinks that Jody was holding her back from being a grown up and beautiful woman. She knew that she was finally free. The symbol for this is her letting down her hair. There are two speakers in this passage, the narrator and Janie. The way that the narrator is speaking makes her reliable because she is not bias in what she is saying. Janie is the other speaker in this passage. Even though Janie is announcing that her husband is dead, she says it with a very upbeat attitude. One of the questions that the narrator is asking is if Janie should stay independent or she should try and meet someone new.  

A Feeling of Youth

The passage on page (87) is right after Janie went into the room that Jody was laying in due to his sickness. She was talking to him about their relationship and how it was “all not there anymore like it used to be. She tried to tell him that she never felt the love anymore. Jody was interrupting her and telling her to get out of the room. Jody died soon after this confrontation. In the passage Janie looks at herself in the mirror and realizes her age. She knows that she is no longer a young girl but she is a woman with experience. She looks at herself and her features and recognizes her beauty and new freedom with the death of Jody. She literally looks into a mirror, and then yells out the window that “Mah husband is gone from me”. The speaker in this part of the book is an “omniscient” speaker and is very reliable because this is an all knowing source and we can really get insight on how Janie really feels. The tone of this passage certainly differs from the tone of the rest of the chapter because instead of grief and “let down” this tone makes you understand that she is having an epiphany like a shocked and silent tone. This is because she realizes that Jody was lying to her and has been holding her spirit back. Now, looking at what this passage has in terms of repetition and figurative language, there is not much repetition but the passage is rich with figurative language. Many symbols are used, like the mirror,” She told the young girl to wait for her in the looking glass …she tore off the kerchief from her head and let down her plentiful hair”(87) This mirror represents freedom and her young fighting spirit she once had being reborn. Last, the diction is very raw and simple, words like “young” and “tore” shows a rebirth of youth and she feels this way, all because of the death of Jody, “the one she thought she loved”.

The Looking Glass

This passage is situated in the text where Jody takes his lasts breaths and Janie cries for help. She had been talking to Jody about how she did not like being silent all of the time and how age had taken toll on the both of them. In all those moments of silence, she did not think that Jody even realized what he was doing to his wife.  She mentioned how things were not the same anymore, and that their love for eachother was drifting away, and how she no longer felt beautiful anymore. As Jody withered away, the two talked about how Jody has been so controlling that he doesn't even know his own wife. In this passage, Janie has the realization of what all those years of growing old with Jody, had done to her body. She had told her young self to never let her grow old and if she did, to have the old self wait for the young self to catch up. As Janie looked in the dresser mirror, she saw an old woman, that of which had replaced the young woman she used to be. She remained beautiful but  had to look at  herself in a different perspective to see it. This passage sheds light on other parts of the novel because in Chapter 9, she once again takes down her hair, this time for good, burning all of her hair rags. Before, she would take down her hair, look at herself and put it right back up, in fear that Jody would punish her, but now she was free and Jody was gone.
The speaker of this passage in the narrator, who has been watching over the two as they talked about their lives previous to this converstation. The narrator is careful to not let any details of their conversation to slip away, which allows for very strong imagery, almost like you are sitting right their with the two as they talk. In the passage, the author does not use any figurative language, mostly because this passage has a very serious tone and that kind of diction would not add any affect to the passage.
Overall, the tone of the passage is sentimental, as for Janie's realization has an element of tenderness and sadness. Their is a moment of nostalgia when she takes off her rag cloth because she is mentally and emotionally attached to it and it is a reminder of Jody's orders. Later in the book, when Janie decides to remove and burn those clothes, the moment of nostalgia is still there because they had sentimental value of her but it is constant reminder of Jody that she no longer wants.

Their Eyes Were Watching A Close Analysis

This passage is placed soon after the death of Janie’s husband, Jody. This creates an interesting juxtaposition, situating Jody’s death and the freedom of Janie. The freedom of Janie is represented figuratively, through a symbol. That symbol is her hair. She “let down her plentiful hair. The weight…was gone” (Hurston 87). The weight of Jody’s rule over her has been lifted. More figurative language occurs when it says that her voice was made out a man. Literally, this means with Jody, she gained her voice. But on a figurative level, the time she spent with Jody and all that she struggled led her to fight free. Jody made Janie have a voice.  The tone of this passage is indifferent. Janie’s husband has just passed away, but she is indifferent about his passing. She’s actually a bit joyous, but must contain this for the townsfolk. So, she acts indifferently, hence the tone.

Breaking free from Jody

On page 87 of the passage, the narrator is explaining what Janie is thinking and doing because Jody has just passed away. The speaker is reliable because she has been guiding us through the entire book so far, offering insight on to what the characters are thinking.  The narrator is omniscient and tells us a lot about the characters. One of the main ideas in the passage is to tell us what’s going on after Jody’s death. Janie walks over to the dresser and notices a change that has occurred over the past years. She has transformed from a young girl to a woman. The speaker is not asking any questions.  In this passage, the motif of hair is once again shown. “She tore off the kerchief from her head and let down her plentiful hair.” (87) Throughout the book, Jody forces Janie to keep her hair tied up. This symbolizes the suppression of power. When Jody dies, Janie lets down her hair, and breaks free from Jody’s grip.

Jody Dead

The context of the quote on page 87 is that she had just had her last conversation with Jody before he died. Jody's kidneys had failed and he died in his house after an intense argument. Janie told Jody that now he had to listen to her on his death-bed and told him about all the injustices that he served her and verbally attacked his life and manhood before he died. Janie is now happy and relieved that Jody is dead and is now free from Jody. This passage is about how Janie is now free from Jody and can let her hair free and look at herself in the mirror. She discovers that she is not ugly as Jody has been telling her and that she is actually a "handsome women" now. This passage is about the death of Jody and her immediate relief and freedom from him. The passage conveys the concept of Janie's liberation and her ascension to womanhood. This passage has a tone of relief and of a horror finally being over. Jody is dead and Janie no longer has to live under his foot. On top of that her fears of growing old and ugly turned out to be false as she was still beautiful in the mirror. This relief is shown by the quote "She tore off the kerchief from her head and let down her plentiful hair" from the passage on page 87 where she is now rejecting Jody's ridiculous rule about covering her hair. This tone shows Janie's new-found freedom and relief from Jody.

"Freedom"

In this passage, on page 87 in Their eyes where Watching God, Joe had just passed away and Janie is pondering her past and finding a new found "freedom." In specific, it discusses Janie looking in the mirror and seeing her young self and finally feeling like she is a beautiful women, which Joe never let her feel like. In the second line it says, "years ago, she had told her girl self to wait for her in the looking glass...The young girl was gone, but a handsome women had taken her place." After this, she lets down her hair and brings the town in to see Joe. Some of the main ideas in this passage is Janie's new freedom after Joe passes away. Her new freedom mainly allowed her to wear her hair down and feel beautiful. Joe never wanted her to be presumptuous or showy. Janie questions her sorrow and guilt for not feeling worse that her husband has died, but also questions the you girl in the mirror and is happy to see a handsome women looking back at her. The tone in this passage is "blue" and depressing. This is because a horrible tragedy has just occurred. In addition it changes to a joyous mood when Janie lets down her hair and finally has confidence and freedom, which Joe stole from her. Finally, the speaker in the passage is not Janie, but the narrator who is talking about Janie is thinking and doing. The narrator is doing the talking since it tells Janie's perspective better she is not the one talking about herself. The speaker is reliable since it is specific events and thought Janie is having and is not based on another persons perspective or bias opinion. In this passage the main idea discusses Joe's death but it lads to Janie's realization of a new freedom.
~Whitney Marshall 1B

Taking Back Control

The passage on page 87 in Their Eyes Were Watching God is Janie's realization of the life she had just lived with Jody and how the years passed her by. She realized that she was forced to meet the expectations Jody had of her over the many years she had spent with him. He constantly downgraded her, even going to the length to make her wear a kercheif to hide herself. Over the many years she spent with Jody, Jamie lost her voice, the one thing that had the potential to move mountains. Losing your voice through someone is the untimate sign of that person taking complete control of your life. Before Jody took his last breath, she took a look at the life she lived with him, and although she loved him very much, she didn't love the person she had to become to satisfy him. The line, "She tore off the kercheif from her head and let down her plentiful hair," is a metaphor for her taking back control over her life. The kercheif was a object used to confine Janie and by taking it off, she understood that taking it off meant letting go of the invisible chains Jody made. The way the author has Janie tell the world that Jody is dead is odd to me. Instead of sobbing uncontrolably like many widows would, she simply said, "Come heah people! Jody is dead. Mah husband is gone from me." The author makes the reader understand how put-down Janie was by this man by not having her yelling through her tears. It also showed what a strong person she was, having to deal with not only her mother and father's abandonment and her Nanny's death, but now her husband's death as well.
-Sydney B

Janie's Method of "Mourning"

Jody has just passed on, and this should be a sad time in Janie's life, but yet she does not act as if she misses him. The passage has a very sentimental tone, as Janie looks back on her life. She looks at herself in the mirror, observing how far she has come in life. The passage also uses a bit of figurative language to explain that Janie is pretending to mourn over Jody's death. "Then she starched, and ironed her face" (Hurston, 87). It explains that she is forcing an expression onto her face that isn't true to her feelings. Some time after the passage, the story tells about how Janie is enjoying being lonesome for once, and how she is rejecting all of the suitors that come to her. This further emphasizes Janie's feeling of relief over Jody's death.

(pg.87) close reading and analysis

This passage contains different concepts, speakers and a unique tone. The first speaker in this passage is the narrator. The narrator is explaining Janie’s feelings and ambitions now that Jody has died. They talk about how Janie examined herself in the mirror to see what she looked like after all these years. They talk about how Janie lets her hair down and concludes that she is still very beautiful even though she is a bit older. The second speaker in the passage is Janie herself. Janie proclaims out the window to all the people of the town that, “Jody is dead. Mah husband is gone from me.” Some of the concepts or main ideas that this passage conveys are that of beauty and freedom. Because Jody is dead Janie realizes that she has the freedom to take her hair down, and by doing that she realizes that she is beautiful. Even though she wants the town to think she is sad for Jody’s death, on the inside she is truly happy because she now has the freedom to do what she pleases without Jody commanding and delegating her every move. These two concepts are very important to the realm of the book because all Janie has wanted is to be free, and through her whole life she has been beautiful. The tone of this passage is a joyous and yet inquisitive one. Janie is inquisitive about her looks with her hair down after all these years with Jody and she is also joyous because of the freedom she now receives. Overall this passage conveys important concepts, has different speakers and two unique tones.

Their Eyes Were Watching God Close Reading

In this passage, Jody has died and Janie is realizing that she has a lot of beauty that Jody kept hidden from her and the world. This is an interesting juxtaposition because usually when a woman's husband dies, they mourn, and are sad, thinking that they have lost all potential, but Janie realizes her potential once her husband dies, and is not really upset. This passage sheds light on the concept that Janie did not really love her husband, at least in the later part of their marriage. This makes the readers question if Janie will utilize her potential and marry a third time? Although one would exppect the language and tone in this passage, the passage actually utilizes a vivacious tone, which is ironic because a person has just died in front of her.

Their Eyes Were Watching God Close Reading Ch. 8

In this passage, Jody has just died and Janie has rediscovered her beauty and realizes the potential for her life in the future. This gives the passage a strange juxtaposition because normally when one's spouse dies, but her reaction was noticing the potential of her life now on. The release of her hair in this passage represents freedom from constraint, a theme in the novel. We see repetition with the motif of her hair in the passage and language with the imagery and tone used describing her hair: "The weight, the length, the glory was all there" (83).

Their Eyes Were Watching A Close Reading pg87

This passage is situated in the context where Jody dies, and Janie feels a sudden twang of regret at the sight of his motionless body. "She was full of pity for the first time in years" (87). This sentence shows how Janie feels regretful because even though Jody had been very aggressive, they had been through so much of life together. "Jody had been hard on her and others, but life had mishandled him too" (87). Janie begins to think that maybe Jody was very dominating, but that was because his ambition was very dear, and was a big part of his life. She feels that maybe he was misunderstood, and his life put a large stressful toll on him, making his mean and hard to deal with. The narrator is a third party throughout the passage, and illustrates Janie's emotions from an outside perspective. This entire passage portrays a concept of death and sadness. "Then she starched and ironed her face, forming it into just what people wanted to see, and opened up the window and cried,"Come heah people! Jody is dead. Mah husband is gone from me" (87). This sentence shows a theme: Everything can have something positive come out of it. When Jody dies, Janie finds happiness in the sense that Jody's dominating presence no longer threatens her peace of mind. This passage is very important to further advance the plot and develop Janie's character.

The Recurring Motif of the River

“One can learn much from a river.” (pg. 49)

                This quote illustrates the recurring motif of the river. This is the first time that Siddhartha comes into contact with the river and the ferryman. The ferrymen tells Siddhartha that even though Siddhartha does not have gifts or possessions to give to the ferryman, he will in turn pay him back because everything comes back to the river, including Siddhartha. This relates to the entire novel because it is an example of foreshadowing. The author is using the character of the ferryman to foreshadow Siddhartha returning to this very same river later in his life. This quote does raise questions about Siddhartha’s future and why he will return to the river and how it will affect him.

“That was the deed he longed to commit, to destroy the form he hated.” (pgs. 88 and 89)

                This quote is showing the hatred that Siddhartha has of himself and how he wants to commit suicide. This occurs at the river that he once crossed with the ferryman when he was a child. It is significant because Siddhartha wants to take his own life at the place where his life was just beginning. This relates to the novel as a whole because after all the things that have happened to Siddhartha in his life, he feels he has failed. This quote does raise questions about Siddhartha’s happiness and his overall well-being, both physically, mentally and emotionally.

“I stand once more beneath the sun, as I once stood as a small child.” (pg. 95)

                This quote is illustrating the fact that Siddhartha has returned to the same river or the recurring river that he visited as a child. The river is an important recurring motif because it has occurred when Siddhartha was young and inquisitive, and now when he is older and knowledgeable. This relates to the text because Siddhartha is remembering and relating to his time as a child when he visited the river with the ferryman. The author chose to utilize the motif in this way because it signifies the importance of the river that he has been there two important times in his life. Yes it does raise questions about who Siddhartha was and who he has become.

Siddhartha's Motif of Knowledge

In the book there are many recurring images and or symbols, otherwise known s motifs. Things such as knowledge, games, and even things like birds. I choose to focus on the motif of Knowledge. There are more than three recurrences of knowledge but i will focus on three of them. The first one is,"There was happiness in his fathers heart because of his son who was intelligent and thirsty for knowledge; he saw growing up to be a great learned man"(4) This motif of Knowledge meant different things than all of the other recurrences. This motif described Siddhartha's life at face value and not what he felt, this was just the surface of his life in total. However i think the author used this motif to put an emphasis on the next appearance of knowledge on page,(5)"Brahmins have already passed on to him the bulk of their best wisdom, that hey had already poured the sum of their total knowledge into his waiting vessel". This time the author used this motif to illustrate how siddhartha really felt not the inside of himself as a whole. he was dissatisfied with his life which lead him to his journey later on tin the book. This explores a theme of expectations and satisfaction. One of the last appearances of knowledge is," I felt Knowledge and unity of the world circulate in me like my own blood"(96) This last motif of knowledge describes the earnings of siddhartha and he is able to see his progress towards enlightenment. The author choose to utilize this motif at this instant because the motif would bring a separation between siddhartha and govinda. The motif is the reason why the two split and the two met each other for the first time in a long time. This motif shows all of siddhartha's journeys and all of his experiences and what he feels from these. This allows for me to better understand what siddhartha is after, he is after knowledge and he has a drive for more and enough to separate himself from the world.

Siddhartha's Bird Motif

One of the motifs in the novel Siddhartha is Kamala's song bird. The bird first shows up in a dream that Siddhartha had about losing himself in the chapter Samsara. This is shown by the quote "Kamala kept asmall rare songbird in a small golden cage. It was about this bird he dreamt. This bird, which usually sang in the morning, became mute, and as this surprised him, he went up to the cage and looked inside. The little bird was dead... and then he threw it away on the road, and at the same moment he was horrified and his heart ached as if he had thrown away... all that was good and of value in himself" (on page 82). This quote was the first time this motif showed up and when we first learned of the birds meaning of representing Siddhartha's spirit, and all that was good in Siddhartha. This is expanded in the quote "When she heard news of Siddhartha's dissapearance, she went to the window where she kept a rare songbird in a golden cage. She opened the door of the cage, took the bird out and let it fly away" (page 85). This expands on the previous quotes meaning showing that the bird is a representation of Siddhartha's spirit. That as Siddhartha decides to free himself, and then Kamala releases the bird shows how Siddhartha had freed his spirit and soul just as a bird uncaged. Lastly the quote "He thought of the change in him, listened to the bird sing happily. If the bird within him had died, would he have perished? No something else in him had died," (page 98). This shows that the bird is more than just a representation of Siddhartha, of his spirit and life force. This shows that the bird was actually part of Siddhartha and was Siddhartha's self and inner voice. This quote is one of many where the bird guides him, or he listens to the bird which is what continues progress within the novel. This is  important as the motif shows a lot about Siddhartha's spirituality, how it has changed, and where it will go next. This shows how Siddhartha's spirituality has now changed to be not indulgent, or repressive, or arrogant but rather sweet and harmonic (like a birds song) which is explained more within the chapter By The River. But the bird, the idea of him listening and learning shows what is to come next, how Siddhartha must now learn how to listen and become in tune with the world to achieve enlightenment. This also makes understanding Siddhartha's inner voice a lot more understandable and interesting and makes Siddhartha's relation with his inner voice seem a lot less like him talking to himself. That is one of the motifs in Siddhartha so far.

The River of Enlightenment

Motif, the recurring image, symbol, or idea in a work of literature. Siddhartha by Herman Hesse is filled with numerous motifs, one of the largest motifs within the text of Siddhartha is the river. Siddhartha, on the way to the town met a ferryman who spoke of the river, "... it is a very beautiful river. I love it above everything... I have always learned something from it. One can learn much from a river," (Hesse 49). In this scene, Siddhartha first encounters the ferryman and the river and the ferryman describes his adoration for the river, as it has brought him inner peace. Later in the novel, Siddhartha wanders from the city, ridden with sorrow and despair and comes across the river. "Siddhartha reached the long river in the wood... He stopped at this river and stood hesitantly on the bank. Why should he go any further?" (Hesse 88). Siddhartha contemplates suicide but the river touches his spirit and he hears Om. Siddhartha stays by the river with the ferryman, "How he loved this river, how it enchanted him, how grateful he was to it," (Hesse 101). The river teaches Siddhartha a number of things and through it he reaches enlightenment. The river makes a constant reappearance throughout the text as it symbolizes the stages in which Siddhartha goes through to reach enlightenment.

Salvation, Salvation, Salvation

Siddartha is a complex novel with many recurring motifs. It has a large number of ideas or symbols that repeat throughout the course of the novel. One recurring symbol is the idea of salvation, and that it can be reached by a path of true knowledge. On page 200, Hesse writes,"Now he saw it and saw that the secret voice had been right, that no teacher would ever have been able to bring about his salvation." This quote is in reference to Siddartha's relentless pursuit of knowledge that will lead him to salvation. This motif is occurring and changing his future course of events. On page 25, Hesse writes, "When you'll have found blissfulness in the forest, then come back and teach me to be blissful." His father tells Siddartha that he should go into the Samanas care and find true knowledge. Then, he says he should come back and teach him. This is the beginning of Siddartha's long search for knowledge and salvation. "I, Siddhartha, find only a short numbing of the senses in my exercises and meditations and that I am just as far removed from wisdom, from salvation, as a child in the mother's womb" (Hesse 37). This is when Siddartha realizes that he is not reaching salvation through the path of the Samanas, and he wants to move on. This shapes his future and the course of events in the novel, making salvation a central topic throughout the story.

Elightments path

A motif in Siddartha is enlightment; which is his eternal quest in life. Siddartha wants to find enlightment similar to how the Buddha did, althought he want to find it on his on in his own quest. The motif of enlightment is regarded as totally happiness and having no worries. Something "that can not be demonstarted and proved: that is your doctorine of rising above the world, of salvation." (Pg. 32) Siddartha said this to Gottama telling him his own belief of enlightment. "Not for one moment did I doubt that you were the Buddha, that you have reached the highest goal..you ha learned nothing through teachings, so I think that nobody finds salvation through teachings." This quote is siddartha telling the Buddha that even though he believes the Buddha has found "enlightment" (Pg. 33) he believes that he won't find it by listening to his teachings. He want to go out on his own quest and find it himself. "I was seeking Brahman, atman, I wished to destroy myself, to get away from myself, in order to find in the unknown innermost, the nucleus of all things..." (Pg. 38) This quote is that that he is searching for enlightment by trying to get away from himself through self denial. These quotes show how siddartha is searching for enlightment and how he plans on reaching it.

The River

“One can learn much from a river,”(Hesse 49). In the book Siddhartha, a recurring image or motif is the river that Siddhartha visits. Siddhartha first encounter with the river and noble ferryman  is while he is on his way to the city where Kamala resides, “..it is a very beautiful river. I love it above everything... I have always learned something from it,”(Hesse 49).  This is only the beginning of his encounters with the river, and how it represents Siddhartha’s journey of carefreeness and unity with one self. Siddhartha’s second encounter with the river after he departs from the rich life he had with Kamala and Kamaswami. “Siddhartha reached the long river in the wood, the same river across which a ferryman had once taken him when he was still a young man and had come from Gotama’s town. He stopped at this river and stood hesitantly on the bank,”(Hesse 88). This is the moment when Siddhartha has to choose if he wants to go on in life, or just fall into the river and let all worries go by committing suicide at that very moment.Looking back at his journey, he has not yet reached enlightenment, but as he looks at the river, it shows him the eternity of all things and the universe and he falls into a deep sleep. Siddhartha sleeps for many hours, and when he awakes, he realizes he has attained enlightenment, all by listening and learning from the river to let things go. Siddhartha makes the decision to stay by the river, with the ferryman, named Vasudeva, and serve as an assistant and bring others across the river. “Love this river, stay by it, learn from it,”(Hesse 101), is exactly what Siddhartha was going to do because, “..whoever understood this river and its secrets, would understand much more, many secrets, all secrets,”(Hesse 102). The river is not what bestows enlightenment on someone, but rather helps to direct the thoughts of any individual who is willing to listen, which is what Siddhartha does when he repeatedly returns to the river for words of advice.

Polarities: A Motif in Siddhartha

Siddhartha goes through many different stages in his path to enlightenment. His main struggle is finding the right way; he is always on polar opposites of the spectrum. Sometimes, he deprives himself to an extreme, or else he lives in luxury which is unfit for disconnecting from the Self and material world. When Siddhartha is with the Samanas, he realizes that "amongst all of the Samanas, probably not even one will attain Nirvana" (Hesse 18). The Samanas trick themselves and their bodies by extreme fasting and depravation, and believe they are on the path to enlightenment, when in reality they will not achieve this. In his journey with the Samanas, Siddhartha experience one end of the spectrum. But after his visit to Gotama, he realizes that Gotama “has given to [him] Siddhartha, [him] self” (Hesse 36). This is his turning point. Siddhartha realizes that he has not been living, but rather continuing a life of extreme hardship of which is unnecessary, because he is his own teacher. Thus, he continues to a village and awakens his senses, tastes “riches, passion, and power” (Hesse 75). However, he soon realizes he has once again gone too far to the other extreme. He has become lost in the material world; and with each of these representations, one can see the presence of polarities as a motif in Siddhartha.    

Mature Vs. Imature

    Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse possess a motif of the idea that, people are children. Throughout the book Siddhartha constantly describes the average people he meets as immature and ignorant. Siddhartha first makes this metaphor after meeting the ferryman. “ All are grateful, although they themselves deserve thanks. All are subservient, all wish to obey and to think little. people are children.”(49) In this scene, Siddharth is pleased of the kindness of the ferryman and it reminds him of Govinda. In return of the ride, the protagonist gives friendship to the ferryman. This scene is a reference to how everybody wants to be Siddhartha’s friend. In this case people are like children because children who meet are almost instantaneous best friends. They are ignorant without a care in the world. and just go with the flow, much like the people Siddhartha encounters. The second time Siddhartha makes this analogy when he has become disgusted with what he has become,” This wish, this childish wish had grown so strong within him: to find peace by destroying his body.” (89). Siddhartha acknowledges the fact that it wasn’t himself to act this way, drunk, and obsessed with money. This is childish because maturity comes out of realizing what is truly important. Not money, nor power is important and Siddhartha fell down this path. “I changed from a man into a child”(96) Here, Siddhartha is again questioning himself. He has lost the power to think, to wait, to fast.  These were the signs of his maturity and now he has become and average person but with absolutely nothing to give, but the clothes off his back. This motif reveals a theme that with maturity come the realization that more is not better in the tangible world.

Siddhartha’s Many Motifs

        There are many motifs that occur in Siddhartha, but none other motifs are as important as the motifs of the ferryman and the river, the bird in the golden cage, and the reoccurrence of Om. On page 88, it states, “A chilly emptiness in the water reflected the terrible emptiness in his soul.” This represents cleansing of the soul from the river and how it represents the creation of a new p.  son (not literally but more spiritually). This was placed in here because during this scene in the book, Siddhartha is overcoming a realization of what he has become and how he would like to return to his former self which is why the river is there; to represent a recreation of the old Siddhartha. Another reoccurring motif is the bird in the golden cage. “This bird which usually sang in the morning became mute, and as this surprised him, he went up to the cage and looked inside. The little bird was dead…” page 82. This motif represents change not only in the environment, but also in Siddhartha’s character which he soon realizes which occurred in the above motif. The last major motif is Om. ”Softly he said the word Om to himself, over which he had fallen asleep and it seemed to him as if his whole sleep had been a long deep pronouncing of Om, thinking of Om, an emersion and penetration into Om, into the nameless into the divine.” page 90. This motif represents a goal for Siddhartha which is what keeps him going, because he wishes to achieve Om which is also what got him out of his slump when he was feeling nauseous when he recognized the changes he had faced.

Spiritual Guidance

There are many different kinds of Motifs represented in the book Siddhartha, but the most prominent one I see is the motif of spiritual guidance. This idea of guidance is mentioned many times during the novel because the protagonist Siddhartha is struggling with finding spiritual guidance throughout the story, especially at the beginning.  At the beginning Siddhartha is a simple Brahmin who worshiped his gods and obeyed his father, but he was not happy or content with the life he was living. In the first chapter Siddhartha starts questioning his happiness and his religion, “The sacrifices and the supplication of the gods were excellent- but were they everything? Did the sacrifices give happiness?” (Hesse, 6) He starts to wonder if worshiping the gods is important.. This is significant to the story because it pushes Siddhartha to begin his journey of spiritual enlightenment with his friend Govinda. The second place I see the idea of spiritual guidance is when Govinda and Siddhartha visit the Jetavana grove to hear the Illustrious One, Gotama, talk about his ways of worship and guidance. Siddhartha is not impressed with his teachings. He explains to Gotama that a person cannot reach enlightenment through verbal teachings, that a person must find it by themselves without external guidance. He tells Gotama, “You have learned nothing through teachings, and so I think, O Illustrious One, that nobody finds salvation through teachings.” (Hesse, 34) Finally, another example of this motif of spiritual guidance is towards the middle of the story. At the beginning of his solo adventure he finds out why he has been struggling with guidance, because of his loneliness he is finally able to listen inside of him. The spiritual guidance within him is able to come out and he doesn’t have to listen to anyone else but himself. “I will no longer study Yoga-Veda, Atharva-Veda, or asceticism, or any other teachings. I will learn from myself, be my own pupil; I will learn from myself the secret of Siddhartha.” (Hesse, 39) As you can see there are many different places the motif of spiritual guidance comes up in the story of Siddhartha, and the struggle is brings the protagonist.