"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.