Childhood / Early Life
What is the significance of this quote? How does this connect to later in Janie's life?
"So when we looked at de picture and everybody got pointed out there wasn't nobody left except a real dark little girl with long hair standing by Eleanor. Dat's where Ah wuz s'posed to be, but Ah couldn't recognize dat dark chile as me"(9)
Janie struggles to identify oneself in the photo as skin color hadn’t been a relevant issue in her life as a child. Race was not something that Janie cared and thought about with identity, which is why for the first 6 years of her life she wasn’t aware she looked any different than the white children she played with at home. This is significant because readers can interpret that Janie saw her identity as who she was around and how she lived her life. She did not think about skin color. Janie isn’t slowed down by her race until she experiences colorism and realizes she is seen as different by others.
How did Tea Cake positively affect Janie?
Tea Cake was different from Logan and Joe which was exactly what Janie was looking for in love. Tea Cake encouraged Janie to find her identity and wanted her to have a voice. He supports Helene Cixous’ idea that female bodies shouldn’t be about sexual things at all. He promises her his love and even teaches her things she has never experienced. She learns how to play chess and even how to shoot a gun. Although Tea Cake was abusive to Janie, he did help her develop in a positive way, even if he didn’t try to.
In the film When the Levees Broke, during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans citizens explained “they were being treated like slaves”. How is this similar to how Janie was treated in Their Eyes Were Watching God.
In the film, When the Levees Broke, the New Orleans citizens were treated poorly and even blamed for the extent of how the disaster affected their lives. This is similar to how Janie was treated by Tea Cake. He took the money that Janie was keeping from him, and even hit her to prove to Janie he is in power. He treats Janie as she is below her and that she is just there for show. No one stood up for the people of New Orleans, which was the same for Janie. Mrs. Turner encourages Tea Cake’s behavior which only makes matters worse for Janie.
“Somebody got to think about women and chillum and chickens and cows. I god, they who don’t think none themselves.”
What is the significance of this quote?
Joe does not allow Janie to interject or share her opinion in their life together. He demands he is always right and Janie’s opinion is wrong because she is a female and to him that means her voice is invalid. He treats Janie as she is stupid which therefore leads to Janie using her voice less and less. Joe is acting as the Signifying Monkey and feels that he is tricking and hurting Janie with his verbal skills. In reality, although she is quiet, Janie is only creating more abstract and opposing ideas in her head.
How does Hurston feel about the hurricane? Support your response with an outside source.
William Mullaney wrote a response to Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God that he titled, Her Eyes Were Watching Katrina: Unnatural Deaths in a Natural Disaster. The piece dives into Hurston’s ideas behind the symbols used in her book. He explains that Hurston had experienced a disaster similar to Hurricane Katrina in the Bahamas and saw a similar aftermath. She used the hurricane to show that “even in times of natural disaster, racism remains a potent force.”(127) Hurston even felt that “the white power structure would actually help them during a time of need”(130) because any structure was better than no structure. During this time, there were no hybrids that belonged to multiple categories. There were only race categories that were assigned to people by society. Hurston feels these groups can be powerful, in a negative sense.
How did Janie's upbringing affect her mindset when leaving Logan?
Nanny always reminded Janie that marriage was something that was supposed to protect and allow Janie to live a life with a man in a nice house. She always wanted Janie to succeed as they both had difficult upbringings. Logan Kilicks did not respect Janie and although Nanny wanted her to be married to be safe, she knew she had the self respect and courage to find someone better for her. She kept this courage throughout her life to stand up to her husbands when they treated her as below her.
How did Tea Cake hurt Janie?
Tea Cake abused Janie “because being able to whip her reassured him in possession”(147). Other than physically, Tea Cake aimed for the same abuse mentally. He took Janie’s money, ran off without a word, and treated her poorly when he returned. Janie thought finding Tea Cake was like finally finding the love she’s been looking for. Tea Cake allowed Janie to build up false hope as he supported her at first. He encouraged her to use her voice and be the woman she wanted to be all along. He then crushed her when he drastically changed.
What does the hurricane represent and how does this connect to structuralism?
The hurricane is a representation of chaos and destruction. The hurricane is powerful and can overpower people, even if they feel as if they are stronger and more influential. Although the hurricane can be interpreted as literal, it has a deeper meaning behind it. This is what connects it to structuralism. The hurricane represents that there are forces that over power the powerful. People and things have control over different things. It also represents Janie’s breakthrough. She often stayed quiet but kept her opinions in her head. The hurricane represents her breaking through this and finding herself again.
What is ironic about Joe “always [wanting] to be a big voice”(28)?
Joe eventually fell ill, and became a powerless voice. It is ironic that he wanted a big voice but did not allow Janie to use hers. When he fell ill, he lost power, and therefore Janie got her voice back. Janie is not hurt when Joe passes as she is no longer powerless.
How does Hurston portray Janie as something similar to herself?
Hurston experienced a hurricane that destroyed her society as well. She saw with her own eyes the blatant racism and pure disrespect by the dominant culture, which in her case was also white people. Hurston created Janie as a biracial character to show how people are grouped into social groups even if their race may differ. Janie suffered the same racism that Hurston did in the Bahamas.
How does Janie not having a male figure growing up affect her marriages?
Janie does not follow the societal norms where she listens to and takes disrespect from her husbands. Nanny had unstable marriages as Janie was growing up and she never had a father figure in her life other than Mr. Washburn who was not necessarily involved in her life. She never learned to follow the rules and always pushed limits when it came to her relationship with men. In the feminist theory, women were called “the dark continent” meaning they are a lack and in literature they were only used as reference to a man. In her marriage with Logan, Janie made sure these roles were reversed and that she asserted dominance in the relationship by leaving Logan when he disrespected her.
How was Tea Cake different from Janie’s previous husbands?
Tea Cake wants Janie to have a voice. He taught Janie how to play chess and act as she wanted to with the porch guys when she was with Joe. He allowed her to have the true love she was longing for her whole life. When he became aggressive with Janie, he acted as her other husbands did. He was threatened by Janie’s voice and then became aggressive. He never wanted Janie “to see the commonness in [him]”(124), and when she started to feel as powerful as he was, he made sure to take that away from her.
Following the evacuations, many people did not listen to the mandatory evacuation. Instead of helping people make the move or making efforts to help them during this disaster,Jefferson Parish council President Aaron Broussard said to the Associated Press of NBC news that he’s “expecting that some people who are die-hards will die-hard.” How does this ignorance match ignorance in the book?
People may not have been in the financial state, mindset, or have the physical ability to leave. This was disregarded and people were blamed for staying. Politicians and people involved in the disaster thought citizens of New Orleans were lazy and stubborn for staying. This is the same ignorant mindset that Mrs. Turner exemplifies in the shop with Janie and Tea Cake. Although Janie and her are both biracial. Mrs. Turner feels she is more white looking, and she feels this gives her the right to disrespect and hurt Janie. She knows how colored people are treated during this time and chooses to treat Janie poorly. She is ignorant and categorizes people to benefit herself. This is similar to how other people categorized New Orleans citizens as lazy and mulish.
What is the significance of the following quote?
“It was very exciting for Janie as she had never touched dice before”(125)
Joe never allowed Janie to be “goin’ off in all dat mess uh commonness”(60) and be friends with the men on the porch. She always wanted to be a part of the games they played but Joe instead had her work in the store away from everyone. This quote represents how Tea Cake, in the beginning, allowed Janie to experience something different from how Joe treated her which was refreshing for someone like Janie, who searches for true love.
How does Hurston support feminism?
Throughout the novel, Janie holds her voice back from speaking up to her husbands. Readers are aware that Janie is opposed to how she is treated but, they also see the side of Janie that holds herself back. She supports feminism by having Janie’s voice internally. This portrays that the time period holds her back but her voice still has the power of women who now use their voice.
How did Janie support the ideas of structuralism when leaving Logan?
Janie is representing Levi-Strauss’ idea of binary pairs while leaving Logan as she is big and he is small. He treats Janie as weak and lacking however she fights back by leaving Logan. She continues this big vs small pattern throughout the book as she can make people feel small with her actions.
“But oh God, don't let Tea Cake be off somewhere hurt and Ah not know nothing about it. And God, please suh, don't let him love nobody else but me” (120)
What is the significance of this quote by Janie?
Janie left Logan in search of true love and a better life. With Jody she allowed herself to act as a woman of their time period. She was confined to society's standards until Joe’s death where she regained her voice. When she finds Tea Cake and thinks she finds the true love she has been looking for. This shows that Janie was prepared to become small again if that meant true love. She did not see how Tea Cake was similar to Logan and Joe. Janie has false hope of true loves meaning.
What can be considered an opposite of the hurricane? Levi-Strauss’ idea of binary pairs can be analyzed here to connect to Janie’s struggle for power throughout the book.
The hurricane is a symbol of destruction and power. Throughout the book, Janie finds peace in nature. Before leaving Logan she sits under the pear tree and hears the “words of the trees and the wind.”(25) She finds happiness and a sense of freedom from nature. Before leaving her first husband, Janie sits under the tree and comes to the realization that her “first dream was dead, so she became a woman.”(25) She gets the courage and strength to be worth more than Logan thinks of her. Although the hurricane and the pear tree are opposites, they both allow Janie to build up the courage she needs to be a powerful woman. The binary pair the tree and hurricane represent is peace vs. chaos.
As Joe realized his illness was taking his life he told Janie, “you change everythin’ but nothin’ don change you.”(86) How is this ironic?
Joe comes to Eatonville because he had “always wanted to be a big voice”(28). As he changed the town of Eatonville, the town was changing him. He treated Janie as less than him and took away her hopes of loving him. He put society's standards first and did not care for Janie. The other men saw him as powerful but he was a changed man because of the attention and praise. Janie kept her morals throughout her marriage with Joe, although sometimes she kept them internally. This quote shows how Joe knew he was wrong for how he treated Janie.
How did Hurston incorporate structuralism to support her novel?
Hurston created metaphors and binary pairs throughout Their Eyes Were Watching God that gave the novel a deeper meaning that could be discovered as the book went on. She portrayed true and false with Janie’s romances throughout the book. The hurricane represents more than a natural disaster which the novel builds up to. Incorporating structuralism into her writing brings power and further meaning to the story.
You ain't got no business cuttin’ up no seed p’taters neither. A pretty doll-baby lak you is made to sit on de front porch and rock and fan yo’self and eat p’taters dat other folks plant just special for you” (29).
How does this quote by Joe connect to feminism?
Joe treats Janie as property and applies traditional female ideas of the time to her life. Internally, Janie is aware that Joe doesn’t treat her how she should be treated but the societal norms of the time hold her back from leaving Joe. The way Joe treats Janie is common in that time period but feminism has allowed these roles to be altered. Women have obvious altercations in society and home life but, there are still gender inequalities that can be changed. For example, although people are able to get many jobs now no matter their gender, there are male dominated jobs and female dominated jobs which connect to the ideas of this time.
Janie explains her relationship with Tea Cake as “a little seed [ ] growing into a tree.”(136) How is this significant?
Since the beginning of "Their Eyes Were Watching God", Janie has seen “her life like a great tree in a leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone”(8). The tree has allowed her to make realizations throughout the novel that have helped her heal and helped her grow as a person. Janie made her decision to leave Logan while contemplating under the pear tree, it brings her peace of mind. This quote signifies how Janie feels peace and at home around Tea Cake.
How did dominant culture play into the hurricane clean up?
White folks struggled to defy their dominant culture and help with the hurricane clean up. They mistreated and disrespected black folks as they expected their dominance to allow this. This adds to Hurston’s idea that even with something as overpowering as the hurricane, racism is stronger.
Joe disagrees with Hicks who “wasn’t ready to think of colored people in post offices yet.”(39) How is this significant to Jody’s character?
Joe was ahead of society when it came to changes that benefited him. He wanted to be involved in society which was his goal in Eatonville. However, he was completely against women's rights and societal standards of women. He knew if this changed, it would give power to women, taking it away from him. Joe is a shallow and selfish person but he has a creative mind which keeps him in power.
How does post colonialism add to Hurston’s novel?
She incorporated pieces that exemplified the Signifying Monkey such as, Joe. This dramatically showed where societal standards were as well as power within the characters of the book. This profound factor allowed Hurston to have more than just symbols to represent what she wanted to.