I take this to mean that you need to live life in order to understand it, and nobody else can do this for you. Janie's past experiences, which form the narrative of the novel, all back up this idea. As a teenager, Janie realized that she wanted to experience the world and find love and connection with other people, but her grandmother made her live under her narrow perspective of what life has to offer by arranging her marriage with Logan. "Here Nanny had taken the biggest thing God ever made, the horizon–for no matter how far a person can go the horizon is still way beyond you–and pinched it in to such a little bit of a thing that she could tie it about her granddaughter's neck tight enough to choke her" (89). Janie left Logan for Jody, but in their marriage she was instead confined by Jody telling her to live under his expectations of what a mayor's wife should be. Janie feels unfulfilled, wanting to take part in the conversations on the porch of the store but unable to do so because of Jody's insistence that she keep to herself.
When Janie starts spending time with Tea Cake, she tries out new things that she hadn't done before like playing checkers and shooting with guns. She doesn't have to stay off on the side when she lives on the muck with him, both working in the fields and taking part in social gatherings. When she returns to Eatonville after his death, she is in grief but her words to Jane makes her seem wiser and fulfilled. Her house, which she previously disliked being in, "tasted fresh again."
When Janie starts spending time with Tea Cake, she tries out new things that she hadn't done before like playing checkers and shooting with guns. She doesn't have to stay off on the side when she lives on the muck with him, both working in the fields and taking part in social gatherings. When she returns to Eatonville after his death, she is in grief but her words to Jane makes her seem wiser and fulfilled. Her house, which she previously disliked being in, "tasted fresh again."
The presence of the townspeople gossiping about Janie's return can be likened to the critics that faulted Hurston for writing the way she did. Janie's response is to let them talk, as she herself knows that whatever they say doesn't change what she has learned about living.
I like your interpretation of some of Hurston's last words and I do think that may have been a point she was trying to get across. When I read your post it reminded me of Phoebe, after Janie had told her story, saying to herself she had to get her husband to take her fishing. This is a small detail Hurston incorporated but represents your interpretation very well. A simple thing like fishing is completely alien to Phoebe simply because she hasn't been able to try it, and with Janie coming back to the town having experienced all that she has, she seems much more knowledgable and like a role model for someone to look up to. There is much controversy between the "deeper theme" Hurston was trying to convey and Wrights critique of it not including protest as much, but your analysis is a really interesting and valid one.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you compared the gossiping townspeople to the critics of Zora Neale Hurston. This makes a lot of sense, especially after watching the documentary and seeing how little Hurston cared about what other people thought about her and her work.
ReplyDeleteI like your defense of TEWWG in regard to Wright's critique. Just because it isn't the strictly written, "no agency" protest novel that Wright loves, does not mean that it does not have content. After experiencing so much, Janie comes home a completely changed person, for the better. I like the way you phrased it, "you need to live life to understand it." And seeing the difference between the "beginning of the story Janie" and the "end Janie", there is a large shift. In addition, the dialect she adds shows a certain wisdom that Janie grows throughout the years. That being said, I do think that Hurston's novel could be slightly problematic in a certain light. Although this critique of Wright's may not be valid, the idea of minstrelcy could be seen within her book and thus, may take away from the content she's writing about.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Carissa. The idea of minstrelcy is complex and it's definitely important not to dismiss it (not that I'm saying that you do.) You do have a valid point, and I think something especially significant is that this novel begins and ends with women, is about women and is narrated by women. This is significant and something that Wright ignores in his critique, perhaps because he doesn't see the value.
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