Schaude+TEWWG+Question+2

Schaude Journal

The novel, __Their Eyes Were Watching God__, by Zora Neale Hurston made me want to ask various questions about the story, and the main characters. For example, there's a quote that goes, "There's always another person inside everyone, urging to come out." A question I had that came from this specific quote was why did Janie wait till after Joe's death to show her other character? When Janie was married to Joe, she was very outspoken, and timid. She never went up to people and started talking causal conversation, not showing off her bubbly personality because Joe didn’t allow it. Her first husband controlled her so much, that she never wore her hair down to show off her beautiful aspects, or dressed in pretty dresses with ruffles at the end.  When Joe died, she wasn't upset at all. She didn’t show any emotion of missing him, or mourning over his death. However when he died, its like a new person came out of her because she started acting like her true herself. Like it says in the quote, "Everyone has a person, urging to come out and show their true side." I think Janie has had her bubbly-self inside her since she was little, but since she married Joe, Joe has been making her keep it hidden so other men wouldn’t find her attracted. "You don’t speak unless I'd told ya to speak," (pg. 22) Janie use to let men control her throughout her life, and order her around by telling her when she can or cannot speak. Ever since teacake came into her life, she has changed dramactially. Not only did her apperance change, but her interests did too. She became interested in chess, and fishing, but not because she chose to, but because teacake help her find that hobby for her. Tea Cake help her emerge into a brand new person, a person that was always meant to be her. Joe never let Janie show her true-self, it was Teacake that made her realize that the life she had been living, wasn’t the life she wanted to live.  However, just like I questioned about Janie changing from Joe deaths to how she acted around teacake, I am astonished by how much she has grown into a woman. Janie started off in the book as a shy, outspoken, young girl that got forced into a marriage she didn’t really want to be in. She never showed off her bubbly personality, and usually just did everything that Joe order her to do. For example, like I said earlier, Joe never allowed her to wear her hair down, or wear pretty dresses to show off her physic, Joe usually made her wear it up in a bun on top of her hair or wrapped it in a cloth, hiding away her true beauty aspects. But after Joe’s death a new person emerges through Janie, a person that no one has seen in a long time. Janie starts acting more like a regular person. She engages herself in conversations with people, and even starts dressing the proper way a lady should be dressing. Janie isn’t afraid to show off her beautiful, black locks of hair, or show off the nice romp she has straddling behind her. When she meets teacake, that’s when I think her true self-shows. She starts to be more talkative, and flirty, the way I picture her in my mind when I first saw her face plastered on the cover of the book. She’s not afraid to say what she thinks, and always wants to make the best of everything. She might have changed the way she acted, or the way she looked throughout this book, however, one thing that didn’t change about her was her mentality. It seems like every move that she makes in the novel, she thinks twice before doing it. For example, on page 113, her friends are trying to convince her not to marry teacake, or even start dating him. However, Janie doesn’t listen to what people say about her or to her, that’s what I admire most about her. She’s her own woman, and whatever she thinks is right, she’ll support her decision 100% percent. She use to do what people use to tell her to do in the beginning of the book, like Joe and her mother. She would never do what she wanted to do, and never had the courage to say so. Towards the end of the book though, she never let’s Tea Cake actually control her like she let Joe. But at the same time, Tea Cake never treated Janie how Joe treated her. Many people would think Janie was better behaved in the beginning of the book, and should have stayed that way throughout the entire book. However, I think that the way Janie has grown as a woman, and the way she found herself by falling in love with Tea Cake, is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever read. I’ve never seen someone grown into something so beautiful. I wish that someday, I can be as strong, and have as much courage as Janie did with Tea Cake.  __Their Eyes Were Watching God __ has become one of my all time favorite books. The characters that Zora Hurston choused to use in the novel were perfect because it taught you how much people can change throughout life. The quote, “ You can’t judge a book by its cover,” reminds me of this novel because when I first started reading about Janie and how she acted around Joe, my first initial thoughts about her was that she’s a beautiful, young girl that is acting pathetic. I thought that she was stupid, and had no common sense since she was in a relationship that was so full of disrespect and unfairness, that she must be blind, or mentally challenge. However, as I proceeded through the book, I came to found out that she wasn’t the person that I first thought she was. The only reason she acted so timid, and quiet was because of her husband (pg. 26-27). I soon came to found out the real Janie was a bubbly, outgoing woman, with full of spirit inside her. This story has taught me that you can never judge people right away, because you never know if they are truly acting like their real selves. I remember the time when I first met my best friend Alicia Michele Rainville. It was at the fireworks at the casino and she was yelling at someone in their face, screaming at them for talking to someone she knew. I just happen to be in between it because I was walking to the hot dog stand and she happen to just grab the girl in front of me and start screaming at her for a reason I couldn’t understand. My first thought about her was, wow isn’t she a bitch. I couldn’t believe someone could be that rude, and embarrass someone that badly. However, as my freshman year occurred, I became very good friends with her, and realized that she is exactly like me in a way. The reason why she was yelling at the girl that night at the casino wasn’t just because she felt like it. It was because the dumb girl was trying to get with her boyfriend. Now that I’m a sophomore, I wouldn’t be able to call anyone else my best friend besides her. She’s like a sister to me, and its funny to think that I ever thought that she was a bitch, because she is everything besides a bitch to me. She has my back on everything, supports me in whatever I do, and always is giving me advice. Alicia is one of the nicest girls I’ve ever met in my life, and I know that we will be best friends for many more years to come. Unlike Janie however, it took time for me to get to know Alicia. Janie progressed very quickly throughout the book, it was like everyday she learned more and more about herself.

__Their Eyes Were Watching God __ is consider good literature to me for various reasons. This novel is a timeless book because it comes with an enormous range of themes that you could choose to use for this piece of literature. One of the themes I choose for this book is that sometimes you have to go through many loves, before you find your true love. This quote means that woman tend to date a lot of different man before they find the one they fall in love with. For example, Janie had little crushes when she was little, then married Joe, and then found her true love Tea Cake. Good literature is supposed to teach you a lesson that you should carry with you your entire life. This novel taught us many lessons, like don’t judge people before you know, you find love by going through others, and it takes many steps to get to the place where you want to be in life. This literature also teaches us about society and how it was back in the days when men were had more power than woman. The novel taught us that woman followed there men's orders, and usually were homemakers. Which were women didn’t have a job, they stayed at home and either cleaned the house or cooked meals. It showed us that women usually were controlled by the men they married, and it was very strict. The mothers wanted their daughters growing up as fine woman marrying wealthy men, they would rather have their daughters marry someone who was mean and wealthy, than someone that was poor and nice. Overall, this book is consider good literature to me because it not only taught me about society, but it gave me life lessons that I can carry with me throughout the rest of my life. Their Eyes Were Watching God has become one of my all time favorite books.