G.+Crawley+TEWWG+Essay

Gabbie

 Gabbie Crawley TEWWG Essay Laurencot While reading the novel __Their Eyes Were Watching God__ by Zora Neale Hurston, several questions formulated in my head. One of the many questions was why do all the townspeople of Eatonville obey Joe Starks though the majority of them seemed to dislike the fellow? From the very beginning, many of them were unsure about Joe. The first day he came to Eatonville he was already asking too many questions and already trying to run things. One of his very first tasks was to buy 200 more acres of land for the town. The colored folks were not used to other colored folks having money like Joe did, and they were no ready to build up the kind of metropolitan town Joe was dreaming of (pages 35-39). As time passed, the people of Eatonville got to know Joe much better. They either got a better impression of him, or they grew to dislike him, such as his wife, Janie. He built up the whole town, he was now the mayor, and it seemed he was becoming too powerful. Joe was described as “he had a bow-down command in his face, and every step he took made the thing more tangible” (page 47). So, the townspeople did not fear him, he just had a demeanor where they felt the need to respect him. It also bothered the townspeople the way he displayed his wealth. When talking about the Starks’ house, it was said that “the rest of the town looked like servants’ quarters surrounding the “big house”” G.Crawley/Page 2 (page 47) and “look at the way he painted it – a gloaty, sparkly white” (page 47). The way that Joe and Janie Starks lived reminded the town of how slave owners lived. When Joe bought spittoons for Janie and himself, that pushed the town over the edge. They felt “that they had been taken advantage of. Like things had been kept from them. Maybe more things in the world besides spitting pots had been hid from them, when they wasn’t told no better than to spit in tomato cans” (page 48). Therefore, the spittoons caused the townspeople to question their knowledge, and realize that Joe was acting like white folks. One townsperson, Jeff Bruce, described Joe as “uh whirlwind among breezes”. Then Sam Watson adds, “speakin’ of winds, he’s de wind and we’se de grass. We bend which ever way he blows. But at dat us needs him. De town wouldn’t be nothin’ if it wasn’t for him. He can’t help bein’ sorta bossy. Some folks needs thrones, and ruling-chairs and crowns tuh make they influence felt. He don’t. He’s got tuh throne in de seat of his pants” (page 49). The inspirational words of Sam Watson have led me to a conclusion as to why the townspeople obey Joe. The feelings of dislike mostly come from jealousy. They are jealous of all of his property and power and that he is a colored folk just like the rest of them, but he is so much better off just like the white folk. Though those feelings are very prevalent, they still have much more respect for Joe as the mayor, constructor, and entrepreneur of Eatonville. G.Crawley/Page 3 In the beginning of __Their Eyes Were Watching God__ by Zora Neale Hurston the main character, Janie, was a love-seeking teenager. Zora describes the 16-year-old as she first discovers her new body while lying under a blossoming pear tree in the back yard (page 10). Hurston writes, "This singing she heard that had nothing to do with her ears. The rose of the world was breathing out smell. It followed her through all her waking moments and caressed her in her sleep. It connected itself with other vaguely felt matters that had struck her outside observation and buried themselves in her flesh. Now they emerged and quested about her consciousness" (page 10-11). That passage describes Janie's feelings as she undergoes puberty. While lying under the pear tree, Janie also paints a picture of marriage in her mind. "She was stretched on her back beneath the pear tree soaking in the alto chant of the visiting bees, the gold of the sun and the panting breath of the breeze when the inaudible voice of it all came to her. She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight. So this was marriage! She had been summoned to behold a revelation. Then Janie felt a pain remorseless sweet that left her limp and languid" (page 11). This was one of the few pleasant thoughts Janie had about the subject prior to her marriage to Logan Killicks. Once eloped with Logan, her childhood was over. She was now a married woman with wife-like chores to do. During this first marriage, she G.Crawley/Page 4 realized marriage doesn't bring love. She did not love Logan, and she was never going to. That's what eventually led her to run off with Jody Starks. Janie hoped to find love in him, too. At first, their marriage was semi-successful. Then, Joe got too caught up in industrializing Eatonville and did not pay Janie any mind. He also disrespected her frequently. She began to realize she did not love Joe, and all the materialistic things he could buy in the world could not buy her love. Janie hated him. When Joe died, she felt more relief than grief. She moved on, quickly, to Tea Cake. A few months after Joes' death, Janie told Pheoby "Ah ain't grievin' so why do Ah hafta mourn? Tea Cake love me in blue, so Ah wears it. Jody ain't never in his life picked out no color for me. De world picked out black and white for mournin', Joe didn't. So Ah wasn't wearin' it for him. Ah was wearin' it for de rest of y'all" (page 113). Janie found love in Tea Cake. He was the perfect marriage she had imagined as a teenager sitting under the pear tree. He proved to her that love truly does exist in this world. He wooed her by actually respecting her, unlike the preceding men in her life. In the end, her love for him had grown so strong that she had the will to kill him under some unfortunate circumstances. Therefore, one of the many ways Janie had changed from the beginning to the end of the novel was the way that she thought about love. She changed the way she thought about love through her experiences of forced love, rushed love, and true love. She learned life lessons with each marriage, which made he grow stronger. She lived the like Nanny G.Crawley/Page 5 wanted and the way she wanted. All of her living gave her a new outlook on love. Those experiences brought her to where she ended up at the end of the book; back in Eatonville. Throughout the novel __Their Eyes Were Watching God__ by Zora Neale Hurston, there were many generalizations of people. The first one that appeared was that all parental figures want their children to have better lives than themselves. Nanny said to Janie "And, Janie, maybe it wasn't much, but Ah done de best Ah kin by you. Ah raked and scraped and bought dis lil piece uh land so you wouldn't have to stay in de white folks' yard and tuck yo' head befo' other chillun at school. Dat was all right when you was little. But when you got big enough to understand things, Ah wanted you to look upon yo'self. Ah don't want yo' feathers always crumpled by folks throwin' up things in yo' face. And Ah can't die easy thinkin' maybe de menfolks white or black is makin' a spit cup outa you…" (page 20). These words of encouragement from Nanny proved that she was trying to build the foundation of a better life for Janie. She did not want Janie to work for the whitefolks and be mistreated as she had been for the majority of her life. Nanny definitely did not want Janie to end up like herself or Janie's mother, raped. So she raised Janie as if she were a fortunate whitefolk. This is seen commonly in life. The majority of parents try to lead their children down the correct path to a successful future. I can recall a person who feels the G.Crawley/Page 6 same way that Nanny felt, my mother. She puts forth her best effort to make sure I am successful and will have a better life than she did. My mother became pregnant while in high school and once again in the beginning of her college career. These events prevented her from pursuing her career in law. Due to a lack of time, and probably money also, she opted to pursue a career in nursing. Though she did go to college for business later on, she did not get to achieve her first dream. Therefore, my mother puts the pressure on me behave to the best of my ability and "don't do anything stupid" and "just because I did it, that doesn't mean you can" are commonly heard in my house. Sometimes, she pushes me to my limits, just as Nanny had done to Janie, but I know she has the best intentions, just as Nanny had for Janie. Another generalization I found when reading this novel was that people must, eventually, let go of the ones they love. Janie first had to deal with letting go of a loved one when Nanny died. This was especially hard on the 16-year-old because Nanny was the parental figure in her life. When Janie's mom left her and her Dad was the school teacher that raped her mother, Nanny was the only person left to care for the child. Therefore, when Nanny died of old age, it was like losing a mother. Then there was Tea Cakes. He came into her life and showed her what love truly is. She was head-over-heels for the young man. She was so deeply in love with him that she found the strength to kill him when she <span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">G.Crawley/Page 7 <span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">was suffering from rabies. Stories such as these are, unfortunately, heard throughout life. One example of having to let go of a loved one is in the story __My Sister's Keeper__. In the story, there is a teenager that is dying of cancer. The parents have tried every possible thing to try to save their daughters life. They even had another daughter because the doctor said that the child could help save its sisters life. Though they put some much effort and love into their child, she still died of cancer. So, just as Janie lost her beloved third husband, Tea Cake, to a vicious disease, the family lost their beloved daughter to another vicious disease, cancer. Losing loved ones in an unavoidable part of life, and every person must deal with it sometime. __<span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Their Eyes Were Watching God __<span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> had all of the aspects of a good piece of literature. The novel was written very artistically. Zora Neale Hurston uses imagery while also using symbolism consistently throughout the novel. In chapter 3, Hurston writes, "So Janie waited a bloom time, and a green time and an orange time. But when the pollen again gilded the sun and sifted down on the world she began to stand around the gate and expect things" (page 25). This quote symbolizes "a bloom time" as the season of Spring, "a green time" as the season of Summer, and "an orange time" as the season of Autumn. "The pollen again gilded the sun and sifted down in the world" is an example of imagery from the quote because it paints a picture of the scene. Hurston also uses very <span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">G.Crawley/Page 8 <span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">descriptive imagery when discussing the characters, especially their signs of age. She writes, "Then too she noticed how baggy Joe was getting all over. Like bags hanging from an ironing board. A little sack hung from the corners of his eyes and rested on his cheek-bones; a loose-filled bag of feathers hung from his ears and rested on his neck beneath his chin. A sack of flabby something hung from his loins and rested on his thighs when he sat down. But even these things were running down like candle grease as time moved on" (page 81). This was how Hurston described how Joe had aged preceding his death. There was also another very artistic aspect of the novel. Hurston used a very unique dialect to give the story a more 40’s country grammar. The dialect is seen throughout the book. For example, in a conversation between Pheoby and Janie, Pheoby said, "Most of dese zigaboos is so het up over yo' business till they liable to hurry theyself to Judgement to find out about you if they don't soon know. You better make haste and tell 'em 'bout you and Tea Cake gittin' married, and if he taken all yo' money and went off wid some young gal, and where at he is now and where at is all yo' clothes dat you got to come back here in overhalls" (page 6). In this quote, the style in which people used to talk and the dialogue that is no longer heard today is shown. Therefore, the novel was executed artistically through its imagery, figurative speech, and dialogue, creating an altogether good piece of literature.