Their Eyes were watching god

[narzy]

I bit off more than I could chew. English 104 is kicking my ass. It's an introduction to Fiction class. She has us reading Their Eyes Were Watching God and do a fundamentalist criticism (which sounds like a bad ass political party) of the book. I'm completely lost as to what to write about.

Also, does anyone know where I can download e-books perhaps of said novel?

Here are the ideas I have for my paper, any help would be appreciated.


Monday, April 21, 2008

Their Eyes Were Watching God Formalist Criticism
How does race and gender interact with each other throughout the novel?
?marriage does not mean love? Chapter 3
Nanny lives through Janie. Nanny believes ?woman are the mules of the world.? Later in the novel Janie expresses her utter dislike for Nanny. Nanny?s idea of a good man revolves around the protection he can provide. This idea of Nanny?s is due to the fact that Janie is a product of rape.
Jodies Mules symbolize Janie?s struggle for freedom
Jodie silences Janie from speaking to the town after he purchases the land from Capt. Eaton as well as pushes her to the back seat during the lamp lighting. How does this shape Janie?s impression of Jodie?
Jodie is a ?slave master? to Janie he expresses this when he hits Janie in public. Jodie uses Janie to support and increase his power among the people of Eatonville and status as a powerful man when in reality he is the colored mayor of a colored town in the middle-of-nowhere Florida. Jodie also acts as the ?slave master? of the town as well.
Jodie tries to buy Janie?s affection
Jodie believes that a woman?s place is in the home
Identity markers
Power
Posessions
having a ?big loud voice?
great PR man for EatonVille
when jodie frees the mules it shows that he is controlling, proving to Janie and the townspeople he is a provider. some of the townspeople call him ?citified? and he carries a throne in the seat of his pants.
At the beginning of the book we are introduced with a powerfully devisive gender statement from the author how truly different the thought process of men and women are. for example

 

[narzy]

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Their Eyes Were Watching God: Logan?s Run

Nanny?s only virtue in a man is protection, the minute nanny feels that is threatened her mood immediately shifts to hostility ?You and logan been fussin?? Lawd, ah know dat grass-gut, liver-lipted ***** ain?t done took and beat my baby already! Ah?ll take a stick in salivate ?im!? (Ch 3, pg 21 Hurston) I personally really enjoy the vivid imagry the passage generates. You can imagine a situation where that actually would take place. Go Nanny!
Logan is generally a good husband to Janie. However the relationship is for all the wrong reasons. Janie is more like a daughter than a wife to logan if it wasn?t for the fact that they share the same bed. Janie to Logan is the representation of the children he wished he had.
Nanny thinks Logan is the perfect husband, but for herself. She then projects what she couldn?t have on to Janie. Nanny yearns to have grandchildren but perhaps due to Logan?s age Janie and Logan can?t. In my opinion if Janie were to get pregnant so early in the novel it would be an interesting twist to the plot. I wonder how that would have impacted Janie?s life. It would probably make Nanny happy but would Janie then have been stuck with Logan until the end of Logan?s life? What would she have done after Logan had died? Would she then have gone looking for Joe Starks? or ever have met Tea-Cake?
During Janie?s marriage to Logan the only thing that Janie wants is true love. Janie Can?t find true love in Logan. This finally comes to fruition after Janie meets Joe ?Jodie? Starks and eventually runs away from Logan for Jodie. Nanny tends to predict Joe Starks when Nanny says to Jodie, ?Ah Betcha you wants some dressed up dude dat got to look at de sole of his shoe every time he cross de street tuh see weather he got enough leather dere tuh make it across.? (Ch 3, Pg 22 Hurston) Essentially that is who Joe Starks is.
Janie shows her discontent with Logan and his treatment of her. She is also discontent about the situation she is in. Married to a man she doesn?t and can?t love. Janie?s perceptions of an ideal man are in stark contrast to those of Nanny. Janie wants a relationship filled with passionate love, honesty, care and respect. Looks are also important to Janie. Janie couldn?t care less about a man?s possessions and wealth. One could argue that Janie was more privileged then other black girls of the time period. She may not understand the destitute, misery and oppression that Nanny and Logan were trying to overcome. Janie alludes to this when she tells Phoebe about when she was six years-old and she didn?t recognize herself as the black child in the picture. ?Ah was wid dem white chillen...so ah ast, where is me?...Aw, Aw! Ah?m colored!? (Ch. 2, Pg. 8-9 Hurston).
?There is a basin in the mind where words float around on thought and thought on sound and sight. Then their is a depth of though untouched by words and deeper still a gulf of formless feelings untouched by thought.? (Ch 3, Pg 23, Hurston). Perhaps nanny felt at the depth of her soul she had done Janie wrong in the end. Being at the end of her life Nanny realized Janie needed to find her own way. I question weather Nanny?s decisions were right for Janie. By The end of the Novel I fully appreciate how powerful a woman Janie is. I have to wonder how Janie?s life would have been different had Nanny not interfered the way she did by forcing Janie to marry Logan. How would that power, through Janie, have manifested itself differently?
?So Janie waited a bloom time, and a green time, and an orange time.? (Ch. 3, Pg 29, Hurston)Poetic description for the passage of time after Nanny?s death. I love the level of abstract though Hurston uses to generate the imagery for the story.
It seems that logan loses respect for Janie as time passes. Logan?s abuse of Janie is expressed on an emotional level. Logan derives his power over Janie by belittling her and keeping her in a her place. Logan also feels he needs to prepare Janie for the tasks of owning and managing the land once he dies. Logan does this while at the same time hypocritically stating that essentially a woman?s place is in the kitchen and to be a slave to her husband master.
When Janie first meets Joe ?Jodie? Starks she is given a glimpse of life without Logan and a life of power and importance with a well groomed, respectable, handsome man. Jodie?s drive however is far different than Janie?s. Jodie?s focus is on his self importance and how Janie can support and further that focus. Jodie takes all the attention while Janie does all the heavy lifting. This goes back to Nanny?s assertion that women are the mules of the world.
Janie sees Jodie as ?cityfied...He was a seal-brown color but he acted like Mr. Washburn or somebody like that to Janie.? To Janie, Jodie acted more like a white man in search of power rather than the colored man that he was. To further emphasize Jodie?s desires for importance and power Hurston states that ?[Jodie] had always wanted to be a big voice, but de white folk had all the sayso.? This illustrates where Jodie developed his desires for power. From his experience being submissive to the white man. He saw everything they had that he did not, and he wanted it.



The book is extremely complex with a multitude of underlying tones, messages and characters. The story is told in a third-person narrative with moments of first person perspective. The story is told in chronological order as a flashback told by Janie to her long time and best friend Phoebe.

Notes:
How does race and gender interact with each other throughout the novel?
?marriage does not mean love? Chapter 3
Nanny lives through Janie. Nanny believes ?woman are the mules of the world.? Later in the novel Janie expresses her utter dislike for Nanny. Nanny?s idea of a good man revolves around the protection he can provide. This idea of Nanny?s is due to the fact that Janie is a product of rape.
Jodies Mules symbolize Janie?s struggle for freedom
Jodie silences Janie from speaking to the town after he purchases the land from Capt. Eaton as well as pushes her to the back seat during the lamp lighting. How does this shape Janie?s impression of Jodie?
Jodie is a ?slave master? to Janie he expresses this when he hits Janie in public. Jodie uses Janie to support and increase his power among the people of Eatonville and status as a powerful man when in reality he is the colored mayor of a colored town in the middle-of-nowhere Florida. Jodie also acts as the ?slave master? of the town as well.
Jodie tries to buy Janie?s affection
Jodie believes that a woman?s place is in the home
Identity markers
Power
Posessions
having a ?big loud voice?
great PR man for EatonVille
when jodie frees the mules it shows that he is controlling, proving to Janie and the townspeople he is a provider. some of the townspeople call him ?citified? and he carries a throne in the seat of his pants.
At the beginning of the book we are introduced with a powerfully devisive gender statement from the author how truly different the thought process of men and women are. for example

 

[Pepsi90919]

wall of text

 

[Kadarin]

She has us reading Their Eyes Were Watching God and do a fundamentalist criticism (which sounds like a bad ass political party) of the book.

What is the definition of "a fundamentalist criticism"?

 

[narzy]

Originally posted by: Kadarin

She has us reading Their Eyes Were Watching God and do a fundamentalist criticism (which sounds like a bad ass political party) of the book.

What is the definition of "a fundamentalist criticism"?

me watching CNN while typing...

Formalist Criticism

 

[Jawo]

I read it freshman year....its an interesting, if complex read. Very big about women's liberation. It looks like you have a good analysis of Janie hating Logan. Don't forget about the critiquing the rest of the book.

 

[Kadarin]

Originally posted by: narzy

Originally posted by: Kadarin

She has us reading Their Eyes Were Watching God and do a fundamentalist criticism (which sounds like a bad ass political party) of the book.

What is the definition of "a fundamentalist criticism"?

me watching CNN while typing...

Formalist Criticism

Ah. According to this site, Formalist Criticism is defined as:

Formalist criticism An approach to literature that focuses on the formal elements of a work, such as its language, structure, and tone. Formalist critics offer intense examinations of the relationship between form and meaning in a work, emphasizing the subtle complexity in how a work is arranged. Formalists pay special attention to diction, irony, paradox, metaphor, and symbol, as well as larger elements such as plot, characterization, and narrative technique. Formalist critics read literature as an independent work of art rather than as a reflection of the author's state of mind or as a representation of a moment in history. Therefore, anything outside of the work, including historical influences and authorial intent, is generally not examined by formalist critics.

Given this, it sounds like I would need to be familiar with the work itself before I could offer really constructive input as to the quality of your own work.

 

[narzy]

Originally posted by: Pepsi90919
wall of text

watch out...you might learn something :Q