Sunday, December 6, 2020

Their Eyes Were Watching God

 


Book: Their Eyes Were Watching God
Basic Information : Synopsis : Characters : Expectations : Thoughts : Evaluation : Book Group : New Words : Book References : Good Quotes :  References

Basic Information:

Author: Zora Neale Hurston

Edition: epub on Libby from the Fresno County Public Library

Publisher: Amistad

ISBN: 0061120065 (ISBN13: 9780061120060)

Start Date: November 22, 2020

Read Date: December 6, 2020

219 pages

Genre: Fiction, Interracial Understanding

Language Warning: None

Rated Overall: 4 out of 5



Fiction-Tells a good story: ? out of 5

Fiction-Character development: 4 out of 5


Synopsis (Caution: Spoiler Alert-Jump to Thoughts):

The story of a black woman as she goes from a young adult of sixteen through three husbands, finding herself along the way. The story takes places in Florida between 1910 and 1930.


Her first marriage is one arranged by her grandmother so that she could be secure. Once the Grandmother dies, she takes off with a man who is very forceful. Forceful enough that he settles into Eatonville where he stirs up the town to organize and become something.


Overtime, he becomes a dominate force in the community and a force in Janie’s life. But Janie is not satisfied with her place as a hood-ornament. When her husband dies, he leaves her a woman with no future financial worries.


She takes up with Tea Cakes, a man 15 years her junior because he makes her feel full. They get married and take work in the Everglades. A hurricane comes destroying things. Tea Cakes is bitten by a rabies dog and dies. Janie returns to Eatonville and the story ends.



Cast of Characters:
  • Janie Crawford-Protaganist
  • Logan Killicks-first husband. Janie leaves him
  • Joe “Jody” Starks-second husband. A leader and mover and shaker. Becomes mayor when he comes into town and creates a store.
  • Vergible Tea Cakes Woods-Third Husband. From georgia. He had worked for a white man and had saved $300 before coming to Florida. Originally from Orlando. On Church St-the street sounds like it is a party area. Has purple lips. Tall and slender. Age around 25 when they met. Later on he says that he is one of the best gamblers ever. (In 1935, Hurston was involved with Percy Punter, a graduate student at Columbia University. He inspired the character of Tea Cake in Their Eyes Were Watching God.[21][11]-From Wikipedia)
  • Pheoby Watson-Best friend in Eatonville, Florida
  • Hezekiah-Janie’s assistant in the store
  • Mrs. Turner-A higher class person who lived close to the muck. She took a liking to Janie, but not to Tea Cakes.

Expectations:
  • Recommendation: Karon from Book Group
  • When: September 2020
  • Date Became Aware of Book: September 2020
  • How come do I want to read this book: It is a book group book and Karon recommended it. Not sure other than that.

Thoughts:

I will admit my doubts about this book. I had never heard of it nor the author. Later, as I am reading Between the World and Me, I see that Ta-Neshi Coates references her twice, once in the same breath as Toni Morrison. Maybe this book has promise.


Going over the book a second time allows me to see the individual parts of the story in context of the whole story. It helps me to appreciate what others saw in this story.


I realize there are several things which caused me not to appreciate this book the first time around. First there is the black, Southern dialogue from a hundred years ago. It took me awhile before feeling comfortable reading it without trying to pick individual words out. Next, I had a hard time fitting the story into the context Hurston wanted me to place it in. The first chapter sets the tone and the place. This is a storytelling exercise. Read it as the opening chapter is setting this up for the story. The story is linear. Lastly, Hurston is a lyrical writer. Normally I do not like it. But once I got the hang of it, I understood how the use of the language fit into her story telling. I then was on the lookout for those interludes where she provides commentary about the story or society. If you do not get it the first time, try a second read.


E-Book Extra

Brief biography of Zore Neale Hurston. Then ten reader questions. In the biography, the person comments that: Many works of fiction were informed by purely political motives; political pronouncements frequently appeared in polished literary prose


Forward

The book is essentially summed up by this: And since women “remember everything they don’t want to forget


Book was written in seven weeks in Haiti. There is a sense of storytelling, as it would be told by a black. Females and the young might ask this question: Was Janie Crawford a good female role model or was she solely defined by the men in her life?


From the beginning of her career, Hurston was severely criticized for not writing fiction in the protest tradition. This part of the forward goes on and talks about the reception the novel got. A white reviewer did not believe a black town as described could exist. Blacks felt it did not bring out racism enough.


One question raised is whether or not Janie is able to achieve her voice in Their Eyes? The question arises from how Janie was in the courtroom scene and what and how she was telling Pheoby. The question critics are wondering is did Hurston want Janie to stand as a female model or be assertive how a male might be in this situation.


Sherley Anne Williams-an American poet, novelist, professor, vocalist, Jazz poet, playwright and social critic. Many of her works tell stories about her life in the African-American community. From Wikipedia. Also taught at Fresno State-Williams taught Their Eyes for the first time at Cal State Fresno, in a migrant farming area where the students, like the characters in Their Eyes, were used to making their living from the land.


Forward is by Mary Helen Washington




Chapter 1

Set in early 20th century in central and south Florida. This chapter is around 1928, 1929 in Eatonville, Florida


The first two paragraphs set the tone for the book. The second paragraph is what she wants us to know about Janie. Now, women forget all those things they don’t want to remember, and remember everything they don’t want to forget. The dream is the truth


Janie comes walking back to town she left-but we do not know this. How come she comes back and in the style sets tongues wagging. Most of the townspeople seem a bit jealous of her, or at least want to bring her down a peg. Pheoby is content to let Janie settle back in and tell her story.


An envious heart makes a treacherous ear. Pheoby describes the town.


Janie gets set to tell Pheoby the story of her life, including what happened to Tea Cakes.


Chapter 2

Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone. Dawn and doom was in the branches. The more I listened to this opening, the bigger it became. It is not a nice poetic throw away line, but lays down the outline of the book.


Later Hurston puts into Nanny’s mouth us colored folks is branches without roots and that makes things come round in queer way. In a lot of ways, this explains the effects of slavery. Now the question in my mind is how do their branches gain roots?


Janie was raised on a plantation by her Grandmother, Nanny. Her father had run away and was trying to reach her mother to marry her. But the Washburns chased him down The owners, the Washburns, had her almost like family. She played with their grandchildren as if she was one of them. One day she looked in a mirror and say Ah’m colored!’ This lack of self-awareness of color was a credit I think to the Washburns.


Nanny was pretty protective of Janie. When she saw a boy kissing her, Nanny thought it was time to get her something better than some no good boy. Hurston denotes this as the end of Janie’s childhood. Nanny’s answer to Janie becoming a woman is to get her married. What makes Janie a woman? Is the loss of childhood innocence? The desire of something sexual? Nanny’s concern is that Janie don’t even know where harm is. Nanny has high expectations for Janie, not somebody who is shiftless. Even though Janie does not realize it, so does she. That is why she leaves Logan for Joe.


There is the image of the pear tree which Janie would sit under and dream of her life. She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a 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 a marriage! This kind of imagery is what sets Hurston apart from other writers.


She felt an answer seeking her, but where, When? How? I like this. The idea of the answer trying to find her. I think we need to be there for answers to find us.


You can’t beat nobody down so low till you can rob ’em of they will


Nanny describes the rape she had to endure during the Civil War by the plantation owner, the resulting childbirth. Then the mistress of the plantation ordered her to be whipped. She ran away then until the Union came through. Then Janie’s Mom had gone to school. The teacher also raped her.


Chapter 3

In a different way, Hurston asks, does marriage make love? Does being apart create loneliness? There are years that ask questions and years that answer


Here is the pear tree again.


Janie is married to Logan Killpick. This is two months further down the road. While he treats her like royalty-cuts wood, never hits her. But she is not feeling a connection with him. Nanny notes that if he is kissing your mouth, then there is equality. But if they are kissing your feet then eventually a man will no longer want to do that and will straighten up and take over. Janie does not feel cared for or that he is interested in her.


After this talk with Janie, the Grandmother goes home prays. Within a month, Nanny is dead.


Janie’s first dream was dead, so she became a woman. References that romance was dead to her. So she had to put that behind her.


Chapter 4

Logan’s attitude changes, just like Nanny said it would. After six months, he is no longer enamored at her beauty. He expects her to put in her fair share of work.


Logan goes off to acquire a second mule. While Janie is cutting potatoes, Joe Starks comes by. He is going on further south. But stays around a week, flirting with Janie. To Janie, he still was not the vision of romance she has, but a lot better than Logan Killick. After another not caring session, Janie leaves Killick and takes off with Joe Starks. They get married after arriving in Green Cove Springs, FL.


Note: I use Starks in my review. Hurston most of the time uses the more informal Joe or Jody for him.


He [Joe Starks] had always wanted to be a big voice, but de white folks had all de say so where he come from and everywhere else, exceptin’ dis place dat colored folks was buildin’ theirselves.


Chapter 5

Took train to Maitland, which is just outside of Eatonville. Janie liked the status of being with Starks. Eatonville is the colored part of the area. Currently just outside of Orlando. Eatonville was just a couple of wood shacks in the woods. No organization. It is about 50 acres which was given by Captain Eaton. Sounds like it is mostly inhabited by dispirited people.


A man was trying to make a pass at Janie. He struck out.


Starks went to see the white man who owned most of the area. Starks bought a good part of the area. He was going to put up a store and post office. Historical note: Post Office opened in 1889 and closed in 1918. Unknown when the town was incorporated. Judging by the timeline of the story, this is around 1906-1910. I do not think Hurston was trying to put the story into a rigid historical context. She was using the location and the general time as a backdrop to her story, not as a guide to its history.


A black man putting up a store was foreign to the townspeople. Not only that. With the lots he bought, he went around and sold them to families in the area and they moved in quickly. Starks dressed her up to be the finest black woman in the area. He said his plan was to incorporate just like any other town. They moved that he became mayor.


It was moved that Janie give a speech, but Starks said that her place was in the home, not giving speeches. This is the place which Janie was to be put for the rest of their marriage. Did Janie know this when she went to Starks. Is this better than with Killick? He strode along invested with his new dignity, thought and planned out loud, unconscious of her thoughts. This is how their marriage was. He just bowled over her, and everyone else for that matter.


Getting a street light was novel and new. Starks was raising the spirit of the town, building a community where they would be proud of being there.


But Janie feels left out. Starks gets recognition, honors and he gets to do things. Janie has to tag a long without feeling like she is doing anything. Her words is that she is just marking time.


In a lot of ways, Starks was like another big boss. It was just he was a black in a black town. Janie was with Starks, but also being bossed like others. It was bad enough for white people, but when one of your own color could be so different it put you on a wonder.


any man who walks in the way of power and property is bound to meet hate.


Chapter 6

The store itself was a pleasant place if only she didn’t have to sell things. When the people sat around on the porch and passed around the pictures of their thoughts for the others to look at and see, it was nice. The fact that the thought pictures were always crayon enlargements of life made it even nicer to listen. Sort of sets the tone for the chapter. Several stories told.


One about a yellow mule which was being abused and starved. Janie cannot indulge in story telling and is barely allowed to listen in. Starks dealt for the mule. Reason: To let it rest. Janie spoke up for a change: You got uh town so you freed uh mule. You have tuh have power tuh free things and dat makes you lak uh king uh something. The mule died shortly afterwards. Starks now was celebrated as somebody who cared.


There was endless debates and back and forth on the porch of the store.


Starks made sure she was busy if the speech got too common in front of the store. She starts to hate the store. Also he made sure her hair was hidden.


Janie’s feelings: A little war of defense for helpless things was going on inside her.


As much as Janie was withdrawing from Starks, he felt there was a lack of appreciation from her. Also it did not help that he was jealous of any time a man made eyes towards her. But what he really wanted was her submission and he’d keep on fighting until he felt he had. That is what he really wanted from people, and most importantly his wife.


Hurston says that the spirit of the marriage left the bedroom and took to living in the parlor. No longer was their fun, but it was all show. Hurston goes back to the field metaphor: The bed was no longer a daisy-field for her and Joe to play in. It was a place where she went and laid down when she was sleepy and tired. Life became more mechanical. He became abusive to her.


Starks made a show of charity, but it was carefully measured. Story of a wife whose husband was very stingy with the funds so the kds and her were starving. Joe had Janie give her something, but then Starks cut it back. Then added the amount to the husband's account.


She was saving up feelings for some man she had never seen. Interesting line.


Chapter 7

Janie became an empty shell, with little emotional future. She got nothing from Jody except what money could buy, and she was giving away what she didn’t value.


This also affected Stark as well. He no longer had the look of a world conqueror. His pot bellies sagged, his eyes were absent and when he sat, he plopped into the chair. His temper was cutting, particularly to Janie. When Janie retorted, Starks felt that Janie had robbed him of his illusion of irresistible maleness that all men cherish, which was terrible. So true. Even to the none proud, there is a sense where you want to be a peacock. This is a pungent comment about Stark’s friends: They’d look with envy at the things and pity the man that owned them. Result: Starks hit Janie.


Chapter 8

By this time Starks was approaching 50 and Janie 40. So about 20 years had passed.


Starks decided to move out of the bedroom. Not from hate, but from the pride of trying to make Janie suffer for her comment. From Janie’s viewpoint, she wondered, Why must Joe be so mad with her for making him look small when he did it to her all the time?


This is such a good image: the stillness was the sleep of swords. There are swords, verbal swords, ready to be drawn at a moments notice, but not in use currently.


Starks thinks things can be cured by going to a “root-doctor”. This is a person who cures through plants and sometimes spells. Janie thinks he is a quack. That what he should be doing is seeing a real doctor. Starks thinks Janie may try to poison him or something so he starts getting his meals from another woman, hurting Janie even more. For the first time Pheoby Watson enters the story as Janie's best friend.


Interesting phrase: you know how joe worships de works of his own hands…


Starks condition got worse until he could not get out of bed. Starks would not let her see him or care for him. Other people were given access to him. Also he sent spies to check on her in the store. But she also had her own spies who reported back to her. A doctor came from Orlando and told her that Starks had kidney failure and there was nothing which could be done for him.


Hurston gives a description of death.


Janie goes in and sees Starks, much to his disgust. They talk out some of their things which has caused the divide. Janie confronts Starks that he is dying and there is no hope, no matter what the root-doctors say. She was full of pity for the first time in years.


Years ago, she had told her girl self to wait for her in the looking glass. It had been a long time since she had remembered. Janie realizes that Starks dying, she will need to look after herself. Will she be able to marry? Find her love?


Chapter 9

Starks funeral was the finest in the county for a black. As a sign that she was no longer under Starks authority, she burnt her head rags. She kept things how they were-she figured she had her whole life to change things. Wise. At night, she would think Then she’d lie awake in bed asking lonesomeness some questions. She asked if she wanted to leave and go back where she had come from and try to find her mother. She sorted out things in her head-she did not care to see her mother. She hated her Nanny. She had been getting ready for her great journey to the horizons in search of people. She felt she needed to get out and meet people.


She felt that Nanny had taken away her horizon. There is a dialogue on love as well.


Janie was being set upon by men throughout the area. She pretty much rebuffed them. She found that she liked being lonesome for a change.


Chapter 10

Tea Cakes entered the picture several months after Starks death. Some things Hurston noted:

  • From Orlando on Church St. Sounds like it has been and is a party area. Is it like Bourbon St in New Orleans?

  • He smokes

  • He has purple lips. From Healthline, this is Cyanosis which is the name for poor oxygen circulation. .. It could also indicate an abnormal form of hemoglobin (a protein in red blood cells), such as in sickle cell anemia.

  • Tall and slender. Starks was shorter and fatter

  • Tea Cakes will jump a train.

Tea Cakes says that he got mixed up in the location of a baseball game. Sounds like he was seeking her out.


He teaches her how to play checkers. First time she was invited to play.


Janie is taken by Tea Cakes, his fun and him treating her as a person rather than as a possession.


Chapter 11

Tea Cakes about 25, Janie 40. Tea Cakes comes back a week later. Spends time with her, including fishing at night. She is realizing that she is feeling the love thoughts she has dreamed of in a man. A couple of days later, they slept together. He says he will be taking her to the picnic.


Chapter 12

Tea Cakes and Janie are now doing everything together and it is getting the townspeople tongues a-wagging. The pastor says that he is dragging her away from church. But did she really believe or merely went to church?


Pheoby wants to talk with Janie. So she talks with everyone else on the way to Janie. Hurston has the phrase which I like: going straight while walking crooked. Janie makes her case. Tea Cakes is not dragging her anywhere she did not want to go. Starks wanted her all to himself and restricted her from doing the things she wanted to do. The argument is that Tea Cakes only wants her money. Janie points out that there are lots of men after her, saying that a widow needs protecting. Why do they all go after her and not the other three widows in the town? Everybody loves money.


Janie reveals that they intend to get married. When they do, she will sell the store and they will move out. Why? Because others will make comparisons to Starks and they want to start fresh. Janie says that she is done living Grandma’s way, now Ah means tuh live mine. The statement of independence.


Chapter 13

Going to Jackson to get married. Interesting-remember the Johnny Cash song? Jackson has about 90,000 people at this time.


Very few people saw Janie leave. Those who did showed their true colors: she sho looked good, but she had no business to do it. They got married first thing. Excitement. Stayed in Jacksonville for awhile-Tea Cakes had been there for two weeks before they got married. One morning he left before she awoke. He had gone out for fish. She had brought $200 with her, hidden in case things did not work out. That was gone.


Janie was relieving the life of Annie Taylor who went after a younger man, was taken advantage of before coming back to Eatonville. Jannie’s thought was She had waited all her life for something, and it had killed her when it found her. Janie is wondering if this is her.


Janie waited all day and all night for Tea Cakes to return. He did with a guitar and singing. He says he was not chasing other women and it was not the money. The money had tempted him to show off that he was a big man. He got into a fight-won it, settled another fight. Bought a guitar. Janie says that if Tea Cakes ever goes off and has a good time without her, she will kill him.


Interesting comment Tea Cakes made: He does not want Janie to see any commoness in him.


This would have struck fear in my heart if I was Janie: You done married one uh de best gamblers God ever made.


Tea Cake had more good nature under his toe-nails than they had in their so-called Christian hearts-at least that is what Janie felt.


He was in a fight and got cut up twice while he was gambling. He won $122 and brought back Janie’s $200. He would no longer use any of Janie’s money to keep them going. But they will be moving down to the Everglades, Clewiston and Belle Glade. They will go down where they do nothing but raise cane, string-beans, and tomatoes, as well as make money, have fun and have foolishness.


She says that as he slept, she felt a self-crushing love. So her soul crawled out from its hiding place.


Chapter 14

They move down to Big Lake Okechobee. They are there to pick beans. Tea Cakes is to gamble.They are ahead of the season so they will get the best rooms before everybody else comes in. Dirt is rich. Tea Cake’s boss wants him by the lake soon, so they go down. There they plant beans, fish. Occasionally Indians go by. He teaches her to hunt.


Very descriptive of poverty. Migrants coming in limping. Everything hanging from ancient cars. Tired looking men with their families, …. Hopeful humanity, herded and hovered on the inside, …. People ugly from ignorance and broken from being poor.


She also talked about how the owner charged for everything, but the workers did not care since they made good money. This seems like a discussion for an in-depth look at migrant worker conditions of the 1920’s.


Janie compares her time in the Everglades with that of Eatonville. Same discussions, but now she can join in. The men held big arguments here like they used to do on the store porch. Only here, she could listen and laugh and even talk some herself if she wanted to.


Chapter 15

Another girl is flirting with Tea Cakes. Janie is jealous. This turned into fear of losing him. They fought over this and made up


Chapter 16

They stayed beyond the season and got to know several of the more permanent residents. This included the local Native Americans and Mrs Turner. As Hurston said, Turner’s disfavorite subject was Negroes. Not sure if she was one or not, but she held herself above the darker skin ones. Janie was light; Tea Cakes was dark.


Turner had a brother which she wanted Janie to know (and hopefully marry). Apparently intellectually gifted, she said that he had shown how Booker T Washington did not do much. During one of these talks where Turner disparaged blacks, and tried to get her brother in good with Janie, Tea Cakes heard her and listened to the whole conversation. Janie tried to get rid of her, but Turner quickly forgave and forgot snubs in order to keep it. Anyone who looked more white folkish than herself was better than she was in her criteria.


Talking about the [white people] gods which Turner setup Once having set up her idols and built altars to them it was inevitable that she would worship there… All gods who receive homage are cruel … Mrs. Turner, like all other believers had built an altar to the unattainable—Caucasian characteristics for all.


Chapter 17

Another season. So they had been there one year. Mrs Turner’s brother came. Tea Cakes got jealous and beat Janie. Janie knew that being able to whip her reassured him in possession.


Tea Cakes also had a way to get back at Mrs Turner. He had people go over there to eat. When the place got full, a fight broke out. Everybody got fighting and smashing up things.


Chapter 18

Some of the people closer to the earth were starting to move to higher ground, including the Seminole Indians. Because they had become friends with many of them, they told Janie they were moving to higher ground-a hurricane was coming. Everything seemed calm. But animals were moving as well. But the blacks wanted to take their lead from the whites.


Things seemed normal. Games were played. Then the storm came. The one she describes is probably the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane. About 2,500 people died, mostly in Florida around Lake Okechobee. Now that the hurricane was approaching, Hurston reports that Six eyes were questioning God. There was a sense that God had opened a door. Then they returned and their eyes were watching God. Interesting context. Not they were watching God’s work or wrath, but watching God.


At this point, Tea Cakes decides it was time to get out. To gather important papers and money. The lake was rising with the wind. One of their friends was asleep. All three ran away from the lake. They let other people know and ran until they could run no more. They came to an unoccupied house on higher ground and went inside.. This was safe only for a short time and then Janie and Tea Cakes fled-Mo-Boat just wanted to sleep.


They came to a high bridge-about 9 miles from the Lake, but it was already crowded so they went on. Flooding was going on. Tin roofs were flying, rattlesnakes were out wild. Janie tried to grab hold of a piece of tin to cover them so they could rest, but the wind took her siling out into the water. Janie was able to grab hold of a log, but a vicious dog was on it and was going to attack Janie. Tea Cakes put himself between her and the dog. The dog bit him on the face, he killed the dog.


They escaped to Palm Beach the next day.That is 32 miles away-so they must have gotten a ride.


Tea Cakes asks Janie about if there was regrets in going with him. Janie says: spected nothin’, Tea Cake, but bein’ dead from the standin’ still and tryin’ tuh laugh. But you come ’long and made somethin’ outa me. So Ah’m thankful fuh anything we come through together. She was glad to have done all this with him.


Chapter 19

After spending two days in Palm Beach recovering, they are ready to move on. Tea Cakes wanted to look around, but he was grabbed to help bury the dead. Hurston’s comment on the devastation was that The mother of malice had trifled with men.


As they were going through the bodies, black people were put into a mass grave pit; whites were put into coffins for proper burial. They makin’ coffins fuh all de white folks. ’Tain’t nothin’ but cheap pine, but dat’s better’n nothin’. Don’t dump no white folks in de hole jus’ so.” “Whut tuh do ’bout de colored folks? Got boxes fuh dem too?” “Nope. They cain’t find enough of ’em tuh go ’round When Tea Cakes escapes, he wants to get out fast, to go back to the Everglades. Why? It is dangerous here where people do not know them. At least the whites knew them where they lived.


They made it back to the Everglades. Most of their friends survived, even Mo-Boat whose house just floated. They recovered for three weeks.


Then Tea Cakes started not feeling well. Janie brings the doctor around. He says Tea Cakes has rabies. Be careful. Do not sleep with him. Her thoughts turn towards tea Cakes: Tea Cake, the son of Evening Sun, had to die for loving her.


Janie goes out and looks at the sky and wonders where God is in all of this? Why is he not answering. Her hope is that he is pushing them to limits. She thinks God would do less than He had in His heart.


The rabies starts to take over Tea Cakes and he is not able to eat or drink. His mind grows jealous. She says to him In de first place Ah couldn’t love nobody but yuh. And in de second place, Ah jus’ uh ole woman dat nobody don’t want but you.”


After a night of soothing him, he wakes up in delirium. He takes a pistol and is going to shoot her. Her thoughts include: Tea Cake wouldn’t hurt her. But as she noted earlier, Tea Cake had left and now something had invaded him. After that episode, she empties the pistol except for a couple of bullets so he would not know. This saves her life as he tries to kill her, giving her enough time to take the rifle and shoot him. Even in death, he bit her. As she hugged him.


Moving words after Tea Cakes death: thanked him wordlessly for giving her the chance for loving service.


A trial, not of her peers as there are twelve white men, no blacks or women on the trial. Held on the same day as the death-the physician told the sheriff and judge the circumstances. White women in attendance were sympathetic; blacks liked Tea Cakes and were more against Janie. Janie was called to testify in her defense. It was not death she feared. It was misunderstanding. She was acquitted.


She arranged for him to be buried in West Palm Beach because it was higher and the flood waters would not reach him. She went on in her overalls. She was too busy feeling grief to dress like grief


Chapter 20

Because they really loved Janie just a little less than they had loved Tea Cake, and because they wanted to think well of themselves, they wanted their hostile attitude forgotten. Interesting take on quickly forgetting an action they were angry about earlier. We all want to think well of ourselves. Hence the reason why we self-justify actions, even if we know they are wrong. ... their anger against Janie had lasted two whole days and that was too long to keep remembering anything. Too much of a strain. She stayed around a couple of weeks to help calm their feelings of guilt, then moved back to Eatonville.


This ends the storytelling of Janie to Pheoby which started in the first chapter. She goes to bed and thinks Of course he wasn’t dead. He could never be dead until she herself had finished feeling and thinking


Afterward

Written by Henry Louis Gates. Talks about finding out about Hurston and how she was eccentric. Obscure writer until Alice Walker’s essay. Many female black authors read her because she used black vernacular speech and rituals. To gain understanding. Gates talks about how she went from the cover of Saturday Review to obscurity. Unknown how a two-time recipient of the Guggenheim Foundation award disappeared. He quotes her Freedom was something internal … The man must make his own emancipation. (The full quote is below and even more powerful.)


Black women authors have reclaimed Zora Neale Hurston. Gates notes that her work more celebrates than moralizes. Maybe that is the reason why others superseded her. He talks about double-consciousness.: a black in a non-black world, a women in a non--female world. He quotes her: There is something about poverty that smells like death


Towards the end, Gates references an article published in Negro World called What White Publishers Won't Print. She traces her thinking that in slavery times, the master would believe that a slave knew Latin and Algebra, but felt there was not an understanding of it. In the same way, white publishers in more modern times (1950’s), felt that blacks do not have anything which a white would want to hear.


Gates talked about a book she could not finish before she died. I wonder what it was. I wonder if this was Barracoon



Evaluation:

I had a hard time understanding, much less enjoying this story. That is until I read it a second time. Then several pieces fit in. The first black, Southern dialect was very slow going until I sounded things out phonetically. Then the type of story telling stumped me until I fit the pieces together. Last, Hurston’s lyrical writing throw me, that is until I understood how she used imagery and poetry to paint what she wanted the story to say.


Hurston takes us through Janie’s life from a controlling, but loving Grandmother through three marriages. We see Janie searching for a way to fulfill her romantic and love needs. The third husband, Tea Cakes, is the fulfillment of this and literally gives his life to save Janie. All of the story takes place in Florida during the 1900-1930 time range and deals with almost exclusively the black community Janie is in.


If you are in a rush to get through this book, put it aside until you can spend some time. It is well worth it.


 
Notes from my book group:

Note one of the people, Sherley Anne Williams, talked about in the Forward of my edition was from Fresno State-she has passed away.


The first two paragraphs of the book sets the tone for the rest of the book. There is the talk of people’s dreams being mocked. Hurston talks about a woman does not forget what she wants to remember. How is Hurston setting up the reader for the story she wants to tell?


Why is the book called Their Eyes Were Watching God? Where in the book does it come from? How is God or religion talked about in the book? In Chapter 12, the pastor says that Tea Cakes is dragging Janie away from church. Is she really committed to being a Christian?


Evaluate Janie. Would you have trusted her as friend? With running of a business? What is Janie searching for in her life? In her relationships? Describe each of her relationships and what she finds in them-her Grandmother, Logan Killicks, Joe Starks, Tea Cakes, Pheoby.


What is important to Janie about her hair? The men in her life?


What is the scene in chapter one? Do you know what it is until you have read the rest of the book?


The start of chapter two says Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone. Dawn and doom was in the branches. What feelings and impressions does these opening lines give you? How does this shape the rest of the book? How does the pear tree fit into this imagery? Where else does Hurston use this image?


How does this line strike you: She felt an answer seeking her, but where, When? How?


What makes Janie a woman? Is the loss of childhood innocence? The desire of something sexual? After Nanny dies, Hurston says Janie’s first dream was dead, so she became a woman. Why?


In chapter two, Nanny says us colored folks is branches without roots and that makes things come round in queer way. How did the “colored” folks get this way? Does this condition persist until today? Is there a way for people who are all branches but no roots to gain roots?


Once Joe Starks becomes mayor of Eatonville, he started to act like a big boss. How does Hurston portray Starks? Is he benevolent? Is he selfish?


any man who walks in the way of power and property is bound to meet hate. Is this inevitable? Or are there was to yield power without arousing envy? How does this apply to our political system?


Hurston portrays a marriage which seems acceptable to Joe Starks and Janie. Someplace it degraded into something mechanical. Was there ever love in the marriage? What did each person get out of it? How did this segregation start? Once started, was there a way out of the nose-dive?


In chapter 9, after the funeral, Janie burnt her head rags. Why?


Also in chapter 9, there is an internal dialogue she is having. What is she talking about that her Nanny had taken away the horizon? Why is this important? Also there is a sense that people do not love, they only talk of love. Why does Janie come to that conclusion? What is she missing? What jewel does Janie find inside of her?


After Starks death, men come to help her out. How does Janie deal with them?


When Hurston introduces us to Tea Cakes, there is a couple of things noted 1) He is from Orlanda on Church St, 2) He smokes, 3) He has purple lips. 4) Tall and slender. 5) He jumps trains. 6) Age difference. 7) He is a gambler. 8) According to Janie-good nature. What is significant about any of these?


How come Janie is so taken by Tea Cakes? What is driving her love thoughts she dreamed of way back under the pear tree?


The town thinks that Tea Cakes is after her money and will dump her once he gets it. She points out that everybody loves money and/or property. Is Tea Cakes after her money? Why did he take up with her? Is Janie right that even if Tea Cakes is after her money, why is that different from any of the other men? What motivates people in our area? Is there anything not affected by the love of money?


Talk about the Pheoby Watson character. Do you think Hurston was portraying her as a friend? Confident? Gossip? A way to tell the story?


Janie says that she is done living Grandma’s way, now Ah means tuh live mine. How satisfying is living her Grandmother’s life was it? Do you think living her own life was satisfying? Do you feel restrictions on how you live your life? By what relationships? Society? Church? … What would a life lived without restrictions look like?


After Tea Cakes gambling episode and him saying they are going to the Everglades, she felt her soul crawled out from its hiding place. Why?


In chapter 14, Burton describes the migrants who flocked to this place to pick beans. Her description: Tired looking men with their families, …. Hopeful humanity, herded and hovered on the inside, …. People ugly from ignorance and broken from being poor. Reflect on this. She also talked about the owner charged for everything, but the workers did not care since they made good money. This sees like a discussion for an in-depth look at migrant worker conditions of the 1920’s.


After the hurricane, Tea Cakes asks Janie about if there was regrets in going with him. Janie says: spected nothin’, Tea Cake, but bein’ dead from the standin’ still and tryin’ tuh laugh. But you come ’long and made somethin’ outa me. So Ah’m thankful fuh anything we come through together. What do you think of Janie’s response? Wasn’t her life more valuable than the thrill? What is more important to you than living?


After the hurricane in Palm Beach, Tea Cakes is forced to bury the dead. Whites get coffins, blacks in a mass pit. What does this tell you how various races are valued? Also Tea Cakes wants to get out of there because he feels it is dangerous as a black to be there. Why?


Was Janie Crawford a good female role model or was she solely defined by the men in her life? (From the Forward). When Jody and Janie go to Eatonville, he says that her place is at home, not out in the town square leading people. How has Janie improved her lot from Killick to Starks? How are they the same? Then Tea Cakes came along. How does \Tea Cake fit into the mode which Hurston wanted to portray for a husband and wife?


Why does Hurston portray Janie with no children?


Why did Janie allow Tea Cakes to beat her? Why didn’t she allow him to shot her? How does it fit into the narrative of a woman who is finding/who has found herself?


Was this a good book? If so, what made it a good book to read?



Many of these questions are either from or adapted from LitLovers.

  • Why the title of Their Eyes Were Watching God?

  • Does this story work as a black story? Woman’s story?

  • Did the ending seem fitting? Satisfying? Predictable?

  • Which character was the most convincing? Least?

    • Which character did you identify with?

    • Which one did you dislike?

  • Every story has a world view. Were you able to identify this story’s world view? What was it? How did it affect the story?

  • In what context was religion talked about in this book?

  • Was there anybody you would consider religious?

    • How did they show it?

    • Was the book overtly religious?

    • How did it affect the book's story?

  • Why do you think the author wrote this book?

  • What would you ask the author if you had a chance?

  • What “takeaways” did you have from this book?

  • Describe the culture talked about in the book.

    • How is the culture described in this book different than where we live?

    • What economic or political situations are described?

    • Does the author examine economics and politics, family traditions, the arts, religious beliefs, language or food?

  • How did this book affect your view of the world?

    • Of how God is viewed?

    • What questions did you ask yourself after reading this book?

  • Talk about specific passages that struck you as significant—or interesting, profound, amusing, illuminating, disturbing, sad...?

    • What was memorable?



There are several study guides/book group questions:



New Words:
  • Zigaboos (1): lternative form of jigaboo, a black man that is triflin';was used as an insult, a contemptuous term used to refer to a Black person.
  • coquetry(6): flirtatious behavior or a flirtatious manner.
  • Root-doctor (8): Root doctors are the traditional healers and conjurers of the rural, black South. They use herbs, roots, potions, and spells to help and sometimes to hurt recipients of their ministrations.
  • Flommuck (12): slang for fummox- perplex, baffle. languished. weakened, wasted away. Kerflommuck
  • Kerflummox (12): slang for to confuse, bamboozle.
  • Boogerboo (13): insincere, pretend, phonney
  • Jook (14): pierce, poke, or stab.
  • ‘Saws (16): I think this is slang for a type of Native American. Maybe Chickasaw. They were in the Southeast United States, but a bit more north.
  • Coon-dick (17):  Bootleg moonshine or other illegal alcohol.
  • Florida flip (18): may be something like craps
  • Coon-can (18): Conquian, a rummy-style card game
Book References:

None are referenced in the book. These books are referenced in the Forward by Edwig Danticat/Mary Helen Washington and Afterwards by Henry Louis Gates.

  • Beloved by Toni Morrison

  • The Color Purple by Alice Walker

  • Mules and Men by Zora Neale Hurston

  • In Search of Zora Neale Hurston by Alice Walker (essay)

  • Hoodoo, Conjuration, Witchcraft, and Rootwork by Rev. Harry Middleton Hyatt

  • Tell My Horse by Zora Neale Hurston

  • The Portrait of a Lady By Henry James

  • Cane By Jean Toomer

  • Dust Tracks on a Road by Zora Neale Hurston

  • Black Boy by Richard Wright

  • Moses, Man of the Mountain by by Zora Neale Hurston

  • Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

  • Jonah’s Gourd Vine by Zora Neale Hurston



Good Quotes:

  • First Line: Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board.

  • Last Line: She called in her soul to come and see.

  • An envious heart makes a treacherous ear. Chapter 1

  • You can’t beat nobody down so low till you can rob ’em of they will. Chapter 2

  • any man who walks in the way of power and property is bound to meet hate. Chapter 5

  • Freedom was something internal. The outside signs were just signs and symbols of the man inside. All you could do was to give the opportunity for freedom and the man himself must make his own emancipation. Moses, Man of the Mountain.


References:
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Location: Eatonville, FL, USA

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