After reading the first four chapters, watch the short video (see link below) and publish a response on this blog that addresses ONE of the questions listed below. Note, I've attached a rubric for your blog post at the bottom of this page.
- Watch this short video
Respond to one of the following topics or explore your own idea:
1. What are your thoughts about the structure, use of dialect, point of view, key imagery, and/or style of this novel so far?
2. How does Nanny's own past shape what she wants for Janie? More pointedly, how do the specifics of Nanny's experience as a slave influence what she values in any relationship that Janie has? How do Janie's views differ?
3. What are Janie's expectations of love and marriage? How does her relationship to Logan Killicks influence these beliefs?
Nanny had a child with her slave owner, and the wife of the slave owner could tell by the color of the babies eyes. Nanny had to run away from the plantation with the baby and hide in the swamps until the war was over. It was not an extremely desirable life she led during those years. Nanny wants something more for Janie. She doesn't want Janie to have to deal with those hardships throughout her life, so she is pushing Janie along thinking it will help. She has her immediately married to Logan, even though she barely knows the guy. He is a man that is well-off, and that is what is important to Nanny, and she says that the love will come later. But Janie has different ideas, she questions whether or not the love will come, and the security that Logan brings does not satisfy her because she wants love over security.
ReplyDelete- Joe Lattanzi
I like this idea that the war crushed Nanny's view of love and made her want just security for the people she cares for. I think it is interesting how Nanny's view almost seems to push Janie to the opposite view where she values love very highly and is willing to sacrifice a lot of security for it.
DeleteI agree with Dan and that Nanny cannot value love at this point because of everything she has been through. She can only value security because it is the only way to stay out of danger.
DeleteI agree that she wants love over security, but the final push to leave Logan comes from him becoming increasingly abusive. The shift started as demanding more and more household chores, then to field work, and finally a death threat. After this threat to her security she leaves.
DeleteI agree with this. I think that Nanny wants Janie to live a life that has been different from her past and her mother's past. She has this opportunity to secure a good marriage for Janie before she dies and she sees that Logan is able to give Janie the life that she deserves and guarantees her a place of security and a future with Logan.
DeleteQuestion 3
ReplyDeleteJanie sees love and marriage as some sort of "life requirement." She thinks everyone gets married and everyone ends up happy. With her closeted life and how she's been kept away from boys she has shown actual romantic interest in, marriage is just a step of living in her eyes. Her being forced to marry Logan only makes this worse, reinforcing the idea that marriage is just a tedious chore to her. She doesn't seen the real feeling and love behind marriage and just seems to hope to "get through" her own.
I think this is very true and I think she gets this thought from Nanny who thinks that marriage is the answer because she has not experienced it and everything with life on her own has gone poorly.
DeleteI agree, I think that Nanny sees marriage as a way to be protected from the hardships that she and Leafy faced, where Janie thinks of marriage as more of a commitment of love than one of protection.
DeleteUnlike Nanny, Janie believes love to be passionate and full of lust; she is driven by the blossoming pear tree that she fantasizes about as a teen. In many ways, Janie seems almost naive to crave this kind of relationship for her time. As a reader, it is easy to view Janie as optomistic and a bright young woman who feels she is more than just a housewife; her cravings for a marriage that go beyond just possession is clearly, as we can compare it to Nanny, ahead of her time. Nanny views marriage to be a sense of security, and that is why she wants Janie to marry Logan; he and his 60 acres of land are promising for a secure future. On the other hand, Jody is a fresh breath of air for Janie. He represents liberation and the power that Logan never gave to her. Janie's relationship with Logan is everything she does not want. She is not respected or adored and their relationship does not possess the passion she craves. Jody is an attractive and confident man that offers hope for her future that is more than just security.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Tori. Janie views love as something higher and more important than just getting married. Nanny, who has been through a lot and lived in older times, believes that marriage is simply a way for a woman to stay secure and lead a good live; she believes the love will come later once you've been with that person long enough. But that isn't enough for Janie.
DeleteI definitely agree and you bring up a good example when she watches the bee and the pear tree and thinks that's the ultimate goal of a marriage. Like you said, she is very 'optomistic' and thinks not only will she marry for protection but to have the passionate love between her and her partner.
DeleteThis is a little bleak but very interesting that the love that Janie feels is immature. I think in a lot of ways its true that Janie has one of her few opportunities through this man, but it is also hard to fault Janie for looking for love.
Delete2) Nanny's past causes her to want Janie to have a protected and sheltered life. Nanny had a hard life due to the fact that she grew up in slavery and was raped. An example of Nanny hopes for Janie is when she pushes her to marry Logan. Logan can provide a secure life for Janie because he has the money. Although she doesn't love him, Janie listens to what her Nanny has to say, which is that she will come to love him. Overall, Janie's views differ because she values love over her security.
ReplyDeleteYes Jazmine, Janie uses Jody as an outlet. She has finally found a person that she truly connects with, a person she enjoys being with. She has put her best foot forward doing what Nanny said when she told her that Logan is a smart choice for a husband and the love will come later, but Janie cannot see that happening and cannot put up with it any longer and begins to fall for Jody.
DeleteI agree with you Jazmine, Nanny values security over love, and she thinks that love is second and will come later naturally. As she mentions she will not be on the planet for much longer, she wants to see Janie secured with a good marriage and not have her suffer the same fate.
Delete3.
ReplyDeleteJanie's expectation of love and marriage is very different than the reality of marriage(especially arraigned marriage). She starts out the story figuring that a husband and wife loved each other. She says "she could see no way for it to come about but Nanny and the old folks had said it, so it must be so." She had a period where she was "waiting for the part where they would love each other." This never happened because there was no basis for their relationship. Her view quickly changed because of this relationship which was awful if not outright abusive, with Logan making her both do all the house work and work in the field. At one point he crosses the line saying, "your place is wherever I want you." This really drives her away from the idea that marriage is perfect and makes her run away with another man.
-Dan Allara
I appreciate the author's use of Logan as a catalyst for Janie to go against social norms and the expectations Nanny had for her and to liberate herself. "A feeling of sudden newness and change came over her. Janie hurried out the front gate and turned south" (32). Though she did not leave Logan out of anger, he helped Janie realize that she will not be complacent in her life and that she will strive for better.
DeleteJanie's idea of marriage is one that is focused heavily around the idea that the most important part of it should be love. This is clear in her discussion with Nanny who wants her to marry Logan who she does not love. Eventually she is convinced to do so but only because she believes that she can learn to love him over time. When this does not happen her view of marriage is clearly changed as it says in the book "She knew know that marriage did not make love"(25). Although she tried to love Logan she realizes she cannot do so solely based on the fact that they are married. By the end of her time with Logan she is much less naïve about what marriage is and how it is not always tied to love.
ReplyDelete- Keanu McDonough
I agree, I feel as though her strength is presented here (as it was at the beginning of the first chapter) because of her values. I like how you pointed out that she is naive about marraige.
DeleteI agree, she also is chasing a relationship in which she can feel the same kind of sensations she felt when watching the bee pollinate a pear tree. She is waiting for this feeling to come and when it never does, she runs away.
DeleteI agree with this. I think Janie is too young to know what it feels like to fall in love and what marriage symbolizes. Janie is on a search to find what that love feels like because she tried to feel like that way towards Logan for her Nanny, but ends up leaving him to stand true to herself and to find what it is like to marry in love.
DeleteJanie wants to be in a marriage where the two parties truly love each other, being there for one another, as it is what she believes is the whole reason for it, whereas Nanny said she at least wants to see her protected before she dies and the love will come later. When thinking to herself whether she would love Logan, she says, "she would love Logan after they were married...Husbands and wives always loved each other, and that was what marriage meant. It was just so. Janie felt glad of the thought, for then it wouldn't seem so destruvtive and mouldy. She wouldn't be lonely anymore"(21). After passing some time with him, she realizes she still doesn't have love for him, and he doesn't see her as any better either.
ReplyDeleteHer idea of marriage is derived from the blossoming pear tree she grew up believing in. The text reads, "Oh to be a pear tree- any tree in bloom! With kissing bees singing of the beginning of the world!" (11). Her marriage with Logan is passionless and they clearly do not respect or appreciate one another. Their relationship is very traditional, but it is clearly not what she had in her dreams and aspirations.
DeleteWhat are Janie's expectations of love and marriage? How does her relationship to Logan Killicks influence these beliefs?
ReplyDeleteJanie has fairytale expectations about love. After seeing a bee pollinate a pear tree as a 16 year old girl, sh feels a strong romantic and sexual vibe coming from that natural scene. This memory creates the want to have a relationship that creates the same kind of emotion she felt that day watching the pollination. During her marriage with Logan, she keeps waiting for love to find her, and as he becomes more and more aggressive and love seems further and further away, she begins to want the fairytale love more and more. Even when she agrees to run off with Joe she doubts she will feel the type of love she wants.
^Julian
DeleteI thought your connection with the bee story was very thoughtful. I would definitely agree that her marriage with Logan helps her become more aggressive when searching for love yet she does not really think that she will find it with Joe.
DeleteThe part about love finding her is a good point to make. The reason she agrees to marry him in the first place is because she is told that love will find her eventually, but it is not until after a long time that she realizes this is not true.
DeleteHi Julian, I really liked your post and I think you made good connections between the pear tree and Janie's opinions about love/marriage. I'm interested to see how things work out between Janie and Joe. By Janie's thoughts at the end of the chapter, I doubt that she will ever truly love Joe.
Delete3. Janie doesn't know too much about love and marriage. Nanny is leading her in a direction where she believes that Nanny knows what love is and if she is setting her up with Logan, then she will soon fall in love with him. She believes that once you are married to someone, then you will fall in love with them. She says, "Husbands and wives always loved each other, and that was what marriage meant" (21), which shows that Janie doesn't know what marriage symbolizes and what love actually feels like because she is so young and is believed to think a certain way. Janie's belief changes when she is married to Logan because Logan starts to treat her in a way where she doesn't have any power and doesn't respect who she is. Janie is very strong and independent and wants Logan to understand that, but she realizes that he doesn't when he's ordering her to do all of his work and doesn't appreciate her.
ReplyDeleteI agree, and I like how you brought up her independence as a reason for her change in opinion. Along with not finding love during marriage, I think her own strength is a factor in her change in expectations.
DeleteNanny essentially wants Janie to be able to avoid all the bad things that happened to her and Leafy. Nanny knows about being a slave, and sh had her daughter because her maser slept with her. In turn, her daughter was raped at age 17, and gave birth to Janie. Because of these events, it's easy to see why Nanny values marriage more than finding love. If Janie marries, then she will be protected, and from Nanny and Leafy's experiences, this is most important. On this matter, Nanny says "Ah can't be always guidin' yo' feet from hard and danger. Ah wants to see you married right away" (13). However, Janie does not view the world quite like this. She is hesitant to marry someone she feels no love for, and only agrees when she is convinved that love will come after marriage. After being married for over a year, she finally realizes that this is wrong, and marriage does not bring love, but this lets her grow as a person and develop the way she views the world.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I think even though Nanny was kind of forcing Janie into this marriage, It helped Janie grow and develop into more of a wise and mature women.
DeleteI agree that Nanny wants to prevent the events that happened to her and Leafy from happening to Janie. I think Nanny is worried that if she dies and leaves no one to look after Janie then everything that happened to her will happen to Janie.
DeleteI agree, and like how you noted that their past experiences have shaped their differing views. It is reasonable that Janie has more hope as she did not spend time in a hardship as extreme as slavery.
Delete3. What are Janie's expectations of love and marriage? How does her relationship to Logan Killicks influence these beliefs?
ReplyDeleteJanie seems to expect love to come easy, and she hopes for a lot out of love. Although because Janie is inexperienced she is very inpatient with her first marriage. Janie's expectations for love are very high, she hopes to have a love like nature. When she watched the bee pollinate flowers, and with her time spent in nature, she pictures love to be of that level of beauty. She thinks marriage should be filled with this kind of love. Being married to Logan makes her believe that the marriage she is in, isn't the right one. She feels she will not discover love with Logan even though her grandmother is persistent. She eventually hits a point in her marriage where she finds out that to become women her dreams must destroyed as it says "she knew now that marriage did not make love, Janie's first dream was dead, so she became a women"(25). Her relationship with Logan drew her to this conclusion because of how bored and disappointed she was with Logan and her marriage in general.
Noodles, aka Ben Patt.
Delete2. Growing up a slave Nanny has only ever wanted the best for her child and grandchild and in return is very protective of them. Since Nanny has never been taken care of by anyone, and has always had to look after herself she wants Janie to have someone to look after her. Therefore when Janie still isn't in love with Logan, Nanny doesn't understand where Janie is coming from and says "Lawd have mussy! Dat's de very prong all us black women gits hung on. Dis love!" (23). Nanny doesn't get that someone could want more than protection because Nanny has never even been provided protection. However since Janie has grown up feeling safe and loved by her grandmother she knows what it is like to have more than just protection, and therefore that is why she desires a relationship that is more than what she has with Logan. In addition, Nanny has never had a real relationship and has never experienced love. Therefore she has no desire to find a relationship filled with love, and would rather have one where she feels protected and taken care of rather than loved.
ReplyDelete3.) Throughout the first four chapters, Janie's views on love and marriage change drastically. As a girl, Janie is very much optimistic about the prospect of true love, and the accompanying idea of marriage. When sitting under a pear tree it Janie is described that Janie sees, "... 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"(11). This deep description is what Janie felt about love, the hope and excitement she feels is evident through the relation to the tree. Janie is excited about this idea saying she too wishes to be a pear in bloom, signifiying her want for love. However, she soon goes through a change in expectations during her marriage to Logan. In the final lines of chapter three, which details her lack of love with Logan, it is clear that Janie's expectations of love and marriage have changed. Hurston writes that, "She knew now that marriage did not make love. Janie's first dream was dead, so she had become a woman"(25). This bleak understanding of love and marriage is much different than her naive hopes as a girl. This change from girl to woman marks her change in the expectations of love and marriage.
ReplyDeleteHi Olivia, I wrote about things extremely similar to what you did and even used the same quote to portray Janie's change in opinions about marriage. The change is very drastic and actually kind of depressing to read. I feel like Janie's dream of "true love" have been squashed after her marriage to Logan.
Delete2: Nanny hates the idea that "de menfolks white or black is makin' a spit cup outa [Janie]" because she herself was on (20). She gave birth to the child of her slave owner, which means that he molested her, or at least had sex with her when she couldn't refuse. And then her daughter was raped by her school teacher when she was young too. Nanny was unprotected and raped, her daughter was unprotected and raped, so she will make sure that Janie is protected. Protected by a husband. Nanny wants Janie married as soon as possible because then Janie will be protected. Janie, who hasn't had the experiences that Nanny has, differs in her view. Janie wants marriage to be about love and happiness, "sweet ... lik when you sit under a pear tree and think" (24). She values the safety aspect of marriage much less than Nanny, as she has never seen the effects of a lack of it.
ReplyDeletevery close to my thoughts aswell. The difference in their values all comes down to the difference in experiences. While I agree that Nanny is very worried with this almost carefree attitude, I also feel like Nanny should be proud that Janie is able to adopt such an attitude. it means that she has lived a sheltered life which was Nanny's goal
DeleteAlso, neither Nanny nor Leafy ever experienced the love between wife and husband. It is harder to prioritize that which you have never experienced -- Nanny made do without it -- and so Nanny views it as less important as protection.
DeleteIn these first few chapters of "Their Eyes Were Watching God", the reader learns a lot about Janie's thoughts on love and marriage. Janie simply believes in marrying someone that you actually love. Nowadays we would not consider this out of the ordinary, however the reader gets the feeling that during this time period, love is not an essential aspect of marriage. Instead, for a woman during that time, it was about making their husband happy and having stability. In regards to her own marriage with Logan Killicks she states, “Ah wants things sweet wid mah marriage lak when you sit under a pear tree and think”(24). She wishes that her marriage were as simple as this, however she instead learns that this is not her reality. Rather, from her relationship with Logan, Janie has a complete one-eighty on her opinions of marriage. After being in her loveless marriage for multiple months she realizes, “marriage did not make love”(25).
ReplyDeleteI feel like Nanny constantly telling her that marriage is the best option allows her to think that her mairrage will grow to include love because Nanny is more concerned with her safety than Janie falling in love. Because Janie doesn't feel the need for the protection her grandmother values she would much rather be in love and is shocked when it doesn't happen the way she imagined.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete1) The dialect in the novel contrasts greatly with the elegant and descriptive style Hurston uses frequently. The dialect does dominate most of the novel so far and that allows for moments of narration and description to stand out which helps emphasize dialogue and events. After Nanny sees Jonny Taylor kiss Janie the brief "Janie!" Yelled by Nanny is the first line of dialogue in a while and immediately grabs your attention. It helps make the declaration that is "was the end of [Janie's] childhood," seem more important and memorable. The style also helps the characters in the book seem more lively. The more flowery descriptions of characters are grounded by the realistic and gritty dialect they speak.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it contrasts, however I had not thought about it in a positive light. It makes sense that Hurston would want the dialogue to stand out from the narration, but I think that it distracts from the plot more than it helps it. I think there should be a good amount of dialect, but I find it hard to get used to and follow along.
Delete2) The main difference between Janie and her Nanny's differing values in relationships stems from the simple fact that Nanny has faced many hardships. Above all else, Nanny seeks stability and protection in a relationship, from others and even from the partner himself, over love. She even states that "Tain't Logan Killicks Ah wants you to have, baby, it's protection."(15) Furthermore, Nanny definitely doesn't what what happened to her daughter to happen to her granddaughter. After Janie's mother's rape and Janie's birth, Nanny saw her daughter "took to drinkin' linker and stayin' out nights."(19) Nanny essentially saw the destruction of her only child and that is definitely not an easy thing to witness. As a result, Nanny goes to the limits of her strength to ensure a better life for Janie. In fact, she worked and prayed so hard that she is now "a cracked plate."(20)
ReplyDeleteI agree that Nanny's experience has pushed her to have a much more rational stance on relationships. Because of all the adversity she had to overcome in her life Nanny understands that love isn't the most Janie stands to gain from a stable relationship; Nanny believes that having stability and protection is much more important.
DeleteI agree, the life that Nanny has lived forced her to live in a life of unsecurity and stress. She just wants Janie to grow up in a life of stability and have enough money to feed herself. When Janie never had the feeling of insecurity forcing her to think about love over being secure.
Delete1.) So far in the overall structure of the novel is that of The adventures of Huckleberry-Fin and that of The Great Gatsby combined into one book. The beautiful imagery and metaphors within the first four chapters resembles that of the Great Gatsby. For example "Dawn and doom was the branches"(8). Shows that Zora Hurston uses some strong and vivid imagery within Their Eyes Were Watching God. But on the other hand, Zora Hurston uses dialogue that resembles that of a character in Huckleberry Fin to show a typical southerner's accent in full detail. Janie states "But, Nanny, ah wants to want him,you sho oughta"(23). Showing the broken dialogue that the characters have within the novel, which resembles that in The adventures Huckleberry Fin. The fact that the novel's main character is a black women, making the point of view that of a black women is also something that should be looked at and admired. This is due to the fact that it was rare to have a female, let a lone a black female voice and carry a novel, making the overall tone and story unique to the time.
ReplyDelete^Brendan Cramphorn
DeleteJanie believes that marriage is completely based around love. She thinks the most important thing to have in a marriage is love and that marriage shouldn't happen without it. When Nanny tells Janie she wants her to marry Logan Killicks Janie begs her to not make her do it because she doesn't love him, but Nanny convinces her that "she would love Logan after they were married" (21). Unfortunately, Janie does not come to love Logan, but when she brings her problem to Nanny she accuses her of being foolish. She says that Janie is wasting her time getting so upset over something so trivial as love. Through her marriage with Logan Janie learns that relationships are not necessarily built on love.
ReplyDeleteI like the use of the bad grammar in the dialogue to show how these people talk and what they sound like. Compared to how Huck Finn was written, I enjoy this book a lot better because there's not as much of it in the chapters we read. Also, there's more sophisticated writing than the improper grammar, which is very refreshing when your reading (flows well). "Don't know exactly. Round dust dark ah reckon. It's uh sorta long trip-specially if ah hafter lead one on de way back....When Janie had finished indoors she sat down in the bar with the potatoes"(27). Going from the improper grammar within the dialogue to proper writing, flows, and makes it easier to read, because they're balanced well.
ReplyDeleteI feel as though there is much more hard-to-read and difficult to comprehend dialogue in this book than in Huck Finn. With Huck, I felt as though it contributed to the plot line and made Jim stand out from the other characters. However, in this novel, I feel as though it distracts from the plot and everyone seems to talk the same.
DeleteWhat are your thoughts about the structure, use of dialect, point of view, key imagery, and/or style of this novel so far?
ReplyDeleteWhile reading the beginning of the novel, I found Hurston's writing to be gorgeous. The imagery was especially strong in the first two pages when the narrator is speaking. I could strongly picture Janie walking through the path, dirtied from digging graves in her overalls and swinging hair... hearing the whispers of judgment, jealousy and disapproval from her neighbors. There was incredible sensory detail. What is more, is that I could find a larger meaning or symbolism in almost every sentence, such as "the dream is the truth", or that dreams "sail forever on the horizon"(1). Even though the writing is incredibly strong when the narrator is speaking, and the plot and characters are equally as sturdy, it is hard to get over the dialogue. Although aware of the fact that the dialect is meant to immerse us into a southern, African-American community, I find that it can get in the way of the story. It has proven to be a distraction to character and plot development, and has slowed down my reading a bit, which has been slightly frustrating. I feel as though I would enjoy reading this book more, and be easily immersed in it, if the dialogue was less like Jim from Huck Finn and perhaps a little more subtle.
2. Growing up as a slave taught Nanny how cruel life can be, and she wants a different path for Janie. Pushing her to marry Logan was a shot in the dark trying to give her happiness and save her from her past;however, Janie disagrees. Janie thinks marriage should be about love, and if there is no love, then its not worth it. Nanny states that its the perfect time to marry, and she “wanted [her] to school out and pick from a higher bush and a sweeter berry” (13). Now that she's ready she needs to take advantage of it. Although Janie is open to the idea, but not supportive, she described Logan as “some ole shall head in de grave yard”(13), and doesn't make it seem as though she's interested. Overall, Nanny wants Janie to live a comfortable life with happiness, and Janie disagrees and believes its too soon because she hasn't found love yet.
ReplyDelete3) Janie lives her younger life very much oblivious to the world of romance, and believes that's because it is not formally her time to experience it yet. Janie lives out these years in naive hope for her guaranteed, automatic happiness as soon as she is married. It may be conceived as an ignorant way to view her situation, but I would also commend her for her positivity. She marries Logan to make Nanny happy, knowing that she did not love him, but she felt okay about it because of her expectation that the doubt would all disappear as soon as she married. Maybe this was because of the stories Nanny told her: neither Nanny nor Leafy married, and their lives are both miserable, therefore, Janie must marry and find the love and happy life that the women before her could not attain. But Janie is heartbroken when she discovers that she does not love Logan, even though he is her husband. When they have become used to each other, Logan no longer tries to please her at all. I think it's very interesting how Hurston portrays women in this book. In the first chapter, she speaks of them in a very deep way, referring often to the dreams women have for themselves. She says on the topic of women, "the dream is the truth" (1), and then in chapter 3 as Janie's marriage goes downhill, "Janie's first dream was dead, so she became a woman"(25).
ReplyDelete-Eve
DeleteQuestion 3: Janie's thinks that love is supposed to be this perfect thing that just happens instantly over night. She thinks her connection with her husband should be immediate and amazing and when that doesn't happen she gets confused, Janie is still a young girl and because she has never experienced love for another person she doesn't understand what it is. She just thinks that it should be like an on off switch and not something that you have to work at. Because of this her relationship with Logan suffers. SHe hates pretty much everything about him and puts so much pressure on their relationship being perfect and filled with love that she ends up resenting everything about him. She hates Logan for not being a man that she instantly falls in love with and rents him even more because she feels forced to stay with him.
ReplyDeleteI agree that she resents Logan because of the societal pressures she feels to stay with him. Janie is a very independent character and much like Edna in the Great Awakening, she finds fault with the society she lives in. This theme of rebellion is present throughout many of the books we have read this year as well as the first few chapters of this one.
DeleteI agree with your point. I think that Janie had such high expectations for her marriage because she was so young when she got married and was expecting a lot more. She keeps wondering when she will fall in love with him because she doesn't understand yet what love really is.
DeleteQuestion 3:
ReplyDeleteJanie believes that love is the most important thing in marriage. She doesn't think that wealth or status matters in marriage unless love is there first. This is very different from Nanny's point of view because she believes that having a good lifestyle is the most important, and love will just follow. When Nanny first mentions Logan and marriage, Janie responds with, "Naw, Nanny, no ma'am! Is dat whut he been hangin' round here for? He look like some ole skull head in de grave yard" (13). From this first interaction, you can see that Janie will never respect him which we learn to be a value and expectation that Janie holds. From this marriage, she learns that she is unhappy with someone she does not love and respect. When she meets Jody, someone she does see value in, she decides to break up with Logan and leave him for Jody. This shows how her own happiness plays a role in marriage as well. Janie wants to be happy and her status and wealth can be given up for the sake of it. When she gets in the rig with Joe, she thinks to herself, "From now on until death she was going to have flower dust and springtime sprinkled over everything" (32). She values her own happiness and bliss. Janie takes matters into her own hands, not caring about societal norms, in order for her to achieve her goals.
I agree Janie is a very independent character who will not let society pressure her to stay with someone she does not love. She knows that she is not going to have a happy life with Logan so leaves with Jody even though her town judges her for her decision.
DeleteI agree with everything you say in this post. The quote you used about Janie right after she gets in the rig with Joe also relates her happiness back to the scene under the tree at Nanny's house. Under the tree she sees a flower being fertilized and this is when she learns of how she wants to find someone to love. This may be symbolism of her having found her love because she has what the flower had in that scene.
DeleteNanny’s past as a slave greatly impacts what she wants for Janie. Because Nanny grew up with little to nothing, she wants Janie to have a stable life with a man who will be able to provide for her. This is what leads her to want Janie to marry Logan as he is well off financially. Janie however, did not go up under slavery and wants to marry someone she truly loves. Janie is worried when she first marries Logan because she does not love him but thinks that once they are married they will love each other. However this is does happen which leads her to believe, “that marriage did not make love. Janie’s first dream was dead, so she became a woman” (25). Because she does not find love with Logan, Janie matures greatly. Finally when she meets Joe and he is nice to her she falls in love with him. To Janie being in a relationship with someone who has money is not important if you do not love the person. This then leads Janie to leave Logan and be with Joe as she values her happiness over stability.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your point. I think Janie's independence will be very important throughout the book. I think the certain situations in her life have shaped her to be more confident and individualistic.
DeleteI agree that Janie is forced to mature when he relationship with Logan does not work out. I think this was a turning point for her as a character.
Delete1. What are your thoughts about the structure, use of dialect, point of view, key imagery, and/or style of this novel so far?
ReplyDeleteI am really enjoying the style in which this novel is written. I love the imagery that Hurston uses, it creates very vivid images for the reader to imagine. I think that the dialect gives the novel cadence, and it makes it easy for the reader to distinguish between the narrators thoughts and the characters actions. I think the point of view is interesting, I am seeing a very different society than what I am used too. It is interesting to see a community of African Americans and to understand how they see themselves. I am finding the story to be funny, and although the dialect was a little tricky, I am getting quite good at reading it. Hurston consistently uses imagery that refers to inside the body, or is using other things as a metaphor for a body part. For example at the beginning of chapter three, Janie "asked inside of herself and out."(21) This quote demonstrates the kind of imagery Hurston uses quite a bit in these four chapters. Her imagery creates vivid images for the reader, and always conveys a strong meaning to the reader.
It almost seems like Hurston is actively blending imagery and metaphors together to produce statements and phrases that act as both, as with that quote you provided. I also real,y enjoy this aspect the writing, as it helps to communicate the themes of the story in an interesting, engaging way.
Delete1. In the first four chapters of the novel so far I found it interesting how there are two drastically different types of writing at the same time. The authors comments and voice of the story is written elegantly. The descriptions are written with such beautiful language so as the readers can actually visualize what is being described, such as "the cooling palma christi leaves that Janie had bound about her grandma's head with a white rag had wilted down and become part and parcel of the woman" (12). Yet whenever dialect is used in the story the writing style completely changes. It turns into the slang of the south during the time period it takes place in, making the story all the more authentic. The author uses the dialect to further deepen her characters. Although it may be difficult to understand at times, the author creatively inserts helpful clues as to what the character is actually saying, such as how Ah is always capitalized to help the reader understand that it means I which is also always capitalized. A key piece of imagery so far in the novel has been the description of Janie under the tree. Watching the image of "a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom" (11) awakens Janie. Before she was an innocent child yet watching the bee fertilize a flower and help it grow awakened Janie and helped her transition into womanhood; it allowed her to create her opinion on not only what love and marriage should be like but also the world.
ReplyDelete^Kelly
DeleteI agree I really like how the author is able to entice the reader by A. Using rich details and B. Using the same dialect as the people would in this time. I really have enjoyed reading this because it is challenging to have to decipher the meanings. I like the quote on page 1, "These sitters had been toungueless, earless, eyeless conveniences all day long. Mules and other brutes had occupied their skins. But now, the sun and the boss man were gone, so the skins felt powerful and human". Its a cool way of saying that at sundown- the people are able to be themselves.
DeleteI definitely agree that the contrasting writing styles going back and forth adds a lot to the novel. I like that the descriptions are so beautiful so that you can really see the scene, while the dialogue is very informal, so that it breaks up the complex language that could get very boring and hard to read. The quote you included from page 12 is very well written, and the amount of description makes it easy to visualize what is being said
DeleteNanny past and growing up as a slave taught her the importance of seeking stability and protection. She believes marriage can provide these things. She thinks of it as a safe way of living life, and desires this for Janie because both her and her daughter have gone through many hardships and have faced poor treatment and abuse from men. Janie desires a relationship that brings love, happiness, and passion, rather than the protection from a difficult life. Nanny believes that this type of protection from a stable marriage will eventually bring happiness in the marriage between Janie and Logan, and that Janie can learn to love him. Janie has not experienced the type of things her Nanny and mother did, and so she is more naive, believing that passion is better than the safety from struggling in life.
ReplyDeleteprompt 3: The opening paragraphs of the novel do well to outline the expectations of each gender. Men, while usually unsuccessful, aspire to make more of themselves than their society might allow. Women however, accept their reality as the best that is possible. They settle for what is given to them, and in doing so forget how their lives may have been better. Janie's expectation for love and marriage sets her aside from the other women in society, and suggests a somewhat childish and out of place sense of entitlement. In her marriage to Logan Killicks, Janie learns that love and marriage do not come hand in hand. It is noted that with this realization, her "first dream was dead, so she became a woman"(25). Janie's belief in marrying for love contrasts with the expectations and customs of her society, creating the background on which she is mocked by the women around her. Throughout the first several chapters of the novel, it is noted several times how Janie's hair and clothing suggested that she acted much younger than she really is. Her outward appearance only strengthens the argument that Janie's expectations for love and marriage are representative of someone much younger than herself, who has not yet had her "dreams crushed to death by Time" (1).
ReplyDeleteI totally agree. During this time period women were expected to put their heads down and just do what they were told. Janie doesn't do this. Instead she constantly strives to attempt to find a happy marriage.
DeleteNice response! Yes Janie is a very important character, voicing woman's opinion and standing up for what she believes in! Already in the first few chapters we see how strong of a character Janie is, im excited to see what else she is capable of doing!
DeleteQuestion 2
ReplyDeleteNanny grew up as a slave and has gone through many hard times throughout her life. She doesn’t want Janie to have to go through the same struggles and she wants to make sure Janie has a good life set up for herself before Nanny passes away. Nanny believes she doesn’t have much time left, saying, “One mornin’ soon, now, de angel wid de sword is gointuh stop by here. De day and de hour is hid from me, but it won’t be long” (15). For this reason, she forces Janie to marry Logan because she wants someone to protect her when Nanny dies. She knows Logan is respected and wealthy so even though Janie doesn’t love him, she is trying to help her have a comfortable life, which is something Nanny never had. However, Janie doesn’t want to marry just for comfort, she wants to be in love.
I agree Katrena! I think this is spot on! Nanny wants a better life for her granddaughter then she and her daughter has! The world is chnaging for the better and Nanny has worked so hard to make sure that Janie has a happy and good life. However you are also correct when you say that Nanny forced Logan on her because she thinks it will make her happy. Janie is her own person and needs to be able to make her own decisions too.
DeleteI like your connection to how Janie and Logan married because her grandmother was passing away. I think that because of this, it was a forced marriage. It was not out of love and compassion for each other, but instead it was out of pressure and insight from a significant role model in Janie's life. Janie is going to get her way and persue the dream marriage she has been waiting for.
DeleteJanie has very high hopes for marriage. She is a dreamer, and an idealist. From an early age she wonders about marriage. One day sitting under a pear tree she witness a bee pollinate a tree. To her mind this was a perfect union. She now compares marriage to the "dust bearing bee's love embrace", and the "ecstatic shiver of the tree". With this idea in mind, her marriage with Logan Killick is close to torture. There is no aspect of her marriage that feels to her like what she witnessed in the Pear Tree. Instead Logan treats her like a house maid and asks her to bring the wood in. For many women in this period this was expected, but Janie has the idea of a happy mutual marriage in her head, and she is going to pursue it for the rest of the book.
ReplyDeletePrompt #3
DeleteI definitely agree that she was unhappy with Logan because she couldn't love him but don't think that she'll spend the rest of the book pursuing the perfect marriage. At the end of chapter 3, it basically says that her dream of a loving marriage is dead and she doesn't really seem to marry Joe for love either.
DeleteI agree and disagree with you Jack. I think that this book will most likely be about Janie's quest for love, but I also think that she is still confused about what love really is and that is why she chose to be with Joe. I can't see her being with Joe for very long. She is probably just with him as a way to escape Logan.
DeleteNanny had a very tough past and did not want her granddaughter to experience what she and Leafy did. Nanny was a slave and she had a baby with her owner. Since Nanny is black, when the baby came out with blue eyes- the wife of the slave owner knew that something was suspicious. So Nanny ran away with the baby and hid until slavery was abolished. The baby with the blue eyes is Janie's mother and Janie's mother also had a very hard time; she was raped at the age of 17 by her schoolteacher. Since both Janie's grandmother and mother had such troubling pasts, Nanny just wanted the best for Janie. She bought land so that they could be self sufficient and wants Janie to have a husband to look out for her. She sets Janie up with a man named Logan and Nanny tells Janie that, "she would love Logan after they were married," (21). Janie consents because she wants to make her grandmother happy. Janie would rather marry someone because she loves them and wants them. We are first introduced to Janie's idea about marriage when she is sitting under the pear tree, "She had glossy leaves and bursting buds and she wanted to struggle with life but it seemed to elude her. Where were the singing bees for her?" (11). She was always interested in marriage but not in the same way that her grandmother viewed it. When Janie and Logan's marriage was less than pleasant, Janie chooses to leave because she thinks she deserves better.
ReplyDeleteGreat job! You added many great details on Nanny's past. These details are very important because it gives the reader her background which makes her view on love and marriage more clear. It makes sense why her view is so different than Janie's.
DeleteEva: #2. Nanny was born into slavery and her life was much harder than Janies. She was raped by her owner and became pregnant with her daughter Leafy. To avoid further abuse from her owner and his wife, she ran away with her daughter and started working for the Washburn. Nanny could no longer take care of Leafy when she began drinking and ran away. Nanny lived a difficult life and that is what motivates her to make Janies life better than hers and Leafys. Nanny was never able to fall in love and struggled to keep herself safe. She buys some land and a house only because she thinks that having their own place will be better for Janie. She later pushes Janie to marry Logan Killicks because he has money and can take care of her. Nanny knows that there is no love involved in the marriage but feels it is best for Janie because it provides her with security and a better future than her own. As an incentive for Janie to go through with the marriage, Nanny lies to Janie by telling her she will start to feel love for him eventually. When Janie questions this, Nanny shames her for not appreciating Logan’s wealth. All of these are ways that Nanny looks out for Janie and ensures a better life for her. However, Janie feels no love for Logan in their marriage even after her Nanny died. She ends up falling in love with Jody. Janie is willing to leave town and marries Jody to escape her miserable life with Logan. She sacrifices security and money just to be with someone she loves. Nanny and Janie have very different priorities.
ReplyDeleteI feel as though they have different ideas of what love is. Nanny may believe that janie will fall in love with her husband after marrying him, but many women in this society simply learn to love the life they have, instead of imagining how their life might be better. Janie, who hasnt faced so many hardships, hasnt learned to simply love the life she is given.
DeleteI like that this novel makes you feel as though you’re listening to someone tell a story. The first few chapters have been Janie talking about her past, and the author writes in a way that makes you feel as though you’re there sitting on the porch with Janie, listening to her talk about her past. The novel is written in a very casual way, but with deep metaphors and similes weaved into the casual dialect. For example, the way that Janie speaks is very authentic and casual, but then the narrator will follow her dialect with a sentence like “they sat on the boarding house porch and saw the sun plunge into the same crack in the earth from which the night emerged” (33). The writing is very interesting as it is a contrast between the narrator’s deep, complex, visual words and the casual dialect that the characters use. I like the author’s use of point of view because it allows for the narrator to add in very visual sentences that greatly contribute to the story. The imagery in the novel is very strong, with sentences like “from now on until death she was going to have flower dust and springtime sprinkled over everything” (32). I really like the writing style, although sometimes I find it is hard to understand the dialect. I’m glad that the author is using authentic dialect, but I found myself trying to translate the dialect into correct grammar as I was reading it.
ReplyDeletePrompt #1 ^^^^^^
DeleteI completely agree, especially about how the author weaves as you said "authentic and casual" speech with her own really poignant narration style. In it's own powerful way, it works perfectly.
DeleteHi Sam, I liked how you mentioned that the writing is very casual with metaphors and similes weaved in. I agree that the metaphors and similies somehow seem to fit smoothly in with the writing although you would think it would be too much to fit in all the metaphors. I also find it hard to understand the dialect because of the old language.
Delete1. Overall, so far I feel the structure of the novel is well suited to the context and meaning of the story it is portraying. I like the use of the scene in the beginning of the story to illustrate and get the reader acquainted with the kind of woman Janie is going to become, especially in light of the clear problems she has early on with her first husband, Logan Killicks, and how quick she is to leave him. This very quickly lets the reader know about how headstrong and independent Janie is as a character, something that is reinforced by Killicks' own admission that she's "powerful independent around here sometime considerin'," (30), which helps to add context and a reference point for the gossip we see in chapter 1.
ReplyDeleteThese aspects are also aided by the descriptive and imagery-filled style of the novel. Imagery and symbolism play very great roles in further emphasizing Janie's independence, with instances such as pg 25's description of how "marriage did not make love. [Her] first dream was dead, and so she became a woman," helping to emphasize the novel's themes of individuality and independence.
Janie's views on love and marriage change throughout the chapters. Initially, she resists the idea of marriage, especially an arranged one. She instead wants to "hug and kiss and feel around with first one man and then another," as Nanny puts it (13). In chapter 3, she wonders if marriage causes love. Nanny assures that she will come to love Logan and so she marries him. She eventually realizes that marriages do not cause love and that she really doesn't like Logan. In chapter 4, their marriage falls apart and, after several arguments with Logan and meeting Joe, she leaves and marries Joe. In these beginning chapters, her ideas on love and marriage are truly developed. In the beginning, she is young and hopeful and still believes that marriage and love are one in the same. After she gets married to Logan, she realizes that she doesn't love and begins to understand the difference. However, she still believes that they are supposed to be the same and asks Nanny why she doesn't love him. Nanny assures that the love will come, but it doesn't. At the end of chapter 3, she finally realizes "that marriage [does] not make love" (25). In chapter 4, it is clear how her understanding of marriage has changed. She now sees it not as true love but as a convenience, a matter of security. It is for this reason that she decides to marry Joe. Not because she thinks she loves him, but because he seems interesting and pretty much anyone would be better than Logan.
ReplyDeleteJack Sauriol, Question 3
I disagree. I don't think that Janie ever really thinks that marriage causes love. She is skeptical about it from the beginning. Even when Nanny first mentions Logan and marriage, she is turned off. I do agree with your point about love being security. She needs love instead of wants love.
DeleteNanny's past affected the way she raised Janie. She grew up as a slave and ran away to live in the woods for a long period of time. She never got to experience love and protection because she didn't have mother or father figures and was raped so never had a caring husband. This is a big reason why Nanny is so protective over Janie. She wants to make sure she doesn't have to suffer through what her mother, Leafy, and grandmother did when they grew up. Her experience as a slave influences what she values in the relationship between Janie and Logan. Janie wanted a relationship like the bee and blossoming pear tree, where they loved and supported each other. However, Nanny believed that a relationship is dependent on protection. She encouraged Janie to marry Logan because he had money and would give Nanny a sense of security leaving Janie with him. Though Janie doesn't truly love Logan, she stays with him for the sole reason that Nanny wanted them to be together. Her view on love and relationships is that you need love, like the pear tree and bee. Because of Nannys past experiences, she doesn't understand this, which is why Janie ends up with Logan. Janie complained to Nanny about him but she replied, "you come heah wid yo mouf full uh foolishness on uh busy day. Heah you got a prop tuh lean on all yo bawn days, and big protection...and you come worryin' me 'bout love" (23). Janie eventually leaves him for Joe because she couldn't handle his lack of love and confidence in her.
ReplyDeleteNanny believed in a relationship dependent on protection because she never had anyone to look out for her the way she thinks Logan can look out for Janie. I agree that it's hard for Janie to understand Nanny's point of view.
DeleteJanie's view of marriage focuses on the central idea that the relationship should be purely based on love. She thinks that both people should be happily in love with one another. For instance, Nanny wants Janie to marry Logan but she doesn't want to because is not in love with that man. Nanny tells Janie, "she would love Logan after they were married" (21). But Janie knows that love isn't something that you can force on people and that if she doesn't love him now she won't ever love him. Janie truly loves Joe Starks. She even smiles and laughs with him, for instance the author exclaims, "Jody", she smiled up at him". Smiling and laughing with someone shows true love between two people, something that she lacks with Jordan. Additionally, she is an outcast in society for wanting to marry someone for love because it appears that everyone just expects women to marry by a certain age even if they don't like the man. She is very similar to Edna in "The Great Awakening", because both women are strong and have different opinions on marriage than the rest of society. I think that in today's world she would be accepted by all of us because views on marriage have come a long way over the years. It is now seen as the wrong choice to marry someone you don't love, however, for Janie society is expecting her to be the same as all the other women around her.
ReplyDelete3. What are Janie's expectations of love and marriage? How does her relationship to Logan Killicks influence these beliefs?
ReplyDeleteJanie believes that love comes along with marriage. While she knows that love is not a necesity to marriage, she thinks "Yes, she would love Logan after they were married. She could see no way fo it to come about, but Nanny and the old folks had said it, so it must be so" (21). She doesn't have a firm grasp for how love works, which makes perfect sense because she's only 17. Once she gets married and doesn't fall in love with Mr. Killick's, she quickly learns "that marriage did not make love" (25). When this happens, the author states "Janie's first dream was dead, so she became a woman" (25). This powerful statement directly relates to the opening of the book, where Hurston tells the audience that men have their dreams "mocked to death by Time", whereas for women, "the dream is the truth" (1). Hurston is making the statement that while the dreams of black men are simply mocked and impossible, life steals dreams from black women and instead leaves them with the truth, as happened with Janie. When she meets another, more worldly man known as Joe Starks, whom she courts and eventually runs away with. Even though she chooses him, it is not much of a choice still. While deciding whether to go with him, Hurston writes, "Janie pulled back a long time because he did not represent sun-up and pollen and blooming trees, but he spoke for far horizon" (29). This man she ultimately picks over Mr. Killicks is still not her ideal for love that the author emphasizes. Her dream and desire to have a man equal to the beauty and attraction of nature, but she has learned the error in this already, and settles. Her marriage to Killicks fully "made her woman", by teaching her to not dream too big.
Nanny’s life has been extremely painful and challenging, between being a slave, being raped by her owner, and having her daughter be raped by her teacher. Because of these experiences, Nanny values security and protection above all else – above love, independence or joy. She pushes Janie into marriage with a wealthy man, telling Janie not to worry because eventually she would love him. Janie frets because she feels that she will never love him, to which Nanny reminded her to appreciate his status. While Janie wants love and affection, Nanny thinks that being safe economically and physically is more important. Nanny knows how terrible it can be to be unprotected whereas Janie has never felt that level of pain. Nanny said that she wanted Janie to get married because “[she] can’t be always guidin’ [Janie’s] feet from harm and danger”, while Janie wants “sweet things wid [her] marriage lak when you sit under a pear tree and think”. Nanny only wants Janie to get married so that she has someone keeping her from harm and protecting her, but Janie is disappointed that her marriage isn’t sweet or happy.
ReplyDelete3) Janie, unlike her Nanny takes love and marriage very seriously. At first, Janie is extremely enticed by love and marriage as she witnesses "a dust bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom"(11). From that point on, Janie began her long journey down the hardships of love. Because she had such a positive view of love at first, her hard reality hit her very abruptly and with no warning. While still in her dazed state, she sees "a glorious being coming up the road", although not extremely fond of the boy before, Janie was extremely attracted to Johnny Taylor because she was now supposedly out of her "former blindness"(11). When her Nanny catches them kissing, Janie is given some insight into how her love life is supposed to be. Nanny claims that now that she has kissed someone and felt love, she is a grown woman and needs to be married as soon as possible, and preferably to Logan Killicks. Before this moment, Janie thought that love was a magical thing, now her dreams of finding a true love have been dampened. She even claims that "Logan Killicks was desecrating the pear tree"(14), a symbol of her love. When Nanny finally convinces Janie to marry Logan because she claims that the love will come once they get married. Janie realizes that this is somewhat untrue but decides to marry Logan anyway. After being married to Logan for a while Janie realizes that "marriage [does] not make love. [Her] first dream was dead..."(25). Janie's view of love has drastically changed since she first sat under the pear tree when she was younger. She has now realized that not many people hold love in the same regard as she does. In chapter four, Janie gains a small bit of hope for love once again. She meets another man named Joe who convinces her to leave Logan. Before she meets Logan they get in a fight and he threatens to kill her. She is finally assured that there was no love between them. She then leaves with Joe in search of love. Although Janie has had some rough relationships and guidance in her life so far, she still holds onto hope that sometime in the future she may just meet her pear tree man.
ReplyDelete-Josh Erhard
3.)
ReplyDeleteJanie best relates love to a bee pollinating a pear tree. This natural and sexual experience that she witnessed seemed to be the most prominent aspect of her expectation of love. The love that Janie seeked would evoke the same emotion that she felt from that scene. She truly suposed love came naturally and she suspected that after she married Logan, she would find this love. As time passed, Janie grew further and further away from Logan. It became evident that she was not growing toward loving him. This natural and pefect expectation of love seemed even more distant than ever. In fact this pear-tree-pollination-love appeared unattainable at this point, especially from Logan. After coming to this conclusion Janie thinks, "marriage did not make love. Janie's [her] first dream was dead, so she became a woman"(25). After her marriage with Logan Janie realized that marriage does guarantee love. Instead love comes naturally and she knew that this natural love that she seeks would not come from Logan.
3. As Janie grows into an adult, her opinions on love and marriage are altered by her reality. As a young girl, Janie dreams of a marriage that is based on love and that will last a lifetime. She speaks excitedly about the future, and dreams of a perfect husband. As Janie ages she remains optimistic yet her hopes about love become much more realistic Before Janie marries Logan Killicks, she believes that becoming married will heal their complications. Janie just assumes that “...husbands and wives always loved each other, and that was what marriage meant” (21). As Janie and Logan’s marriage begins to fail, Janie no longer looks to marriage to heal the problems between them. She loses her hope. As her dreams began to fail her, “...she knew now that marriage did not make love” (25). After this realization, she becomes a women that no longer feels the urge to rely completely on another man.
ReplyDeleteHi Cassie!
DeleteI agree with you when you said Janie becomes a women after she has that realization. It is the moment where she learns the truth about marriage and what truly makes you happy in life:)
ReplyDeleteWhat are Janie's expectations of love and marriage? How does her relationship to Logan Killicks influence these beliefs?
Janie has very high expectations for love and marriage. She is very passionate and loving and is capable of having a very strong relationship. Nanny has a very different outlook on love than her due to her past experiences. When Nanny catches Janie kissing a boy Nanny wants her to get married right away. "So ah out ez well tell yuh what ah been savin' up for uh spell. Ah wants you to see you married right away"(12). Nanny doesn't want to see Janie get used and hurt like she had been in the past. However Janie refuses, she sees love as very important and is very optimistic in it. I don't believe Janie sees a strong correlation between love and marriage. She doesn't believe that if you're married then you will always be in love. She thinks you can be in love without marriage however her Nanny begs her to get married "Ah can’t die easy thinkin’ maybe de menfolks white or black is makin’ a spit cup outa you: Have some sympathy fuh me"(20) Her marriage with Logan showed her that love does not just come out of marriage. She married him without loving him and waited for the love to come yet it never did
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ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteNanny’s had a tough bringing up. She grew up in slavery and was raped. She wants Janie to have a good stable life. Her mother, Leafy was raped, and Nanny wants to eliminate any chances of that happening again. She forces Janie to marry Logan because he is financially stable and will provide her a good life. Even though Janie does not love Logan, she does what she says because she respects Nanny. Janie’s outlook on marriage is much different than Nanny. She wants to marry for love and companionship. Nanny just wants Janie to have a much different life than her.