This novel begins with Janie returning to Eatonville, after being gone for a long time. I friend of hers wants to know where she has been and what she has been doing, so Janie tells her. Her story begins when she is sixteen and her grandmother wants her married off, so someone can take care of her. Janie not wanting to be married, goes along with it anyway and marrys Logan Killicks, a local farmer. One day a man named Joe starks comes along and tells Janie his great plans, and because she does not love Logan, Janie runs away with Joe Starks. Joe becomes mayor of an all African-American town, but as time goes on Janie and Joe start to separate and she doesn’t love him anymore. After some time, Joe dies and Janie is all alone. But then one day a new man walks into her life, a man named Tea Cake. She ends up falling in love with him and moving to the Everglades. There Janie and Tea Cake live a happy life and work in the fields. After some time there, a hurricane strikes. Many of the workers die, but Janie and Tea Cake make it out alive. This novel ends with Tea Cake getting rabies and Janie having to shoot him in self defense.
Literary Critic Review Article
by Krystal Wright
Affects on a Novel
There are many things in this novel that have to do with or are related to things that have happened in history. The first that we read about is the fact that Janie’s grandmother wants to get Janie married off before she dies, so someone will be there to take care of Janie. Back in the time that this novel is centered on, women had a hard time supporting themselves. Then we read about Joe Starks and his plans. He wants to go to the first all African-American town and start building it up. The author of this novel, Zora Neale Hurston, grew up in an all black town. Another is when Sam Watson, Lige Moss, and Joe Starks are all having a conversation about the “big ole scoundrel beast”(66). This has to do with a few of the Oil Corporation stations that are still up and running today. When Tea Cake, Janie’s third husband is gambling, one of the fellow gamblers says “lemme win yo’ money: Ah’m sending it straight off to Sears and Roebuck and buy me some clothes” (135). Sears and Roebuck was a corporation in that time, that sold nearly everything and Hurston related it into her novel. One more great historical event that Hurston mentioned in her novel was the Great Okeechobee Hurricane of 1928. In the novel the people, mainly migrant workers, were not prepared for it and died. In real life this was also true. This hurricane is considered one of the top ten worst in the United States and killed over two thousand people. The last main event that happens in this novel is when Tea Cake gets rabies and Janie has to shoot him for self defense and to put him out of his misery. In those days, it was most likely that they did not have any medication for this disease. As you can tell, this novel had many historical related events in it.
Cast of Characters
by Dean Finnegan
Janie Mae Crawford/Killicks/Starks/Woods
This is the main character and heroine in the novel. The story begins at the end of her struggles, then flashes back as she is a very young woman, 16 years old, and follows through her life to twenty-four years later. Janie is African American (considered the first Black character in fiction that is self discovering), but has some Caucasian ancestry; which makes her skin tone light and her hair straight. Janie was left to her grandmother to raise. She never knew her parents. She goes through three husbands before, finally, becoming happy and fulfilled.
Pheoby Watson
Janie’s neighbor and friend, she is married to Sam Watson. The both of them care about Janie’s welfare. Citizens of Eatonville, they are a part of a group of people who are the circle of Janie and Jody Starks acquaintances in the town. Phoebe is audience to the retelling of Janie’s life story. Phoebe listens intently so she can take the story to the rest of the townspeople.
Nanny Crawford
This is Janie’s grandmother, who has raised her. Nanny was born into slavery, raped by her master, almost killed by the master’s wife. She ran away and finally found a home with Mrs. Washburn, a sympathetic white woman who hires Nanny to care for her children. Her daughter, Leafy, was raped by a schoolmaster. Leafy coped with this by drinking and partying, eventually running off after giving birth to Janie. Nanny is determined to marry Janie into a life that will free her from poverty.
Logan Killicks
He is Janie’s first husband; an older man with a farm and acreage. Janie sees nothing attractive about him. He is a static character that has only one drive, to take care of his acres of land and sell the crops. He is emotionless and does not have any kind of love relationship with Janie. He hardly reacts when Janie suggests that she will leave him.
Jody Starks
Jody is Janie’s second husband. We first see him as a young man with big dreams and the money to see them come true. He is very ambitious and is driven to become wealthy and powerful. He initiates the growth of Eatonville, becomes mayor and opens a store. He wisps Janie off, marries her and makes her into a kind of trophy/status wife. He lives many years with Janie without really being in love with her. He dies of kidney failure, bitter and angry.
Vergible "Tea Cake" Woods
He is a young, attractive man, in his twenties, who drifts into Eatonville and sparks up a relationship with Janie. He is intelligent and energetic; good at gambling and scrapping, one of the thousands of Black immigrant farm workers who populated rural Florida in the early part of the twentieth century. He also has a sweet personality, thus his name Tea Cake. Janie is taken in by his warmth and they begin a romantic relationship that fulfills Janie’s desire for true love. They elope, get married and travel to Jacksonville and eventually wind up in the “muck”, the fertile area surrounding the vast Lake Okeechobee. He is killed in the end of the book and is given a magnificent funeral.
Mrs. Turner
An unusually shaped woman, she is not very attractive, but is very light skinned with Caucasian features. Mrs. Turner and her husband own the local restaurant and somehow initiate a visiting friendship with Janie. She has a formidable mind set and is very opinionated, particularly when it comes to racial status. She believes that she is superior, and more like the white man and condescends toward anyone of darker skin and African feature. As a wife she is dominant and is determined to match her brother to Janie. Tea Cake is alienated from her when he overhears her conversing with Janie about her opinions, and is further angered when he learns she is scheming to get Janie to marry her brother. This suggestion becomes a significant element in Tea Cakes jealous rages.
Amos Hicks
One of the original citizens of Eatonville before Jody and Janie arrive there. He is enamored with Janie and makes feeble attempt to attract her. He is one of the checker players who would sit on the front porch of Jody’s store. Amos, along with many other people who live in the area, is part of the group of watchers at the introduction, when Janie slowly walks back into town.
Motor Boat
He is a part of the happy-go-lucky migrants who work with Tea Cake in the bean and cane fields of the “muck” and is among a group of friends with Tea Cake and Janie who revel together in the evenings after work. He becomes an important character during the hurricane because he basically ignores the storm and sleeps through much of it. He is an irony, because he did nothing to accomplish his survival, yet remained unscathed.
Hezekiah Potts
The delivery boy at Jody Starks store who works alongside Janie for a number of years before Jody’s death. He slowly becomes more assertive and begins to act as if her were Jody’s replacement. He also mimics many of Jody’s mannerisms, which is somewhat comical to Janie. His treats Janie much like a sister. Janie leaves the running of the store to him when she runs off with Tea Cake.
Dr. Simmons
Among the very few white characters in the novel, he is called by Janie when Tea Cake becomes sick. He helps Janie understand what is happening to Tea Cake and gives her clear warnings about his possible behavior. Failing to get the needed medicine for Janie in time, his delay plays a crucial role in the plot by providing the conditions that brings Tea Cake to his maddening rage. When Janie is put on trial for shooting Tea Cake, Dr. Simmons’ testimony gives weight to her defense.
Mrs. Washburn
After the Civil War, Nanny fled from her previous slave owner and met up with this kindly white woman and her husband and began working for her, taking care of her children who played with Janie as she grew up. Mrs. Washburn sold Nanny a small house next door to live in. Janie first experienced racial prejudice, in a personal way, when the Washburn children shunned her in school in favor of the white kids. It made a lasting impression in Janie’s psyche.
Nunkie
Short and stocky, this young migrant girl is attracted to Tea Cake and playfully wrestles around with him inciting jealousy in Janie. The situation comes to a climax when, one day, Janie cannot find Tea Cake. When she goes looking for him, she finds the two of them together amongst the sugarcane. Janie runs Nunkie off and in a jealous rage tries beating Tea Cake. They struggle with one another and eventually begin to get aroused, which then leads to a night of passion.
Janie Mae Crawford/Killicks/Starks/Woods
This is the main character and heroine in the novel. The story begins at the end of her struggles, then flashes back as she is a very young woman, 16 years old, and follows through her life to twenty-four years later. Janie is African American (considered the first Black character in fiction that is self discovering), but has some Caucasian ancestry; which makes her skin tone light and her hair straight. Janie was left to her grandmother to raise. She never knew her parents. She goes through three husbands before, finally, becoming happy and fulfilled.
Pheoby Watson
Janie’s neighbor and friend, she is married to Sam Watson. The both of them care about Janie’s welfare. Citizens of Eatonville, they are a part of a group of people who are the circle of Janie and Jody Starks acquaintances in the town. Phoebe is audience to the retelling of Janie’s life story. Phoebe listens intently so she can take the story to the rest of the townspeople.
Nanny Crawford
This is Janie’s grandmother, who has raised her. Nanny was born into slavery, raped by her master, almost killed by the master’s wife. She ran away and finally found a home with Mrs. Washburn, a sympathetic white woman who hires Nanny to care for her children. Her daughter, Leafy, was raped by a schoolmaster. Leafy coped with this by drinking and partying, eventually running off after giving birth to Janie. Nanny is determined to marry Janie into a life that will free her from poverty.
Logan Killicks
He is Janie’s first husband; an older man with a farm and acreage. Janie sees nothing attractive about him. He is a static character that has only one drive, to take care of his acres of land and sell the crops. He is emotionless and does not have any kind of love relationship with Janie. He hardly reacts when Janie suggests that she will leave him.
Jody Starks
Jody is Janie’s second husband. We first see him as a young man with big dreams and the money to see them come true. He is very ambitious and is driven to become wealthy and powerful. He initiates the growth of Eatonville, becomes mayor and opens a store. He wisps Janie off, marries her and makes her into a kind of trophy/status wife. He lives many years with Janie without really being in love with her. He dies of kidney failure, bitter and angry.
Vergible "Tea Cake" Woods
He is a young, attractive man, in his twenties, who drifts into Eatonville and sparks up a relationship with Janie. He is intelligent and energetic; good at gambling and scrapping, one of the thousands of Black immigrant farm workers who populated rural Florida in the early part of the twentieth century. He also has a sweet personality, thus his name Tea Cake. Janie is taken in by his warmth and they begin a romantic relationship that fulfills Janie’s desire for true love. They elope, get married and travel to Jacksonville and eventually wind up in the “muck”, the fertile area surrounding the vast Lake Okeechobee. He is killed in the end of the book and is given a magnificent funeral.
Mrs. Turner
An unusually shaped woman, she is not very attractive, but is very light skinned with Caucasian features. Mrs. Turner and her husband own the local restaurant and somehow initiate a visiting friendship with Janie. She has a formidable mind set and is very opinionated, particularly when it comes to racial status. She believes that she is superior, and more like the white man and condescends toward anyone of darker skin and African feature. As a wife she is dominant and is determined to match her brother to Janie. Tea Cake is alienated from her when he overhears her conversing with Janie about her opinions, and is further angered when he learns she is scheming to get Janie to marry her brother. This suggestion becomes a significant element in Tea Cakes jealous rages.
Amos Hicks
One of the original citizens of Eatonville before Jody and Janie arrive there. He is enamored with Janie and makes feeble attempt to attract her. He is one of the checker players who would sit on the front porch of Jody’s store. Amos, along with many other people who live in the area, is part of the group of watchers at the introduction, when Janie slowly walks back into town.
Motor Boat
He is a part of the happy-go-lucky migrants who work with Tea Cake in the bean and cane fields of the “muck” and is among a group of friends with Tea Cake and Janie who revel together in the evenings after work. He becomes an important character during the hurricane because he basically ignores the storm and sleeps through much of it. He is an irony, because he did nothing to accomplish his survival, yet remained unscathed.
Hezekiah Potts
The delivery boy at Jody Starks store who works alongside Janie for a number of years before Jody’s death. He slowly becomes more assertive and begins to act as if her were Jody’s replacement. He also mimics many of Jody’s mannerisms, which is somewhat comical to Janie. His treats Janie much like a sister. Janie leaves the running of the store to him when she runs off with Tea Cake.
Dr. Simmons
Among the very few white characters in the novel, he is called by Janie when Tea Cake becomes sick. He helps Janie understand what is happening to Tea Cake and gives her clear warnings about his possible behavior. Failing to get the needed medicine for Janie in time, his delay plays a crucial role in the plot by providing the conditions that brings Tea Cake to his maddening rage. When Janie is put on trial for shooting Tea Cake, Dr. Simmons’ testimony gives weight to her defense.
Mrs. Washburn
After the Civil War, Nanny fled from her previous slave owner and met up with this kindly white woman and her husband and began working for her, taking care of her children who played with Janie as she grew up. Mrs. Washburn sold Nanny a small house next door to live in. Janie first experienced racial prejudice, in a personal way, when the Washburn children shunned her in school in favor of the white kids. It made a lasting impression in Janie’s psyche.
Nunkie
Short and stocky, this young migrant girl is attracted to Tea Cake and playfully wrestles around with him inciting jealousy in Janie. The situation comes to a climax when, one day, Janie cannot find Tea Cake. When she goes looking for him, she finds the two of them together amongst the sugarcane. Janie runs Nunkie off and in a jealous rage tries beating Tea Cake. They struggle with one another and eventually begin to get aroused, which then leads to a night of passion.
Poetic Device Artwork
by Tasia Widner
This is a free-hand, pencil drawing by Tasia Widner of a few of the poetic devices exemplified in Zora N. Hurston's novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. In order to make the drawing sharper and easier to see, Tasia edited a photograph of the drawing using http://www.picnik.com/, a free photo-editing website. The individual vignettes and their descriptions are displayed below. If you want to see this drawing on your full screen, simply click on the image.
"The Sea"
The picture as a whole encompasses Janie's statement that "love is lak de sea. It's uh movin' thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from de shore it meets, and it's different with every shore" (191). The three different vignettes represent different attributes of the sea in correspondence to different times in Janie and Tea Cake's marriage. The first represents the calm, easy-going beginning to their life together. The second represents their trials and the depth of their love for eachother, and the third represents the dreadful calm after the storm, the culmination of their marriage.
Checkers
This scene is the first time Tea Cake teaches Janie how to play checkers. I chose to depict a scene with Janie and Tea Cake because most of the times that the two protagonists are at the store are filled with sensory imagery (for example, Janie and Tea Cake's dialogue in chapter 11 about whether Janie was ever satisfied with her looks). Also, this scene is located right at the start of the horizon. Meeting Tea Cake was the beginning of the fulfillment of Janie's dream.
Watching God
This portion of the drawing contains the majority of the poetic devices. On page 158, Hurston compares the hurricane to a "monster," and in this vignette, Janie and Tea Cake are huddling together in their house, beseeching God with their eyes to protect them from this monster. In the background, the ship that has "every man's wish on board" (1) rests on the horizon. I drew it this way because this scene -the hurricane- was the climax of the story, and similarly, the point at which Janie knew her dreams were fulfilled.
The End of the Horizon
This last vignette also represents vivid sensory imagery: the vicious dog that tried to kill Janie and Tea Cake and Tea Cake's triumph over it (166); the descriptions of Tea Cake's difficulty in drinking water (175, 178); and the suspenseful interchange between Janie and Tea Cake that lead to his death and the sorrow that followed (183-184). This final scene was drawn at the opposite side of the horizon for two reasons. First, Tea Cake is metaphorically refered to by Janie as the "son of the Evening Sun." Finally, this event marks Janie's road back home, and describes her statement to Pheoby: "Ah done been tuh de horizon and back" (191).
Original Conflict Song
by Dean Finnegan
Please take time to listen to this beautiful original composition written and performed by Dean Finnegan!
http://users.tc3net.com/dinofinney/blues.wav
Please take time to listen to this beautiful original composition written and performed by Dean Finnegan!
http://users.tc3net.com/dinofinney/blues.wav
Lyrics
I got de Okeechobee blues cause de hurricane is on its way
I got de Okeechobee blues cause you gone and took my soul away
O baby please don’t make me stay
You come ‘long baby and made somethin’ outa me yea, yea
You come ‘long baby to rock and roll and shake me free yea
The Okeechobee blues makes me crazy honey don’t ya see
(2x)
I got de Okeechobee blues
Woman don’t ya snooze
We’re lookin for the news
I got de Okeechobee blues
Now shoot me honey please now and take away my misery
The Okeechobee blues makes me crazy honey don’t ya see
It’s floodin water dun an made a mean dog out of me
(2 x)
I got de Okeechobee blues
I got de Okeechobee blues
I got de Okeechobee blue… oo… oo… oo.. oo… oo… ues
Disclaimer from the composer:
This is an amateur production. The melody may have similarity to other blues songs.
That is not intentional, these themes just float around in my head.
No plagiarism was intentional. Also, please excuse mistakes and recording quality. I did my best.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
