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.
No comments:
Post a Comment