Henyards+Eyes+Were+Watching+God

WELCOME TO HENYARDS CORNER V2

Chapters 1-2

Upon opening the book, I loved the first sentence. I can tell I am really going to like this book. It seems like the author will break the characters speech to input important quotations. On p.5, the dialect shift seems almost ironic when she says "They know mo' 'bout yuh than you do yo'self. An envious heart makes a treacherous ear." That is a great quote, but it seems to intelligent to leave those lips. I picture the character speaking in some ignorant dialect, and then all of the sudden tensing up and letting out this quote in a different, much more intelligent sounding voice.

I like the overall plot aspect so far. They see this attractive woman, and everyone is jealous. They are all critiquing her. Pheobie puts them all in place by saying the simple quote of "An envoius heart makes a treacherous ear." She proceeds to go over to Janie's house, bringing dinner. I see the dinner as a sort of apology for the way her friends are acting, as well as a show of trust. She then basically pours her life's story out. They are obviously very good friends if she is willing to share this deep story. I will post more later, because I need about 20 minutes to elaborate on this :D

Okay, I'm back, but unfortunately I am not going to give you the promised 20 minute elaboration because I have to complete my connection as well. Basically, Nanny is scolding her for kissing Johnny. She says that he is poor and worthless, and that Janie can do a lot better. She needs to a lot better. This reminded me of WEST SIDE STORY!! Star crossed lovers. The only reason it reminded me of WEST SIDE STORY was the way the author created the scene. It was such a dreamy setting, with romance obviously in the air. Johnny comes out of nowhere, sweeps her off her feet, and kisses her. It was very romantic. Yes, it was not as major as TONY AND MARIA's situation, but I feel that restricted love is a very common theme among famous works.



Chapters 3-4

The novel is opening up a little more, and it seems to be getting repetitive. Janie is still miserable, reaching out for hope, while the others around her try to break her hope down. At least the plot actually starts moving in these sections (Thank god!) Anyways, I believe that Logan and Joe are purposely juxtaposed to show the two extremes on how to handle a situation. Logan had Nanny set the marriage up. Logan wasn't himself whenever they were first married (he spoiled her.) Logan beats around the bush when she brings up leaving him. Logan is a runner. Joe, however, seizes the day. He obviously approaches Janie, and even after finding out that she is married, he still digs deeper to penetrate her heart. He succeeds because of how determined he is to win her over. Zora is telling us to be the Joe's in life.

I liked Joe's intro a lot. It seemed very arrogant and cocky, yet cool at the same time. I pictured Joe walking down a dirt road, kicking dust in up in slow motion, while a voice over reads this off. He is in sunglasses and he isn't even looking at the camera.

You may not like this very much, but I just downloaded the new mixtape of Pittsburgh Native Mac Miller, and one of his songs "Oy Vey", The song is about everytimei people see him they are very surprised with his swag, and as the chorus goes, they say something along the lines of "Oy vey! Holy Cow! Oh my god! Wowwwwwww!"

It might have reminded me of it because the mixtape is fresh on my mind, but it seems like Joe is big business. He would be hard not to notice, especially if you are Janie, who is clearly taken by his appearance. I can picture Janie saying something along the lines of the chorus, if not the entire "Oy vey! Holy cow! Oh my god! Wowwww!" :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v= __M1VoxkABE

Chapter 5

This was a significantly longer chapter than the others. It was also full of excitement. In this chapter, the narrator seems to struggle with her thoughts and loved ones (Specifically Joe). The bigger Joe blows up in the town, the bigger jerk he becomes, and the farther he gets away from Janie. It is very disheartening when you are watching this from the outside in, because you just have to sit there and watch Janie go through this. She does pick winners though...Anyways, I really like Zora Hurston's lit elements in this chapter, especially the symbolism and characterization. The light symbol is probably the most powerful symbol, and if you read my discussion, you probably already know that it represents the true light coming out of Joe. He didn't act like a jerk much before the light was installed, but after it is, he really comes out of his shell. The characterization of Joe later in the book is hands down one of the most affective characterizations I have ever experienced. It really gives you a view of who Joe really is.He is Mr. Bigshot Mayor, and he his loving every second of it. I think its funny how he became mayor like 2 days after he met everyone.

Now for my connection...



The movie Red Eye.

In this movie, a girl sits next to a guy on a plane who seems really cool and probably even attractive (obviously I don't judge guys, so I wouldn't know. Ladies, feel free to input.) They start talking, and when she finds out who he really is, she is very shocked. He is an absolute terrible person, which is weird, because he looked really normal on paper. Anyways, thats where their similarities end, because for the rest of the movie he tries to kill her, and that doesn't happen here..

Chapter 6

I loved this section of the book, specifically the beginning of the chapter. It is so chock full of literary elements. The conceit of a mule is continued in chapter 5, and actually extended towards Janie. I call it a conceit because it was brought up before by Nanny.Nanny calls black women mules (I can't find the exact page Ms. Ryce :/) Anyways, it is absolutely beautiful how well she is compared to the mule. The owner is starving the mule; Joe is starving Janie (Metaphorically, of course.) Then it begins to describe how the store is the rock she is beaten on. This is foreshadowing because she actually is beat later in the novel. It is also a beautiful metaphor for how she feels about the store; everytime something exciting happens, she is dragged back into the store. You can see how the mule conceit and the store metaphor work hand in hand.

Now for my connection....

I know it isn't that good, but I have to post it because this was all I thought about whenever Joe was treating Janie bad . http://articles.cnn.com/2009-10-27/justice/california.gang.rape.investigation_1_suspects-arrest-police?_s=PM:CRIME

Obviously it is a bit of an exaggeration, but These people are literally standing around while they see this travesty happening before their eyes. Yes, Joe is the culprit, but the people who stand by and do nothing are just as bad.

Chapters 7-10

First off, good for you Janie. She finally stands up for herself in public. It's sort of ironic how the rock that Janie has been beaten against for so long (the store) is the location that she turns the tables on the beater himself (Jody). The store seems like the location that all of the fights and issues take place. Joe tries to embarrass Janie like normal; I'm not sure if it is Joe's noticeably weakened state or what, but Janie gains a whole lot of confidence and some CAJONES.She proceeds to blaze him down in front of everyone. Hurston chose specific speech by Janie and laid out the scene specifically to give the reader a sense of empowerment; well thats what I got out of it anyways. Of course, the scene ends with Janie getting smacked. Again...

Chapter 8 really got to me. Joe hires a crappy doctor, which shows that he only hears what he wants to hear. Janie is done with that and hires a good doctor, who promptly tells her he is going to die of Kidney failure. This is a very symbolic death. Kidneys are what clean your blood, or more literally, keep the impurities out of your blood. Joe was literally killed because the impurities took him over. I loved it. Anyways, Janie decides to step up in this time of Joe's weakness to attempt to get some closure. This was a very cowardly move. It made me think of an episode of Spongebob.



More specifically, this episode-



In this episode, Spongebob is absolutely babied by his Grandma. He is literally living the life. One day a few of the guys down at the Krusty Krab see his Grandma giving him a kiss and they harass him for it; this leads to him acting more "adult like". His friend fills in for him, getting babied and eating all of these cookies. His grandma succumbs to his adult request and buys him tax return books instead of sweaters, and takes all the fun out of where it used to be. Spongebob really begins to miss what he had before, but he doesn't realize that this is a necessary step in life; he just never appreciated it. Same with Janie.. Don't get me wrong, she wasn't babied at all; it was the antithesis of that. But she was with Joe for years, and she had her mind made up of him; she resented him for how he treated her. But in his last moments, right when he was gone, she felt bad for him, and regretted the way things went.

Chapters 11-13

Chapter 11 flew by for me. All it was was the ups and downs of a relationship :l well to me anyways. I think Tea Cake is characterized by the fact that he always wants to go fishing, because he is also always "fishing" for compliments/feelings from Janie. It is ironic that Janie wakes up to find Tea Cake brushing her hair, because Jody hated her hair. These two are juxtaposed to show that Jody definitely wasn't the one, but Tea Cake is. It seems agonizing to put yourself out there like Janie did, and anxiously await Tea Cake's return, but this is what a real relationship is all about. Being afraid to lose something is simply because that something is special to you. She is obviously scarred from her past relationship though, because she doesn't understand how Tea Cake could be attracted to her. She is nervous that he won't come back again, but he returns this time, and decides to make their relationship public by parading into town for the big picnic.

That seemed a little extreme to me. Janie obviously wants to keep their relationship a secret and Tea Cake wants to expose it on one of the biggest days of the year. They are opposites to show that Janie really is happy now, simply because they both have backbones in the relationship.

Honestly, the entire time I was reading this I was thinking of The Notebook; more specifically the montage of when they fell in love. These two kids fell really hard for eachother and they are having the time of their life together. They have fun with everything they do, fight, and promptly make up. Same for Janie and Tea Cake. They had a great time, and no matter what problems they came across, they always made up.

Ch. 15-17

These few chapters were extremely exciting and full of goodies. Chapter 15 was only 4 pages long, but definitely one of the most powerful chapters yet. Hurston had to end the chapter where she did; otherwise it would've lost the affect if had on the reader. It really made me happy to see them both get past such a big issue, and to see them connect on that high of a level. "You'se something make uh man forgit tuh git old and forgit tuh die." (p. 138) One of the best quotes I've ever come across. This quote is extremely accurate in describing love.

Mrs. Turner made me so mad. She represented all of the negative energy that Janie would normally let into her life. She is a lot like Nanny and Jody, both of which poisoned her life. Tea Cake successfully removed her from Janie's life, and this shows that he is pushing the impurities out of her life. The literary elements on p 145 were unreal. They were really strong, but at the same time they confused me. Any thoughts on what they meant as a whole, and why Hurston would include them? In my own opinion, I thought shereferencing the Greek Gods, and calling gods like Zeus "real gods." Zeus demanded sacrifice, dedication, and showed no mercy. He demanded blood. The gods are a symbol for the white man.

I can't describe the fight scene without using my connection...



Space Jam.

At one point in Space Jam, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck don't like one of the monsters. So they start fighting and they make one of those little cartoon clouds with fists flying, and then they suck the monster in and beat him up. That is literally all I could think about when Tea Cake and his friends "fought" and then pulled Mrs. Turner into it and messed her up. I was laughing so hard because it turned a serious situation unserious, but it was such a smart idea on Tea Cake's part.

Chapters 18

Chapter 18 was crazy! Right off the bat we are thrown into a serious situation. Janie encounters Native Americans, who alert her of a giant hurricane coming. I don't understand how these Native Americans could've predicted something on such a large scale. Anyways, the hurricane is a metaphor for the trials in Janie's life. Normally, when a "hurricane" was entering her life, she would flee; she literally ran away from Logan and her feelings and true emotions ran away from Jody. This is the first time she is going to stick her feet in the dirt and actually work hard for something; this is Hurston not only letting the reader know that Janie and Tea Cake are very close, but she is also insinuating that Tea Cake is worth fighting for. Every time they have an issue, such as in chapter 15, Janie handles it head on; she wants to solve the problem. The whole situation with Tea Cake saving her life is very symbolic. Janie was having a very bad life before she met Tea Cake, but he absolutely swept her off her feet and took her into a dream. He fought off the bad influences (ex- Mrs. Turner) and pulled her out of the bad life she was living. Not only that, but Janie is holding on to a cow. This cow is inserted into this scene to further display the transformation Janie has been through; by bringing up the "bell cow" again, it shows us that things really are turning around for Janie and that she is no longer a bell cow; Tea Cake pulled her out of it.

I can't contain myself anymore. I might add on more tomorrow, but I'm too excited not to talk about my connection. Now onto my connection... Toy Story 3.

At one point in Toy Story 3, all of the toys are sliding down towards a fireball that will undoubtedly kill them all. They try escaping, but it is no use. So all of the toys just end up holding hands and looking at the fire; they leave their fate to god. This part is one of the most depressing things I've ever seen in any movie. No, I didn't cry, but I seriously thought I was going to. When I was reading the hurricane scene, this is the closest I've gotten to that feeling yet. Whenever Hurston says " They sat in company with the others in other shanties, their eyes straining against crude walls and their souls asking if He meant to measure their puny might against His. They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God." (p. 160) Such a powerful feeling of complete and utter powerlessness-the exact same feeling I get every time I see that Toy Story scene.

Ch 19-20

This reading was insane. I knew there were bad things to come as soon as there was a massive tone shift. Hurston tried to play it off like maybe Tea Cake was just sick, but there was a significant tone shift. I can't believe she shot Tea Cake! She killed the man she loved and the man that made her happy. That literally has to be the hardest thing to do in the world. She says that the dog killed her the wrong way, and she wish she would've died directly from the dog. I swear, Janie always ends up alone, happy or not. Everything she touches dies!!!!

Anyways, the whole time I was reading the sickness part, I thought about Van Helsing. During the movie, Van Helsing is infected by a werewolf while trying to save his girl. He transforms at night and turns into a completely different person. He harms the people he loves. He ultimately ends up attacking the same girl he saved from the werewolf while he is a werewolf. He ends up killing her. This is actually very prevalent, because not only is it a dog sickness, but Janie is emotionally killed by Tea Cake when he attacks her.