Ryce+TEWWG

Their Eyes Were Watching God



//16 March 2011 //
 To read my blog, watch the video below. You may wish to use headphones :)

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March 18, 2011



22 March 2011

Fireproof



March 24, 2011

March 25, 2011

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March 29, 2011 So.. much... good... stuff... where to start?

 Sigh... to fall in love... or, rather, to read about falling in love... Hurston does such a fantastic job of encapsulating the breathlessness, hope, buoyancy, fears, and insecurities with which falling in love comes. I love Janie’s tentative hope: “he could be a bee to a blossom.” (106) I also love the way Hurston describes Tea Cake’s lingering scent (107); it makes me think about the way a even a tiny waft of specific cologne or perfume will bring someone you love to mind. When I think of Janie’s roller coaster ride and tentative hope, I think of “Could I Be” by Wood.

 “If I had a wish/ I swear you’d hear me say/ Could I be the last give in/ Say you’ll never start again/ Could I be the dream, the dream for you/ Could I be? Would I do?/ Could I be the last surrender/ Could I be the number one contender/ Could I trust you if you don’t come home?/ Could I leave you all alone?”

 I also like the way Janie describes her philosophy of love and marriage. At one point she tells Pheoby that she knows marriage changes folks, sometimes for the worse, but she is ready to risk that for Tea Cake. I think I’ve written about this before, but I’ll do it again - there are so many folks who go into marriage expecting change to happen to their significant others and resent it when it doesn’t happen. It baffles me. The line I really like, though, is when Janie tells Tea Cake, “Ah aims to partake wid everything.” There is a longing for a true partnership, a genuine sharing of life’s passage. Delightful! Another great song springs to mind: “True Companion” by Marc Cohn.

 Lastly, the muck... oh, the muck... how I enjoy Hurston’s imagery and the mood of the muck (sounds oxymoronic, doesn’t it?). The camaraderie of the people there is something fun and playful, and they celebrate the moment because “next year and next month were other times. No need to mix them up with the present.” This reminds me so much of the Carpe Diem theme of so many different things: “Living Like Weasels” by Annie Dillard, any Transcendentalist, and the movie Dead Poets Society. media type="file" key="Dead Poets Society - Carpe Diem.mov" width="300" height="300"

March 31, 2011

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<span style="background-color: #ffff00; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%; text-align: center;"> (The video quality is a little poor on this, but you'll get the point)

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4 April 2011 ~ Chapter 18

//<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Oh how I enjoy the opening paragraph of this chapter, where Hurston describes the Bahamans and their fear of being laughed at because of one of their traditions. I think everyone fears rejection of any sort, whether it be for a tradition or a belief or appearances, and Hurston does a fantastic job of relating that. The best part of it is how she flips it two paragraphs later when everyone dismisses the Indians’ thoughts about the coming hurricane. “Indians are dumb anyhow, always were.” (155) Funny how we embrace something about another culture we like (dancing) but will dismiss another culture when it frightens us. //

//<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">I positively adore the exploration of God in this chapter as well. At one point, Janie refers to Him as “Ole Massa” yet within two or three paragraphs, Janie talks about how He guided her: “If you kin see de light at daybreak, you don’t keer if you die at dusk. It’s so many people never seen de light at all. Ah wuz fumblin’ round and God opened de door.” (159) Sigh... that is one of my favorite quotes of the novel. Yet again, within two paragraphs, they are questioning God’s purpose, “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.” (160) This reminds me of a conversation I had just this weekend with a student who graduated several years ago. He questioned why, if there is a God, He would allow horrible things to happen. I see Hurston doing the same thing in this chapter, questioning why things unfold the way they do. //

//<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">I think many authors explore this either directly (I am thinking of __The God File__, __Frankenstein__, and others) or indirectly just by the creation process of writing a novel. Think about it: when an author composes literature, s/he is creating a world in which s/he controls what happens to the characters (people) within, controls the setting, all to illustrate a theme (higher purpose). I am thinking of two movies here: __The Truman Show__ (that’s for you, Linds) //



//<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">and __Stranger than Fiction__. //

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//<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Both movies relate to some sort of creation (television show and fictional writing) and the premise that the “characters” being created are real, capable of independent feeling and rebelling against what the creator wants to happen. //

//<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">I can’t say as whether these authors/filmmakers figure it all out, nor can I say that I have it figured out. The more I think about it, though, the more I think that it is not about the answers we think we have but it is in the asking that is most important. When we ask, of God, of ourselves, of people we know, of people we don’t know, we think and ponder and discover new things we might never have known before had we never asked, which leads me to this next connection: “What If?” by Nichole Nordeman. I apologize for the misspellings; I found this on youtube. //

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<span style="background-color: #008000; color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">6 April 2011 <span style="background-color: #008000; color: #008000; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;"> // Sigh... I so adore this novel, even though it doesn’t have the typical, happy-ever-after ending. I don’t know if Hurston was going for this theme, but her choice of ending always makes me realize that perspective is everything. The great thing about perspective is that I can choose it or allow it to choose me... //



<span style="background-color: #008000; color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;"> //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">And now, a barrage of quotes to make my heart sigh: //

<span style="background-color: #008000; color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">//<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;"> “Lemme bear de pain ‘long widja, baby.” // <span style="background-color: #008000; color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">//<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;"> “Ah loves him fit tuh kill.” // <span style="background-color: #008000; color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">//<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;"> “Somewhere up there beyond blue ether’s bosom sat He. Was He noticing what was going on around here? He must be because He knew everything. Did He mean to do this thing to Tea Cake and her? ... Maybe it was some big tease and when He saw it had gone far enough He’d give her a sign... Her arms went up in a desperate supplication for a minute. It wasn’t exactly pleading, it was asking questions.” // <span style="background-color: #008000; color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">//<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;"> “Ah jus’ know dat God snatched me out de fire through you.” // <span style="background-color: #008000; color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">//<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;"> “You must let de flowers see yuh sometimes, heah, Janie?” // <span style="background-color: #008000; color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">//<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;"> “Love is lak de sea. It’s uh movin’ thing, but still and all, it takes the shape from de shore it meets, and it’s different with every shore.” // <span style="background-color: #008000; color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">//<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;"> “You got tuh go there to know there.” // <span style="background-color: #008000; color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">//<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;"> “Two things everybody’s got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got to go to God, and they got tuh find out about livin’ fuh theyselves.” // <span style="background-color: #008000; color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">//<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;"> “He could never be dead until she herself had finished feeling and thinking.” // <span style="background-color: #008000; color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">//<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;"> “She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see.” //

<span style="background-color: #008000; color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">//<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;"> If it’s not obvious already, I am a sappy romantic at heart. //

<span style="background-color: #008000; color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">//<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;"> I love the way Hurston connects the end of the novel so cleanly with the opening paragraphs, how we all have to “go there to know there,” meaning the horizon. The longer my tenure on this planet, the more I realize how very true so many of those quotes are: genuinely loving someone means wanting to bear their burdens and defend them with all of who you are; sometimes we don’t understand God’s plan or purpose, but we can recognize when He sends someone to “snatch us out of the fire”; love is a living thing, entirely dependent on the individual experience and different for every person; living is about experiences, and in order to experience things, we have to risk pain. (Okay, so this reads like Life’s Little Instruction Book according to Beth Ryce... a little preachy, but a girl has a right to an opinion...) //

<span style="background-color: #008000; color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">//<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;"> The final lines of the novel evoke so much in my mind’s eye: the perfect sunset on the day of my grandmother’s 90th birthday party, every time I walk outside at night and remember to look up to drink in the stars, and the final scene from Forrest Gump when he is talking to Janie, the love of his life, and talking about how he carried her with him in his heart... so much of life in its meshes... //

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