Bertocki's+Team+Logan


 * March 16 Chapters 1-2**

Reflection: I really wasn't sure how I was going to handle this book. To be honest I didn't think that I was going to enjoy it, but Hurston does a very good job of pulling the reader in and keeping them interested. So the first chapter definitely left a bigger impact on me, although I thoroughly enjoy the use of flashback employed in the second chapter. I found it interesting how Hurston showed the time period. Back in a day when the women had nothing else better to do but sit on their porches and gossip about each other. It seemed as they were all concerned about Janie and nothing else mattered to them. "You mean, you mad 'cause she didn't stop and tell us all her business." pg.3. The people are not concerned for the well being of Janie but rather what is going on in her life. This can be related to almost every individual. It is human nature to wonder, some people just do it to a high degree than others. It is the desire of knowledge that has put us where we are today, however, in the case of the women in Janie's neighborhood, it is not for the betterment of others, just the betterment of their own selfish satisfaction. Although there were a lot of good things brought out through the flashback, obviously giving the reader a little more insight to where Janie came from, but I still feel that the first chapter held strong. I feel that the back and forth story telling is going to become a personal favorite of mine, for it will provide a better understanding. Connection: **Pick a little ladies from //The Music Man//** Considering my analysis of the time period and how the women spent most of their time gossiping and finding out information about each other, I related this entire chapter to the musical //The Music Man.// As I was reading the chapter I kept singing the pick a little song in my head over and over again and kept thinking about how all the women of River City would gather around and speculate about where Miss Marion got all of her money and why she refused to marry. Of coarse all of their speculations were off, as were the women's speculations of Janie. Nevertheless this didn't keep the women from spreading falsehoods about Marion and others in the town, no matter how ridiculous they were. All that mattered to them was they found an outcast, someone who didn't sit and gossip, and they used that to their advantage, because they now had a new subject to prey on. Just like how the women prey on Janie because she is not ready to tell them every aspect of her life, nor should she be.

** March 18 Chapters 3-4 **

Reflection: I was honestly shocked by this reading. Initially I was surprised that she married Logan. I ultimately think that she did it to appease Nanny. Nanny is what she lives for and means the world to Janie, just like how Nanny lives for Jeanie. I found it interesting the syntax that Hurston chose to use to show that Nanny had passed away. "A month later she was dead." (pg. 23) It shows the abruptness that it happened. Now all Janie has is the dream that love can somehow blossom from marriage. However, over timed she learned that it just wasn't so. "She knew now that marriage did not make love." (pg. 24) I think this was one of the most significant things in the novel. It shows how Jeanie's dream isn't exactly what she thought it would be, and if she wants it to become what she wants, she is going to have to change things up a bit. I do have to say I was kind of shocked at how suddenly Janie changed marriages. I knew she was married to three men, but I thought Logan would get a bit more time on the pages of the novel than he did. However, it shows his symbol in the novel. He was nothing more than a step in Janie trying to find her dream. Now she is married to Mr. Joe Starks, hoping that somehow this marriage will be more promising towards love. "So they were married there before sundown, just like Joe had said." (pg. 31) Sometimes in life when we see a better opportunity to reach our dreams and are quick to jump on it. However, unfortunately we often learn that patience might have been the best virtue we could have utilized. Maybe this will be the case with Janie. Connection: **Rose from //The Titanic//** When I originally read this I initially connected it to the character Lydia in //Pride and Prejudice.// However, after further preponderance, I think a better connection is Rose from //The Titanic.// She was in the exact situation as Janie. Rose wanted love but wasn't getting it from her thrown together engagement for money. She was hoping that her dream of love would be reached over time, but in stead she found herself in an uncomfortable situation and she needed a quick way out. Along came Jack. Jack was the exact opposite of Rose and caused her to fall in love with him. The love that she knew she could never get with her fiance. So she took the quick route to her dreams. Jumped on loves ban-wagon and didn't think twice about it. (although I wouldn't either for Leo <3) If she would have, her life would have worked out differently. She would have married rich and maybe one day have found love. But she was impatient and went to the easy thing just like Janie. Janie just wanted love, when she didn't find it with Logan, just as Rose didn't find it with her fiance, she jumped to Mr. Starks, just like Rose jumped to Jack.

Reflection: So initially I didn't really get this chapter, but that could just be for the fact that I was reading it so late at night. After reading what people posted in the moodle, I feel like I got a better understainding of what exactly Hurston was talking about in this chapter. Even though there was a lot of significant things about Joe in this chapter, I really honed in on the symbol of Janie to Joe. The metaphor that Hurston implements on page 39 describes it perfectly. "Everybody was coming sort of fixed up, and he didn't mean for nobody else's wife to rank with her. She must look on herself as the bell-cow, the other women were the gang." Joe looks about Janie as a symbol of his success, someone that the other women in the town should follow and be jealous of and someone the men should envy him over. However, I feel that because he is doing this, Janie dissapeared from this chapter. In all honesty, I statrted to forget that the book was even about her and not about Joe trying to take over a town. But I believe that was Hurston's point. She was showing how easily Janie was cast to the side by her husbands selfish desires to be god of the town.
 * March 22 Chapter 5**

Connection: **Alice Roosevelt** Often times when men come to be of significant prominance in any aspect, the women they adorn themselves with become their symbol. The symbol of their success, their welth, and their ability to maintain a functioning personal life as well as be in charge. Teddy Roosevelt was married twice and his dauther to his first marriage, Alice, was a bit of a scar on Teddy's reputation. Alice and Teddy never got a long, but she was a symbol nevertheless of how the president maintained his home structure. Alice often times caused quite a scandle, running away from home as well as having flings with some of her father's cabinet. Teddy wanted to desperately change the way people viewed this symbol and eventually sent her away for 9 months to civilize her. This is the case with Janie and Joe. Joe looks at Janie as a symbol of his success and will do anything to make sure others see her in the right light. "Thakn yuh fuh yo' compliments, but mah wife don't knwo nothin' 'bout no speech-makin'." (pg.40) Joe didn't want to be ashamed if Janie didn't know how to speak in public, so he thought it better to just nip it in the bud. Just as Teddy so briliantly covered up his scandle of a daughter by parading his other children around and ignoring Alice, Joe masks Janie and any possible tarnish she might cause to his reputation but putting in LIGHT everything that should make the people love him.

**March 24: Chapter 6**

Reflection:So honestly this chapter made me mad. I kinda felt like a blind lady watching tv. I could barely tell which character was talking when, but I believe I got the basic point of everything. Nevertheless this chapter made me really mad. I have always had a problem with the way that Joe tries to portray Janie. Just let her be who she wants to be. It is not like Joe is king of the world and everyone is watching his every move. He is self appointed mayor of a small town. Janie can be who she wants. The metaphor that Hurston employed perfectly described the marriage. "The bed was no longer a daisy-field for her and Joe to play in. It was a place where she went and laid down when she was sleepy and tired.' (pg. 67) This shows how Janie is giving up on her dream and goes back to the opening statement of the novel. "Then they act and do things accordingly." (pg. 1) Janie is reacting to what is happening to her dream. It is fading, love is no longer a fake reality to her, so she is going to go on and ignore what is happening and live the life that she chose. In life this commonly happens. Hurston had it right when she said women act according to their dream. Women can easily move from one chapter to the next if it means remaining stable and having a successful life. Sometimes you have to make the best out of a terrible situation for the betterment of the people around you.

Just gonna stand there  And watch me burn  But that's alright  Because I like  The way it hurts  Just gonna stand there  And hear me cry  But that's alright  Because I love  The way you lie  I love the way you lie  I love the way you lie

Connection: **Love the Way You Lie**



**March 25 Chapters 7-10** Reflection: So I loved this reading!!!! I'm not sure if it is because Joe died or that Tea Cakes has finally been introduced, but honestly I feel as though it is a bit of everything. The one thing that really bothered me is that Janie continued to feel bad for throughout the entire process. "Poor Jody!" (pg. 80) Janie continues to feel bad for him throughout these few chapters. I do have to say though (jumping around a bit) I love that Hurston had Tea Cakes and Janie's first moment together be playing checkers. I think it greatly showed the juxtaposition between how Janie was treated by Joe and how Tea Cakes is treating her. "He set it up and began to show her and he found herself glowing inside. Somebody wanted her to play. Somebody thought it natural for her to play. That was even nice." (pg.92) However, I really liked the opening of chapter 7. "The years took all the fight out of Janie's face. For a while she thought it was gone from her soul." (pg. 72) Even though things changed as the chapters progressed, these first two sentences really made me upset. However, it provided a great parallel. In life we often times will give up our spirit towards things because the fight in us has died. It is obvious both physically and mentally. Connection: Pride and Prejudice So this connection is not going to be my strongest, I can promise you that, but bear with me. In Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy loves Elizabeth with his entire soul. There is nothing that can part his love for her. However, Elizabeth keeps pushing and pushing away, until Mr. Darcy decides to just leave her alone. However, in the end, even though he isn't sure how it will end, Mr. Darcy goes to Elizabeth's house to try and get her. Janie loves Joe, maybe not as much as Mr. Darcy loved Elizabeth, however, she looses her fight. Joe has beater her down and beaten her down and there is nothing that she can do anymore. However, at the end she gives it one more try. But was not as successful as Mr. Darcy. Joe never returned Janie's feelings. "Leave heah, Janie. Don't come heah-" (pg. 82)

** March 28 Chapters 11-14 ** Reflection: So I have such strong mixed feelings towards Janie right now. Part of me wants to hit her for being such a love hungry girl, but part of me can't blame her when considering everything that she has gone through with the different men in her life. However, I feel as though Hurston really won me over with her personification at the end of chapter 13. "Janie looked down on him and felt a self-crushing love. So her soul out from its hiding place."(pg 110) These words floated off the page beautifully. The self-crushing love made me realize how passionately Janie cares for Tea Cake she for the first time is allowing her true feelings to come forth. Her soul is done hiding she wants Tea Cake to know everything and for them to be truly one. Even though this was a short concluding paragraph I felt that it showed to me Janie's true emotions and I couldn't be happier for her. Sometimes in life, it isn't till the end of the day, when we truly reflect on everything that has happened, that we are able to let our emotions be truly shown. Sometimes we are scared and too damaged from before, just like Janie, but eventually an unlikely source will break us down. Connection: **Meg from Hercules**So when I read Hurston's imagery and detail to Janie's feelings regarding her initial trip in to love. "All next day in the house and store she thought resisting thoughts about Tea Cake. She even ridiculed him in her mind and was a little ashamed of the association. But every hour or two the battle had to be fought all over again." (pg. 101) I couldn't stop singing dang Hercules music. I no longer felt that I was reading a story about a 40 year old woman, but rather a story about a teenage girl scared to admit she is falling for some guy. Janie is making every excuse in the book to not fall for Tea Cake no matter how good he is. Even though she always finds herself wondering back to sweet thoughts concerning him. This is the same with Meg. Hercules is too great to be true, and on top of it, it would be completely wrong of her to love him. She refuses to admit she is falling for him and tries to think nothing but bad thoughts about him, but it is no use no matter where she turns she can't help but sense and overwhelming desire for him, despite how wrong it may be. Just like, despite the age difference and the risks involved. Janie can't help but fall desperately in love with Tea Cake.

**March 30 Chapters 15-17** Reflection: So I'm not going to lie these weren't my favorite chapters. I feel that Hurston completely wondered off from what the story has been about. However, she still found ways to implement little pieces here and there that let you know about Janie's never ending search for love and true happiness. I also find it how ironic it is that Mrs. Turner is racist. It honestly made me chuckle a bit. "Whit doctors always gits mah money. Ah don't go in no nigger store tuh buy nothin' neither. Colored folks don't know nothin' 'bout no business." (pg. 136) Despite the majority of the reading being about Mrs. Turner and the fact that she's pretty much an idiot, chapter 15 is what really stuck out to me. Janie was so hurt by the possibility of losing Tea Cake. I think it is almost sweet how much she has fallen for him. Hurston displayed this well with a metaphor. "A little seed of fear was growing into a tree." (pg. 130) Janie does not trust this Nunkie to stay away from Tea Cake and she is not having it. Another sign of how much Janie really cares for Tea Cake. Hurston is showing the progression of love though Janie and Tea Cake's relationship. First she was head over heals and not too sure of every element of her love. "Oh, Ah know you don't talk. We ain't shame faced. We jus' ain't ready tuh make no big kerflommuck as yet." (pg 109) Next Janie is truly letting herself be real with him. Truly love. Janie "felt a self-crushing love. So her soul crawled our from its hiding place." (pg. 122) And now she is too the point where she knows where she stands and she will not let anyone threaten her position in Tea Cake's life. The jealous love. "Janie learned what it felt like to be jealous." (pg. 130) All of the fazes of Janie's love life are fazes of everyone's. Everyone goes through different emotions when truly being in love with them Hurston just has a very exquisite way of showing them.

Connection: **Opening scene in P.S. I Love You.**So my connection is going to be a little weaker than normal but I shall give it a shot. When Janie and Tea Cake were fighting it honestly reminded me of the opening scene of P. S. I love you. The couple keeps arguing and arguing over nothing. It isn't even important. It is basically Holly is so upset about her mother and lack of kinds and Gerry just keeps pushing the issue. Holly knows there is no reason to be mad about Gerry wanting kids but she doesn't care. Janie knows Tea Cake would never cheat on her. He is just messing around. But she starts to make a mountain out of a mole hill and before you know it, Janie and Tea Cake are spending all night fighting about nothing important just like Holly and Gerry. Fortunately for both couples the night ended in some activity not suited for the children viewers of my blog. This happens in real life allllllll of the time! We make up false arguments with people in our lives for whatever reason. Whether it be because we want attention or we truly believe we are justified, we all are guilty of doing it. The good thing is, if true love exists between the people that are arguing, They can almost always work it out.

**April 4: Chapter 18** So i accidently forgot my book at school and will be doing this off of memory and will add textual support tomorrow in class =] I really enjoyed this chapter. After i pushed away the muck of the storm I felt that I could really see the deep passionate love between Tea Cake and Janie and how it has evolved into a completely selfless love. They would do anything for each other. When Janie got whisked away in to the water it was when she was trying to get something to cover Tea Cake while he rested. And Tea Cake almost died himself while trying to rescue Janie. Their love is so beautiful and was clearly evident in these chapters. I felt that Hurston chose to show their love at the time of the storm to show it as a metaphor. Everyone always hears the metaphor true love lasts through storms, and Hurston showed how Janie's and Tea Cake's love really did make it through a storm. "Well, he said humbly, reckon you never 'spected tuh come tuh dis when you took up wid me, didja. Once upon uh time, Ah never 'spected nothin', Tea Cake, But you come 'long and made somethin' outa me. So Ah'm thankful fuh anything we come through together." (pg. 158) Often times we do not realize how strong our love can be for another person until we are faced with the possibility of losing that person or that love. However it is the storms and trial that show us just how brave we can and will be to protect that love.

And maybe it's true, I can't live without you Well maybe two is better than one But there's so much time, to figure out the rest of my life And you've already got me coming undone And I'm thinking two is better than one

Connection: **Two is Better Than One by Taylor Swift and Boys Like Girls** Throughout the entire chapter Tea Cake keeps asking Janie if she wishes she would have never stayed with him. If she wishes she was back safe in her big old house. "Ah reckon you wish now you had of stayed in yo' big house' way from such as dis, don't yuh." (pg. 151) Janie keeps denying this over and over. She states that there is no person she would rather be with than Tea Cake no matter what the situation. These conversations reminded me of the song Two is better than One. The basic purpose of the song is how two people can't live without the other in their life. They are incomplete without them. Because in their world there is no way that being without the other would be better than being with them. This is how Janie felt about Tea Cake. Even though they are currently in a giant mess of a situation right now, she would rather be there with him than living a safe life without him. In life it is sometimes love that truly makes us happy. Not safety and security. When we find that love that will cause us to do anything we realize that at that moment and every moment after, two will always be better than one.

**April 6 Chapters 19-20** I LOVED THESE CHAPTERS. Even though Tea Cake died I was ok with it. I mean lets face it, we all knew Janie wasn't going to end up with him in the end, Hurston reveled that in the beginning, but at least he died and didn't cheat or something crazy like that. However, I do have to admit the reason I liked the ending so much wasn't because he didn't cheat or anything crazy like that, it was because the true purpose of the novel was revealed to me. Hurston wasn't telling a love story but rather a life story. Often times in life we let our life be defined by one pivotal event, when in reality it is all the things that happened in between, not just that one thing. Janie grew so much in this novel, and Hurston didn't want you to forget that. However, Hurston also wanted the reader to remember that Janie got to where she was because of Tea Cake. "His memory made pictures of love and light against the wall. Here was peace. She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net." (pg. 184) Through personification and simile Hurston shows you all the true progression of Janie's life. Connection: **A Walk to Remember**  So in this story Landon and Jamie are a very unlikely couple due to social status and such. However,through unlikely events they fall in love. Unknown to Landon at the time is that Jamie is suffering from cancer and does not have long to live. However, Landon has changed so much because of her and has truly become a different person and is now willing to do anything for their love. They get married after graduation and a few years later Jamie dies. Landon's life changed so much just like Janie's did. The story of A Walk to Remember wasn't just about their love, it was about Landon's progression. At the end of the story Landon is without Jamie but he still loves her and always will but now he is at his own horizon. In life we all come to our own horizons. We are often times brought to them because of the people we encounter. But just like Hurston displayed in her novel. Life is more than about just the ending, it is about all the little details that brought us there.