In Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple” the story was reminiscent of Janie in Zora Neale Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God.” The character Janie in “Their Eyes Were Watching God” could be seen throughout the book. Celie, the main character, is a round character because she comes full circle towards the end of the story.
In the beginning of the book Celie was a child who birthed two children by her father. Her first was a boy whom she called Adam and the second was a girl named Olivia. As soon as Celie gave birth her father took her children away from her. She did not know if they were dead or alive. Celie was a child and was very submissive.
In an article Piecing the patchwork self: a reading of walker's the color purple it explains the title of the book “The color purple is continually equated with suffering and pain. Sophia's swollen, beaten face is described as the color of "eggplant."”
Her father gave her away to an older man to help the man raise his children, she was a child bride. Again, Celie was submissive and did as her husband told her. Celie’s husband beat her and was unfaithful to her. Celie’s husband did not love her. One day when the oldest child, Harpo, was married he asked Celie how to control his defiant bride. Celie told him to beat her “Beat her I say.” (38)
This shocked me as I thought how could Celie want another woman beaten? But, this was the only way that Celie was raised and Celie was jealous of Sofia and her independence with Harpo her stepson. When Sofia confronts Celie, Celie says “I say it cause I’m a fool, I say. I say it cause I’m jealous of you. I say it cause you do what I can’t. Fight.” (42) Celie only knew submission throughout most of her life and she was jealous of Sofia and her independence.
When Celie grew older she was still submissive until she met a woman that her husband called “Shug.” Celie’s husband moved his mistress “Shug” into his house with his wife. But, Celie and Shug grew close and Shug gave Celie confidence in herself and helped Celie to eventually leave her husband.
The first time that Celie thought to leave her husband she changed her mind as her husband looked disapprovingly at her. Celie wanted to leave with Shug. Years later Shug came back to visit Celie and her husband. Celie’s independence finally grew strong and she left her husband this time with Shug.
In the article “Piecing the patchwork self: a reading of walker's the color purple” describes Celie as growing up in the book “Celie's growing self-awareness and assertion are accompanied by the novel's formal expansion as it integrates Celie's letters to God with accounts of other characters' lives.”
At the end of the book Celie’s father died and she inherited her father’s house. Celie was finally joined with her sister Nettie who did missionary work in Africa and where she found Celie’s children. At the end of the book Celie became an independent woman who owned property.
Works Cited
Walker, Alice. “The Color Purple”
Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Shuster, Inc.
New York, New York, 1982
Piecing the patchwork self: a reading of walker's the color purple. (Alice Walker)(Critical essay).
The Explicator 66.3 (Spring 2008): p150(4). (1382 words) Reading Level (Lexile): 1430. Shanyn Fiske. 66.3 (Spring 2008): p150(4). (1382 words) Reading Level (Lexile): 1430.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Saturday, October 17, 2009
"Their Eyes Were Watching God" a Woman's Journey to Independence
“Their Eyes Were Watching God”
In “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Nora Zeale Hurston, the main character in this book was a woman whose name is Janie. Janie takes the reader through her journeys as she was growing up. I found this book fascinating and it is now one of my favorite books as it disrupted the standard social views of women/men and black/white. In Sharon Davie’s “Free Mules, Talking Buzzards and Cracked Plates: The Politics of Dislocation in Their Eyes Were Watching God,” she stated “Hurston’s text not only inverts the terms of accepted hierarchies (black over white, female over male) but – more significantly – allows readers to question, if only for a moment, the hierarchical mode itself.” (447)
In the beginning of chapter 2 in “Their Eyes Were Watching God” it described Janie as “Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone. Dawn and doom was in the braches.” This set-up of Janie’s character gave the reader an idea of the journey that Janie would take throughout her life. Janie never knew her mother or father. Janie’s father was a white teacher who raped her mother at the young age of 17. Janie’s mother eventually ran away and left Janie to be raised by her grandmother. (8)
Janie as a child never knew that she was colored girl until she saw a picture of her and the white children who she played with. Her grandmother worked for white people and Janie would play with their children during the day. Then one day Janie and the other children were looking at a picture of all them together and Janie couldn’t find herself in the picture and then all of a sudden she stated “Aw, aw! Ah’m colored.!” “Den dey all laughed real hard. But before Ah seen de picture Ah thought Ah waz just like de rest.” Janie was an innocent child.(9)
When Janie was young her grandmother wanted her to marry to an old man who could provide Janie with stability and security. Janie did not want to marry this man as he was old and a lot older than her, but she as her grandmother wished. Janie realized that her dream of being married and in love was gone “She knew now that marriage did not make love. Janie’s first dream was dead, so she became a woman.” (25)
Eventually Janie ran off with another man named Joe Starks, who she loved. Joe and Janie traveled to a little town named Eatonville, Georgia where Joe established himself a store, land and as mayor of the town. Joe wanted her submission and Janie was would did not give in and she learned to live with Joe. Then one day Janie and Joe argued and Joe slapped Jane and drove her from the store “So he struck Janie with all his might and drove her from the store.” (80) Janie was a woman now and did not believe that God didn’t listen or care for women. Eventually Joe died on her leaving her his store, house and land.
Janie was now a free woman with ownership of a store, houses and land, but she had never been truly in love. One day a younger man by the name of Tea Cake came into her store and they started a friendship that turned into love and Janie set out with Tea Cake to see what life had for her besides Eatonville.
Janie was a grown independent woman who accomplished free will, which was an exceptionally accomplishment for any woman, especially a black woman. Janie and Tea Cake made a life together for a short while working in fields doing manual labor until a Hurricane came and Tea Cake saved Janie from drowning and from a rabid dog.
At the end Janie was courageous and took care of Tea Cake and shot him when he tried to kill her because of the bite that he received from a rabid dog which he had saved her from earlier.
At the end Janie returned home without Tea Cake, she was a much happier woman who had experienced life. Most women black or white, rarely ever did experience life as Janie. This positive story of a woman and her strength, courage and her experiences throughout her life is a must read for everyone.
Works Cited
Hurston, Zora Neale: “Their Eyes Were Watching God”
New York: Harper Collins 2006
Davie, Sharon, “Free Mules, Talking Buzzards and Cracked Plates: The Politics of
Dislocation in Their Eyes Were Watching God
Modern Language Association, Vol. 108., No. 3, (May 1993) (pg. 447)
In “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Nora Zeale Hurston, the main character in this book was a woman whose name is Janie. Janie takes the reader through her journeys as she was growing up. I found this book fascinating and it is now one of my favorite books as it disrupted the standard social views of women/men and black/white. In Sharon Davie’s “Free Mules, Talking Buzzards and Cracked Plates: The Politics of Dislocation in Their Eyes Were Watching God,” she stated “Hurston’s text not only inverts the terms of accepted hierarchies (black over white, female over male) but – more significantly – allows readers to question, if only for a moment, the hierarchical mode itself.” (447)
In the beginning of chapter 2 in “Their Eyes Were Watching God” it described Janie as “Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone. Dawn and doom was in the braches.” This set-up of Janie’s character gave the reader an idea of the journey that Janie would take throughout her life. Janie never knew her mother or father. Janie’s father was a white teacher who raped her mother at the young age of 17. Janie’s mother eventually ran away and left Janie to be raised by her grandmother. (8)
Janie as a child never knew that she was colored girl until she saw a picture of her and the white children who she played with. Her grandmother worked for white people and Janie would play with their children during the day. Then one day Janie and the other children were looking at a picture of all them together and Janie couldn’t find herself in the picture and then all of a sudden she stated “Aw, aw! Ah’m colored.!” “Den dey all laughed real hard. But before Ah seen de picture Ah thought Ah waz just like de rest.” Janie was an innocent child.(9)
When Janie was young her grandmother wanted her to marry to an old man who could provide Janie with stability and security. Janie did not want to marry this man as he was old and a lot older than her, but she as her grandmother wished. Janie realized that her dream of being married and in love was gone “She knew now that marriage did not make love. Janie’s first dream was dead, so she became a woman.” (25)
Eventually Janie ran off with another man named Joe Starks, who she loved. Joe and Janie traveled to a little town named Eatonville, Georgia where Joe established himself a store, land and as mayor of the town. Joe wanted her submission and Janie was would did not give in and she learned to live with Joe. Then one day Janie and Joe argued and Joe slapped Jane and drove her from the store “So he struck Janie with all his might and drove her from the store.” (80) Janie was a woman now and did not believe that God didn’t listen or care for women. Eventually Joe died on her leaving her his store, house and land.
Janie was now a free woman with ownership of a store, houses and land, but she had never been truly in love. One day a younger man by the name of Tea Cake came into her store and they started a friendship that turned into love and Janie set out with Tea Cake to see what life had for her besides Eatonville.
Janie was a grown independent woman who accomplished free will, which was an exceptionally accomplishment for any woman, especially a black woman. Janie and Tea Cake made a life together for a short while working in fields doing manual labor until a Hurricane came and Tea Cake saved Janie from drowning and from a rabid dog.
At the end Janie was courageous and took care of Tea Cake and shot him when he tried to kill her because of the bite that he received from a rabid dog which he had saved her from earlier.
At the end Janie returned home without Tea Cake, she was a much happier woman who had experienced life. Most women black or white, rarely ever did experience life as Janie. This positive story of a woman and her strength, courage and her experiences throughout her life is a must read for everyone.
Works Cited
Hurston, Zora Neale: “Their Eyes Were Watching God”
New York: Harper Collins 2006
Davie, Sharon, “Free Mules, Talking Buzzards and Cracked Plates: The Politics of
Dislocation in Their Eyes Were Watching God
Modern Language Association, Vol. 108., No. 3, (May 1993) (pg. 447)
Friday, October 2, 2009
Gertrude Stein - Tender Buttons - Objects
Gertrude Stein – Tender Buttons - Objects
In A Long Dress, A Fire and A White Hunter, the theme in these three poems seemed to reference colors. But, one could interpret these poems to be associated to people as Gertrude Stein was said to have wrote in an abstract style. Her poems in “Tender Buttons” reflected the modern trend and abstract work that her friends Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso had painted. Her friendship with Ernest Hemingway did seem to impact her writings as well. You could say that her work was an experiment of verbal abstract interpretations.
In “A Long Dress” “Where is the serene length, it is there and a dark place is not a dark place, only a white and red are black, only a yellow and green are blue, a pink is scarlet, a bow is every color. A line distinguishes it. A line just distinguishes it.” (126) Even in a rainbow the colors blend just a bit, but a line appears to separate them as we see each color distinctly. People are like rainbows where each color blends just a little, but most times we see just one color. A line defines us and we are all separated and put into categories of race and color.
In “A Fire” “What was the use of a whole time to send and not send if there was to be the kind of thing that made that come in. A letter was nicely sent.” (130) Fire could represent a person’s temperament. I have heard people mentioned someone as being “fired up” or “hot tempered.” Fire’s color consists of orange, red, blue and yellow. Fire has colors of the rainbow. I interpreted the poem to be about a friend who lost their temper or was upset.
In “A White Hunter” “A white hunter is nearly crazy.” (132) A White Hunter could be an actual friend who enjoyed hunting. Ernest Hemingway one of Gertrude Stein’s friends did like to go on safari in Africa from time to time. A hunter who could become obsessed, obsession could be seen as crazy or nearly crazy.
These three poems impressed me to be about Gertrude Stein’s friends or acquaintances. She seemed to use colors to express herself in her poems. One could also see the similarity in a visual aspect, a long dress, a fire and a white hunter. These three bring a visual representation with their titles. It is something that we can imagine, touch or cannot touch. The color association expands the poems into a wide variety of interpretations. These poems are personal to each reader as each reader will interpret them differently.
Although some would say her style was disordered Neil Schmitz stated in an article "Gertrude Stein as Post-Modernist: The Rhetoric of Tender Buttons," "In its own modet scope, a triptych of domestic objects, foods and rooms, Tender Buttons seems deliberately minor in its conceptions, bibelot, but this frame is deceptive, and orer immediately disordered." (1204)
In conclusion, these three poems have personal meanings and could relate to Gertrude Stein’s personal friends and everyone’s personal friends. The colors and visual titles were complex and yet simple. One could spend hours thinking and rethinking what she actually meant or one could just take the poem as it was written. It was truly like I was sitting in front of one of Piscasso’s paintings and wondering what he was thinking?
Works Cited:
Stein, Gertrude. Three Lives and Tender Buttons
Stilwell, Kansas: Digireads.com Publishing, 2008
Schmitz, Neil. "Gertrude Stein as Post-Modernist: The Rhetoric of Tender Buttons" Journal of Modern Literature, Vol. 3, No. 5, From Modernism to Post-Modernism Indiana University (Jul. 1974) pg. 1204
In A Long Dress, A Fire and A White Hunter, the theme in these three poems seemed to reference colors. But, one could interpret these poems to be associated to people as Gertrude Stein was said to have wrote in an abstract style. Her poems in “Tender Buttons” reflected the modern trend and abstract work that her friends Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso had painted. Her friendship with Ernest Hemingway did seem to impact her writings as well. You could say that her work was an experiment of verbal abstract interpretations.
In “A Long Dress” “Where is the serene length, it is there and a dark place is not a dark place, only a white and red are black, only a yellow and green are blue, a pink is scarlet, a bow is every color. A line distinguishes it. A line just distinguishes it.” (126) Even in a rainbow the colors blend just a bit, but a line appears to separate them as we see each color distinctly. People are like rainbows where each color blends just a little, but most times we see just one color. A line defines us and we are all separated and put into categories of race and color.
In “A Fire” “What was the use of a whole time to send and not send if there was to be the kind of thing that made that come in. A letter was nicely sent.” (130) Fire could represent a person’s temperament. I have heard people mentioned someone as being “fired up” or “hot tempered.” Fire’s color consists of orange, red, blue and yellow. Fire has colors of the rainbow. I interpreted the poem to be about a friend who lost their temper or was upset.
In “A White Hunter” “A white hunter is nearly crazy.” (132) A White Hunter could be an actual friend who enjoyed hunting. Ernest Hemingway one of Gertrude Stein’s friends did like to go on safari in Africa from time to time. A hunter who could become obsessed, obsession could be seen as crazy or nearly crazy.
These three poems impressed me to be about Gertrude Stein’s friends or acquaintances. She seemed to use colors to express herself in her poems. One could also see the similarity in a visual aspect, a long dress, a fire and a white hunter. These three bring a visual representation with their titles. It is something that we can imagine, touch or cannot touch. The color association expands the poems into a wide variety of interpretations. These poems are personal to each reader as each reader will interpret them differently.
Although some would say her style was disordered Neil Schmitz stated in an article "Gertrude Stein as Post-Modernist: The Rhetoric of Tender Buttons," "In its own modet scope, a triptych of domestic objects, foods and rooms, Tender Buttons seems deliberately minor in its conceptions, bibelot, but this frame is deceptive, and orer immediately disordered." (1204)
In conclusion, these three poems have personal meanings and could relate to Gertrude Stein’s personal friends and everyone’s personal friends. The colors and visual titles were complex and yet simple. One could spend hours thinking and rethinking what she actually meant or one could just take the poem as it was written. It was truly like I was sitting in front of one of Piscasso’s paintings and wondering what he was thinking?
Works Cited:
Stein, Gertrude. Three Lives and Tender Buttons
Stilwell, Kansas: Digireads.com Publishing, 2008
Schmitz, Neil. "Gertrude Stein as Post-Modernist: The Rhetoric of Tender Buttons" Journal of Modern Literature, Vol. 3, No. 5, From Modernism to Post-Modernism Indiana University (Jul. 1974) pg. 1204
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