THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD- CHAPTER 8
In chapter 8 of Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie finally finds the courage to tell Jody how she really feels about him and speaks her mind without the fear of abuse. When Jody dies, Janie feels a sense of freedom and as a result, lets her hair down to symbolize that she is no longer under the power of Jody. In this chapter Janie finally realizes who she is and becomes a woman.
Do you think it makes Janie weak or strong when she expresses her harsh feelings to Jody while he is on his death bed?
I think that her expressing her harsh feeling to Jody on his death bed makes her strong because at her heart she wanted Jody to know her before he died since he never knew her in thier over 20 years of marriage. Her saying her feelings at all is remarkable because of the abusive relationship he had with her while at times she feared for her life. Lastly, she has no malicious intent with her talk with Jody, she told him the truth, that he was going to die, and even pitied him after he died, which would not be something that a weak character would do.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Trevin. She was strong in speaking out against Jody. He spent the last twenty years of their marriage tearing her down, and there was never anything she could do. When she spoke out against him in public he struck her, but if she had done it later when they were alone, he could have done much worse. Though she pities him and understands that life has been hard on him, when he is laying on his deathbed, she realizes it is time. It is her last chance to unfetter herself from his harsh dominion and stand up for herself. She knows she is better than how he treats her, and she finally tells him. She forces him back down to earth and crushes his ego in her last attempt to get through to him. She knows he can't do anything to her or even fight back because he is bed-ridden, so she goes for it. I think it was strong of her to even articulate her beliefs the way she did in a time where that was expressly forbidden.
ReplyDeleteI think Janie was totally justified to do this, however, it was weak on her point. She expresses her resentment to free herself from it, it is not for Jody at all, she's not trying to make him better, she doesn't even care if he listens. She does it purely for selfish reasons, but if she was a strong individual, she would not need that verbally confirmation from confronting him. She would be able to know in her soul she was justified for her resentment and she wouldn't have needed to make him feel bad for it. She could've freed herself from his power without putting him down like that, she was stooping to his level.
ReplyDeleteI think that this was strong for her to go in and get up the courage to confront Jody about his mistreatment of her. When she goes into the room to talk to Jody, she goes in to his room to see Jody before he died and to tell him that they never got to knew each other because he was so obsessed with his power. When she goes in to confront him she does it strongly because she builds up the courage to talk to him in a calm manor about their failed relationship. Even though he was on his death bed, this does not make it a weak moment for her. Even though Jody could not have fought back, it still required a lot of strength to approach a loved one and tell them such strong things.
ReplyDeleteI think she was strong in her decision to stand up to Jody but weak in her timing. Jody had been mistreating her for years in private as well as in public, and she always just silently took it. She finally speaks out, but when the man is on his death bed! This will achieve nothing because he's about to die. The point of standing up to a bully is so that they treat you better and learn how to treat others better as well. However, Jody will not learn anything from this and definitely won't be able to turn over a new leaf and be a better person. Also, Jody can't fight back. Part of being strong and standing up is taking the risk. But here she doesn't even care if he listens. And worst of all, she feels bad for him after.
ReplyDeleteI think Janie is a little bit of both weak and strong when she expresses her harsh feelings for Jody while he is on her death bed.
ReplyDeleteAlbeit she didn't intend to say these harsh things, she still does so, and especially to a dying man, who starts begging her to stop halfway through. This is the same man that saved from Logan Killicks. Even though Jody doesn't treat her as well as she expected, it seems weak to berate your husband on his deathbed. Another reason it seems weak is because there's safety in that specific situation. There is no consequence of saying her feelings then and there because there is no public witness, and Jody can't do anything about it. It also seems weak that she succumbs to Jody's argumentative nature… She wasn't able to achieve her original goal she had in mind when she walks in because Jody takes over, once again. Jody shifts the direction of the conversation and makes it an argument.
However, I DO think it strong that she at least brought up the courage to let go of everything she kept bottled up inside of her about her feelings about Jody. It was a strong action, especially for black women in that time period. Because black women in the time period did not have much influence, it was brave of her to stand up like that and tell Jody what's right and what's wrong.
I think she was strong to decide to express her harsh feelings to Jody on his death bed. He spent the last 20 years of their marriage putting her down and she finally found the time to stand up for herself. It must have taken a lot courage for her to express her feelings to Jody about their relationship. She was brave to tell Jody what she felt especially because he had previously been so abusive towards her. Even though Jody could not fight her back, her actions were still strong.
ReplyDeleteI think Janie was strong when she expressed her harsh feelings to Jody on her death bed. At first I did think she was week. However, I was thinking about the situation in today's society. Today, if you are in an abusive relationship there are so many options for you to get out of the relationship and find people to help you. However, Janie had no one. Divorce was very unlikely, especially since she was black. She could not confide in the town since Jody was the mayor and she did not have any family. She was stuck. Not only was she stuck but black women (white women did not even have much of a say in matters yet) were not supposed to talk back to their husbands. Society told these women to obey your husbands and do exactly what they want. Jody even speaking up at all shows her bravery especially since she knew Jody still most likely just yell at her. I doubt Janie wanted to be yelled at but she felt in her heart she had to say the truth. Janie is VERY strong by expressing her harsh feelings on Jody's death bed.
ReplyDeleteAt first, I thought Janie was weak for expressing her feelings to Jody on his deathbed. However, after much thought, I think that it was actually very strong on Janie's part to express her feelings. For almost 20 years she had been mentally and emotionally abused by Jody, so it was great that she finally stood up to him. It also would have taken Janie much mental fortitude to stand up to Jody at all, even on his deathbed, which really demonstrates her strength. Finally, Janie tells the truth straight up to Jody on his deathbed, that he is going to die. She, after suffering through their marriage, is still able to think independently and even pities Jody at the end. A weak character wouldn't pity someone who dominated them for so long.
ReplyDeletei think it was very strong for Janie to tell Jody her feelings. Despite the fact that many people saw this action as weak because she told this to a dying man, you need to look at all perspectives. We are talking about a time period where women where were oppressed. Instead of remaining silent forever about her true feelings. She decided to stand up to her bully. That is something brave.
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