Monday, May 7, 2012
Chapter 14
In Chapter 14, we see the transition Janie and Tea Cake make for living in the Everglades. They move into a house as soon as it becomes available. Tea Cake finds a job in planting seeds, but then has to wait for the picking season to start making money again. In the time between planting and picking seasons, Tea Cake teaches Janie to shoot, which she becomes very good at. As the workers pour in, and the picking season starts up, their house becomes the center of gambling. Also, when Tea Cake asks Janie to work in the field with, she agrees and shocks many people. She then quickly becomes popular because she is funny and knows how to have a good time. With Janie's acclimation to her new environment, she shows that she is much more capable than anyone had ever suspected. It is because of this capability that she is able to change the opinions of everyone, while adapting to a new style of life. How would Janie's marriage with Joe have panned out differently if he had let her express herself or do as she pleased? Would she feel like she had lived a more satisfying life? Would she have felt like she needed a new life with Tea Cake? Express your thoughts.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Due to the time period and conditions of Janie's relationship, I feel as though things would have actually ended up worse for Janie if she'd spoken her mind to Jody. Jody harbored a very unopened mind as far as Janie's different ideas about women's roles. When Janie stepped out of line and acted in a way that angered him, Jody hit her and abused her, and I feel as though her physical well-being would be in danger had she expressed her feelings to Jody. Additionally, Jody never really actually listened to her, and even on his death bed, he couldn't even stand the idea of trying to understand how Janie thought and felt. Therefore, I think that Tea Cake became a refreshing character as we see him treat her as an equal from the time they first met as he taught her checkers, told her she was smart and in this chapter as he teaches Janie to shoot a gun, something that might normally be considered a man's job. This characteristic in Tea Cake is refreshing from her previous relationships, and I do think that she needed a new life with Tea Cake in order to truly be happy.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Julia that Janie may have been in danger had she spoken her mind to Jody. Tea Cake is a contrast to Jody, who is controlling and narrow-minded in his relationship with Jody, and he probably would have reacted badly to Janie telling him what she really though and felt. On the other hand, there's a chance that he would have broken off his marriage with Janie instead of hurting her, which would have left her free but ostracized by Eatonville, a town that answered to Jody. However, knowing Jody's pride, stubbornness, and quickness to anger, this probably wouldn't have been the case. Either way, I believe her relationship with Tea Cake, in which she is an independent person but still in a healthy relationship with a man in which they're both equals, would have been a better situation than what had happened with Jody.
ReplyDelete