Monday, May 7, 2012
Chapter 18
In chapter 18, water is clearly a big theme and is seen as a destructive force. Do you think the use of water coming for them is a metaphor for death? or for something else? Why does Hurston refer to water as "monster" and uses a lot of personification? Use an example from the text to support your thoughts.
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I think the water is tied with the all powerful nature of god. It isn't exactly death, It is the type of monster that may be scary to some, but is mainly awe-inspiring. It may be like it is in the story of Job. It is still a shocking sight to see (water). "..., their eyes were watching god," gives the notion that God's presence is there. This might tie in with that God creates suffering even to good people and that it beyond us in understanding why.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the use of water is a symbol of death but more importantly I think it is a symbol of the racial oppression that the white people force upon blacks. In the book, the storm forces Janie and Tea Cake in their house and to run and hide from house to house. This is like a symbol of how the whites oppress blacks and do not allow them to "go out of their house" and live un-hindered by an external force. Hurston describes the storm as a "monster" because it is such a great force. The great force of racial oppression from the whites crushes down on the blacks. In the book it even says "Began (the monster) to roll and complain like a peevish world on a grumble." This quote shows how the monster is complaining about how the world is being run. This goes in line with the symbol that the white people are the monster and it is oppressing the black people because the white people thought something is wrong in the world.
ReplyDeleteI think that the water from lake Okechobee symbolizes chance. The lake is huge, and the hurricane that picks up the water from the lake, happens to be strong enough to do so. There are so many different factors that account for the lake breaking through its barriers, and more then for Janie and Tea Cake being there at the same time. For example, if Janie and Tea Cake would have taken a hint from the natives and the hundreds of animals that were headed west, away from the lake, or even looked up at the sky during the "show off" gambling and seen the darkness of the sky, and realized it was time to leave, they would have been much better off. Hurston describes the lake as a monster because of its immense size and the way that it broke free of the human restrictions that were imposed upon it. This is shown when Tea Cake says "Janie, Lake Okechobee is forty miles wide and sixty miles long. Dat's a whole heap uh water. If dis wind is shovin' dat whole lake disa way, dis house ain't nothin'....". After seeing all of the changes in the weather, it's too late for Tea Cake and Janie to get away easily.
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