I am reading the book Their
Eyes Were Watching Gob by Zora Neale Hurston. I have read up to chapter 6
and I am FINALLY getting the hang of her improper word use! Sometimes I have to
read it over a couple times and even read it out loud to even catch part of
what she is trying to say. Janie is the main character and she was raised up by
her grandmother “Nanny” who took care of her after he mother had ran off.
The first thing that caught my attention and got me into the
story was when Nanny told Janie that she wants her to get married right away
the two argued about it and Janie insisted she didn’t know anything about a
husband and wasn’t ready however they ended up getting married in Nanny’s
parlor to Logan Killicks an older farmer. This right here kills me. I couldn’t imagine
having someone I am supposed to spend the rest of my life picked for me! I mean
don’t you think you should get to know someone before you marry them or at
least love them; she didn’t even love the guy! I guess that’s how it was in
this time era.
Nanny had previous been a slave and also had a daughter
before she started taking care of Janie. Chapter 2 is the first time she really
talks about her daughter. Her daughter was raped by a school teacher at age 17
and started drinking a lot after Janie was born. This shocked me I mean we hear
about rape all the time now it seems like or teachers sleeping with their
students but I just thought it was because of how corrupt our society is
becoming but the fact that this happened back than too really interested me.
After about two months of the marriage Janie explains to
nanny and the other woman that she doesn’t love him and she is disappointed
because they promised her they were going to love him. The women don’t understand
because Logan is treating her like a princess at this point and don’t get why
she is fussing about it. However, I agree with Janie the saying “money can’t
buy you happiness” is flowing through my mind at this point. Yeah nanny wanted
her secured and well off with some rich man but she isn’t happy and wouldn’t as
a grandmother best intentions to make her granddaughter happy. That night
before nanny went to bed she muttered “Lawd, you know mah heart. Ah done de
best ah could do. De rest is left to you” (PAGE 24) and a month she passed
away. I totally believe that everyone has a time and purpose. Just like you
told us that story about the priest with cancer and how he was almost given
another life to serve a purpose as a priest. Freaky stuff!
At the end of chapter 3 Janie said “she knew now that
marriage did not make love. Janie’s first dream was dead, so she became a woman.”
This made me want to read on and on and see what was going to happen because I had
no idea what she meant by this quote. What she was going to do now that she became a woman it had me
guessing.
Brielle,
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you're reading this story. It's hands-down, one of my favorites, ever. You do a nice job summarizing, and I like your connections. Nanny is a wise spirit, like my friend, Michael.
That part about her first dream dying, "so she became a woman"-- I think that's kind of the end of her innocence. She thought she'd live happily ever after. That's not how it was turning out. A person grows up. It's a pretty dark statement.
There's more to this story. More pages. Read on.
This book sounds very interesting. I think it would be a challege to read this book, because of the improper words. I'm wondering how long it would take me to get used to reading a book like that. I agree with what you said about having someone being picked for you to marry. I couldn't do that! Nanny seems to be a great person with some rough personality traits that she developed from the hard times in her life.
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