jacquelinej’s Blog

  I’ve noticed throughout my exploration of the poems that many of the people speak as if they’re still alive.  Though it’s obvious they’re talking beneath their graves, they have a brilliant way of speaking as if they’re still living.  However, one poem confusedme.  As I comprehended it, Amelia is speaking as if she’s two people.  While most of the characters talk to their former lovers, I’m not sure who Amelia is talking to.  I feel as if her soul and her overall existance in Spoon River have separated.  She speaks of a person who was admired by the town.  At this point in the poem Daisy popped into my mind.  But, further into the poem, she says phrases such as “you have succeeded and I have failed-”.  Perhaps I’m missing something, but it seemed as if this poem relates to many of the other novels we’ve read. 

           Janie and Daisy are two characters who I relate Amelia to.  If my comprehension is right, Amelia was seen as successful because she married a wealthy man and led a good life.  However, speaking from a spiritual point, Amelia states that she’s failed. Perhaps she’s let society cover her true identity, just like Janie and Daisy. 

  As I stated in my last post, mystery seems to fill the town of Spoon River.  While being introduced to numerouscharacters, it’s hard to keep tract of all of their stories, love lives, and secrets.  It’s also clear that many characters prefer to show rather than tell.  This is interesting because within a lot of the poems, it seems as if the characters are afraid to be blatant.  Mrs. Sibley’spoem is an example of a character who seems to seclude herself.  As her husband explains, she has committed adultery, which gives her a reason to seclude herself.  However, within her poem, she has a tasteful way of making herself seem less evil then she’s portrayed by her husband.  She somehow expresses her independence and it’s clear that her and her husband were not very compatible.  At the end of her poem she says ” My secret: Under a mound that you shall  never find”.  For some reason, I feel as if she’s trying to tease us as readers.  Her character is appealing to me and although she’s committed adultery, she still seems very confident in herself.

  Though the series of poems I’ve been reading have failed in catching my attention, there are a few that make me wonder.  After seeing the slide show of Spoon River, it’s clear that the town is full of mystery and craziness.  Poem after poem, it’s clear that many of the characters are distraught.  A lady though, that caught my attention most so far is Nancy Knapp.  Because my essay is focused on women in American Literature, I’ve decided to focus my blogs on poems about women in the town.  She’s a lady who was given a bitter life.  When it seemed as if life had failed her, she did not give up…yet she decided to get even.  Why though, did she kill her husband?  Though I’ve demonstrated the growth of women in American literature as well as their growth in history, I’m not sure I’ll be able to support Nancy’s actions.

  Reflecting on the past two class discussions, as well as the essay I’m working on finishing, it’s clear that the role of women is being explained thoroughly within the novel.  Janie is a woman with potential to live on her own, and she’s aware of that.  However, she longs for happiness and finds it in men.  She looks up to Tea Cake because he can give her the love she cannot give herself.  She’s stable and wealthy, but needs Tea Cake to assure her of that.  In chapter fourteen, we see that she begins to work with hin to spend more time with him.  Unlike many other women of the time period, she gets up and goes to work like her husband.  Townspeople laugh at her, yet I feel she’s a woman to admire.  Regardless of how wealthy she is, she gets joy out of working with her husband.  She separates herself from other women, and does all in her ability to stand by the side of her husband. 

   Chapter fifteen began to confuse me.  Was it necessary to include Nunkie?  What does she add to the novel.  It’s clear that Tea Cake loves Janie, but Janie still questions the love he has for her.  He looks to her to assure herself that he is not in love with Nunkie.  It seems that she looks up to him to answer a lot of questions she already knows the answers too.  Is she mentally unstable?

   Then we meet Mrs.  Turner who admires Janie.  Though they’re both black we see that Mrs. Turner admires Janie because she’s lighter than her.  For once, we see a character who looks up to Janie instead of looking down upon her.  But Tea Cake doesn’t like this.  He’s somewhat threatened by Mrs. Turner.  Perhaps he feels that Janie will grow some self confidence.  But we then see something else that’s interesting about Mrs. Turner.  After the fight at her bar, she puts blame on her husband for letting her bar get ruined.  What is with these women?  It’s clear that at this time in history, women depended on men for everything.  Yes, Hurston has created very strong women characters, yet she doesn’t let them overcome men.  Why?

  Though typically the death of a person marks a time of mournfulness and depression, Janie clearly benefitedfrom the death of her husband.  She was locked behind the bars in which he planted in frontof her, and there was no way for her to escape them. Though she’s there for him, before he dies, she assures him that he was wrong, and this demonstrates her stability and ability to speak the truth.  Again, we see a fake side of Janie.  Aside from how strong she is, she does give community what they want to see.  It’s almost as if all of her past relationships have been successful out of guilt.  She feels as if to succeed, she needs to be something she’s not.  She married Logan, because he loved her and could provide for her, but not out of love, and the same went for Jody.  She married him initially being attracted, but once the flame was gone and he began to mistreat her, she lost everything she had for him.  However, she stayed with him for society’s sake, and cared more about what the town thought of her than what she thought of herself.

     Subsequent to the death of Jody, relief fills Janie.  She’s free and loves it.  Still, she’s afraid of society.  After six months of “morning”  she begins to feel free again and at the same time, she feels that being happy is wrong.  She’s an independent woman and shouldn’t feel badly about it.    What I also found interesting was that she blames Nanny for her admiration of independence.  Why? I don’t get.  I feel that instead of blaming Nanny for this, she should look up to her.  Nanny, to me, is a character to look up to instead of looking down upon.  But, I must keep in mind the time period of the novel, and paciently wait to see how society will force Janie into another unhealthy relationship. 

   The relationship Janie and Jody have is growing more and more phony.  Thus far, it is clear that Janie has a strong self concept and personality, however it upsets me that she lets Jody control her life.  She is a woman that men admire, and Jody should be proud that he has her.  I continue to reflect upon the slideshow we saw in class.  He expects her to keep her mouth shut and do her job, while he provides for her.  However, this is becoming a growing issue.  She supports Jody and expresses her opinions to him…but he doesn’t allow that.  He doesn’t feel her opinion should be expressed, and here is where I see a downfall occuring.  Earlier in the novel,  Nanny expresses to Janie that Logan was a good man because he never put a finger on her.  However, we now see that Jody does.  His acts of beating Janie are unacceptable.   To Nanny, as well as Janie herself.

       Though Janie allows Jody to beat her, it’s clear this is going to be the downfall of their relation.  She’s too strong of a character and regardless of what society may think of her, I believe she’ll retaliate.  In the twentieth century, women have the right to stick up for themselves.  Prior to reading these two chapters, I began to think, what if this novel was published now?  If women had the rights they do now, and were equal to men in the 1900’s, how would Hurston change the novel and Janie’s reaction to her husband beating her.  Then I also realized that no matter how Janie complains about her relationship with her husband, she never blames it on him beating her.  He’s a successful man and his image is very important to him.  He won’t be talked down to by any woman and Janie accepts that.  It’s amazing how much times have changed.  I would have love to see Janie in this time period.  I feel she’d be much more self sufficient and happy.  Maybe she’ll change…and follow in her grandmother’s footsteps; the woman who glued her life back together when it shattered into millions of pieces, and made it beautiful. 

   Initially the question as to whether or not the dialect of the novel was representative/ important seemed rather unimportant to me.  I did not believe that the dialect was going to affect the book in numerous ways but once reading past chapter one, it was clear that race was anissue within the characters of the novel.  Though it does not yet come across as a major issue, it is clear that Janie and Nanny are both looked down upon by their neighbors and other people around them simply because they’re white.  Also, the situation regarding Janie’s mother and the fact that she was raped by her teacher seem to be correlated with her race.  There are strong racial aspects of the novel, but I’m not sure how much the dialect has to do with the racial issues.  Yes, they talk insouthern, black dialect but that’s because that’s what they are.  I feel that Hurstonhas made the dialect like this to bring reality to the readers, but not to discriminate against the characters or make them look unintelligent.  While the novel grows, I predict Hurston will prove that the characters she’s created are intelligent, and do not let the history of black people in the south get in the way of their dreams.  Nanny wants the best for Janie, and I predict she’ll be the growing character of the novel.  Though she may hit downfalls and struggle to ignore racial discrimination, I do feel that she will overcome what she’s portrayed as, and live the dream her grandmother wants her to live. 

“But he knew that he was in Daisy’s house by colossal accident.  However glorious might be his future as Jay Gatsby, he was at present a penniless young man without a past, and at any moment the invisible cloak of his uniform might slip from his shoulders.  So he made the most of his time.   He took what he could get, ravenously and unscrupulously -eventually he took Daisy one still October night, took her because he had no real right to touch her hand.” page 149

    Surprise, sorrow and disbelief is what I feel.  Throughout the introduction of the novel I felt as if Gatsby was not the man he was portrayed as but now I feel sorrow towards him.  Focused on the American dream, he took his life out of the state of poverty and unimportance and made something of it.  Although he dedicated his life to a woman, he did everything in his ability to please not only Daisy, but the others around him.  From hosting meaningless parties, to waiting outside of her house throughout the night, he dedicated his life to her and her safety.  The quote I chose proves that clearly, Gatsby realized that he never really had Daisy.  She was more infatuated than in love.   Infatuated with his money, his stability and her memories of her adolescence.  I also found it interesting that Nick says that Gatsby felt betrayed by Daisy.  Considering that betrayal and dishonesty were two major themes in the novel, it’s interesting how became included within the relationship of Daisy and Gatsby.

  The amount of drama included within this chapter is outrageous.  The awkward trip to New York City was clearly the start to all the drama.  Though Tom and Gatsby have been seen together earlier in the novel, it was clear that this chapter was going to strike the fight.  What first seemed ironic in the chapter was that Daisy and Gatsby rode together to the city.  Why would Tom let this happen?  It’s clear that he was proving a point, but wouldn’t he want to show Daisy love, and not acts of ignorance? 

     Also within the chapter, the theme of dishonesty was reintroduced.  Wilson has found out that his wife has been having a romantic relationship with another man.  It seems as if this detail was included to introduce the conversation that was later taken place in the chapter.  Finally, Daisy is confronted by Tom.  While he basically forces her to tell Gatsby she doesn’t love him, she does. “..she hesitated.  Her eyes fell on Jordan and me with a sort of appeal, as though she realized at last what she was doing–and as though she had never, all along, intended doing anything at all.  But it was done now.  It was too late. “I never loved him,” she said, with perceptible reluctance.pg 132.   Subsequent to her admitting that she never loved Gatsby, Tom continues to question Daisy, almost as if to assure himself that she is indeed saying she never loved him.  Focusing on Gatsby; he has dedicated his life to this woman, now to find that she “never loved him”.  Clearly she’s not telling the truth, but the fact remains, she did say it.  But, when Gatsby approches Daisy, she’s quick to push him away.  Clearly, Daisy is a torn woman. 

  It seems as if I was wrong about Gatsby. After reading chapter six, it’s clear that Gatsby is as innocent as the rest of the class predicted.  Lingering questions the class had were answered and it’s fair to say that he’s an overall good person.  Aside from his hardworking past, it’s interesting that he was not always weathy.  I also found it interesting how Fitzgerald explained how Gatsby grew a strong amount of affection for wealth. 

  The party at Gatsby’s house…akward?  I don’t know what’s going on with Tom.  It seems like he has a strong hatred towards Gatsby, but never really confronts him.  He’s almost waiting to catch he and Daisy in order to confront them about their love for each other.  What was even more akward in this chapter was that when Nick walked into Gatsby’s house, Tom was there!  What’s he doing?  Does Gatsby know that Tom knows?  Does Tom know that his wife and Gatsby are inlove?

 Also, towards the end of the chapter, it’s clear that Gatsby is intimidated by Tom but does not let that get in the way of his love towards Daisy.  Ultimately, he has devoted his life to pleasing her, and would rather see her happy than anything else in the world.  What next?