After reading
the first four chapter of Their Eyes Were Watching God, I felt so many
different emotions. I was taken aback by Nanny's dedication to raising Janie
the best way that she possibly could. Nanny made so many sacrifices to ensure
that her granddaughter grew up with the best possible life without either of
her parents. She scraped up as much money as she could to buy a little piece of
land away from the house of the white people in order to save Janie’s pride. She
even took care of Janie when her own mother left her behind. Instead of
thinking of herself in her dying days, Nanny organized Janie's marriage to
Logan to make sure that her granddaughter would have someone to turn to after
she died. I cannot help but admire her for all that she did for her
Janie.
I was also
heartbroken for Janie's loss of innocence and hope when she ultimately realized
that marriage does not make love. It is so hard for me to imagine being set up
to marry someone that I was not able to choose. I was stunned when Janie
decided to run away to marry Joe and leave Logan behind, because her decision
seems very selfish to me. However, it makes me wonder if Janie is running away
to be with Joe, to live a life of luxury, or simply to make a change in her
unsatisfying life.
In class I
would love to talk about what drove Pheoby to stand up for Janie to her friends
in the first chapter. Are Pheoby and Janie old friends? Or is Pheoby simply
more empathetic towards her situation? I was also curious as to where
Janie's husband, Sam, was. Janie says that he is gone, but what exactly does she
mean by that?
No comments:
Post a Comment