It is pretty simple to say, just by looking at the cover, that the book probably is mainly going to be about someone's religion. However, upon reading the book, one would find that it does not have a main focus god. In the first couple chapters of the book, there are only a couple references that would lead one to believe that the title has anything to do with the story. Zora Neale Hurston describes the porch sitters as becoming "lords of sounds and lesser things. They passed nations through their mouths. They sat in judgment"(1). When Janie is sneaking out of the house, it describes her "Waiting for the world to be made"(11). These allusions highlight an underlying theme of the book, although it seems obvious, of a religious background of either the characters in the book, or the author.
Was Zora Neale Hurston a very religious person? Why doesn't it seem like religion is a larger aspect of the book? What did Hurston's view of religion look like?
A symbol that reoccurs throughout these first four chapters is the concept of the components of Janie's life being compared to nature, most commonly trees, bees, and pollen. She uses the image of a tree and uses the branches to hold all the memories of her past. "Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone. Dawn and doom was in the branches" (8). Looking at this quote more in depth, you can see that the "great tree" of life may not only hold past memories, but foreshadowing for things to come. Another symbol that comes up a lot is the picture of bees pollinating flowers. "She was stretched on her back beneath the pear tree soaking in the alto chant of the visiting bees (...) She saw the dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom" (11). The bees carrying pollen represent a potential partner for Janie. It shows that she had been waiting around for a man to come along and take her away, hoping that it would bring her true happiness. Seeing so many references to nature, and it being juxtaposed to human life reminds me of our class discussion of Zora Neale Hurston and her doctorate in Anthropology. When she met Jody, "Janie pulled back a long time because he did not represent sun-up and pollen and blooming trees," (29). Hurston uses this foreshadowing to show that this marriage will not be successful.
Why does the author choose to use natural figures to represent human behavior? Does she have any personal connection to nature? Are all of these symbols repeatedly used throughout the rest of the book?
Zora Neale Hurston uses hyperboles to convey peoples attitudes towards other characters' age, compared to their relationships with others. When Janie explains to Jody that she is married he responds, "You married? You ain't hardly old enough to be weaned. Ah betcha you still craves sugar-tits, doncher?"(28). One would think that if he was trying to get Janie to marry her, he would stay away from saying such things. It makes me think about how peoples reactions to informality differ with the time and place in which Hurston lived compared to what we do in the present. This same concept appears at the very beginning when the porch gossipers are talking about what may have happened to Janie and Tea Cake. "Betcha he off wid some gal so young she ain't got no hairs," (2). Seeing both of these uses of hyperboles makes me wonder if it is just Hurston's writing style, or if it is just customary for her to write in this certain way.
Does the time period have to do with the way the characters talk about others? What is the difference between informality among different time periods? How does the author relate to having relationships with men of different ages?
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