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Reviews of the autobiography of an ex-politician
Reviews of the autobiography of an ex-politician
Reviews of the autobiography of an ex-politician
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In An Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man and Their Eyes were Watching God, Janie and the Narrator live very different lives and experience very unfortunate things while their story is being told. Luckily, some of these things create positive outcomes that is hard to predict in the beginning of each of their stories. Nevertheless, both of them have a rather positive outlook on their situation no matter what circumstances they are involved in. No matter the difference in gender, what they pass as, or their financial situation, they both have some of the same struggles that make their stories interesting. Even though their lives may be harder from other people, it gives them the opportunity to become stronger people once they start to either overcome …show more content…
The two things Janie wanted were freedom and true love. While she accomplished both of these by the end of the novel, it took some time and a lot of struggle to get there. Going through years of abuse and repression from her first and second husbands would be enough to make anyone crack under pressure, but not Janie. She managed to stay strong through all of it, and near the end she was rewarded with Tea Cake and the love he and she shared with each other. Needless to say, relationships aren’t perfect, and their relationship was not excused from this, but they were in love and made things work out. From the beginning to end, Tea Cake and Janie treated each other the way they deserved to be treated, and things were fine until the day he caught rabies from a dog while saving Janie’s life. Sadly, she did have to shoot him, but that’s OK because she started to realize that she had finally “been to the horizon and back with Tea Cake.” Her second goal was freedom. This was achieved after Tea Cake had died, and she was by herself thinking about her life and everything she had gone through. It’s somewhat sad to think about what she had to go through in order to fully achieve her dream. Three husbands and one death would take a toll on the average person, but she managed to come out of everything
" (Ch.18). Tea Cake wants Janie to know that he is nothing like her other husbands, but is perfect for her. Tea Cake is essentially perfect for Janie because he helped her accomplish her her ultimate dream of love. Janie and Tea Cake’s marriage is the key to a good marriage because they treat each other with equality and
Janie then leaves Joe and doesn’t speak to him again until he is on his death bed. After Joe’s passing Janie meets a young man called Tea Cake. The town’s people feared that Tea Cake was only with Janie to attempt to steal her money. Janie ignored these warnings and runs away with Tea Cake anyway; Tea Cake soon gambles all of Janie’s money away. Not wanting Janie to provide for the two of them, Tea Cake moves the two of them to the everglades to harvest crops. Tea Cake allows Janie to be his equal and even lets her work in the fields with him. A hurricane rolls into Florida and instead of leaving with everyone else Tea Cake and Janie stay. During the storm while trying to protect Janie, Joe is bitten by a rabid dog and contracts rabies which eventually leads Janie to shoot him in self-defense. After buying an extravagant funeral for Tea Cake Janie returns to Eatonville to tell her story. Throughout Janie’s life her care takers/husbands have played four very different roles in molding Janie into the strong woman she becomes: Nanny wan an overbearing parental figure, Logan was her first husband that treated Janie like his slave, Joe was her second husband who held Janie as a trophy, and Tea Cake her third and final husband was Janie’s
But, in my opinion, Janie does not lose her will to find herself and it might have even become stronger because the reader can see that Janie is not happy with the way things are now and that she will probably want to change them in the future. When Joe dies and Janie marries Tea Cake, she feels free because even though Tea Cake asks for her opinion when he does something and cares about her. Since this is Janie's first marriage where she actually loves her husband, she feels free and discovers many new things in life that she has not noticed before.
To begin with, a husband needs to be honest with his wife. Out of all of Janie’s husbands Tea Cake is the least honest one, but one of the times he does lie to her, but he makes it better. Tea Cake is going everyday and working then spending some nights till late with his friends. Janie wakes up one day finding out that her
As much as Tea Cake had the qualities Janie was looking for she found a greater understanding of herself as a women besides her love. Janie was inexperienced at the start of her adventure, learned that love will not always come from promises, and had major reflection when she finished her first marriage with Joe that she went into with assurance. Janie was able to get a glimpse of independency after Joe died which is conveyed through the quote “Besides she liked being lonesome for a change. This freedom feeling was fine” (Hurston 90). Before meeting, Tea Cake Janie was able to understand that she was comfortable with not searching for love. However, Tea Cake was a reminder to her that her ideals of love were still out in the world. He was able to make Janie happy from doing things fun and childish and these activities like fishing during the knight, or playing chess were the things that society would not accept for a women like Janie. The first major instance when Tea Cake helped Janie go against society was when he played chess with her. While a small act to some readers, Janie found the act enormous in her eyes as it showed her that Tea Cake was a man able
I believe Janie depended on her past husbands for financial security, and protection from the outside world that she could not make a mends with. Janie's dependence on Tea Cake was a dependence on love, Tea Cake treats her the way she has always wanted to be treated, like the blossom to the bee. When Joe died, he left Janie with money and the store, but she had no one to love nor anyone to keep her company. She needed Tea Cake to fill this void in her life, I believe Janie realizes this when she says, "Tea Cake ain't no Jody Starks...but de minute Ah marries `im gointuh be makin' comparison. Dis ain't no business proposition...
Truly life was hard for many people in the early 20th century but the amount of tragedies that happened to Janie and some of her decisions were a bit outlandish. Janie is depicted as an extreme free spirit in a time where women empowerment was not on the rise, Janie made many independent choices without any repercussions like leaving her first husband. Janie left her first husband for Joe Starks abruptly and almost without any warning or punishment, her husband seemed to be okay with her decision and the grandmother that forced Janie into the marriage in the first place is nowhere to be seen. Another aspect of the story that was slightly unbelievable was Tea Cakes death. Tea Cake dies after getting bit by a rabid dog in the middle of a raging hurricane just seconds after the house that he and Janie share is overcome by waves. It seems as if too many things of epic proportions happened at nearly the same time. The question here is how was the dog even able to survive when Tea Cake and Janie were almost drowned by the storm? This question is never answered.
In the movie, Oprah Winfrey changes the audience’s perception of Janie’s relationship with Tea Cake by excluding the abuse and jealousy that takes place in the novel. "Janie learned what it felt like to be jealous. A little chunky girl took to picking a play out of Tea Cake in the fields and in the quarters. If he said anything at all, she’d take the opposite side and hit him or shove him and run away to make him chase her. Janie knew what she was up to – luring him away from the crowd. It kept up for two or three weeks with Nunkie getting bolder all the time. She’d hit Tea Cake playfully and the minute he so much as tapped her with his finger she’d fall against him or fall on the ground and have to be picked up. She’d be almost helpless. It took a good deal of handling to set her on her feet again. And another thing, Tea Cake didn’t seem to be able to fend her of...
Janie found what she was looking for. She searched all her life to find what was within herself, and one special person was all that was needed to bring it out in her. Even though her and Tea Cake’s relationship ended in a tragedy, she knew that he really loved her for who she was. She didn’t need to be with him for protection, or she didn’t need to be the leading lady of a town or a mayor’s wife, she just needed the right kind of love and affection to bring out what was best in her.
As a husband, He treated her with respect and love, unlike Joe Sparks. Also, he did not see her as one of his possessions to be seen and never heard, instead he saw her a person capable to learning and understanding. He taught her how to play checkers, handle guns and listened to her opinions. Tea Cakes also had a much different personality from Joe Starks. He was just as hardworking as Joe Starks, but his ambition is not channeled to acquiring more possessions and power. He was content with what he has and strove to provide for him and his wife. While married to Tea Cakes, Janie was able to express herself be free and independent. She was treated with respect and not inferiority hence she is able to make her own decisions for herself and grow as an
Janie’s three marriages were all different, each one brought her in for a different reason, and each one had something different to teach her. In summary, she married Logan because of her grandmother, Jody because she wanted to escape from Logan, and Tea Cake because they had true love. The marriages were different in that Logan treated Janie like a Slave, Joe was moulding her into what he wanted her to be, and Tea Cake just wanted to be with her. As a result, Janie learned many things from each marriage Tea Cake taught her to be herself and do what she wanted to, her marriage with Logan taught her to make changes in her life, and her marriage with Joe taught her to stand up for herself. In conclusion, her experiences in her marriages shaped her into the person she became, and were an important part of her life.
Tea Cake has a compassionate, strong-willed attitude towards his love interest in Janie. This is exemplified in chapter 18 “ If you kin see de light at daybreak, you don’t keep if you die at dusk”(159). In this quote, Janie is saying how Janie doesn’t regret anything she’s done with Tea Cake, even if they are doing things differently that might’ve risked her life. Although for Janie, loving Tea Cake, even for only a short two years, has given her a lot of contentment.Tea Cake is referred as the sunlight in her life, and Tea Cake is amazed by the intensity of her love and devotion. If Tea cake didn’t invest so much dedication, love for Janie in this quote it wouldn’t have been essential. Janie has significantly grown as an individual. She perceives love in a different manner, as shown with Tea Cake, Janie admires him and genuinely embraces Tea Cake, she’s very excited when it comes to describing her husband. As shown in chapter 11"[Tea Cake] looked like the love thoughts of women… Crushing aromatic herbs with every step he took. Spices hung about him. He was a glance from God” (101). Janie is explaining that no matter how cautious and suspicious she has become of men and the world around her, Tea-Cake was a relief towards her. He became Janie's gift from
In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie Crawford, the protagonist, constantly faces the inner conflicts she has against herself. Throughout a lot of her life, Janie is controlled, whether it be by her Nanny or by her husbands, Logan Killicks and Joe Starks. Her outspoken attitude is quickly silenced and soon she becomes nothing more than a trophy, only meant to help her second husband, Joe Starks, achieve power. With time, she no longer attempts to stand up to Joe and make her own decisions. Janie changes a lot from the young girl laying underneath a cotton tree at the beginning of her story. Not only is she not herself, she finds herself aging and unhappy with her life. Joe’s death become the turning point it takes to lead to the resolution of her story which illustrates that others cannot determine who you are, it takes finding your own voice and gaining independence to become yourself and find those who accept you.
Tea Cake’s love and care helps Janie find her voice and build her confidence. After living her life restricted by Joe for years, Janie gets used to holding in her true feelings. She is scared to express her honest emotions, and pretends as if there is no problem even when there is. Tea Cake notices how Janie claims to be all right even when she is not, and he tells her, “Have de nerve to say what you mean… you got the keys to the kingdom” (Hurston 109). This shows how he treats Janie as an equal, and wants to hear her opinions. Also she is not subordinate to him like she was to Logan and Joe. She is finally getting the reciprocal love that she had always wanted and is escaping the control of her former husbands. This is the moment when Janie starts to understand that she doesn’t have to care about what other people think of her and that she doesn’t need to modify her behavior to please others.
Through her three marriages, the death of her one true love, and proving her innocence in Tea Cake’s death, Janie learns to look within herself to find her hidden voice. Growing as a person from the many obstacles she has overcome during her forty years of life, Janie finally speaks her thoughts, feelings and opinions. From this, she finds what she has been searching for her whole life, happiness.