The subject matter seems lighter than Invisible Man so far; Janie hasn't really had any strong confrontations with other characters yet, and it even seems that her naive ideal about love may be a thing of the past soon. This leads me to believe that either the novel will take a sudden darker turn, or Janie may hold onto her ideals and give up secure situations to pursue "adventure". Then the final question posed to the reader would be something along the lines of "was her 'adventure' and pursuit of ideals worth the less favorable final result?" I think it might actually be a more interesting novel this way, often tragedies in novels feel contrived or just out of place. At the same time I don't really think Janie has been established as a particularly unique or compelling protagonist, albeit being independent in many ways, so this plot-line could become boring.
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Janie's "Idealism"
Janie's life seems to be unfolding in a progression that is similar to the narrator's from Invisible Man, but very different in both beginning and goal. She has a naive (at least from the perspective of her grandmother) expectation of what love and men should be, just as the narrator has a naive expectation of what the path to success in the world will be. Both stories are also large frame narratives, although I think we have a little less understanding of what changes Janie has gone through, whereas the personality differences between the narrator in the prologue and the first chapter are very stark.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I think it is interesting that both of these novels are basically frame narratives--but the difference is that the frame in Invisible Man is much more seperate from the story. He is sitting down and writing...the events have already happened at some small yet significant time in the past. The frame narrative in Their Eyes Were Watching God however, is immediate and pressing--she has literally just walked into town. Additionally, I would disagree that Janie's character does not have stark differences from the frame narrative to the actual beginning of the story--to the contrary; Janie is soo innocent in the story--and walking into town, I get this image of a tough, no nonsense women, completely different from a relatively happy little girl running through trees.
ReplyDeleteMaybe "compelling" is a subjective judgment for a protagonist--some will find Janie compelling, some less so--but there are definitely aspects that make her unique. Her willingness to simply walk away from her marriage to Logan, and not to suffer immediate consequences (as in a moralistic 19th century novel), is pretty much unprecedented for American literature ca. 1937. Her willingness to stand up to Joe, and to want to be part of the social "porch-talk," which is dominated by men, also distinguishes her. But I suppose the real movement of the novel is yet to come--we already know she pursues "adventure" of some kind, as we know in the opening scene that she's coming back after having been away, running off with a younger man called Tea Cake, and experiencing some kind of devastating flood. The degree to which she has been changed by this experience is implied by her muddy overalls--she doesn't wear anything like this in the Eatonville chapters. So the opening does frame Janie as a kind of hero coming back from somewhere. Though the porch-sitters don't seem all that fond of her, they do find her interesting, and worth talking about!
ReplyDeleteReading this post after reading farther into the book made me wonder how long it will take until that "dark event" occurs to send the book into the context of the introduction. After reading chapter 18, it appears that the event may have just taken place, with the dog bite, but by looking at the number of pages left, I think that the narrative might start to get rushed. This is also similar to "Invisible Man," in my opinion; I thought that Ellison's ending was a bit too abrupt.
ReplyDelete