Their Eyes Were Watching God is
often passed as a piece of romantic fiction that relies heavily on societal
gender roles. In its simplest parts, Kaplan argues that it is in fact a story
of “a young woman in search of an orgasm.”
The story, in her words, explores a side of the black female sexuality
that was not the mammy or the jezebel.
Janie was allowed the luxury of complication; that is to say that her
story was that of finding a place of sexual inclusion and expression. Her dream was be to be fulfilled in all aspects
of love and life and most importantly, voice.
During my first reading of the text,
my viewpoints and stances were heavily influenced by my idea of feminism. Feminism means, to me, a complete eradication
of the gendered roles that constrict and restrict female advancement in social,
political, and economical realms. So
when I read that Janie was silenced by her husband, Jody or not allowed to
converse with her fellow citizens of Eatonville, it seemed obvious that Janie
was slowly losing a voice that she had, arguably, never claimed. She seemed to be a physical representation what the black feminist movement fought for. She is a black woman that, through her own
autonomy, is actively seeking sexual and emotional satisfaction but stifled in the process. However, a
closer look at the text, per Kaplan’s argument, offers a different
interpretation.
Instead, Janie’s dream is expressed
by the very telling of her story in the first place. According to Kaplan, the nature of her speech
is, in itself, erotic. It calls of for a
reciprocity of language that can only be likened to the nature of sex---a give and take. So, as Kaplan states, Janie’s experience
under the pear tree is not born out of a need for sex or marriage but rather is
a “revelation” that fully encompasses the spirit of conversation. Their Eyes is about more than voice;
it is also about the decisions Janie as the person telling her story is able to
make in relation to how her story is told, to whom, and with what magnitude of “undertell.” She makes the choice to tell her friend, Phoeby, instead of the nosy townspeople. She also makes the choice to paint dissimilar pictures of the abuse she experiences at the hands of her husbands. A better interpretation: Janie is not looking
for the gift of speech, she is looking for the level playing field that
constitutes an equal relationship. There is a palpable link between Janie's search and the modern agendas of black feminism.
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ReplyDeleteAnother important point that Kaplan raises on Janie's ability to choose her audience is the sociological conditions of the time, as they relate to African American and African American women's roles and statuses. She argues that the novel has often been read ahistorically and the subversive elements are often missed. Hurston grants Janie the agency that would have been realistic at that point in time; it may seem that she is suppressed and silenced by her husbands and the community, but for that time, Janie asserts a lot of autonomy and uses her ability to choose her audience in order to grant her more agency.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, in focusing on Janie’s sexuality, a topic usually avoided at the time, Hurston is being subversive of the political, social, and artistic constraints on African American women. Hurston is asserting her own agency as a writer while asserting that of her protagonist, Janie. The novel presents a much more complex view of power dynamics, forms of resistance, and coping mechanisms than it is given credit for. Because of the strong fictional elements, many of the political references go unnoticed. A quote from Kaplan illustrates this point well, “by opting not to render Janie’s voice directly at this most crucial of narrative moments – Janie’s very life and freedom are, after all, on the line here – Hurston is suggesting that flack female voice is still constrained, although perhaps now in more covert, complex, and less absolute ways” (150).
Firstly, I would not say that she slowly loses her voice. Kaplan references Henry Louis Gates, who suggest that Janie is trying to find a voice, which is incorrect. Kaplan writes, " Janie never does acquire a voice, however, but, had one, in fact, all along" (140). I wouldn't say that Janie slowly loses her voice with Jody or searches for her voice throughout the novel. In fact, Janie desires to be heard; she searches for a listener. She has a voice, but her voice needs to be heard. During her marriage with Jody, he tried to suppress her voice, but failed because she still had a voice, however, he was not a listener, he nor many of the men that interacted with her. Janie is heard by Pheoby and Tea Cake.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I do not fully agree with Kaplan describing self-revelation through conversation being the meaning of the pear tree passage. If this were so, Janie would have mentioned/alluded to this during her conversation with Pheoby. Hurston does mention self-revelation in the novel, "Janie full of that oldest human longing--self revelation"(7). Self revelation is a theme of the novel. However, the pear tree passage describes an orgasm filled with love, passion, and longingness.
Thirdly, I agree that Janie is looking for the level playing field that constitutes an equal relationship. She's in search for this playing field that constitutes an equal relationship throughout the novel. Jody does not want her to be on the same level as the townspeople of Eatonville. Janie is Jody's prized trophy, who he only can look at, so he keeps her on the top shelf of his closet with the closet door slightly open. He created this pedestal, this high chair of queendom, so that she nor anyone else would feel equal to each other, which doesn't allow her to have an equal relationship. Janie attempts creating equal relationships by being on the same level as her residents/neighbors by indulging and getting involved with the people who sit on the store's porch storytelling and joking around and wanting to go to the mule's funeral. Her marriages to Jody and Logan are not equal relationships. However, Janie feels that her relationship with Tea Cake is equal. Tea Cake does not attribute Janie's individuality to her being a woman. His willingness to teach, sacrifice, encourage, and acknowledge, creates a leveled playing field for he and Janie. There is no sense of expectancy like her other marriages.Moreover, she obtains this with Pheoby too. Janie finds happiness with a sense of equality, being heard, love, and possibly obtaining satisfaction with an "orgasm" because of Tea Cake.
I think the idea of selective story telling in Their Eyes is interesting as well Jennifer. I think it is interesting to think also, not just about how Janie tells her own story, but how Hurston tells Janie’s story. Kaplan highlights the situation that Hurston is writing in and concludes that this lead to the style of writing and narrative choices that she made. This is also interesting in terms of feminism as well. Is it disempowering for Hurston to narrate the abuse that Tea Cake inflicts, while letting Janie have more commentary on the abuse that Jody inflicts? By not ascribing to norms of feminist ideology or Harlem Renaissance ideology, Kaplan demonstrates how Hurston asserted her own form of agency born out of her truth and experiences. I would not agree that Janie is looking for a level playing field or equal relationships, but perhaps Hurston is exploring the impossibility of this for her. Or perhaps the internalized dominance that DuCille talks about.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that Janie’s experience of story telling is erotic and I think this piece really complicated the novel for me. It also made it easier for me to see the novel through Hurston’s eyes instead of Janie’s. Janie’s ahistorical and apolitical context is easy to believe while first reading the piece. But after reading the context that Hurston was writing in and looking more closely at the text, I realized this book is far from ahistorical and apolitical.
I agree that Kaplan's essay complicates the way we as readers may understand this novel. While Kaplan does have a solid and reasonable way of understanding the novel. I don't agree with the way she describes the pear-tree scene or the way she eludes to the idea that Janie is a woman in search of an orgasm. I think Hurston separated Janie as a character into two entities. One is her public demeanor or "person" and the other would be her internal person; the person that reader sees but not necessarily the other characters around her.
ReplyDeleteI think that Janie, like Kaplan says, does have a voice all along. I think that she does not lose it when she is married to the different people, such as Jody, it is just not as visible. By Hurston doing this, it gives Janie the agency and freedom to decide who she tells what, what emotions she expresses, and how she chooses to be perceived. this self-revelation and erotic talk is a creative way for Hurston to express, through Janie, several different political and social understandings that are complicated by the narrative.