Thursday, March 29, 2012
Their Eyes Were Watching God (Ch 3-5): Who is Joe?
In chapter 5 of Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston divulges the nature of African Americans during the time of the novel. Interestingly enough, this temperament is later seen through the residents views of Joe in Eastonville. Hurston reveals that "colored folks" are "too envious of one 'nother," and therefore it is not in fact whites who keep blacks down, but they keep their "own selves down" (Hurston pg 39). Instead of working together, Coker discloses that envy disallows a black community from developing. Interestingly enough, the blacks in Hurston's novel don't feel this bitterness towards whites but towards people of their own race; however, one questions whether African Americans behave in continuously envious manner as a result of not possessing the same rights as whites during the time. Nonetheless, as Joe rises to power as mayor in Eastonville, Hurston displays the black temperament he discusses earlier when he conveys the town residents' sentiments towards Joe's authority. Despite the many negative thoughts many men have towards Joe, there was something about him that "cowed the town" (Hurston pg 47). He "weakened" people through his mannerisms and presence, and so the town inevitably bows down to him because no one has the courage to challenge his power ( Hurston pg 47). Because Hurston earlier reveals that blacks always feel great envy of each other, one questions the legitimacy of the town residents' complaints. Are their feelings justified and real, or are they simply exaggerating as a result of their nature?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Jacky-You take on a complex topic here in exploring the attitude that the African Americans in the novel have towards themselves and each other. The psychology of that attitude is both fascinating and depressing, as it seems primarily to stem from the long history of repression blacks suffered at the hands of whites during the years of slavery in this country. A thoughtful and courageous post here. (NB: for your parenthetical citations, you don't need to put more than a page number; above all, you don't need the abbreviation "pg").
ReplyDelete