Wednesday, June 7, 2017
Welcome!
This blog is designed for you to post thought-provoking comments, ask questions, and respond to your classmates’ comments regarding the novels. These particular novels tend to generate a lot of discussion, and the blog will provide a useful and enriching forum for that purpose. All the prompts have been posted so that you may post early if you’d like. To go to the earlier posts, go to the Blog Archive at the bottom and go to Older Posts. You are required to post a minimum of three comments/ questions (at least one paragraph each) per novel as you read. Blog comment deadlines: Their Eyes Were Watching God or The Hate U Give- July 20th, The Things They Carried- August 31st.
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ReplyDeleteIn the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, I wonder why Pheoby sticks up for Janie. Her peers gossip and judge her, but Pheoby leaves, disgusted in the women's actions. Why does she have different thinking from the people she is close with? When Janie tells Pheoby why she can no longer be happy, and she begins to inform her about her past,the story starts to unfold. At this point, you begin to realize how important the language is to the novel. The dialect in the beginning and information about Nanny's slavery days gives us an idea of the time period the novel takes place.
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ReplyDeleteIn Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie stays with Joe for over 20 years, until he dies. She gets upset with him over the years because he treats her like garbage. Joe forces Janie to lock her emotions away while she wants to express them. Once he passes, she breaks free of his grip and expresses her emotions in many ways. I wonder why she put up with Joe, since he neglected her throughout the marriage.
ReplyDeleteIn Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie's grandmother, Nanny, was born into slavery. She raised Janie because her Janie's mother ran away. Instead of letting Janie follow her dreams, she smothers them by telling her to marry. Nanny sets her up with a man named Logan, who from the start, Janie did not love. She eventually runs from him for someone else. I want to know why Nanny forced Janie to marry when she clearly did not love or want Logan. She should have let Janie choose her own man.
ReplyDeleteDespite the lack of physical and emotional connection between Janie and Logan, Nanny marries them anyway. From the beginning, Janie never had any interest in Logan. Although the two had little love for each other, I believe that Nanny marries the two so Janie can experience stability and protection. Nanny was raised during and before the Civil War, and thus was subject to harsh treating from her masters. Although slavery is no longer allowed in this time period, Nanny does not want Janie to experience what she lived through. Logan was a safe person to marry because of his wealth, honesty, and hard work. Overall, Nanny married Janie to Logan so Janie would be protected.
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ReplyDeleteIn the novel In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie lives with her first husband, Logan Killicks. At first, Logan pampers Janie and Janie does little to no physical labor. As time goes on, Logan expects Janie to help out more. Despite the stability of the home, Janie feels no connections to Logan. While Logan is out one day, Janie meets Joe Starks, or Jody. Despite only knowing Jody for two weeks, the two decide to get married and move out. I would like to know why Janie would take that big of a risk when she could continue to live a modest and stable life with Logan. This event leads me to believe that Janie is more of the risk taking type and is comfortable risking her future in order to find a better life.
ReplyDeleteJanie took the risk because of the status of her and Logan's relationship. They just had an argument and she was unhappy with him, in addition to her never really loving Logan. She was young and ambitious, and did not care to stay with Logan. Joe had made promises to Janie to care for her like a real man would. Joe had much better qualities about him, as Logan did not.
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ReplyDeleteAs the story in Their Eyes Were Watching God unfolds, Janie is preparing for marriage with Logan. She doesn't feel the love, but Nanny insists it will come. After Nanny passes and she still feels nothing, why does she stay with him? After Janie meets “Jody” and decides she wants to leave Logan, why does Logan break down and cry when she mentions she is leaving? After the treatment he has given her and how he explains she too spoiled and needs to work, why is he not happy for her leaving? Why do Jody and Janie rush to get married after meeting, with knowing little of one another?
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, after Jody’s funeral, Janie begins to mourn her loss. She feels relief and sees a noticeable change after Jody’s passing, but why does she still mourn? As she begins being noticed by other men, she resists because her new freedom brings her joy. After Janie meets Tea Cake and he leaves for a week, she begins to think he is using her for her money. She begins to feel comfortable and lets loose when Tea Cake jokes around. Even though Janie catches hints that Tea Cake is using her for her money from others, why does she continue to stay with him? Why does she continue to stay with him knowing all the drama (unhappiness) that could come with it?
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ReplyDeleteIn the novel, "The Hate U Give," I often found myself wondering why Starr and Maya dealt with Hailey's racist views and comments for so long. When it was revealed that she had been making racist comments directed at the girls for years, I had no clue why they stuck with her for so long. All Starr and Maya did was laugh along with Hailey. I would have loved for the author to have gone into more details about her home life. I'm curious as to if the views stem from her parents or she was influenced by the media growing up.
ReplyDeleteIn "The Hate U Give," Starr always acted noticeably different around each friend. Throughout the entire novel, she always had a different persona. For example, when Starr was with DeVante, he could never push her around and was never the one in charge. However, Hailey was always the one in charge. Starr always did exactly what Hailey wanted her to do, she was a complete pushover.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading, "The Hate U Give," it is constantly displayed that with every setting, as well as the people in it, Starr's personality is vastly different. It was often stated that she would change her voice in some settings in order to seem more like she should be in that setting. She was constantly trying to mold her entire personality into what she saw as the most appropriate for each setting.
ReplyDeleteAs Janie's marriage to Joe progresses, it begins to become similar to her marriage with Logan. Joe is very involved with the development of the town, as he is the mayor. At first, Janie sits and watches the town progress around her. As the town grows, Janie becomes needed at the store and is subjected to ridicule from Joe very often. She begins to feel lonely. Although I do feel bad for Janie, I cannot feel anger towards Joe. He is simply living out his dream. Janie took the risk by marrying him and unfortunately it did not turn out how she expected.
ReplyDeleteIn the novel, The Things They Carried, after the war ends Jimmy goes to visit Tim in Massachusetts. They reminisce over coffee and cigarettes when they come over a picture of Ted Lavender. Conversation gets deep after discussing Ted's death, and they switch over to Gin. Cross tells Tim he is still in love with Martha but then doesn't speak about her at all. Jimmy expected more when coming home to Martha than the events that occurred. He is hurt because she does not feel the same or loves him back. Cross's heart is hurting, and he uses drinking and fun times with Tim to temporarily bandage the pain.
ReplyDeleteIn the chapter “Friends” and “Enemies” of The Things They Carried, two short stories are told. These stories are showing how the distress from war can affect friendship. Two characters , Jensen and Strunk, argue over a missing jackknife. Jensen believes Strunk has stolen it. They fight and argue to try to get even. Later in the story, they begin to have trust in one another and make a pact that if one of them gets seriously hurt, they other will kill him to shorten the pain and misery. Strunk later dies from the lower half of his leg being blown off. These two chapters show how honors can be broken from the pressure and expectations in war. It all shows how formalities in friendships and even plain respect for others can be broken.
ReplyDeleteIn The Things They Carried, fear played a constant role throughout the novel. Whether helpful, or harmful, it was a constant in most of the stories told. During the war, fear was only harmful some of the time, other times that fear kept the men alive. There was, however, a very fine line for helpful and harmful. If the men weren't scared enough, then they lose some of their alertness, but if they were too scared, then that fear may paralyze them.
ReplyDeleteIn The Things They Carried, the narrator tells the story Mary Anne Bell and Mark Fossie, a soldier that wants to be with the love of his life so bad, that he brought her to him in the middle of a war. When Mary Anne arrived, she was the perfect picture of what an innocent young woman looked like back home, mostly untouched by the horrors of the war. She had a natural curiosity that grew every moment she stayed with Fossie and his crew and she yearned to know more about this new place that she found herself in. Mary Anne wanted to know every last detail about the culture and she loved to see how differently the people there lived. The men quickly accepted her as one of their own and let her do everything with them, including medical procedures, despite the fact that she was a girl.
ReplyDeleteThe narrator of The Things They Carried never wanted to serve his country and go to war. All he wanted to do was run off to Canada where he would be safe from the draft, safe from the war all together. He was too afraid that he would die at war, he longed for the safety of Canada. Eventually he did go to war though, but he did not go to help the greater good, we went to clear his conscience. He went because he was more afraid of what the people back home would think and say about him. About what his parents would think and say about him. He was too ashamed, even if he would never see these people again.
ReplyDeleteAt the end of the novel The Things They Carried, it reveals that O'Brien tells stories about war and death to come to acceptance with them. He uses life and the events within to cope with Linda's passing. In the end, its explained how he compares the stories to other men in the war joking about corpses and remains. To me, I feel Tim uses the stories to keep those characters alive in his mind and be reminded of them. He does not want to forget them or the experiences they shared.
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