Act 1 Scene 1 Questions

1) How is interest created in the opening scene?

Hamlet begins with several men who are guarding the castle, and they are speaking about the ghost of the late king who has appeared in full armour. He is obviously there as a warning, which foreshadows to something tragic to come later in the play. 

2) What information are we given to help us understand the situation?

The king is wearing armour from the battle against Fortinbras, fortinbras was killed, and all of his land was given to the king of Denmark, Fortinbras son is now seeking revenge and he has built an army of misfits to which the Denmark people fear will attack. They are preparing for war in order to fight against them, and it is possible that the ghost of the king is a warning that it is soon to come. 

3) What happens at the end of the scene to create suspense and keep up the reader’s interest?


The ghost will not talk to the men, especially after they approach it with violence. They chose to reach to Hamlet to see if the ghost will talk to him so they can get some answers, seeing how it is father. This is the first mention of Hamlet in the play. 

4) What is the mood of the scene?

The men are afraid, they do not know what to think about the appearance of the ghost, and they are concerned that something bad is going to happened based on the warning. Although they are slightly afraid they are also confused, the ghost will not talk and all they want to do is find some answers. 

5) Why are the sentries apprehensive (there are two reasons)?

They do not know the reason for the ghost's appearance, they are sure that it stands for some kind of warning and they would like to find out what that is so they know what to prepare for. They are also unsure that this is actually the king, they attack the ghost because it is their job to protect the kingdom, and they do not want to be fooled. 
6) What reasons are suggested by Horatio for the appearance of the late King’s ghost?


They believe that he is possibly thier to warn them about a war to come with Fortinbra, because of the army that he is training. It is also suggested with an allusion to Julius Ceasur that it is a warning that something is going to happen to Hamlet based on the ghosts that appeared before the murder of Ceasur. 

Characters and THeme

Characters-

Baby Suggs

Howard

Buglar

Denver

Beloved

Sethe

Paul D

Paul F

Paul A

Halle

Sixo

Theme-

Supernatural haunting vs. reality 

Their Eyes Are Watching God DJ's 36-64

36.) Pg.142 “Booker T.? He wuz a great man, wusn’t he?”

To African Americans during this time Booker T. Washington was a great man, he helped them establish a life after slavery in a white society. Although it wasn’t as great as the life of a white person it was still something. But Ms. Turner desperately want’s to be white, she looks down on black people even though she is one herself. To white people in the South during the late 1800’s early 1900’s Booker T. was a nuesance, they were still not willing to accept the equality between a white man and a black man, just as Ms. Tuner isn’t. She thinks like any racist white person would just because her skin is a little lighter than the rest of the black people.

37.) Pg.143 “He was a vanishing-looking kind of man as If there used to be parts about him that stuck out individually but now he didn’t have a thing about him that wasn’t dwindled and blurred.”

Being married to an overbearing woman like Mrs. Turner has made Mr. Turner begin to lose his importance. She is “the head of the house” and he has lost his control over anything. And a man without control is a man without importance. The more power a man has the more power a man has to lose, for example Jody had more power than three men combined, so when he began to lose his power he began to lose his life. Power is what kept him alive. Mr. Turner probably wasn’t as controlling as Jody, so when he lost his power he began to dwindle more slowly, and rather than dying he just faded, and became unnoticeable.

38.) Pg.144 “therefore it was right that they should be cruel to her at times, just as she was cruel to those more negroid then herself in direct ratio to their negroness.”

Mrs. Turner accepted cruelty from lighter skinned people because she believed in the ranking system. The lighter you were, the more important you were. Which gave you the right to treat the darker skinned people like they were dirt. She considered herself white, and she only associated herself with lighter skinned people. White doctors, even Janie. She envied Janie for her lighter skin and her beauty, but she despises Tea Cake, because of his “negroness”. She see’s white people and the power they have and the respect they get and she craves that attention. She overlooks how cruel they can be and how bad they treat her, because she believes that they have the right to do it.

40.) Pg.145 “It was inevitable that she should accept any inconsistency and cruelty from her deity as all good worshipers do from theirs. All gods who receive homage are cruel. All gods dispense suffering without reason.”

Mrs. Turner worships the white person like any person worships god. She will do anything in order to earn their acceptance, even treat her own people like they are at the bottom of the food chain. She continues to give them what they want, but they continue to treat her with cruelty. If you give a person a reason to be more powerful they will begin to use it against you. What Mrs. Turner doesn’t realize is that she will never be accepted the way she wants to be because of her skin color. They will just see her as a pathetic “negro” and continue to use the attention she gives them against her. Not only is Mrs. Turner getting no respect from the white people, she is losing the respect of the black people. If she continues to follow the ranking system she will soon be alone, which ends fatally in such a cruel world.

41.) Pg.145 “Aw, don’t make god look so foolish – findin’ fault wid everything He made.” 

God created the man, but he didn’t create the black man only to work for the white man, and God did not create the ranking system, that was set in place to make the white man feel important, and to make more money. Tea Cake believes in god, and he believes in equality. The fact that Mrs. Turner looks down on him makes him very angry, because the black man was created by god just like the white man was, and she has no right to pass judgment, and cruelty to a person of equal life.

42.) Pg.147 “Being able to whip her reassured him in possession.”

Tea Cake had never been very violent with Janie; he always respected her, especially since she wasn’t a loud mouth woman who demanded things from him. They always had equal respect for each other and allowed each other to do what ever they please even if it wasn’t their place. Tea Cake constantly worried that Janie was going to start second guessing her decision to be with him, because he was so much younger, and she was a beautiful experienced woman. As soon as Mrs. Turner started bringing up her well off brother, Tea Cake started to get more worried that Janie would run off. And he hit her as a way to show that she was his, and he was the man of the house. He always treated her differently than most men treat their wives, he taught her to do things that only men were supposed to do, and didn’t care if she worked in the fields because all he wanted to do was be with her. The moment he started second guessing himself, and the role in their marriage is the moment he hit her, as a way to reestablish that role.

43.) Pg.148 “Lawd! Wouldn’t Ah love tuh whip uh tender woman lak Janie! Ah bet she don’t even holler. She jus’ cries, eh Tea Cake?”

The men believe that women shouldn’t have a say in anything, and they should never fight back. But for most of these men, their wives aren’t just going to let them slap them around, they are going to put up a fight. Janie has never been one to fight back with force, which is another reason why men are attracted to her. The fact that they would want to hit her because she is more quiet and gentle than their wives is terrible. Beating your wife during this time seems to be no big deal, they could do nothing, but if a man was angry he was going to take a swing at you, because you’re his wife and he can do with you what he pleases to. Tea Cake only hit her that one time, because he respected her, but hitting her for no reason was a sign of major disrespect, but that was his job as the man of the house.

44.) Pg.156 “If Ah never see you no mo’ on earth, Ah’ll meet you in Africa.”

Africa during the time of slavery was a black mans heaven. It was their home, a place where they weren’t forced to work and they were all treated equally. Even after slavery they were still treated like crap, and they were forced to find work and were killed, and beaten. Death was freedom, and freedom was their home, which was Africa. Men who were born into slavery still dreamed of going there because they knew that they would be accepted there.

45.) Pg.158 “It woke up old Okeechobee and the monster began to roll in his bed.”  

Okeechobee is the hurricane that has hit Florida, and it was an actual hurricane that happened during this time. The monster hasn’t hit with full force yet, it is still waking up and getting out of bed. But the weather is changing and the hurricane is beginning. As soon as the monster awakens there is nothing left to do to stop it, a force that large we’ll wipe out anything in its path.

46.) Pg.159 “The time was past for asking the white folks what to look for through that door. Six eyes were questioning God.”  

It was too late to try and escape from the storms strong grip, now they just had to do anything they could to avoid the worst of it. They all were hoping and praying that they would survive the storm and looking to for answers on how to do it. They were questioning why this was happening to them, after everything they have been through. There families were taken from their home, and brought to a new country only to be slaves and now they are forced to live in this new country and work and be treated like they are nothing. Why were they being punished so much just because they had dark skin? Their were no white men around them to tell them what to do during this storm, so all they could do was pray for their lives, and try and find a safe way out of the storm.

47.) Pg.159 “If you kin see de light at daybreak, you don’t keer if you die at dusk.”  

Janie doesn’t resent Tea Cake for brining her to the storm country, there is nothing about their relationship that she regrets because she loves him. “God has opened the door” for her and if she dies, she will die happy because she saw the light at daybreak. She would rather die loving Tea Cake, then grow old without ever meeting him. She had finally gotten what she had always wanted and any problem, even a storm, couldn’t ruin that for her. She has now lived the life that she told her Granny that she wanted to live.

48.) Pg.160 “They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God.”  

Even though the lights were out and they couldn’t see, they were still looking to god for answers. They wanted a sign or a hint on what was to come for them. Each person sitting in the house were praying for answers on how to survive the storm, but God wasn’t giving them any answers. God created the Man, but it was up to them to decide their own fate.  It was no longer about the ranking system; the storm took out any man, white or black. It was every man for himself at this point, which became apparent to the six as their questions continued to be unanswered.

49.) Pg.161 “The monstropolous beast had left his bed. The two hundred miles an hour wind had loosened his chains.”  

The Storm was not at its peak. The beast was fully awake and it was coming full storm, strong winds, heavy rain, everything you can imagine was happening and it grabbed any man who was to weak to fight it. This quote personifies the how extensive the storm is, it turns the storm into a monster making its actions seem fatal to everything it touches.

50.) Pg.164 “Common danger made common friends.”  

Everyone, and everything at this point is fighting to survive the storm. Hungry animals are eating dead bodies of men who couldn’t survive. The danger that this storm is causing humans is a buffet for hungry animals, as terrible as they may sound. Now you must not only fear the storm, you must fear the fierce animals, and the anxious people who will do anything to survive. It doesn’t matter if you’re white, black, human, animal, if your weak then you will probably end up dead. But everyone is most likely going to end up homeless, moneyless, and their will no longer be a ranking system. The poverty will spread to every race and everyone will fight for money and shelter.

51.) Pg. 167 “Once upon a time, Ah never 'spected nothin’, Tea Cake, but bein’ dead from standin’ still and tryin’ tuh laugh. But you come ‘long and made somethin’ outa me.”

Despite recent events, Janie still doesn’t regret running off with Tea Cake because he brought her to life. Her marriage to Jody, living in that town, working at the store, weren’t things that made her happy. Her life was at a stand still there, she did the same thing everyday and she was controlled which was something that she really didn’t enjoy. Tea Cake gave her life, which was ironic cause at this moment with him she was so close to death, but it didn’t matter she would rather be there struggling with him then back at that big house alone, unhappy, not in love. Love is the only thing that Janie needs to survive, her love is a normal persons water, it feeds her and keeps her alive. Without it she lives in a life of nothingness. Tea Cake opened her up to love and now he is her everything, better die alongside him then without him.

52.) Pg.167 “ He aimed tuh kill me stone dead. Ah’m never to fuhgit dem eyes. He wuzn’t nothin’ all over but pure hate.”

The dog had a hate in his eyes that Tea Cake had never seen before. This was obviously not a pet dog, most likely wild and hadn’t gotten its shots yet. The dog wasn’t going to save anything but itself, and wild dog has absolutely not sympathy, its brain, which is telling it to evil things, controls it. Almost as If it has been taken over by a demon, that won’t stop until everything around it is dead. The eyes that Tea Cake saw were not the eyes of that dog, they were the eyes of the insanity that had taken over the dog.

53.) Pg.168 “And then again Him-with-the-square-toes had gone back to his house.”  

The storm has passed and death is no longer taking its huge toll. Death’s duties were over which means it could go back to its roofless house. Now all that was left was the cleanup, the storm wiped out several houses and people, and it was the job of those who survived, who were probably all completely exhausted, to pick up all the death around them. The worst part of getting visited by a monster is cleaning up the mess they have made after they are gone, picking up the bodies of your friends and family and having to find somewhere to live after all the houses have been destroyed.

55.) Pg.171 “Got orders from headquarters. They makin’ coffins fuh all de white folks. ‘Tain’t nothin’ but cheap pine, but dat’s better’n nothin’.”

The white people who were killed by the hurricane are put in coffins, but all the black people are just being thrown in a hole. They don’t get any proper burial because they are “Nothing” so they just get thrown away like trash. As the storm ends, you start to see more of the racism coming back into the story it is no longer every man for himself, the black people again start becoming second rate citizens and they are forced to throw their own into giant holes, and safely put the white people in coffins.

57.) Pg.173 “He bought another rifle and a pistol and he and Janie bucked each other as to who was the best with Janie ranking him always with the rifle. She could knock the head off of a chicken-hawk sitting up a pine tree.”

The description of Janie’s shooting skills is a foreshadow to what is to come in the book. He being better at shooting then Tea Cake we’ll prove why she survived and he was killed when both holding each other at gun point. Tea Cake taught Janie how to shoot so she could keep herself safe when he wasn’t around, but he probably wasn’t expecting to be the harmful thing attacking her that she would have to shoot. Her aim was impeccable even while frightened for her life aiming at her one true love.

58.) Pg.175 “But the demon was there before him, strangling, killing him quickly. It was great relief to expel the water from his mouth.”

The demon that was inside that evil dog had now moved on to Tea Cake, and it was starting to completely take over Tea Cakes brain. The demon rejected water, because water represents life. A demon represents death, and hell, any type of life is very threatening to a demon so they will do everything in their power to get rid of it. Tea Cake’s mind is gone; all that is left is his body, which is consumed by an evil presence passed on by the dog when Tea Cake was bitten in the face.

59.) Pg.178 “Well, she thought, that big old dawg with the hatred in his eyes had killed her after all. She wished she had slipped off that cow-tail and drowned then and there and been done.”

Seeing Tea Cake in this condition makes her wish that the dog would have just killed her, that way Tea Cake would not be insane and he could have lived out his life. This guilt is probably happening because Janie is much older than Tea Cake and she feels bad that she has liven most of her life and Tea Cake still has so much life to live but because he loves her so much and saved her life, he has to die. Tea Cake without a doubt would do anything for Janie and without knowing he killed himself trying to save the one he loves. And now Janie is suffering because it is her fault that he is going insane, rather than being grateful for him saving her life, she is completely filled with guilt because she feels likes in a way she killed him.

60.) Pg.178 “The sky stayed hard looking and quiet so she went inside the house. God would do less than He had in His heart.”

Once again Janie is looking to god for answers to help save Tea Cake, but there is nothing that god can do even if he wants to. Once a demon has consumed a mind, it won’t leave until that body is dead. It is up to Janie to find a solution to her problem, even if it means that Tea Cake, or her must die.

61.) Pg.178 “What was this thing that set his brains afire and grabbed at his throat with iron fingers?”

Tea Cake is being tortured by the thing that’s inside him. In some cases it is worth than death because he has no control over his own body. All this pain I being inflicted on him and there is nothing he can do about it. Especially since it is all in his head. As Janie tried to tell him when it first started happening, it is all a dream, but Tea Cake doesn’t believe that it is actually a dream. There is something that is tearing him apart inside, when really all that is happening is the man is going insane.

62.) Pg.180 “Ah jus’ know dat God snatched me out de fire through you. And Ah loves yuh and feel glad.”

Janie was slowly dying before she met Tea Cake. It’s like being burned to death, slow and painful, but Tea Cake showed up and grabbed her out of the fire and saved her life. She finally was able to live when she was with him; even if it wasn’t always easy it was way better than things used to be for her. She was no longer being controlled, and told what to do. Tea Cake loved her and he wanted to be with her at all times. Their love was like water, it put out any fire in their way until the fire got within the mind of one of them, that was one thing they couldn’t stop.

63.) Pg. 183 “Treat Tea Cake like he was some mad dog when nobody in the world had more kindness about them.”

It is terrible that this demon had to take over Tea Cake because he was the nicest most respectful man there was. The only reason why this happened was because he was trying to save Janie. Bad things happen to good people, Tea Cake was a man with not a lot of money who had his faults, but in no way did he deserve to be taken over like this. It shows that this is an evil society, and it takes out the good people because they seem powerless, and unimportant. Although Tea Cake was very brave, he sometimes made rash decisions that could get him in trouble, and even though Janie’s life was on the line, fighting a rabid dog was one of them.

64.) Pg.183 “the second click told her that Tea Cake’s suffering brain was urging him to kill.”

The man that Janie had fallen in love with was gone. All that was left was this demon and his intentions were to kill her. She had nothing left to but shoot, and luckily for her she had better aim then Tea Cake because her shot killed him and his shot missed. When Tea Cake lunged forward and bit Janie, it foreshadows that the demon might be leaving Tea Cakes body and moving to Janies.  After Janie shoots Tea Cake her mind is consumed with guilt, and heartbreak, she just took the life of the man she loved even though he wasn’t really there anymore. 

Their Eyes are Watching God DJs 21-35

21.) "Dat's cause you need tellin'.. It would be pitiful if Ah didn't. Somebody got to think for women, and chillun and chicken and cows. I god, They sho don't think none thierselves."

Most men, like Joe, throughout the book compare women to farm animals. They don't believe that women are capable of having opinions, or being smart. They are simply there to make a man look good. But the truth is, a donkey, or a chicken, is what gives the men jobs. A women is what gives the men life. Janie just wants Joe to know that she does not want to be controlled. She knows that she is just as capable as any man, and she is finally able to stand up for herself, and really any woman. Joe had gone on a total power trip, being the man with all the answer (which in truth just means the man with all the money) makes him feel like he is in control of everything and everyone. 

22.) She had no more blossomy openings dusting pollen over her man, neither any glistening young fruit where the petals used to be." 

When Janie first met Joe, their was hope for some love. Her first marriage had been so lonely, and unhappy that running away with this wealthy man seemed to be the right choice to her. She soon realized that this marriage also contained no love. She no longer felt like a blossoming pear tree, falling on love with everything she saw. Instead she was thinking practical. But practicality equals loneliness. She was now one of many married woman, who married for security rather than love. 

23.) "She was a rut in the road. Plenty of life beneath the surface but it was kept beaten down by the wheels." 

Janie was stuck with Joe, she knew that there wasn't much she could say or do to get him to listen to her so she just allowed him to control her, and constantly bring her down. But in reality the "blooming plum tree" still was inside her. She just needed to be free from loveless relationships. Janie was not usually the type to cower away from something, but Joe was very powerful, and he knew it. Once under his control, it was hard to break free. 

24.) "For what can excuse a man in the eyes of other men for lack of strength?"

The control Joe held over his town and his wife, is what gave him so much pride. So long as his trophy wife did exactly what he said, he still held all the power. But when Janie finally fought back, in front of all the men at the store. Joe began to lose his power and his strength. A man is nothing if not feared by other men. Having other men laugh at you for being brought down by your wife, is the lowest of lows for a man. They want to appear strong and controlled, they do not want women telling them what is wrong with them. 

27.) "She hated her grandmother and had hidden it from herself all these years under a cloak of pity." 

Janie's grandmother did not want Janie to make the wrong decisions. In a way she was just as controlling as Joe. She man Janie marry a man she didn't love because she wanted Janie to have a stable life with money, and security. Janie doesn't seem like one to care at all about money, all this girl had ever wanted is love. She does not want to feel lonely while she is with a man she wants to feel in love. Although Nanny was looking out for her best interests she never aloud Janie to make her own decisions, and now Janie resents her for it. 

28.) "When God had made The Man, he made him out of stuff that sung all the time and glittered all over. Then after that some angels got jealous and chopped him into millions of pieces, but he still glittered and hummed. So they beat him down to nothing but sparks but each little spark had a shine and a song. So they covered each one over with mud." 

This very similar to Janie's marriages. The jealous angles continued to tear the man down because they did not want the man to love, and be happy. The practical lifestyle that most women of this time were taking, was tearing them down. Janie had these two terrible marriages, that take up a good portion of her life, and each of them pushed a loving relationship farther and farther down on the list of possibilities. But this is a foreshadow that there is still hope for Janie, that their maybe a small spark left that will rise up and Janie will finally be the "blossoming pear-tree" that she has always wanted to be. 

29.) "she liked being lonesome for a change. This freedom feeling was fine. These men didn't represent a thing she wanted to know about." 

Janie was tired of men, she was tired of them controlling her. And now that Joe was dead she was finally able to be in charge of her own choices. This wasn't the same lonely that she had felt while she was with Joe. She no longer felt lonely within her own mind, she could do whatever she wanted, and say whatever she wanted without someone telling her not to. She wasn't look for another man like that either. After to unhappy marriages Janie was ready to be on her own. Something that she had always wanted to do. 

30.) "Then he looked back at her with an irresistible grin on his face. Janie burst out laughing in spite of herself." 

Janie is having trouble controlling herself around this man, her emotions are taking over her self control. She can't help but laugh every time he talks. This is a sign that she is in love, and this time it is not forced love. When he is around she can't think about anything besides the love that she feels. When she was with Joe she always had to hold back, because every time she tried to speak her mind, Joe would yell at her and tell her she was wrong. Now with this new younger man, she is having troubles holding back her emotions because they are so much stronger. 

31.) "Things lak dat got uh whole lot tuh do wid convenience, but it ain't got nothin' tuh do wid love."

Tea Cake believes in true love, probably because he is so young. Before Tea Cake arrives in the book Janie begins to give up on the concept of true love because she has two failed experiences. Tea Cake may not be the best decision of Janie were choosing the practical route like she usually did, but as stated in this line. Those things have absolutely nothing to do with love, just because your married does not mean you love each other. Although they seem very happy and not at all problematic in the beginning, there is a foreshadow that something bad is going to happen in this book. Although love makes a person more happy, if you don't make the practical decision your bound to end up in a bad situation. 

32.) "He could be a bee to a blossom - a pear tree blossom in the spring. He seemed to be crushing scent out of the world with his footsteps.... He was a glance from god." 

Tea-Cake represents nature which represents lover and the blossoming of new things. Something new is finally happening for Janie, and for once she actually was sure that she loved this man. And rather than, her Nanny or Joe Starks, convincing her with the practicalities, she was able to find this love on her own. He is every woman's dream, the exception in the world of practical men. Tea Cakes connection to nature shows how genuine he is. Even though he doesn't have a lot of money, he will make a woman happier because of how young and passionate he is. 

33.) "In the cool of the afternoon the fiend from hell specially sent to lovers arrived at Janie's ear. Doubt." 

The way that she was raised, Janie always had to think about making the right decision rather than going with her gut feeling. And doubt is a unavoidable feeling. The fact that Tea Cake isn't there at that moment is making Janie rethink everything that happened the night before. A person sometimes can get lost in their own thoughts when all they have time to do is think. Once Janie sees Tea Cake again the doubt will become less of an issue. This also shows how much Janie likes Tea Cake, because she is constantly thinking about what could go wrong, and second guessing her decisions. Just like any fool in love. 

34.) "Poor Joe Starks. Bet he turns over in his grave every day." 

No one seems to care that Janie is finally happy. All they care about is Joe Starks, and how he would feel about the situation. Janie seems to be the only one who recognizes a change within herself. The judgments from other people were not going to stop her from living her life. She was forced into marriage at a young age, and she was never able to experience anything besides being a wife. Janie was finally living, and even though she like to listen to the stories told on the porch, she didn't care what people were saying about her and Tea-Cake. Most of the men who were talking bad about it were just jealous that she had not chosen them, they had been trying to convince her that they were the right choice, by persuading her with stability and money just as Joe did, but Janie turned them down. Which would make any man bitter, and cause them to pass judgment. 

35.) "Cause Tea Cake ain't no Jody Starks, and if he tried tuh be, it would be uh complete flommuck." 

The fact that Tea Cake is nothing like Jody is what attracts him to Janie. She is able to be herself, and not have to worry about constantly being told what to do all the time. How Janie feels about it doesn't matter though. Most of the community still thinks about how great Jody was, and how she is disrespecting him, but they have no idea how terrible he was. He was a good business man, but he was a terrible husband

Their Eyes were Watching God DJS 1-20

1.) "Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men." 

In this book men are in control. Their dreams are to get rich, own land, and lead societies. Especially the men portrayed in this book. Successful black men were a rare sight in these times. Many "sailed forever on the horizon" watching from a distance, dreaming that someday they would dock there ships and follow their dreams. But time does not go on forever, men who sit back and wait for there ships to dock themselves never fulfill the dreams they aspire to. They have to take action, just as Joe Starks does when he builds Eatonville into an actual town. He is a man who "came in with the tide", but with power comes too much pride, and men begin to think they are in control of everything and everyone because they have more money than everybody else, and they started something that became great.

2.) "Now, woman forget all those things they don't want to remember, and remember everything they don't want to forget." 

Women, like Janie for example, have a tendency to overlook reality. Janie as a young girl believes passionately in love, she thinks that love happens for everyone, and even if you don't love someone to begin with, you will learn to love them. Which is true for some people, but for most that love does not or ever will exist. Women hold those ideas close to them, and refuse to believe that they are wrong, especially when they are young. They set aside reality, and believe in things that are most of the time impossible. 

3.) "The sun was gone, but he had left his footprints in the sky." 

Although this line is referring to the sunset, there is also symbolism to the relationship that just ended between Tea Cake and Janie. The sun is referred to as a he, which means that the sun is Tea Cake, and sunset represents the relationship between the two characters that had just ended. Although the sun is setting and there relationship has ended, Janie still has strong feelings for this man. He has left his footprints on her heart, and her feelings for him haven't completely set yet. 

4.) "What she doin coming back here in dem overhalls? Can't she find no dress to put on?" 

Women were supposed to be in the kitchen, wearing dresses, and doing what their husbands told them to do. But Janie, is not like the rest of the women, she has trouble being controlled, and she doesn't think that she has to be a trophy wife, or a house wife. Janie is rebelling against what is expected of her, rather than wearing a dress she wears overalls because  she can, but her wardrobe causes concern for the people of Eatonville, whom she crosses. It is mostly the old folks, who sit at the store gossiping and telling stories, they do not understand because they are an older generation, some probably were slaves, and they are used to having certain roles and sticking to them. 

5.) "The men noticed her firm buttocks like she had grape fruits in her hip pocket;" 

Even though Janie is dressed in Overalls, rather than a dress, and she is dirty from working, the men still looked at her like she was a piece of meat. So even though she dresses like a man, she is still degraded down to nothing. It was possible that Janie was trying to send a message by her wardrobe, that she wasn't gonna be like every other woman, but in the end she was treated like any other woman, men still looked at her with lust. 

6.) "It was a weapon against her strength and if it turned out of no significance, still it was a hope that she might fall to their level some day." 

7.) "An envious heart makes a treacherous ear." 

8.) "Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone. Dawn and doom was in the branches." 

Janie's life is like a tree, it started at a root, and eventually, after years of longing bloomed into a beautiful tree. But it was not as she expected it was going to be. She thought that when she blooms she would experience love right away, and she didn't consider what reality had in store for her. But after she bloomed she realized how hard life was, love did not come to her as easy if at all, and the branches that made up her tree were not quite as full and green as she had once hoped. She suffered through two marriages that both were considered failed marriages, one man she did not love at all, and the other man felt the need to control her every move. Although Janie had a better fate then most black women of this time, her tree still did not feel fully bloomed. 

9.) "Oh to be a pear tree- any tree in bloom! With kissing bees singing of the beginning of the world!" 

While Janie was still a young girl she would lie under a pear tree dreaming of love. Like many teenagers she actually believed that true love existed, so she spent her days imagining her life after she "bloomed" and became a women, experiencing the love that she always hoped for. She hoped that one day she would bloom, and be as beautiful as a pear tree. And she would be able to tell stories about the love she experienced, but Janie officially became a woman when she realized how unrealistic all those dreams were. 

10.) "Nanny's words made Janie's kiss across the gatepost seem like a manure pile after a rain."

What seemed like such a special moment for Janies was soon crushed by Nanny's harsh, yet completely true words. Nanny believed in practical relationships, rather than loving ones. She wanted Janie to get married to a man with money, who would take good care of her, she wanted her to have a relationship with a lot of stability. When she saw Janie kissing the low life boy, she realized that she didn't have much life left, and she needed Janie to get married so she wasn't alone and on her own. Janie wasn't looking for a loveless relationship though, she never needed money to be happy.  

11.) "So de white man thrown down de load and tell de nigger man tuh pick up."

This is an example of the racism that lies within this book. It also aludes to the slavery that Nanny experienced in her lifetime. The black men, although had control of their own people, did not have nearly as much control as the white man. They simply worked for them, and did whatever they said. The relationship between a white man and a black man during this time could be compared to the relationship between a man and a woman. The woman did everything their husbands told them to, or else they were beat. Sound familiar? Well if a slave did not do what their master told them to they were severely punished. 

12.) "De nigger woman is de mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see. Ah been prayin' fuh it tuh be different wid you. Lawd, Lawd, Lawd!" 

Black women are at the bottom of the pyramid at this time. Not only do they suffer the hardships of racism, but they also must suffer the hardhsips of being a woman in a man controlled society. Men are the same no matter what color, they need the power, and they feed off of control. Who better to control than there own wives. It is women, like Janie who have the ability to do that. Janie has dreams, and she doesn't feel the need to stick with something that she doesn't believe in. Leaving her two unhappy marriages are prime examples of that. Most women would stay with their husbands, even if they were unhappy, but Janie had the power to walk away. Which means she has the power to make a change, and Nanny sees that. 

13.) "Look lak she been livin' through uh hundred years in January without one day of spring." 

The master's wife is cold, and it shown through her expression and her body language. Now that her husband has left for war, she is able to act on her anger. If he were there she wouldn't be able to say anything to him, because he's the boss, and there would be consequences for her acting out like that. It is obvious to her that, the slave woman (nanny) had relations with her husband, and it makes her very angry. It was wrong for any black person to sleep with a white person during the time of slavery, so the fact that the master slept with nanny probably made his wife feel very insecure. Because she considered herself so much better than any black person. Insecurity can cause a woman to go completely mad, and as for this woman it caused her to beat Nanny, and planned to kill her with 100 whips. 

14.) "and make de sun shine on both sides of de street for Leafy." 

Nanny wanted a good life for leafy, unfortunatly Leafy was dealt and unlucky card, and the rape she experienced caused her to go off the deep end. The man who raped her, ruined her life, and lead to her death, and he didn't have a care in the world. A lot of men during this time raped women, and beat them, treating them like they were nothing. Nanny watched as her daughter fell apart, and she did not want that to happen to her granbaby. Leafys name could represent how she is a fallen leaf, the slightest trauma made her fall from her mother tree, and eventually fall to the ground losing her life. 

15.) "Ah'm a cracked plate." 

Nanny is old, and has lived through slavery, and several more terrible things. She is not absolutely perfect, and much like a cracked plate, she can go on for so long but she will eventually shatter, and have no more use. She knows that her time is coming, and she is preparing Janie for that. Going through so many experiences she has learned the truth about love, and unlike her granddaughter, she believes in practical relationships. 

16.) "There are years that ask questions and years that answer." 

For the most part, people spend there beginning years creating dreams, and hoping they will eventually come true, but as you get older, all those questions you ask yourself like, when am i going to find love? or how i am going to be successful? Are answered, and it is usually not the answer you are expecting. Janie wondered when she would find love, and then she figured out that she may never actually find the love that she is seeking. 

17.) "But Nanny, Ah wants to want him sometimes. Ah don't want him to do all de wantin'."

Janie doesn't want to be in just a normal practical relationship. She though that is she married Logan, that she would eventually learn to love him but she never did. Which made her feel lonely, which is a major theme of this book. Even if you are a married, a relationship without love is a very lonely one. Janie doesn't want to be lonely at all, she fears it. Logan treats Janie right, he doesn't hit her, he has money for her, but that's not enough for her. Those things aren't as important to her, all she wants is to want him.  

18.) "So Janie waited a bloom time, and a green time and an orange time." 

Seasons are a very important central symbol to this book. The bloom time is the spring, and it also represents growth, and rebirth, its when girls bloom into women, and they start discovering reality. It could be argued to be the season of love, because new relationships are forming, but as the summer goes on (the green time) young girls begin to realize that love is a rare thing. They aren't going to grow up and magically find love. The orange time represent the fall, when the leaves begin to fall and the weather starts to get colder, trees that were once fully bloomed and filled with spring/summer colors begin to die, just as peoples spirits, and happiness begins to die, and prepare themselves for the long cold winter. 

19.) "She's uh woman and her place is in de home." 

Joe does not want Janie to make a speech, he is a very old fashioned man. He believes that the husband needs to control his wife, and the women need to be cleaning and in the kitchen and doing what their husbands tell them to do. Janie, although not planning on making a speech, was still upset that her husband shut down her option so quickly. All that Janie wants is to simply have options, she doesn't want to be controlled, she won't say anything to her husband about it but it is possible that one day she will leave just like she did her first husband. When she trys to stand up for herself she gets yelled at, so she chooses a different route. 

 20.) "A feeling of coldness and fear took hold of her. She felt far away from things and lonely."

Being lonely is the exact opposite of what Janie wants, in her eyes loneliness is the exact opposite of love. And all she ever wanted was a loving relationship. So her being lonely means that she is in an unhappy relationship, again, which is obvious in the text. Being young, Janie not only wants a loving relationship but she want's a passionate one, and she wants to have some say in what she does. She doesn't want to follow the role of a normal woman.  

The Waste Land; Part 4 Death By Water

"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water" Loran Eisely (1907-1977)

The fourth section of Eliot's poem "The Waste Land", although the shortest, could possibly be the most important part, because it contains the turn. The major theme of this section is the importance of water. The poem shifts from a lack of water to "Death by Water", which is ironic because water is the root of life.

"Death By Water" is set up into three tercets with a total of nine lines. The number three in this structure is very significant. In Christianity the number three represents Trinity (creator, redeemer, sustainer), which reinforces the idea of resurrection. In the Hindu religion the number three symbolizes; creation, destruction and preservation, or; unfolding, maintaining, and concluding, this reconnects to the major theme of life and death. The form of the poem also represents a wave which goes back to the theme of water, "Phlebas" is drowning, and as it is happening "He passed the stages of his age and youth", but it is uncertain whether or not he is dead. How can a person surrounded by so much life be dead? Above ground if you are dead, you are actually dead because the land is dead.

The underwater "living dead" represents hope in "The Waste Land". Water is the key to recreating, and rejuvenating the land, and the people on it. As mentioned in earlier sections, Spring is the time of year when the rain begins to fall and things are able to grow. The spring, and the growing of nature, also symbolizes the youth, and the blossoming, and prime of a younger persons life. As your dying, those are the days that you remember. Without this hope, or youth, several people become lost, as you age your worth just becomes less and less. This whole concept goes right back to Sybil, eternal life without eternal youth, is almost, if not worse than death.

"Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead,
Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep sea swell
And the profit and loss."

Madame and Sosostris, in section one, pulled a card that showed "the drowned Phoenician Sailor". The sailor is a motif for greed, and for the theme of water itself. As he ages, his significance begins to lessen, which means his time has come. But is he really dead?

The simple hope in this poem is life, water is the root of life, which makes water the key to reestablishing life on land. The irony lies within the fact that the smallest section of the poem, is the turning point, the part the allows the readers to completely understand what this poem is truly about.

The Waste Land; Part 3 The Fire Sermon

"Twit twit twit 
Jug jug jug jug jug jug
So rudely forc'd 
Tereu" 


Lust is described as "A very strong sexual desire", love and lust are no where near one in the same. There are several situations, where only one person will feel love and the other only lust. In the third section of Eliot's poem "The Waste Land" an important theme is lust vs. love, and its connection to the poems major theme, life vs. death. Sex, whether it is between two lovers, or two people who can't stand each other, is the root of life. Without it, there would be no life, which means there would be no death. In the part 3 "The Fire Sermon" Eliot depicts one particular encounter, described by Tiresias, the blind prophet, the scene he describes contains no love whatsoever, between a young unappealing man, and a woman. The woman shows absolutely no interest in the man who she is with.

"The meal is ended, she is bored and tired, 
Endeavors to engage her in caresses 
Which are still unreproved, if undesired.
Flushed and decided, he assaults at once; 
Exploring hands encounter no defence; 
His vanity requites no response, 
And makes a welcome of indifference." 


It is clear that the man does not care whether or not the woman is interested. He is going to be with her intimately with her whether she wants to be or not. The relationship between these two people contains no life, which is ironic because there relations could possibly be the creation of life. Just like in the nightingales song, written above, this particular section is describing a rape. The lifeless, relationships described in this part of the 3rd section is very similar to the 1st part of this section. "The Fire Sermon" opens with a description of a fisherman fishing on a lifeless, river in the "unreal city". The river contains absolutely no life, or even a hint of life. All the remains are dead bodies, and brown water. "The nymphs are departed" which alludes to the myth that gods have a connection to the water, they bring life to the water, without them there is no life.

Another connection to the theme of lust is the "Smyrna merchant" who try's to seduce the narrorartor, this scene alludes to Dante's inferno. The merchant doesn't even know narrartor but he invites him to an intimate weekend anyway.

The song at the end of this section, connects the lifeless river, and the loveless, lustful relationships between man and woman. Which are truly one in the same. Relationship's with only lust are completely lifeless, just like the river. The irony, and the connection to the major theme of the poem, is that, that particular lust, is what creates life.