Act Study Questions

1) What is does Polonius tell Reynaldo in the opening of Act II? How does he plan to trap his son?

He tells him to go to France and spread all sorts of rumors about his son so to see if any of them end up actually to be true, it's his way of finding out what his son is doing, he is spying on him because he is worried that he might be doing something that would embarrass Polonius. 

2) What does this say about Polonius?

He is truly only worried about what other people think of him, and he is worried that people might judge him based entirely on the actions of his children. He doesn't really care about the feelings of his children as long as his reputation is protected. 

3) What particularly in Act II scene 1 has disturbed Ophelia?

She has noticed that Hamlet has gone completely insane, he is actually starting to frighten her, for example he took her wrist and held on really hard and start giving her strange looks which is something only and insane person would do. 
4) Why have Rosencrantez and Guildenstern been sent to Denmark?

The King has sent them there to spy on hamlet, and figure out why he is so depressed. 

5) What does Hamlet ask the players to recite? How does the allusion mimic Hamlet’s position?

He chooses a play from Ancient Rome which shows the murder of Gonzago. The play is about a son avenging the murder of his father, and Hamlets chooses it as a way to send a message to the king and try and get a reaction out of him in order to prove that he killed his brother. 
Identify the following speaker of the following lines and discuss to whom the lines are being delivered, and what do the lines mean?

6) “No, my lord, but as you did command/ I did repel his letter, and denied his access to me”

Ophelia; She is telling her father that she did what he asked her to and sent back his letters and refused to talk or see him. 
7) “More matter less art”

The Queen; Polonius is telling her that her son has gone mad but he is taking a long time and kind of avoiding the topic, so she tells him to stop building it up and just tell her already. 
8) “That I, the son of a dear father murdered,/ Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell/ Must like a whore unpack my heart with words,

Hamlet; One of his long speeches, where he talks about his plan of revenge against his uncle, and how he is receiving messages from different things like the ghost telling him to get that revenge. 
9) “Your bait of falsehood take this carp of truth/ And thus do we of wisdom and of reach,/ with windlasses and with assays of bias,/ By directions find directions out.”

Polonius; This is where he tells Reynaldo to go spread lies about his son in order to find out the truth in what he is up to. 

10) “For if the sun breeds maggots in a dead dog, being a good kissing carrion-Have you a daughter?”

Hamlet; This refers to the pun son and sun, he is the sun of Denmark, and the actual son of Denmark , and this is also where Hamlet is poking at Polonius about Ophelia just because he simply doesn't like him. 

11) List three metaphors (1 direct, 1 implied, 1 extended) from the play.


12) What proof does Polonius have that he believe indicates Hamlet’s love for Ophelia? 

The letter that he sent Ophelia, it was quite strange, but he still in a very weird way confessed his love for her. 

13) Explain the quote, “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” How does this relate to Hamlet.

There is no true classification for good or bad. No one can truly say something is bad because they don't know if that was in gods plan or not. People have taken those words and used them against people when they really don't know if what they are doing is actually good or bad, and who will it benefit. Hamlet thinks of Denmark as a terrible place, much like a prison, when most other men think of Denmark as a wonderful place, but who is to know which one of them are right on whether Denmark is good or bad?

14) What is a fishmonger?

A pimp, Hamlet is making fun of Polonius because he is pimping out his daughter and telling her who she can and cannot see. 

15) Who was Jephthah?


He killed his daughter for political reasons, in order to rise up in politics, much like Polonius uses his children for political gain. 

Act 1 Scene 3/4 Questions

1) What is Laertes advice to Ophelia?

He tells her to stop seeing hamlet, because he is a prince and he is going to have to marry a woman who has higher ranking in the country, and so their relationship will not last because she is not in the same class and she will just get broken up with sooner or later. 
2) How does “The canker galls the infants of the spring/ too oft before their buttons be disclos’d” fit into the ideology of the decaying garden?

Ophelia is a flower in a garden, and if the worm gets a hold of her it will destroy the flower and cause a decay of the garden. It is pretty much explaining her fate if she stays with Hamlet. 
3) What analogy does Ophelia give to her brother as an answer to his advice? What does she mean?

She is pretty much telling him to do exactly what he is telling her to do, because she knows about his women in France, and it is not right for him to tell her that she needs to not be with Hamlet, because he is doing similar things. She is not going to listen to him, and tells him to look out for his own garden that he is recking. 
4) List five of the “few precepts” that Polonius gives to Laertes.

-Be friendly to others but don't appear cheap 
-Listen to everyone but only tell those who are privileged 
-Think but don't speak 
-Don't make any rash decisions 
-Once you have tested your friendships then they are good friends 
5) In lines 105-109, what is the metaphor that Polonius uses to describe Hamlet’s words of love?

He says that hamlets tenders are not sterling, which means that his love is not actually real. 

7) What is Polonius’ command to Ophelia?

He commands that she stops seeing Hamlet, and she says she will. 
8) In scene 4, what is Hamlet talking about in lines 13-38?

He is saying that he doesn't like the way that the king is presenting himself, always drinking and setting of cannons. He thinks that he is making Denmark look like a drunken, lousy country, which is a sign of weakness. 
9) Why doesn’t Horatio want Hamlet to follow the ghost?

Because they are worried that the ghost is evil, and that it will convince them to do bad things. And their is still uncertainty on whether or not the ghost is actually Hamlets father. 

10) What is Hamlet’s command to the three guards?


He says that he must go talk to the ghost alone, and they have to be okay with it. And the again, very over dramatically, tells them that his life is not worth living so he is willing to go risk talking to the ghost even if it is an evil spirit. 

Act 1 Scene 2 Study Questions

1. What is odd about Hamlet’s appearance in the opening of scene two?

He is dressed entirely in black as if he is depressed, which he is because he is mourning his fathers death and his mother married his uncle very quickly after, which he did not approve of.  

2. Explain (give at least two reasons) why Claudius needs to justify his marriage in the opening of scene two.


Because he married his brothers wife, which in those time is considered incest, and he did it right after his brother death. He needed to justify it because it is wrong, and he feels the need to explain why he did it. 

3. Laertes asks the King for leave to do what, specifically?

He wants to go to France to continue with school, because he came back simply for the coronation of the king. Also it is hinted later that he wants to go to France to be with some women.

4. Explain Hamlet’s insult when he says, “A little more than kin and less than kind.”


Hamlet is not at all happy with the marriage between his uncle and his mother, and he is not able to accept it easily, so after his uncle gives him the long speech about accepting the marriage, and tells him to stop mourning so much for his father, Hamlet take a stab at Cladius. He means that they are a little more than family but he is using "kind" as a pun because he is saying that Cladius is disgracing mankind and he is not at all kind.  


5. Explain Hamlet’s use of pun in the line, “Not so my lord, I am too much in the sun.”


He is using the word "sun" but he is also referring to the word son, he does not want to be considered Claudius's son because he was already King Hamlets son, and he does not want to be the son of a man who is his uncle. 


6. In Hamlet’s first soliloquy it is obvious that what troubles him most is?


He is upset about his mothers quick marriage to his uncle after his fathers death, he feels that she doesn't feel as sad as he does about it, as if she didn't even care that her husband was dead. 

7. What does Hamlet mean by the following lines

“Seems, madam? Nay, it is. I know not ‘seems’.
‘Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,
Nor customary suits of solemn black,
Nor windy suspiration of forc’d breath,
No, nore the fruitful river in the eye,
Nor the dejected havior of the visage,
Together will all forms, moods, shapes of grief,
That can denote me truly. These indeed seem,
For they are actions that a man might play;
But I have that within which passes show,
These but the trappings and the suits of woe.


His mother asks him what is wrong with him, and he very over dramatically explains that he is depressed and that is why he is wearing the dark clothes.
8. What does Hamlet say about the baked meats and the funeral and the wedding.

He says that they serve the same food at the wedding that they served at the funeral, which just shows how quick the wedding was after Old Hamlet dies. Hamlet is simply just trying to prove a point.


9. What news does Horatio, Marcellus and Barnardo bring to Hamlet.


They tell him about the ghost they saw in the scene before, and tell him that it is father. Then they explained that the ghost would not answer any of their questions or speak to them at all, so they asked him to come see if the ghost would talk to him since he is of course his son. 

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