this has been on my list to read ever since high school. i "borrowed" it from my friend samantha's older sister's amy's book shelf. (amy, if you are reading this, sorry i stole your copy, send me your address so i can mail it to you, also your notes were helpful!)
so a while back flavorpill listed "30 books to read before you are 30" (link: http://www.flavorwire.com/298020/30-books-everyone-should-read-before-turning-30?onswipe_redirect=never) and since i am turning 30, figured i should start sorting out life and read that list. (in addition to this, since i am turning 30, i have decided to create my own 30 list.)
then the library of congress came out with "88 books that shaped america" (link: http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/books-that-shaped-america/) and i decided to check out some of the books on that list. and so lucky me because "their eyes" is on both.
i will start by saying that i had no idea that "their eyes were watching god" was the original "how stella got her groove back." and though i always admired angela bassett for her youthfulness and beauty in that movie, she is nothing compares to janie crawford. after reading, "their eyes" janie crawford was added to my canon of amazingly strong women.
when first introduced to janie, what i admired most was her self-assurance. she had just returned home and was the talk of the town but she didn't let the gossip faze her. she had gone out and lived life and all the small town-ness meant nothing in contrast because as she tells her friend pheoby, "ah been a delegate to de big 'association of life. yessuh! de grande lodge, de big convention of living' is just where ah been . . .". growing up in a small town i admire her outlook. i don't know if anyone talks trash about me but i have encountered some people who talk down to me. however, i remind myself that in the large scope of life, it doesn't matter because i have experienced things in life that they never will, so should not be insulted by their negativity.
interestingly enough, janie's self-assurance is a due to her sexuality. sexuality is a major theme of the book, especially the oppression of female sexuality. janie discovers her sexuality under a pear tree at the age of 16 and spends the rest of her life searching for the feeling she experienced under that tree. her nanny instantly recognizes and represses it by forcing janie into marriage with mist' killicks. janie then runs away from her husband with a man, joe who sparks something in her, but ends up extinguishing her flame by keeping her as a trophy wife. then joe dies and janie meets tea cake and he awakens life inside of her. but the issue is that tea cake is half her age! but janie decides that she has lived her life doing what was others expected of her but now she was going to live life for herself!
however, before you assume this is all about sex (there isn't really actual sex in it). let me explain that janie's sexuality is not simply sexual desires but a symbol for freedom. janie's search for freedom of sexual expression is actually a search for freedom from gender roles. it is like the free love movement, where sex is a means of female empowerment. where by taking ownership of our bodies, we take ownership of ourselves. and by having sex on our own terms, we redefine life for ourselves. janie discovers how to life once she learns how to truly love. this discovery of love than leads to the discovery of happiness because janie now has the power to recognize what she wants out of life.
in addition to sex, race is also a major theme. this work is a reminder of all the injustice that african-americans (esp women) have encountered in the past and still experience today. i could not help but think of hurricane katrina and kanye west's "george bush doesn't care for black people" remark while reading about the tea cake's experience with hurricane clean up. and at the risk of sounding like a pessimist, even with the progress that has been made in terms of race relations, some things stay the same.
i will add that i was surprised by the outcome of janie's trial. (spoiler alert) i had no faith in the court, well the white court to be exact. it was interesting that the remark "well, you know whut dey say 'uh white man and uh nigger woman is the freest thing on earth.' dey do as dey please" was made at the end of her trial. especially since it contradicts a remark made earlier in the book by nanny that "de nigger woman is de mule uh de world so fur as ah can see." however this change in perspectives is based upon the change in janie. she went from being a mule to being free all by seeking what made her happy in life.
so should you read this before 30? yes, especially if you are a woman, janie is an excellent role model. in fact, this has a spot on my 30 before 30 list.
and did this shape america? yes it's an important narrative of america from the perspective of a african-american woman.
quotations:
“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 still he 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. and the lonesomeness in the sparks make them hunt for one another, but the mud is dead and dumb.”
“love is lak de sea. it's uh movin' thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from de shore it meets, and it's different with every shore. ”
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