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Faulkner Relaxing after his AP Lang & Comp Exam
Faulkner Relaxing after his AP Lang & Comp Exam
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just a question:
ReplyDeletedon't janie and starks get married before this section?
On a literal level, the marriage to Stark's is a new beginning for Janie. She thinks that she loves him, and he is a step up from Logan. He has dreams and a direction in life, and he arrives at a very opportune time for Janie, just as she is getting fed up with her marriage with Logan. Because of this, he is able to gain a great amount of power over Janie without her realizing it, because she feels happier with him. On a more figurative level, the marriage represents her next step on her path and journey of identity. Janie has already suffered in her last marriage, and hopes that this one will be more promising. Sparks seems to be the beholder of the American Dream; he gives her an opportunity to start over with him and erase the past, and he has ideas and hopes for them both.
ReplyDeleteThe death of the mule, on a literal level, simply represents the death of an animal in the town, which is emotional for Janie. On a figurative level, the death of the mule is an end to Janie's freedom. I think that the mule is used to represent how trapped women are, and the enslavement that they (esp. Janie) endure throughout the novel thus far. When Jody buys the mule, it seems like an act of kindness; however, it seems to be trapping Janie even more, because she has to watch it suffer and die.
yes, Kaare, they do, but I was thinking about the two ceremonies together and we don't see the mule until this section.
ReplyDeleteLarissa-I agree with you. Think,too, about what it means if black women are the "mules of the world"--is Janie a mule? Is the mule's death any sense of freedom? Or does it represent the death of her as a mule? Of her period...? How is the metaphor of the mule complicated by Janie who in many ways seems to want to reject her racial heritage?
How many comments do we have to post Parrish?
ReplyDeleterespond to 2 questions
ReplyDeleteOk I think there was a lot to the scene of the mule funeral that I’m trying to understand. The people are foolish in their antics of putting on a mule funeral and “mocked everything human in death” (60). It is an insult to the natural world and completely improper to apply a human function (a funeral) to a mule, and thus instead of a solemn ceremony marking the passage of life to another place, “everybody enjoyed themselves for to the highest” (61). Instead the true funeral march performed is by the buzzards coming to feed off the mule in order for them to sustain life, a natural cycle continuing. Also, it is the buzzards who Janie imagines having a conversation (“he picked out the eyes in the ceremonial way”—I feel like dismembering the mule is more sacred than the mockery the humans make of its death, I mean Joe stands on the mule’s belly as he gives the eulogy, which seems more savage) I feel like all of this draws out Janie’s ultimate preference to the natural realm as solid and enduring as opposed to humans who spend their day and lives in activity they can scarcely provide meaning for or hold sacred (i.e. a funeral). Also, nature’s transcendence in the face of the mockery relates to Janie in the way she has outlasted her husbands (one in marriage and one in life). And Larissa I love the connections you made between Janie and the mule, I hadn’t thought of it like that.
ReplyDeleteI think that in some ways, the mule expresses the very opposite of what Janie is. While Janie marries Joe and soon begins to feel as if she's shrinking in importance, the mule seemed to have been very important to the town, the news of its death being described as "the end of a war," and the townspeople do their best to get out of work so they can "stand around and talk" about the mule (59). From what we saw before, the mule did seem to have a profound place in town; people would describe it walking all over and interacting with everyone. The mule only ceases to be important after it dies and is left to rot for the buzzards. Janie is the one who already appears dead to society, despite the fact that she's still alive, unlike the mule. She's married to the most powerful and well-known man in town, but he keeps on shoving her away and does his best to keep her out of his busy life as they grow older together. Her marriage to Stark is what binds her to this prison of herself, where she's really just a maid for Stark who gets beaten when she screws up the food. All in all, the mule represents itself as a part of the town and people, while janie is represented as only a singular, useless speck in the town.
ReplyDeleteMaggie, your use of the word cycle has me thinking about the pairs we put up on the board yesterday... cycle went with time but it also went with... stagnant? (I forgot the exact word we used, but I remember getting an image in my head of running a 10k on a track... moving quickly but going nowhere... and I remember, fittingly, Taylor was the one who answered this question)
ReplyDeleteKAARE! yes!!
ReplyDeletebut also no... why is Janie a "useless speck"? what about her (or what that she lacks) makes her a useless speck... think about this more... and think about the concepts of journey and voice.
It seems that the two ceremonies of the story create a transformation in the characters involved, and even the uninvolved characters in their attempts to fulfill their innermost wishes and desires. In other words, each ceremony marks a change that will affect the mentality of the characters for the rest of their lives.
ReplyDeleteThe marriage between Janie and Starks represents a new kind of marriage for Janie; one that does not involve talking about such childish fantasies as "love". Instead, when she runs off with Starks, Janie begins to realize that it is for economic provision, more than anything, that she should marry. "On the train the next day, Joe didn't make many speeches with rhymes to her, but he bought her the best things the butcher had like apples and a glass lantern full of candies," (34). The marriage ceremony represents a sort of newfound maturity and rebirth ("they were married...with new clothes of silk and wool," (33)) for all parties involved.
The burial ceremony for the mule, like Larissa said, represents the acquisition of the knowledge (and subsequent loss of innocence) that Janie will never be as free nor as happy as men. "Times and scenes like that put Janie to thinking about the inside state of her marriage...He wanted her submission and he'd keep on fighting until he felt he had it," (71).
My grandfather clock is currently ringing ten times so...
Janie isn't literally a useless speck, it's what she feels she is as a result of the way Joe treats her and others ignore her.
ReplyDeleteThat's why she's so bitter towards him before he dies, she's finally standing up for herself and letting her opinions show. The fact that she chooses to do this in the store in front of Joe's friends instead of just in front of Joe also shows how she now wants everyone to know what she thinks and feels.
It's also interesting to note that while Janie married Jody, she lost her freedom, while the mule, which was bought by Jody, gained his freedom.
ReplyDeleteAnd Parrish, your exclamation pleased me.
ReplyDeleteTaylor--yes that is absolutely what makes the mule and the mule's death and Nanny's reference to the mule so interesting (in my opinion). What do you make of that...?
ReplyDeleteKaare--your use of the word "choice" is important. What does Janie choose to do when? And where? Keep thinking about the ideas of voice and journey as they related to these specific passages.
ReplyDeleteIn this sense, the contrast between ownership and actually owning something is emphasized. While Jody does not technically own Janie, he might as well fromt he amount of control he exerts over her. In comparison, the mule, which Jody actually owns, is given free reign of the town.
ReplyDeleteA sense of community also comes into play in how Janie and the mule are treated in the town. Whereas Janie is kept locked up in the store, the mule is allowed to go where he pleases. As well, the mule is the subject of converstation around the store, converstation which Janie is not allowed to participate in. While the mule is being fed by the townspeople, Janie is kept isolated, apart from the communion taking place.
ReplyDeleteWe talked a lot today about how communion, in whatever form, really brings a community together. It seems to me almost as if the mule is more a part of the community than is Janie, just by the fact that the mule is seen at more of the social gatherings than is Janie. Whether it is the porch gatherings, or the mules funeral itself, Janie is excluded from participating in these bonding moments.
ReplyDeleteI'm soo sorry this is late!
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, I believe that these two events are directly related. Both provide Janie with a false sense of relief, while the events themselves are cyclical in their nature. Since this doesn't really make sense when I explain it like that, I'm going to try and elaborate on that... sooo...
When Jody marries Janie, Janie is provided with immense relief, believing that all her dreams can be fulfilled. The morning she leaves there is a feel of freshness and clarity, "The morning road air was like a new dress. That made her feel the apron died her waist. She untied it and flung it on a low bush beside the road and walked on, picking flowers and making a boquet" (32). Here we see that Janie believes her old life of responsibility is gone, and one of freshness has come. However, soon she will realize that this was not that case at all. The beginning of chapter 7 describes her upset life, "The years took all the fight out of Janie's face. For a while she thought it was gone from her soul. No matter what Jody did, she said nothing... she was a rut in the road" (76). She ends up upset and disheartened - much like how her life with Logan had been. In this event helps represent the cyclicality of her life.
The death of the bull further contributes to this idea. When Janie saw the bull had been bought by her husband she was so pleased saying that it "was a mighty fine thing fuh you [him] to do" (58). This sense of relief was short lived and soon the bull dies and she is forbidden to go to the funeral. In this way, at the same moment the bull dies, so does Janie. When "Joe returned to the store full of pleasure and good humor he didn't want Janie to notice it because he saw that she was sullen..." (62). In this way the bull too, portrays this cyclical nature of death within the novel. It is also interesting to note that the author chose to use a real animal - perhaps to represent the life cycle...
Taylor--really well put. Great point.
ReplyDeleteI feel that the literal meanings of these events are pretty straightforward. Janie's marriage to Sparks represented an escape from an abusive relationship with the hope of creating something with her life. The mule's funeral literally represented the death of a respected and long-time member of society, and it was an emotional time for those who had felt reverence towards it. However the symbolic meanings of these events are much more important. In the marriage, I feel that the union of Janie and Sparks actually shows that Janie will always be faced with the challenge of finding independence with those around her. It seems that no matter where she goes, she is mistreated and misunderstood by her acquaintances, and I feel that it also shows that she will be drifting from person to person for the rest of the novel (keep in mind she is single at the end in the first chapter after leaving an entirely different man, Tea Cake).
ReplyDeleteIn response to Kaare about the mule's importance, I also feel as if its death represents the fact that Janie will never truly escape oppression for her race and gender. The mule could have represented the freedom of the oppressed, but the fact that it died soon after shows that if was never truly free, and represents how Janie cannot ever be actually free.
Hobbes would like you to know that I actually stole his ideas...And he says thank you.
ReplyDeleteHobbes is a stuffed animal.
ReplyDeleteI feel like I must stress this.
Going off of what I focused on earlier today, I read this section with the same mind-put, focusing on the relationship not only between the characters, but also the relationship and/or difference between power and strength. While reading this section, I found the ceremonies to be representative of this relationship and easily referable. Janie had strength. She had the strength to follow the demands and requirements which Joe had demanded from her. Janie not only has the strength to successfully complete the task at hand, but she also has the strength emotionally to put up with these demanding restrictions from Joe. Janie often found herself interested in the conversations, wanting to include herself in them, however felt it was unacceptable for her to join them; "Janie loved the conversation and sometimes she thought up good stories on the mule, but Joe had forbidden her to indulge" (Hurston 53). Similarly, in the ceremony, Joe enforced a "look but do not touch" mindset upon Janie. He treated her as if she were a prized possession, like a doll. He put restrictions on her regarding what she could and could not do. However, the ceremony highlighted the two different personalities among the couple, it also showed that the personalities could not restrain each other during the formal gathering. In other words, Janie's actions were uncontrollable for Joe to completely restrict her from continuing on and celebrating at the death of a mule ceremony; "Dat's right, but Ah'm uh man even if Ah is de Mayor. But de mayor's wife is somethin' different again. Anyhow they's liable tuh need me tuh say uh few words..." (Huston 60). This is an example of Joe's attempt to control Janie, however he recognizes that she has power too, yet her power is less assertive and more demonstrative.
ReplyDelete