They put her to bed and sent for her married daughter from up around Ocala to come see about her. The daughter came as soon as she could and took Annie Tyler away to die in peace. She had waited all her life or something, and it had killed her when it found her.
The thing made itself into pictures and hung around Janie's bedside all night long. Anyhow, she wasn't going back to Eatonville to be laughed at and pitied. She had ten dollars in her pocket and twelve hundred in the bank. But oh God, don't let Tea Cake be off somewhere hurt and Ah not know nothing about it. And God, please suh, don't let him love nobody else but me. Maybe Ah'm is uf fool, Lawd, lad dey say, but Lawd, Ah been so lonesome, and Ah been waitin', Jesus. Ah done waited uh long time. Janie dozed off to sleep but she woke up in time to see the sun sending up spies ahead of him to mark out the road through the dark. he peeped up over the door sill of the world and made a little foolishness with red. but pretty soon, he laid all that aside and went about his business dressed all in white. But it was always going to be dark to Janie if Tea Cake didn't soon come back. She got out of the bed but a chair couldn't hold her. she dwindled down on the floor her head in a rocking chair.
Waiting/Time: Throughout this passage Hurston references to time and waiting a lot. Perhaps that is to emphasize the fact that when waiting for something, time seems to go by very slowly. The novel plays with time quite often; while Tea Cake was courting Janie time was flying by, but while Janie is playing with the notion that Tea Cake may be gone forever, time is going by slower for her and the torture she is enduring seems to last forever. Hurston uses time and waiting when it is involved with love. Drawing parallels between the two creates the effect of us almost using the two almost interchangeably.
Prayer: In the middle of this passage Janie breaks her thought process to do what appears to be praying. However, Hurston does not make this dialogue so she is, in essence, giving the reader the liberty to decide whether it is a prayer or not. Jumping to the conclusion that it is prayer would not be very difficult because Hurston makes many references to religion. This passage clearly continues the motif of religion. By having Janie pray in such a time of crisis for her, Hurston is saying that we should rely on God in our times of difficulty. Hurston is likely saying this from experience because she was a very religious woman herself.
Thoughts vs. Actions: The second paragraph of this passage mostly consists of Janie's thoughts. It seems to me as if her thoughts are racing, almost as if she is in a panic. However, unlike the second paragraph, the third mostly consists of what Janie is doing, or what she is noticing in the physical world. The reason that Hurston would repeat what Janie is doing, just in different ways seems to me to be because she wants to be sure to create the mood that she feels is necessary for the reader to get. Hurston is trying to portray the mood as being dark and distressed, and to make sure the reader comprehends that she "doubles-up" her paragraphs that would relate to the mood.
I wrote about waiting too! But I didn't associate it at all with love. It's really interesting that you talked about drawing parrallels between love and waiting/time. I hadn't thought about that.
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I liked how you related ideas like time and religion to the rest of the book! I hadn't thought about it in that way. I liked your ideas about the different ways that time can go by: either fast or slow. I also liked how you addressed the syntax to show how much Janie's thoughts are racing around in her head.
ReplyDeleteI never noticed Hurston's doubling of paragraphs, after reading that, the passage makes more sense now. I really liked how you said "time seems to go by very slowly" when you're waiting for something, because that is very true.
ReplyDeleteI found it very interesting when you were talking about “Waiting/Time” I never thought or had a realization of how the text becomes droned out. When you talked about how “…time is going by slower for her and the torture she is enduring seems to last forever.” This really make sense to me! I never made the connection until now! I felt like I could connect with Janie in a way now that you have pointed out that time seems to go slower when someone is in distress. I also found it interesting on your view with Janie’s prayer. When reading her point of view, I automatically thought it was a prayer, but now that you mention it, she may not be praying. She could be just saying God’s name to make a thought. Reading your blog has sparked some questions in my head, and I can see your perspective!
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