pagesofjulia

The Heroine’s Bookshelf is hosting another readalong! Yay! We are reading Their Eyes Were Watching God, and I encourage you to participate. Today we’re discussing chapters 1-6 (please pop over to THB at the above link to join in) and have two discussion dates to come: chapters 7-13 on December 5, and chapters 14-20 on December 12.

Chapters 1-6 introduce us to Janie Crawford, and her tragic family history. At the start of the story, we see a forty-ish Janie coming home from… somewhere, to her town’s gossipy disapproval. And she begins to tell her story to her friend Pheoby. We hear about her youthful marriage, to relieve her aging grandmother’s concern about her future; but she isn’t Janie Killicks for long before leaving him to become Mrs. Mayor Starks, of a brand-new, all-black town. Janie becomes decidedly dissatisfied with being ordered around as Joe Starks’s helpmate and unpaid worker. He’s jealous and keeps her on a short leash, and she wants more out of life. When she was 14 she lay beneath a pear tree in blossom, and felt deeply touched by the springtime rhythms of nature; the descriptions of the pear blossoms, the bees pollinating them, are decidedly sensual and even sexual. Janie is meant for more than working as Joe’s wife-servant. Her perceptions are idealistic and lofty. She has an appreciation for her world that is deeper than that of her power-hungry husband.

Already Janie’s story touches me deeply, and I yearn with her for a world in which a “colored” woman will have value, make decisions for herself, and know love. As a character she’s earned my respect and sympathy.

And such beautiful imagery! I wanted to share with you some of my favorite turns of phrase, but I find them to be many…

“Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board.”
“The sun was gone, but he had left his footprints in the sky.”
“They made burning statements with questions, and killing tools out of laughs.”
“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.”
“She knew the world was a stallion rolling in the blue pasture of ether.”
“Every morning the world flung itself over and exposed the town to the sun.”

The descriptions and the writing are absolutely marvels unto themselves, without even worrying about Janie herself – which I defy you not to.

I’m definitely excited about this book and looking forward to Erin’s readalong. Stop over and join us, won’t you?

Filed under: book reviews | Tagged: classics, Their Eyes Were Watching God Readalong |