Page 47, third paragraph. “Take for instance […] flours painted on the sides” (47).
Foil: The “big house” and the rest of the community.
Analysis: The town surrounding Joe’s house looks very rundown in comparison. “The rest of the town looked like servants quarters next to the ‘big house’”(47). This shows the vast economical differences between Joe and the rest of the town. Having the house be so different from the town makes Joe and Janie very different from the town as well. Because they are wealthy and powerful, they are set apart from the poor and the powerless.
Repitition: Colors
Analysis: Colors are talked about greatly in this passage. The house is “a gloaty, sparkly white and the spittoon is said to be “gold-looking”. All of the mention about color made me thing about how colors can signify power and wealth. Back during Janie’s lifetime white people had all of the power. The fact that Joe painted his house white symbolizes that he has all the power over the town. Also the gold spittoon shows wealth. Gold has always been a symbol of wealth and power. A gold spittoon is a bit of a paradox because gold symbolizes power, but a spittoon’s only purpose is to collect old tobacco that has been spit into them. The spittoon has power but no respect. This sounds to me like the spittoon may symbolize Janie living with Joe.
Motif: People feel like Joe is superior to them.
Analysis: The town’s people feel intimidated whenever they are around Joe. They “feel funny talking to him”. They don’t have power and they know that Joe does. Joe can kick anyone he wants out of the city. He is the only one with that power. With the house he has and all the commodities that all of the towns people don’t have, it is pretty obvious to the townspeople that Joe has more power and wealth. This makes the townspeople wonder if Joe is a superior human. They see all of his things and feel bad that they don’t have what he has. “it weakened people”.
Tone: The tone is very informative.
Mood: I feel apprehensive. I feel like something big is going to happen. There is a conflict going on with the town’s people and Joe. It is a little suspenseful.
Purpose: I think the purpose of this passage is to show how Janie is isolated from everyone because of Joe. The gold spittoon shows how Janie is put up for display. The theme of people thinking that Joe is superior to them shows that Janie is isolated from everyone because of Joe’s wealth and power.
Some quick ideas or things I found interesting but haven’t thought about yet:
I god, what does it mean?
What does umph symbolize?
Why end in amen on pg 43?
Giving speeches occurs a lot in chapter 5.
There are lots of religion references.
There are lots of light references.
There are some people in the village talking about black people being hard on each other.
I like how your journal is well-structured Thomas! I wish I had done that before I wrote it... Anyways, I never really thought that "Umph!" could really symbolize anything. But that's an interesting thought.
ReplyDeleteAlso, about your thought to some people in Eatonville talking about black people being hard on each other: I think the colored people of the town are envious and discomforted by Joe Stark's prestige and power. If you read my second journal, that's one of the things I talk about. Their especially unused to the idea of a black person being prestigious and powerful and wealthy -- while they're not. Maybe the black people are too accustomed to the idea that they're inferior to the whites? And because of that, they feel uncomfortable with a black being superior?
Interesting idea with the gold spittoon symbolizing Janie under the control of Joe. I think that would be something interesting to look into. Back in the 1920's, were spittoons a sign of wealth in the south? Or could your idea really have some merit for the spittoon being a symbol?