Final Thoughts on TEWWG

Looking back on our discussion on TEWWG, I found it to be interesting that the novel was shelved not long after its publication only to be resurrected later when it could stand for a movement. Although I found this to be dismaying, I also found it to be quite understandable. At the time of publication, a black novelist such as Hurston was expected to write works that could be representative of the “black experience.” I put black experience in quotes because, in my opinion, it seems near impossible to write anything that could represent the history of an entire group of people. Looking at one of Hurston’s most vocal critics, Richard Wright, I cannot help but be most bothered by his critique. In a nutshell, he criticized the novel’s lack of complexity and how it was supposedly written for a white audience. Having studied Wright’s work in another literature class, in particular his novel Native Son, I hardly think he qualifies as someone who should criticize the novel’s lack of representativeness. In my opinion, the text is brutish, overly complex, and in the words of James Baldwin,”limited in its understanding of human character and its artistic value.”

Overall, I didn’t look at the novel as something that was meant to speak for a particular group of people. To me, it was a simple love story with the backdrop of a coming of age plot.

Racism in American cartoons

I found out about this example while researching the origins and meaning of the word “cakewalk.” I remember I had a babysitter as a kid who would always put on the same damn VHS tape of Looney Tunes cartoons.  One cartoon is always remembered was where Elmer Fudd is dressed as a Canadian Monty trying to kill Bugs Bunny.  Throughout most of the cartoons run it seems like a typical American cartoon meant for kids with some elements of violence, but after re-watching it I found something a bit more disturbing about it.  In the final scene of the cartoon, Bug Bunny, Elmer Fudd, and several other characters perform a minstel show in black face.  After checking out the video on YouTube, I was surprised to find out that there are dozens of Looney Tunes clips where there are stereotypical darky characters.  I think this speaks about the popularity of minstrel shows at that time in history and the blatant racism that most Americans then found as a form of entertainment.  Although these cartoons were part of mass popular culture, there still seems to be this shocking element that this was later geared towards a child audience.  One can only ask what effect these forms of media had on the public opinion of African Americans.  Whatever the case may be, I’m still left wondering how my babysitter never caught onto this.

Here is the cartoon in full (skip to 7:00 for the minstrel show):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Uah9ZY9YOw

Last thoughts

As we were looking back over the syllabus today I was rethinking all that we have talked about.  The one part of the class that really stuck out in my mind that tied the whole thing together was the idea of noir and other pieces from around the mid-1900’s mixing of high culture and low culture.  I took an art history class this semester and saw a similar trend in lecture there, and Professor Evans repeated this sentiment in class.  In art, it started with impressionism and creating art that did not have any historical factors, but rather was true to what the eye saw.  This moved on through many movements, some that sought to build up mediums, and others that wanted to find the final form and the end to painting and sculpture.  This reminded me of the part that Evans said we mostly skipped over with only mentioning writers like Gertrude Stein’s.  It was very interesting to me this morning to be in my art history class review and then my Am Lit review and see such paralleling themes.  To me, this really drives through the idea of the new canon, that is, thinking of art in terms of its historical context.

Postman and Noir

Out of the books we read this semester, my favorite was definitely The Postman Always Rings Twice. Although a lot of the other readings were great, I loved the darkness and mystery that came with Postman. The book was swift and sweet, and definitely a great read. Frank and Cora’s relationship was unusually erotic and it was something I had never seen before. I was also intrigued by the ease with which Frank and Cora plotted the Greek’s murder. Also, the jump from Frank being a no-good scoundrel to a murderer is a deep testament to the innate nature of murder and crime. To say the least, I really enjoyed the entire unit on noir, as I found the deviation from an author using pure protagonists in fiction so interesting. I like to think of it as a reflection of the inner soul of many readers; almost all people have a dark side, and noir does a great job of brining it out.

Metatext and High/Low Art

Recalling the lecture on the metatext and high/low art, I began looking at works that we were reading that made their way into other forms of media.  Two novels that caught my attention as being referenced often were Moby Dick and Of Mice and Men.  I can recall an episode of Futurama (yeah, I’m a nerd) where Moby Dick is referenced.  In a quick scene one of the protagonists Lila and Fry end up being transported to scenes described in some of the most recognizable novels in literature.  In a scene they are trapped in Moby Dick where they are in a small dingy with Ahab and Queequeg.  Of Mice and Men is also referenced in the pop culture media of cartoons, this time in Looney Tunes.  The show usually has a slow witted character who says “Duuuuh.Which way did he go George? Which way did he go?”  Although not a direct quote from the novel, the cartoon is still referencing Lennie and his lack of intelligence.  I find both of these examples kind of fit into our lecture about high and low art as cartoons do not seem to be regarded as “high art with a capital A.”  Instead it seems like the cartoons are referencing high art and almost mocking it.  I tried to find clips for both examples but was unsuccessful, sorry.

The Killers

I think the “The Killers” was the piece of literature I enjoyed the most this semester.  The language Hemingway uses just gives you this image of two bad ass hit men who strike fear into the other characters in the story.  I was surprised that we didn’t watch the film adaptation of the story starring Ronald Reagan and John Cassavetes.  The film is a perfect example of something fitting into the metatext because it is a far step from the story itself.  The interesting thing about the film is although the two stories are nothing alike, the movie poster reads “Ernest Hemingway’s “The Killers.” Also worth noting is this was the only film of Reagan’s career where he played a bad guy.

Here’s a short clip of the movie that pretty much sums up Reagan’s role as the bad guy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Af0Yei2sAbE

Language in Eyes

What stands out within the first pages of Their Eyes Were Watching God is the dialect that Hurston uses for her characters. It is amazing how difficult it becomes to follow the text at first without reading the dialogue aloud a few times before fully getting the hang of how it reads. The effect this has on the novel as a whole is that it helps to take readers back to the time when the book takes place. It helps readers understand the type of language that existed inside the African American race. It is apparent that Hurston takes type of writing from authors like Twain. Hurston’s choice to write in this way is a type of acknowledgement to her prior authors, and in a way taking Twain to the next level in history. In addition to this, the language transcends time and the way the race relations have changed over the years, be it between the African American race or the white race.

Fate

The last three books we read, based around 1937, were my favorite books that we read for this class. I think the three books show three very different perspectives on what life was like at the time in America, and my favorite was Their Eyes Were Watching God. The women in Of Mice and Men and The Postman Always Rings Twice were both femme fatale figures, and I think this detracted from both books. It seemed like in both books the characters were subjected to a certain fate, and the femme fatale was a dangerous woman who was going to get herself and the male protagonists in trouble. The character development of the women in both books was basically just stating that they were beautiful women put in situations that made them desperate, and made them a danger to those around them. For instance, Curley’s wife is not even given a name despite the fact that without her presence there would be novel, and she is the one who determines the fate of Lennie. Their Eyes Were Watching God presents a much stronger image of a woman at the time, and presents a more whole character of a woman, even though she does kill her husband (out of necessity). Hurston takes into account and explains the motives behind what Janie does, and does not give a simple explanation such as that she was woman who was unhappily married. Janie left her marriages for specific reasons and throughout the novel developed into a strong woman, and was not just a femme fatale who was unhappily married and seeking some kind of escape through interaction with any other man.

Feminism, Racism, Classism

Hurston’s intended message in Their Eyes Were Watching God is applicable to women, minorities, inferior social classes, and even animals.  While the relationships that Janie is seen to be engaged in demonstrate male chauvanism the theme can be applied more generally to any relationship in which there is a struggle for power or authority.  The references that Janie’s grandmother makes comparing black women to mules demonstrates this struggle on the level between men and thier possessions; “De nigger woman is de mule uh today as fuh as Ah can see” (14).  Also the imbalance of power is exhibited between the men of the town, all the way down to the vultures.  When the mule carcass is drug from town Jodys approval is needed to commence the burial of the mule.  In a reciprocal social structure the vultures are prohibited from consuming the carcass until the parson vulture descends to eat the eyeballs  and allow the rest to begin.

Hurston Created a Powerful Piece

To look at Zora Neale Hurston as a strong, black woman, and then think that she failed both labels you are throwing at her in creating Their Eyes Were Watching God is absurd.  I was honestly not too fond of this novel, and this is the second time I read it.  I didn’t hate it because I felt that she created an anti-feminist novel or anything, I just didn’t enjoy reading it for whatever reason.  I appreciated what she did with this novel and enjoyed it at least a little bit.

But anyway.  This was a strong and powerful novel.  Looking back at when it was written does help to see how strong a novel it really is, but even if it were written later, it would still be powerful and great.  Sometimes creating a novel that represents how it really was is more powerful than creating a novel finding a way to mold characters and a storyline to make a larger point.  If she had gone into writing this to write the ‘next great feminist novel’, it probably would have failed in its attempt.  It would have lost its authenticity.  The fact that she represented something, a story, in the way that it would really happen and under realistic circumstances makes it work.  And makes it POWERFUL.  Janie grows throughout this novel even though everyone is trying to tell her how to live and how to be a woman.  She finds her own ways to leave the men in life that she no longer wants to be with, even if they had a lot of money or power in the town.  She made her own decisions and eventually lived her life for no one else but herself.  I don’t know if everyone else in class has gotten to that point, but I know I haven’t.  It is a very powerful thing.  To say that she is allowing herself to be defined by the men she is with is short-changing Hurston, and to say that Zora Neale Hurston is failing both women and black women is a non-truth.

The one thing that is very controversial, as far is feminism goes, is the violence between Tea Cake.  I still think that she was just representing things in a very realistic way.  That kind of violence DOES happen.  She was not condoning it, but she was putting it out there.  She should also not be criticized for allowing Janie to stay with Tea Cake for a little bit after the violence because, unfortunately, that is a reality in this life.  Domestic Violence 101 says that you should definitely leave your partner if he or she abuses you, but guess what?  It’s a hard thing to do.  And you should not judge the person who was abused for not leaving right away because it is an easy thing to say but a hard thing to do in life.  Hurston allows Janie to kill him in the end anyway, which could be more of a comment on that situation than anything else.