Comments by Coen Inman Most recent public comments by Coen Inman https://nowcomment.com/users/144028 This feels like an intentional callback to Joe's accusatory offence to Janie's offerings of food while he instead was sick https://nowcomment.com/documents/368826?scroll_to=3288652 https://nowcomment.com/documents/368826?scroll_to=3288652 Tue, 16 Apr 2024 00:05:31 -0400 This indicates the growing bitterness towards a motive that was fondly treated by Janie a few chapters ago. It was once a pride of hers that Tea Cake was not ashamed of their relationship and that he allowed her to be seen and revered on her own, https://nowcomment.com/documents/368826?scroll_to=3288651 https://nowcomment.com/documents/368826?scroll_to=3288651 but bitterly sulks at it now Thu, 18 Apr 2024 00:31:41 -0400 YES https://nowcomment.com/documents/368826?scroll_to=3288650 https://nowcomment.com/documents/368826?scroll_to=3288650 Mon, 15 Apr 2024 23:59:27 -0400 I don't think it's dramatic at all, it makes the line read tumultuous, fast, and mimics the rhythmic yet chaotic motion of a hurricane and is super central to establishing the mood https://nowcomment.com/documents/368826?scroll_to=3288649 https://nowcomment.com/documents/368826?scroll_to=3288649 Mon, 15 Apr 2024 23:59:20 -0400 I think this is a literal translation of behaviours of Janie. Overall, she denies sense and obvious problems to come through rationalisation in order to pretend they aren't a problem, as has happened at the beginning of problems with Joe and with Tea Cake https://nowcomment.com/documents/368826?scroll_to=3288648 https://nowcomment.com/documents/368826?scroll_to=3288648 Tue, 16 Apr 2024 20:24:06 -0400 Okay what it feels like I missed something, but I didn't https://nowcomment.com/documents/368826?scroll_to=3288645 https://nowcomment.com/documents/368826?scroll_to=3288645 Mon, 15 Apr 2024 22:59:21 -0400 I think maybe this also reflects a way of life for Janie as well. From the very beginning of the novel, we were introduced to a society and town where appearances and tangible characterisations were highlighted and scrutinised. https://nowcomment.com/documents/368832?scroll_to=3284065 https://nowcomment.com/documents/368832?scroll_to=3284065 Janie, however, seems more preoccupied with the character of a person's purpose, as seen in her criticisms of Joe, her rejection of gossip shared by townsfolk, and her opinions on vanity and image -- as further shaped by her own experience living under scrutiny for hers Tue, 09 Apr 2024 23:54:51 -0400 I think this might be intended to reflect and contrast Janie and Joe's relationship. Janie has grown old, and spent a large portion of her life with Joe, watching the nature of their relationship change slowly and expected to live in the shadows of Joe. https://nowcomment.com/documents/368832?scroll_to=3284061 https://nowcomment.com/documents/368832?scroll_to=3284061 Tea Cake is giving her a spotlight, and wants to love her loudly and openly, with pride and assurance and a willingness to do and to act. As in contrast to Joe, he wishes for Janie to be seen and held up, and not for his own personal gain or image -- from at least anything we've seen so far Tue, 09 Apr 2024 23:49:01 -0400 I believe the personification and insight into the behaviours of the buzzards is intended to mirror and put into perspective the view the townspeople have of Joe. https://nowcomment.com/documents/368827?scroll_to=3272055 https://nowcomment.com/documents/368827?scroll_to=3272055 Through this likening, commentary about Joe's absolute power beyond reason is thrown into view Mon, 25 Mar 2024 00:40:15 -0400 Joe (likely intentionally) makes himself out to be superhuman through this action. It not only gives him respect, but casts him out as an idol -- a moral figure and one in power. With this image his respect is greatly expanded. https://nowcomment.com/documents/368827?scroll_to=3272054 https://nowcomment.com/documents/368827?scroll_to=3272054 Questioning Joe or leveraging criticisms against him seems to the townspeople now to be irrational and impossible as he is placed on a pedestal, and he will maintain this respect until eventually people rehumanise Joe in seeing his flaws and wrinkles and the way mortal age has taken him like all others, and doubt his strength for the first time in many years Mon, 25 Mar 2024 00:37:43 -0400 I believe this ties into his previous indications that he expects Janie to reinforce his authority and image by preserving her own as his wife. However this also ties into his insecure and controlling nature over Janie https://nowcomment.com/documents/368827?scroll_to=3272052 https://nowcomment.com/documents/368827?scroll_to=3272052 Mon, 25 Mar 2024 00:33:21 -0400 I think in part this is the effect of condition and imagery. It's for this exact reason that Joe has such a partiality to maintaining a particular image and status among the townspeople that offers to him their respect and obedience. https://nowcomment.com/documents/368827?scroll_to=3272051 https://nowcomment.com/documents/368827?scroll_to=3272051 It also gives to him their unrelenting --sometimes willful, sometimes hesitant -- authority over them and the operation of the town. Without it this authority may be thrown into peril, and as such he begins to obsess over it Mon, 25 Mar 2024 00:31:44 -0400 The town is experiencing its first willful social contract. While it is said that the townspeople had a sense of closeness and affections before Joe came along, there was no definite structure, shared identity, defined community, or authority. https://nowcomment.com/documents/368827?scroll_to=3272035 https://nowcomment.com/documents/368827?scroll_to=3272035 In giving Joe the authority, many realise this affords the town many benefits. It allows for them to expand, afford some relative luxuries, and offload some burdens of a small society. This comes at the expense of some liberties however, and they must oblige much of the wishes of Joe, and pay respects, and do as he sees fitting -- either for himself or for the town, as illustrated by criticisms of his uppity house Mon, 25 Mar 2024 00:27:54 -0400 Janie offers her first definite feelings about things, when up until now she had at most vague sensations regarding what is happening with Joe, such as a feeling of unplaced dread regarding Joe declining her opportunity to speak in the store. https://nowcomment.com/documents/368827?scroll_to=3272033 https://nowcomment.com/documents/368827?scroll_to=3272033 We can see here that she feels truly at odds with not only Joe's behaviour, but the person he is unveiling himself to be or become. What she wished for and expected from a marriage with Joe she know feels are out of sync with those things Joe expects and engages with in life. Mutuality, romance, respect, and tenderness are betrayed to her as these things do not produce to Joe the value of authority, image, respect, or success, and she is beginning to realise that this endangers their future Mon, 25 Mar 2024 00:23:58 -0400 I think beyond that it isn't a matter of ignorance but willful control. Joe is starting to become so preoccupied with his newfound respect and dignity that he believes it to be a separate platform from Janie entirely. https://nowcomment.com/documents/368827?scroll_to=3272032 https://nowcomment.com/documents/368827?scroll_to=3272032 While he insists that Janie should maintain decorum and value her own status granted to her by way of Joe's authority, he expects subservience that gives respect to his authority by all -- and especially so from Janie, who as he sees he has given her implied authority or respect, has an obligation to uphold his own authority and respect by remaining subservient and grateful. This leads to his growing obsession with image and is possibly the first hint of such Mon, 25 Mar 2024 00:18:00 -0400 This ties conveniently into both of the progressive strains on Joe's character that lead to him and Janie growing apart and eventually fracturing -- his preoccupation with his age and status among men, and his fervent insecurity regarding Janie and others https://nowcomment.com/documents/368827?scroll_to=3272031 https://nowcomment.com/documents/368827?scroll_to=3272031 Mon, 25 Mar 2024 00:12:20 -0400 I feel that rather than just a tone of sadness it's its own kind of loss. Though it could be seen as growth or development, Joe's changes are inspired by a need to change from a place of shame in his identity or self https://nowcomment.com/documents/368827?scroll_to=3271955 https://nowcomment.com/documents/368827?scroll_to=3271955 Sun, 24 Mar 2024 22:47:27 -0400 At the beginning of the passage, it is suggested that men look outward with desire but stand away as onlookers while trapped in a pestilence of longing for their dreams, while women distort the world around them, https://nowcomment.com/documents/368823?scroll_to=3268921 https://nowcomment.com/documents/368823?scroll_to=3268921 doing so to shrink the distance between them and their dreams -- accepting as reality what they desire and blinding themselves to the otherwise more immediate world. However, in another effective instance of establishing Janie's independence from expectations and the greater cultural ideas of her peers men and women by herself accepting both woe and shine in her life as all one great growth that spread from its base in splintered but connected branches, not rejecting or winnowing out what suits her dreams from her perspective or life Mon, 18 Mar 2024 01:43:47 -0400 Pheoby has a driving motivation at this point in the dialogue to defend Janie on the concerns risen by the group, but her persistence in labeling and reaffirming her relevance as Janie's friend suggests that these motivations may be convoluted. https://nowcomment.com/documents/368823?scroll_to=3268920 https://nowcomment.com/documents/368823?scroll_to=3268920 While she seems to have legitimate reason and desire to defend the reputation of Janie, but this seems to be mixed with an almost status-oriented clash. In this, Pheoby's behaviour suggests a desire to align herself more definitely with clear labels to Janie, sacrificing some respect and tolerance of the gossiping group, but gaining favour with Janie -- a confident, unswayed, and highly if poorly regarded. This may be as part of her own desire to escape the tidepool of influence that the women of the town pull against each other with; competing and gossiping and degrading confidences by weighing acceptance as a condition over one another Mon, 18 Mar 2024 01:26:11 -0400 This sentence speaks a lot about the concerns of the women talking, suggesting that the base cause for their preoccupation with Janie's life and especially appearance. https://nowcomment.com/documents/368823?scroll_to=3268918 https://nowcomment.com/documents/368823?scroll_to=3268918 Their gossip is revealed as stemming predominantly from fundamental jealousy towards her and possibly between women of Janie's culture overall. There is an implied sense of competition by statements such as this one, and other's which weigh Janie's 'true' value as determined by the women of the town Mon, 18 Mar 2024 01:15:07 -0400 I think this manages to establish the culture and attitudes of the society within the text in the standards they hold others to and treatment of those that fall out of favor, while also forcing readers to understand characters from a fragmented narrative. https://nowcomment.com/documents/368823?scroll_to=3268916 https://nowcomment.com/documents/368823?scroll_to=3268916 This effectively implements the reader into the situation themselves, having to rely on a patchwork image of a character through others accounts, and even building the traits of the characters gossiping through their attitudes and the things they say Mon, 18 Mar 2024 01:06:36 -0400