Comments by Autumn Johnson Most recent public comments by Autumn Johnson https://nowcomment.com/users/69290 To me it seems like they are making conversation to avoid conversation throughout this whole passage until she finally tells him to shut up or she will scream which signals his exit. https://nowcomment.com/documents/195005?scroll_to=1835960 https://nowcomment.com/documents/195005?scroll_to=1835960 Thu, 23 Apr 2020 20:15:54 -0400 It seems as though being together is uncomfortable to them as she got up and walked away first and then later he got up saying he had to take the bags but it seems to me he could've with them. Why is being next to each other such a big deal for them? https://nowcomment.com/documents/195005?scroll_to=1835925 https://nowcomment.com/documents/195005?scroll_to=1835925 Thu, 23 Apr 2020 20:00:58 -0400 All that is actually said about the problem is that it is perfectly simple and that afterwords they can be happy again. https://nowcomment.com/documents/195005?scroll_to=1835908 https://nowcomment.com/documents/195005?scroll_to=1835908 This however seems to combat what is said because if it was perfectly simple she wouldn't mind talking about it that much or want to drink so much to avoid talking about it and it also shows that they won't be perfectly happy later if they can't even discuss a topic fully or transition to a different topic in order to have a conversation between them. Thu, 30 Sep 2021 10:00:04 -0400 It disturbs me as to how often he wonders of her sex life and whether or not she is a virgin, which "he was almost sure" of. https://nowcomment.com/documents/191863?scroll_to=1811763 https://nowcomment.com/documents/191863?scroll_to=1811763 Thu, 30 Sep 2021 10:00:02 -0400 It is possible that by feeling the weight of being responsible for all his men, he needs something, or someone, there for him to allow him to remain positive which will in turn keep the rest of the platoon positive. By having someone to rely on, it allows https://nowcomment.com/documents/191863?scroll_to=1811758 https://nowcomment.com/documents/191863?scroll_to=1811758 him to be more open to his men relying on him and more available to be there and support them. Thu, 30 Sep 2021 10:00:02 -0400 By telling about what the other men brought as a necessity for there survival it shows that having a love and admiration for Martha, even if it wasn't reciprocated, gave him a reason to live. https://nowcomment.com/documents/191863?scroll_to=1811745 https://nowcomment.com/documents/191863?scroll_to=1811745 If he could survive the war he may have a chance of winning over her love for him. He didn't need painkillers or extra food as long as he had a reason to fight to make it back home. Thu, 16 Apr 2020 21:52:46 -0400 By referencing Ted Lavender being shot three times, it shows that it bothers him that he is dead. This may also be why he described all of Lavendar's belongings. https://nowcomment.com/documents/191863?scroll_to=1811741 https://nowcomment.com/documents/191863?scroll_to=1811741 By showing that his belonging were all for precaution but he died anyway may be a reason that he is paranoid of also dying. If Ted could be so prepared and yet still died what is to keep the rest of them from perishing as well? Thu, 30 Sep 2021 10:00:02 -0400 At the end of the book it says that "Here was peace" when she discovered Tea Cake wasn't truly dead. Do you interpret this to mean that she is happier without Tea Cake and she finds peace after his body is dead or is she happier because she believes https://nowcomment.com/documents/191856?scroll_to=1811169 https://nowcomment.com/documents/191856?scroll_to=1811169 that even is he is physically dead he will always be with her? Sat, 18 Apr 2020 10:49:46 -0400 I believe that the meaning of this book is that happiness can be found in the most unexpected places and that it can be found at any point in your life. Janie found the place that made her happiest when she was 40 years old planting and harvesting beans https://nowcomment.com/documents/191856?scroll_to=1811150 https://nowcomment.com/documents/191856?scroll_to=1811150 in mud and muck while living in a shack. This shows that the meaning is also you find happiness in people that you love, not in materialistic things like her Grandmother believed. Thu, 16 Apr 2020 18:30:54 -0400 The title hints at how much God played a role in this story. This also ties into Azaela's comment below. https://nowcomment.com/documents/191856?scroll_to=1811131 https://nowcomment.com/documents/191856?scroll_to=1811131 The quote "their eyes were watching God" came up in the book when Janie, Tea Cake, and Motor were watching outside through their front door. They didn't say that they were watching the storm because to them, they were watching God. This ties in to what Janie said about God being the one who decides if you live or die, and that it doesn't matter what you do, if he wants you to live you will and vice versa. This is then shown when it came to leaving the house. Motor just wanted to stay and sleep, whether he died or not, while Tea Cake and Janie wanted to keep going. According to this theory, God wanted Motor to live but didn't want Tea Cake to survive much past the storm. By leaving, Tea Cake became exhausted and then was bit by a dog, leaving him for dead. It also made him and Janie come back home because they became scared of the white people that didn't know them. This brings the story back to what God had always wanted for her. Despite her past and previous marriages, God brought Tea Cake into Janie's life so she could end up where she needed to be. If her grandma hadn't married her off to Logan, Janie wouldn't have met Jody. Janie thought that Jody was going to be the person she loved and who could bring her happiness because of the big dreams and stories he could tell, Janie fell for this at first like most of the town folk did when they arrived. However, eventually Janie realized that wasn't what she wanted. Becoming married to Jody though placed her at the store when Tea Cake came into town for a game. Had he not gotten confused about the whereabouts of it, he would have been on time and instead at the game. By meeting Janie at the store their love began and it brought Janie happiness. Going with Tea Cake to the Glades however provided Janie with a home and family, which is what she always wanted. God had Janie's whole future planned out and the steps set in place in order for her to get to the Glades and live the life he wanted for her as well as the experience her life had given her to value its beauty, despite all the muck. Thu, 30 Sep 2021 10:00:03 -0400 Does the author purposefully say that her "braids [are] Sunday-pretty" before referencing the tradition of recalling the names of the women that came before her and saying it was "your testament" is the remembrance of those women a form of her religion? https://nowcomment.com/documents/189462?scroll_to=1784113 https://nowcomment.com/documents/189462?scroll_to=1784113 Thu, 30 Sep 2021 10:00:01 -0400 The narrator finally addresses that she is needed to speak up for others and that there are people outside the family willing and wanting to listen to the words she has to say (or write). https://nowcomment.com/documents/189462?scroll_to=1784111 https://nowcomment.com/documents/189462?scroll_to=1784111 Thu, 09 Apr 2020 22:01:51 -0400 There is a repition of this sentence, she keeps bringing it back to how braiding her hair makes her look like her mother. Is this her questioning if she too will become like her mother before her, bending to the will of the women in their family? https://nowcomment.com/documents/189462?scroll_to=1784108 https://nowcomment.com/documents/189462?scroll_to=1784108 To instead of becoming a writer instead someday submit to the life of cooking and cleaning and nursing the family? Thu, 09 Apr 2020 21:59:21 -0400 Does the mother use this paragraph to try and convince her daughter not to write or is it actually the truth? Also, why isn't the daughter frightened by this? https://nowcomment.com/documents/189462?scroll_to=1784105 https://nowcomment.com/documents/189462?scroll_to=1784105 Thu, 30 Sep 2021 10:00:01 -0400 No matter what she is doing, it always comes back to the women in her family. Why is that? If they make her so upset why does she focus on their thoughts and disapproval with every thing she does? Also, why is it that it is just the females of the family? https://nowcomment.com/documents/189462?scroll_to=1784103 https://nowcomment.com/documents/189462?scroll_to=1784103 Thu, 30 Sep 2021 10:00:01 -0400 By starting off with showing the mother's strictness it shows that that is what sticks with the narrator the most. When asked to describe her mother that is what first comes to mind. https://nowcomment.com/documents/189462?scroll_to=1784096 https://nowcomment.com/documents/189462?scroll_to=1784096 This shows the authors use of both syntax and set up of the theme for the story. Thu, 09 Apr 2020 21:45:23 -0400 I believe her fears were mostly based off of their age difference. It made her wonder and worry over what he actually wanted out of her. By making him a friend it allowed her to become close enough to him to ask these questions and trust the answers. https://nowcomment.com/documents/189433?scroll_to=1784092 https://nowcomment.com/documents/189433?scroll_to=1784092 Thu, 09 Apr 2020 21:39:31 -0400 Why is being truly a part of a community so important to Janie and make her so happy? Is it because she's really only had one person in her life at a time? https://nowcomment.com/documents/189433?scroll_to=1784075 https://nowcomment.com/documents/189433?scroll_to=1784075 Thu, 30 Sep 2021 10:00:01 -0400 To me it seems like the muck is what she always wanted. I believe that Hurston picked it because of it is the complete opposite of what her grandmother wanted for her. Janie said her grandma wanted her high up on a stool with the white house like she was https://nowcomment.com/documents/189433?scroll_to=1784073 https://nowcomment.com/documents/189433?scroll_to=1784073 with Jody but Janie never wanted that for herself, the ideas her grandma had for her were always the opposite of what Janie wanted, like marrying for protection and to be provided for her while Janie wanted to marry for love, so when the author decided to make Janie the happiest she's been she picked something that was at ground level, what some would consider gross, and dark. The muck shows Janie's defiance of her grandma's wishes for her. Thu, 30 Sep 2021 10:00:01 -0400 Is this sentence showing that he hopes the sacrifice of his life might bring light to the crimes that are being committed and that his bloodshed may be the thing needed to give people hope that it will soon be over? https://nowcomment.com/documents/186390?scroll_to=1760088 https://nowcomment.com/documents/186390?scroll_to=1760088 Thu, 02 Apr 2020 15:59:47 -0400 By including that he has a daughter and that she would also be stunned and hurt by this, it adds a different level of pathos to the poem; it shows that Byrd was not the only one hurt but also the African American community as a whole. https://nowcomment.com/documents/186390?scroll_to=1760073 https://nowcomment.com/documents/186390?scroll_to=1760073 Thu, 02 Apr 2020 15:57:52 -0400 I thought that by only using his head as the speaker, in the description of his arm/hand getting cut off could potentially be a metaphor for his rights being cut away from him. https://nowcomment.com/documents/186390?scroll_to=1760071 https://nowcomment.com/documents/186390?scroll_to=1760071 Thu, 02 Apr 2020 15:55:51 -0400 I feel that since Clifton used the word "I" she was able to give Byrd a voice and allow the unfairness that was brought to him be known, however it could be taken as unempowering due to the fact that what she thinks might be his thoughts are used instead. https://nowcomment.com/documents/186390?scroll_to=1760068 https://nowcomment.com/documents/186390?scroll_to=1760068 By using her own thoughts of what she might have said in this situation, she is covering up his voice. Thu, 30 Sep 2021 09:59:59 -0400 Why is it that Janie finds it funny when Hezekiah tries to act like Jody when she hated him and how he treated her? Furthermore, why does he take Janie in as his 'younger sister' if he is 17 and she is 40? https://nowcomment.com/documents/173993?scroll_to=1760036 https://nowcomment.com/documents/173993?scroll_to=1760036 Thu, 30 Sep 2021 09:59:59 -0400 Janie's role in her marriage to Jody is to make him look good and prosperous. In order for that to be completed how he wishes, this also means that he expects Janie to be obedient. This differs from her marriage to Logan because he just wanted a wife. https://nowcomment.com/documents/173993?scroll_to=1760019 https://nowcomment.com/documents/173993?scroll_to=1760019 Jody makes Janie's voice disappear for much of her relationship with him as she is aware that he will punish her for talking back to him or by not doing as he told her; while Janie knows that Jody will hit her, Logan would ask her to do things and Janie would tell him that she was busy tending to the housework and that he was a man and could handle it by himself. Logan was willing to give Janie some freedoms where Jody just wanted a pretty girl to stand quietly beside him. Thu, 30 Sep 2021 09:59:59 -0400 By mentioning that Janie feels as though Joe will come back to the store and be upset with how she is running it despite the fact that she knows he is dead and the store is legally her's, Janie may be tempted to sell the store and truly distance herself. https://nowcomment.com/documents/173993?scroll_to=1760014 https://nowcomment.com/documents/173993?scroll_to=1760014 Thu, 02 Apr 2020 15:31:59 -0400