A slave, Betty Abernathy’s, account of plantation life, “We lived up in Perry County. The white folk had a nice big house an’ they was a number of poor little cabins fo’ us folks. Our’s was a one room, built of logs, an’ had a puncheon floor. ‘Ole ‘Massa’ had a number of slaves but we didden have no school, ‘ner church an’ mighty little merry-makin’. Mos’ly we went barefooted the yeah ‘round.”
The townspeople’s envy of Janie is rooted in internalized racism--one that favors light skin and other Eurocentric facial features. The porch-sitters of Eatonville also find it strange that Janie, who was at a higher social class before she met Tea Cake, come back to Eatonville and present herself in a way typical of a laborer. Although Janie yearns for a sense of community within Eatonville, the porch creates a division rooted in envy and internalized racism amongst the black community. Furthermore, as Tea Cake rapidly gets more sick, Janie acts upon self-defense and is forced to kill Tea Cake. That same day, Janie was to be put on trial in the courtroom.
The black culture is very diverse in different parts of the world-even in different parts of the state. Janie as moved throughout Florida to places such as West Florida, Eatonville, and the Everglades. Residing in these different places helps develop and define the character of Janie. Throughout Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie experiences many variations of black culture that helps build her character as she travels through Florida.
A world full of hatred and questioning is difficult to live in, and only the strong make it out. During Janie’s first marriage, her husband was the mayor of Eatonville, which caused others to be jealous of their relationship. Although the marriage wasn’t happy and peaceful, the townspeople wanted the power that Janie seemed to have and when they realized they would never get it, they criticized Janie for every mistake she made. When her husband died, Janie mourned publically for months, but she eventually found a new husband whom she moved away with. Her second husband unfortunately died and when she came back to Eatonville, the townspeople were reminded of their old jealousy.
She starts to experience misfortune created by Jody once he became the mayor of Eatonville. Once Jody became mayor, Janie was placed in a place of vacancy where she wasn’t allowed to speak her mind because of the title she held. “Janie soon began to feel the impact of awe and envy against her sensibilities. The wife of the Mayor was not just another woman as she had supposed”(46). Janie’s perspective of being with someone that was authoritative was a good thing, but once she realized what the price was for being with someone like that she starts to feel the same neglect from her first marriage.
She’s learned to be more independent, and she’s not so concerned about what people think of her. Janie has become bold. When Janie attempts to stop the bomb, she is kidnapped by Danby and taken hostage. Despite this stressful and terrifying circumstance, Janie keeps calm and lies to protect her friends and the apothecary. ‘“He didn’t make it,” I lied.
The novel To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in the segregated South of the 1930’s. The book is told in the eyes of an eight year old girl, Scout Finch. Her father, Atticus Finch, is an attorney who is struggling to prove the innocence of a black man incorrectly accused of rape. The historical context of the book lets one see the social status of different groups during the civil rights era. The story explores who fits into certain societies, who is respected in the community, written and unwritten rules concerning family, gender, age, and race, expectations of certain people, and what conflicts arise out of tension.
On October 29th 1929 The United states entered a depression. The depression began days earlier on October 24th 1929 when the United States stock market. Over 16 million stocks were destroyed and gone. The remaining stocks left were quickly bought by investors because they lost faith in the American economy. Many banks also shut down because after the market crash people rushed to their banks where their money was held at but either the first people in line or the wealthier people took all of their money out of the banks and once there was np more money the bank shut down.
The porch also gives a clear vision of the how segregation in this town of Eatonville. Men sat around on the porch and played games but women were not allowed to participate in these activities because it lacked “class.” However, clearly not all men are alike so when Tea Cake came along, Janie felt the freedom she never experienced in her past relationships. Even before meeting Tea Cake, the death of Joe exonerated Janie from the shackles that were placed on her individuality and "[she] did what she had never done before, that is, thrust herself into the conversation."
Dallin Abney Miss. Pearson English 10C May 15 2024 Literary Analysis Essay In 2018 a survey was conducted in a school and roughly 16% of kids are said to encounter race-based bullying (DoSomething.org). Racism has been a common problem in society for at least hundreds of years, especially after slaves were freed.
To Kill a Mockingbird: Literary Analysis Back when laws separating whites and blacks existed in the United States of America, whites felt they were “superior” to blacks and felt the need to prove it to them. This marked an immense piece of American history, and influenced numerous things such as books and movies. For example, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee revolves around this ideology. As the story progresses, it is evident as to what caused Harper Lee to take her story in this orientation. Harper Lee’s novel has a lot of heavy influence of the Jim-Crow Laws and how these unfair laws were installed in opposition to the black community.
Each person has his own way of interpreting things whether it comes from past experience or right from wrong. Children however, view life from a nondiscriminatory and innocent perspective while expressing their feelings in the process. This is how Harper Lee, the author of the novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” portrays society through the use of children. In her novel, a young girl named Scout lives with her older brother Jem during the time of the great depression in a small town called Maycomb. Apart from the poverty and despair encountered during this time period, racism and other forms of discrimination were apparent.
Nell Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird(Warner Books,1982) is an acclaimed sociological novel set in Maycomb, Alabama, during the Great Depression. Scout, the narrator who is directed by the wisdom of Atticus, her father, and a neighbor Miss Maudie, assesses the racial inequalities, social institutions, and difficulties of maturation in the South. With her friend Dill and her brother Jem, she leaves the idealism of her childhood and begins to see the problems of the adult world. As her narrative draws to a close, she states, ”Jem and I would get grown, but there wasn’t much else left for us to learn except possibly algebra”(279).
At first glance, the story’s group of five comes across as selfish and noninclusive. However, this short story not only gives an explanation for how communities are formed, but also provides explanations for how a community operates and why communities perform certain actions. In the middle of the story, the narrator talks about a time where the five members of a group did not know each other, but they eventually came together and got along. According to the narrator the reason for this is that “…what is possible and can be tolerated by the five of us is not possible and cannot be tolerated with this sixth one” (Nealon and Giroux 57). So, according to the story, the five friends were able to be friends due to their same tolerances, likes, dislikes,
Harper Lee’s Cultural Point of View represented in To Kill A Mockingbird In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, she uses characters, personality, and language to signify the cultural point of view. Another sign of culture is location, Harper Lee does not allude to Maycomb, Alabama very often, but, this still ensures the cultural point of view. Culture plays a crucial role in To Kill a Mockingbird (TKAM) especially because this novel takes place during the end of the early nineteen hundreds.
