In “Jonah’s Gourd Vine”, the characters have complicated lives and their race is a factor to why their lives are complicated. They may find that they often have to accommodate themselves to fit in a society in order to have more acceptance in a society. Even when they have very perplexed situations, the characters always try to find a solution. The characters not only think about how a decision may impact themselves, but how it can impact others. In order to be more be more cautious of what can occur in their lives and how they may display themselves, the characters try to look at themselves through the eyes of others. Ned and John’s mentality along with their behavior is due to double consciousness which is a significant concept in their lives. “The Souls of …show more content…
He believes that there’s a underlying root cause for that type of relationship that he has with his kids. “ We black folks don’t love our chillun. We couldn’t do it when we wuz in slavery. We borned’ em but dat didn’t make ‘em ourn. Dey b’longed tuh old Massa. Twan’t no use in treasurin’ other folkses property. It wuz liable tuh be took uhway any day.” (Hurston, 1934, p.5) Ned believed that African Americans should look through the eyes of slave masters when it comes to forming a bond with his kids. Since the slave masters saw the kids of African American slaves as property, the best option for the parents of the slave kids would be to stay away from the master’s “property”. Even if the slaves wanted to form a good relationship with their kids slaves staying away from their kids could possibly result in a better acceptance from the slave master towards the slaves. Ned used that concept and applied it to a post slavery world where his kids were being