I was blown away by this book as if in a hurricane — thank you to my pal Aditi Juneja for the suggestion / truly, how dare my high school not make it required reading?
I’m so excited to hear your thoughts. (What were the most moving parts of the book for you? What pieces of the story were you most struck by? Is there anything specific you would you like to discuss in more detail?)
For me, the most essential wisdom comes from Janie’s connection between God and self-validation. They are one in the same, and that clicked for me at a new level in the final pages.
Also, speaking of our great creator: It is truly amazing that Zora Neale Hurston wrote this cinematic hero of black feminism in the year 1937. (I’m going to be able to picture the part were she lets her hair down in the mirror after Husband #2 dies for the rest of my life. That scene alone is a goddamn masterpiece.)
I read TEEWG a few years ago when I was in high school, and today I'm so grateful for that, because my teacher forced us to take the time to consider this book in its full context and complexity.
Thinking back on this book, I'm still so impressed by Hurston's depiction of how gender conventions are always present and can seep into and corrupt even loving, positive relationships between men and women. For example, Tea Cake, husband number #3, is supposed to be the "good" one that Janie truly loves, but he's still insecure enough that he must be the couple's primary provider and even hits Janie to reassure himself of his masculinity. Still, I don't necessarily think Tea Cake is a "bad" husband for behaving this way or that Janie is any less of a feminist character for choosing to stay with him until the end. Both characters are complex and three-dimensional enough that I am to find sympathy for them and see the external pressures acting upon their relationship even as I disagree with the choices they make.
I had the pleasure of re-reading Hurston’s great ouevre over the past few evenings after my new daily ritual of slogging through a virtual school teaching schedule made only for these times. My experience of reading TEWWG at this point in my life has been highlighted by what I never understood as a sixteen year old hs student: following your heart is only as easy as seeing through the mud covering it up. Feeling really grateful to this great work for the healing message it offers and the reminder to following down your own path.
Now I have to read it! I'm a white guy, an old white guy. Imagine that, an old white guy who despises patriarchy as much as you do. The scene you described gave me goose bumps without even reading it!
As with the book club of which I am a member, http://escobarbookclub.com/, I had firm intentions to read this book but did not. For that I apologize and pinky promise to read the next one!
I read TEEWG a few years ago when I was in high school, and today I'm so grateful for that, because my teacher forced us to take the time to consider this book in its full context and complexity.
Thinking back on this book, I'm still so impressed by Hurston's depiction of how gender conventions are always present and can seep into and corrupt even loving, positive relationships between men and women. For example, Tea Cake, husband number #3, is supposed to be the "good" one that Janie truly loves, but he's still insecure enough that he must be the couple's primary provider and even hits Janie to reassure himself of his masculinity. Still, I don't necessarily think Tea Cake is a "bad" husband for behaving this way or that Janie is any less of a feminist character for choosing to stay with him until the end. Both characters are complex and three-dimensional enough that I am to find sympathy for them and see the external pressures acting upon their relationship even as I disagree with the choices they make.
I had the pleasure of re-reading Hurston’s great ouevre over the past few evenings after my new daily ritual of slogging through a virtual school teaching schedule made only for these times. My experience of reading TEWWG at this point in my life has been highlighted by what I never understood as a sixteen year old hs student: following your heart is only as easy as seeing through the mud covering it up. Feeling really grateful to this great work for the healing message it offers and the reminder to following down your own path.
Now I have to read it! I'm a white guy, an old white guy. Imagine that, an old white guy who despises patriarchy as much as you do. The scene you described gave me goose bumps without even reading it!
As with the book club of which I am a member, http://escobarbookclub.com/, I had firm intentions to read this book but did not. For that I apologize and pinky promise to read the next one!
Did anyone else think about learning from relationships? I wish this would have occurred to me when I read it in high school..
I had to read it out loud at first, but I ended up really enjoying the dialogue