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Their Eyes Were Watching God (Summary) 51783 Views
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Description:
A great marriage begins with a blooming pear tree and ends with a hurricane, rabies, and a murder trial…or something like that.
- Form / Novel
- Themes / Gender
- Themes / Love
- Themes / Sex
- Themes / Innocence
- Themes / Race
- Themes / Fate and Free Will
- Themes / Society and Class
- Themes / Freedom and Confinement
- Themes / Language and Communication
- Themes / Jealousy
- Themes / Appearances
- Themes / Mortality
- Themes / Pride
- Themes / Dreams, Hopes, and Plans
- Themes / Memory and the Past
- Themes / Compassion and Forgiveness
Transcript
- 00:04
Their Eyes were Watching God, a la Shmoop.
- 00:08
My name is Janie Crawford...
- 00:10
And if you hear anybody else talkin' bout a Janie Crawford,
- 00:15
you can tell 'em to KEEP ON FLAPPIN' THEIR BIG YAPPERS!
- 00:17
....'cause there ain't nobody who ain't me that know what I been through.
Full Transcript
- 00:21
... if you listen to my story, you might learn a thing or two about the real Janie Crawford.
- 00:28
From the time I was a young woman 'til now, I've changed a lot...
- 00:32
And each time, my heart had somethin' to do with it.
- 00:35
You could say that I was changed by the men I loved...or didn't love.
- 00:41
But I'd tell you that it was me doin' the changin'... and those men?
- 00:46
...well, I'd say they were just lessons I learned about who to listen to
- 00:50
and who to tell to shove off.
- 00:53
True love... Ever since I was a young woman, I wanted it.
- 00:57
Back then I was seduced by the beauty of a pear tree in full blossom,
- 01:02
a bee pollinating its flowers...
- 01:04
...subtle metaphor alert.
- 01:07
And then this boy from my class came walkin' over and in the glow of the pear tree,
- 01:12
he changed...
- 01:15
...and so did I, on account of my heart had never made executive decisions over my brain before.
- 01:19
I guess my heart's always been a go-getter.
- 01:25
My Nanny was not pleased, even when I explained
- 01:28
that it was the pear tree and bees pollinatin' and true love and stuff...
- 01:33
So, my Nanny did what any sensible woman does when she sees her granddaughter kiss a boy
- 01:38
for the first time...
- 01:39
...she married me off to some old geezer who
- 01:42
could never make me feel like that pear tree in bloom.
- 01:48
Needless to say, Mr. Killicks was not my type.
- 01:53
I mean, I'm all for a reliable man, Nanny, but not a man I can rely on to threaten to
- 01:58
kill me when I... disobey him.
- 02:02
So I took to standin' outside our house
- 02:04
and gazing off into the distance wishin' for something else...
- 02:07
...and I wished so hard that I made a man appear...
- 02:10
...um, well, I mean, he was walkin' down the road whether I liked it or not, but I
- 02:15
like to think that my heart was tryin' to get what it wanted again....
- 02:18
...Since me and my long, flowin' locks did convince him to take me along and make me
- 02:23
Mrs. Joe Starks. Joe was very persuasive himself, and he made
- 02:29
himself the first mayor of the first all-black city in America: Eatonville, Florida.
- 02:36
But then that fool tried to persuade me to be nothin' but a common slave to him.
- 02:42
He made fun of me in front of everybody!
- 02:48
And this little heart of mine was not having it.
- 02:52
Then I gave him a piece of my mind back, he got so insulted that he up and died!
- 02:56
Look, I felt bad and all, but I ain't gonna pretend it wasn't awfully convenient...
- 03:04
After Joe died, I did just fine on my own, thank you. No one to tell me what to do or
- 03:08
what to wear...
- 03:10
...nobody to kiss me under a blooming pear tree.
- 03:12
But then this young guy named Tea Cake... that's right -- Tea Cake... came by and
- 03:18
started botherin' me at my store.
- 03:19
Then my house, annoying me silly.
- 03:23
And he annoyed me right smack-dab into loving him.
- 03:27
We left Eatonville straight for rip-roarin', true love adventures! The Eiffel tower! The
- 03:32
Italian Riviera!
- 03:34
...well, okay... from Eatonville to workin' on a field in the Everglades. But hey, I ain't
- 03:39
never been happier. That muck was my own personal pear tree in bloom...
- 03:44
Now, fallin' in love is a whirlwind and all, but you ain't expectin' no literal
- 03:49
hurricanes.
- 03:52
Well, Tea Cake and I had a real whirlwind.
- 03:57
And my heart learned a few things...
- 04:00
Love ain't just a pear tree.
- 04:05
Love is saving your partner from a rabid dog in a hurricane and getting bit yourself.
- 04:11
Love is...becoming vicious and aggressive because you contracted rabies until you have
- 04:15
to get shot by the loved one you saved.
- 04:22
Love is a million memories which shape who
- 04:24
you are today, and can't no gossipy old hens ruin that.
- 04:29
Whether they think I'm a biddy or an angel...
- 04:31
...I'm just me.
- 04:32
And my heart will do what it wants.
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