In both Their Eyes Were Watching God and Invisible Man, we have narrators that are looking for something. Janie is looking for love, or more specifically her ideal setting of love, which she procured through an epiphany under a pear tree, and for the narrator in Invisible Man although his goal changes, by the end of the book he wants to answer the question of his identity, and who he really is.
Both these characters are similar in many ways, but they also have some stark differences. For one, Janie seems to have much more control over her life and decisions than does the narrator. The narrator gets pushed around being forced into roles which he doesn't really want to be in, such as having to find a job after he is kicked out of college, while Janie has enough free will to be able to leave her marriage with the notion that maybe doing this could further her mission of achieving her ideals.
One similarity between the two characters is that they both feel compelled to do something with their lives. For Janie it is only realizing her ideals, but the narrator wants to achieve a position of respect in society and much of his life is lived with that goal in mind. Going to college and experiencing the humiliation of being in a boxing ring before giving a speech to a crowd that doesn't want to listen at all, shows that the narrator has determinations to make his dreams successful. Both of the characters have these ideals in the beginning, but for the narrator, his ideal are shattered and his first impressions of almost everything seem to be wrong. He thinks that the Brotherhood will be good for him, but it only causes him to see more separation in what he thinks versus the ideology of others. He wants to become successful in a way similar to Bledsoe, but then Bledsoe is revealed to not be such a great guy.
The determination of these two characters to reach a goal is similar, with both taking risks at some point in their lives to advance themselves towards what they want to achieve, yet their situations are so different that it is hard to compare them in many aspects. How do you think these characters are related?
Both these characters are similar in many ways, but they also have some stark differences. For one, Janie seems to have much more control over her life and decisions than does the narrator. The narrator gets pushed around being forced into roles which he doesn't really want to be in, such as having to find a job after he is kicked out of college, while Janie has enough free will to be able to leave her marriage with the notion that maybe doing this could further her mission of achieving her ideals.
One similarity between the two characters is that they both feel compelled to do something with their lives. For Janie it is only realizing her ideals, but the narrator wants to achieve a position of respect in society and much of his life is lived with that goal in mind. Going to college and experiencing the humiliation of being in a boxing ring before giving a speech to a crowd that doesn't want to listen at all, shows that the narrator has determinations to make his dreams successful. Both of the characters have these ideals in the beginning, but for the narrator, his ideal are shattered and his first impressions of almost everything seem to be wrong. He thinks that the Brotherhood will be good for him, but it only causes him to see more separation in what he thinks versus the ideology of others. He wants to become successful in a way similar to Bledsoe, but then Bledsoe is revealed to not be such a great guy.
The determination of these two characters to reach a goal is similar, with both taking risks at some point in their lives to advance themselves towards what they want to achieve, yet their situations are so different that it is hard to compare them in many aspects. How do you think these characters are related?
I definitely agree with you that their aspirations in life are similar in a number of ways. However, I don't believe at all that Janie has more free will than the narrator. The narrator seems to always have some degree of happiness when he works or speaks and always seems to have a bit of money in his pocket, which I think is a pretty good indication of how he at least believes himself to be free. Janie, on the other hand, only really has her looks going for her. Her marriages are extremely confining and if she really were to just walk away from them with no plan she would lose all source of income.
ReplyDeleteWhile I would I agree that Janie doesn't experience more free will, I do think that she has more control over her decisions, at least after Joe dies. Her looks are what allow her to move up in society, but she also has her own means to support herself because of Joe. While Janie is much more dependent than the narrator, I think that she has more control over her situation.
DeleteJanie exercises free will in this one, somewhat breathtaking moment where she makes a very unconventional choice (which would be frowned upon by pretty much her entire culture)--it's true that we don't see this same rebellious tendency in the narrator, who always overthinks any decision he makes. But it's possible to view both of them as questing for "visibility" of a sort--Janie's romantic dissatisfaction with Joe seems to have a lot to do with him not recognizing her for what she is, for confining her to a role as the "mayor's wife" that she's not especially suited to. Some women in her time might have been fine with being asked to dress nice but sit back and not say anything, but Janie wants to be a part of the conversation--literally, as she wants to laugh and tell stories on the porch with all the men. Her free will here, to participate in her society on the most elementary level, is dramatically curtailed by Joe, under threat of violence.
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