Logan Killicks
"Don't you change too many words wid me dis mawnin', Janie, do Ah'll take and change ends wid yuh! Heah, Ah just as good as take you out de white folks' kitchen and set you down on yo' royal diasticutis and you take and low-rate me! Ah'll take holt uh dat ax and come in dere and kill yuh! You better dry up in dere! Ah'm too honest and hard-workin' for anybody in yo' family, dat's de reason you don't want me!" (page 31)
- Janie's first husband; old, unattractive farmer
- Nanny arranged Logan and Janie's marriage because he was a financially stable and secure suitor
- Tries to provide a respectable home and help out with the chores
- He knows that Janie is in search of more and feels as if he is not good enough for her
- Janie runs off and leaves Logan for Jody
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Nanny Crawford
Ah wouldn't marry nobody, though Ah could have uh heap uh times, cause Ah didn't want nobody mistreating mah baby.
Relevance to story: Grandmother and guardian, raised Janie Crawford
Background: Nanny Crawford was a slave at a large plantation close to Savannah, Georgia, and was impregnated by her master. A week after the birth of Leafy, her daughter, her master left to join the Civil War, and his enraged wife insisted on having Nanny beaten (upon discovering that Leafy had grey eyes and fair hair, making it obvious that she was the child of the woman's husband).
That night Nanny wrapped her baby tightly in a blanket and fled the plantation, hiding out at a swamp. She eventually went to work for a white couple, in order to provide a better life for her daughter. After the raping of her daughter, and the birth of Janie, Nanny took it upon herself to look after Janie, as Leafy had not done so.
She raised Janie and put all of the hopes and expectations she had set for her daughter onto Janie. When Janie was sixteen, Nanny arranged a marriage between her granddaughter and Logan Killicks, in order to guarantee protection and stability for the girl.
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Their Eyes Were Watching God is a story about the independence of Janie Crawford and her quest for a protective, fufilling, unconditional love. The story begins with her coming back to Eatonville and the neighbors gossiping of her where abouts and how her most recent husband, Tea Cake, who was half her age up and left her, running off with all her money. Upon arriving she begins to tell her close friend Pheoby of her journeys.
Her story starts off telling the readers about her Nanny and her prearranged marraige she wanted for Janie. However, Janie grows very uncomfortable and unhappy with Logan treating her like a pack mule. After many secret confrontaions with Joe Sparks, or Jody as she likes to call him, she decides to run away and marries Jody. After almost two decades worth of marraige and being a so called "trophy wife", she grows tired of his demanding, materialistic lifestyle. Jody soon grows ill and eventually passes on, this is the point in which Janie feels free and continues searching for a love that will encourage her growth rather than stifiling it. She soon comes across a young sutior, Tea Cake, whom she feels an immediate connection with and marries only nine months after Jody's death. At first Janie's marriage with Tea Cake proves to be a bit difficult, but they eventually learn to trust one another and come to terms with each others views. Later on, a rabid dog bites Tea Cake and he falls ill and becomes crazed. At the end of the novel Janie has no choice but to shoot Tea Cake in order to protect herself. After her trial she returns to Eatonville and begins to tell her story to Pheoby.
8:03 AM
Historical context: During the 1920's and the 1930's the Harlem renassance was becoming huge. Many African American began writing stories, composing new music, painting new pictures. It began in Harlem, New York, after World War 1 ended. Although the "new Negro Movement" originated in Harlem, it spread rapidly throught the United States. The African American culture began to assert itself upon the world and through that we began to be inspired by the music, the literature, and the art work. Zora Neale Hurston published "Their eyes were watching God" in 1937. She was one of the first philosophers of black culture of her time. Zora didnt view racism as black culture typicaly viewed it. She didn't see the racism towards African Americans, she saw the world as she did back in Eatonville, where everyone was equal.
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![](http://www.theconcretejournal.com/2/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/zora-neale-hurston.jpg)
Zora Neale Hurston’s correct birthdate is unknown due to the fact that during her lifetime she was constantly dishonest about her age. She was the middle child, born to John Hurston who was a baptist preacher, a tenant farmer and a carpenter. Her mothers name was Lucy Hurston. The oldest was a girl named Sarah and the youngest a boy named John. When Zora Hurston turned three her family moved to Eatonville, FL. Her father became the mayor of Eatonville and often rejected her because he was disappointed that she wasn’t a boy. This town was the first completely African American town that wasn’t a slum or a ghetto. She never experianced the racism that was going on in the societys outside the town because Eatonville was all one race. When she was nine her mother, Lucy Hurston, passed away. Lucy often encouraged Zora to be independent and creative. She wanted all of her children to "jump at de sun".
Throughout most of Zora’s lifetime she was poor and stuggled for money. At the age of fourteen she ran away with a traveling drama troupe, who took her to Baltimore where she enrolled in Morgan Academy. She graduated in June of 1918. After Morgan Academy she went on to Howard where she received her associates degree in 1920. After collage “she took her black rural culture and heritage and celebrated it at a time when most black scholars were trying hard to deny and forget it.” Zora stayed in the carribean for two years studying their voodoo, rituals, and culture.While she lived in the Carribean, Zora wrote the book she is probably most known for Their Eyes Were Watching God. Zora Neale Hurston was married several times and she is known to be a mostly private person. Zora didn’t portray African Americans as defeated, humiliated, degraded, or victimized in her work. “She wanted to show them laughing, celebrating, loving, and struggling.”
8:28 AM
1. "The old woman's voice was so lacking in command and reproof, so full of crumbling
dissolution, ..." page 12
Dissolution- noun; the act or process of resolving or dissolving into parts or elements.
2."He wasn't ready to think of colored people in post offices yet. He laughed
boisterously." page 39
Boisterously- adjective; rough and noisy; noisily jolly or rowdy; clamorous; unrestrained
3. "His prosperous-looking belly that used to thrust out so
pugnaciously and intimidated falks..." page 77
Pugnaciously- adjective; inclined to quarrel or fight readily; quarrelsome; belligerent; combative
4. "She got so she received all things with the
stolidness of the earth which soaks up urine and purfume with the same indifference" page 77
Stolidness- adjective; not easily stirred or moved mentally; unemotional; impassive.
5. "The more his back ached and his muscle dissolved into fat and the fat melted off his bones, the more
fractious he became with Janie." page 78
Fractious- adjective; readily angered; peevish; irritable; quarrelsome
6. "We jus' ain't ready tuh make no big
kerflommuck as yet" page 114
Kerflommuck- noun; slang word used to describe a big fuss or commotion
7. "Shining their
phosphorescent eyes and shooting them in the dark" page 131
Phosphorescent- adjective; exhibiting persistent emission of light following exposure to and removal of incident radiation.
8. "According to all Janie had been taught this was
sacrilege so she sat without speaking at all" page 142
Sacrilege- noun; the violation or profanation of anything sacred or held sacred
9. "... as if she hated Tea Cake first for his
defilement of divinity and next for his telling mockery of her" page 145
Defilement- verb; to make foul, dirty, or unclean; pollute; taint; debase
10. "The
monstropolous beast had left his bed" page 161
Monstropolous- adjective; cruel, remorseless
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