There are many similarities between Janie and George Willard when we begin to think about Culture and the Individual. In both cases, these individuals are dependent on their relationships with others in order to define themselves when searching for their own identity. Janie looks to her grandmother for advice, looks to her first husband Logan to teach her about love, and looks to her second husband Joe to give her direction (although she grows to resent him for it). George looks to his relationships with other women to help him develop his own identity; particularly women such as Helen White. Both individuals are attempting to come of age in their respective novels, but are being held back by their culture.
George is being held back by the rural town of Winesburg, Ohio. In order to grow, he must leave the town for the city, or the urban, at the end of the novel to ultimately gain his own identity. He is so influenced by the thoughts and ideas of those in his small-town that it has become almost impossible to develop his own ideas. For Janie she is stifled by both her race and her gender. She is caught between what is expected of her as an African-American woman, and the "great tree" (Hurston 8) that she strives to become. Both individuals seem to be attempting to change the expectations for themselves within their culture, but struggle to change the traditional values and ideals.
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Unfortunately, Janie's awakening comes later in life after the death of her husband Joe and with her adventure with Tea cake (as opposed to George Willard who is relatively young by the end) but I agree that both find freedom by leaving their respective towns.
ReplyDeleteAt this point Jainie states that she "done lived Grandma's way, now Ah means tuh live mine." This suggests her grandmother is just as gender biased as any male.
I was disappointed at the lack of racial tension despite several events in the novel (mrs. Turner, the burying of the dead after the storm specifically) this novel seems not to address either the subject of race or gender more than skin deep.
I don't know how well this post corresponds to yours but it's just some things I noticed through the course of reading.
These two posts each make excellent points. You begin to delineate interesting distinctions between the coming of age stories. Might be a fruitful comparison for a longer paper...
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