Their Eyes Were Watching God Stordyboard Project- Lindsey Luong
Storyboard Text
- Character Analysis
- Tea Cake don't talk dat way. He's aimin' tuh make hisself permenant wid me. We done made our mind tuh marry.
- Setting Analysis
- It all looked too big and rushing for her to keep track of.
- Theme
- A feeling of sudden newness and change came over her.
- The characters of Janie and Tea Cake within the novel place great importance on the plot throughout the story. The main character that we follow throughout the novel is Janie as she is talking about her life to her best friend Phoeby in what had caused her to come back to a town she had left. Janie drives the plot by telling her about every relationship she went through to find love where she suffered in being trapped for several years by her marriages until she ends up meeting Tea Cake one day at the store. Tea Cake was the only man throughout the novel that had treated Janie with respect and loved her very openly unlike the rest to the point Janie stranded her town to be with him. Janie would describe his silliness and their travels together like in the muck until the climax. The two characters drive the plot to the end where their relationship reveals the reality of life.
- Conflict
- Eatonville is one of the main locations of the novel where Janie lived for nineteen years and returned there after the death of her last husband Tea Cake. The town was the turning point for Janie finding self-autonomy where she escaped her first husband Logan by running away off to Joe Straks where they chose to settle down in the town of Eatonville. The town was disjointed in the beginning, but with the help of Joe Starks, it grew to be a proper town with a post office and store. Janie spent most of her time working around for Joe in the store which made her realize that she was trapped by him and start to regret her marriage with him. Only when Joe was dying, Janie was able to speak out freely and do what she wanted as throughout her time there, she was stuck under her husband’s control. It was the center of change and a home for Janie until she met Tea Cake where she wanted to leave with him, but sadly due to the events that happened, she returned to the town as it was a place where the folks knew her and wouldn’t judge her harshly back at the muck.
- Point of View
- Time makes everything old so the kissing, young darkness became a monstropolous old thing while Janie talked.
- Autonomy is one of the main themes that are present throughout the novel. Janie's struggles with autonomy began with Nanny, where Nanny forces her to marry her first husband, Logan. Janie reluctantly accepted it to develop into a woman and to aid Nanny’s wish for her, but in the end with Logan’s treatment of Janie, she never really loved him. Janie's first measure toward autonomy after meeting a man named Joe was when Janie began to start doing things for herself and instead of staying with Logan, she decided to run off elsewhere with Joe. Sadly even being with Joe, there were times that Janie did try to act out of her own will to defend women, but she was shut down for her comments and looked down upon by the views of men. Only when Janie falls in love with Tea Cake she begin to have a fully developed autonomy with herself where she didn’t want to sit around and pretend to grieve but run off with Tea Cake for a new future. In the end, she was able to speak freely even though her time was cut short with Tea Cake, she was able to become a fully grown woman herself with her own will.
- Language/Dialect
- “So Janie waited a bloom time, and a green time and an orange time. But when the pollen again gilded the sun and sifted down on the world she began to stand around the gate and expect things.
- Several conflicts within the novel shift the story or are an inconvenience that helped Janie act on her autonomy. One external and minor conflict between Janie and Logan happens early in the novel. Although it wasn’t a major point that greatly affected Janie, it was something that made her realize that she needed her freedom. It impacted the story as it was the first time that Janie ever acted of her own will rather than stay where she is told. Janie and Logan threatening her life to do work was something she couldn’t stand anymore, so when the opportunity came to run away, Janie took it and fled.
- Don't you change too many words wid me dis mawnin' Janie do Ah'll take and change ends wid yuh!
- The novel has two different perspectives emphasizing the story is a retelling of Janie's past. The perspectives impact the reader by having them know prior knowledge that these events had already occurred in Janie’s life and talking about it to her best friend Phoeby. There is a bias towards herself and others in Janie’s point of view that many can consider when thinking about the events that occurred in her life. There could be many events that Janie had chosen not to share with Phoeby as it could've not been worth sharing or too personal for Janie. The perspectives shifting back and forth from the third person and back helps us know that Janie is simply talking about her past and has changed from the events that happened in her life that drove her head back to Eatonville.
- Dialect within the novel is spoken beautifully through the characters that help alter the reader's view of the novel. The dialect is a Southern American dialect where each character communicates their thoughts and feelings. In usual literature, everything is expressionless and just directly to the point, but within this novel, everything is described in a manner that becomes a statement without needing to state itself. Through Janie’s first struggle with love, she describes her desire for love as a flower where she was waiting for a bee to take care and love her. The use of this dialect and language the characters use to make the novel more lively and colorful helps the reader come to appreciate and enjoy the novel more by being able to visualize the events, areas, and items rather than read it off.
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