Again, Hurston, Angelou, and O'Brien have struck a major chord with all of human existence when they each attempt to present a vision of love within their novels' pages. One of the questions that seems to come up when attempting to define love (or really anything, for that matter) is: what is it not? How does Hurston define love? How does she show what it is not? Do you agree or disagree? We'd love to hear your thoughts...
I agree with Hurston's meaning of love. I believe his manning of love is two willing to do anything for each other. No matter what the age these two put the other person first before themselves. Two people that can always make each other smile. For example when Tea Cake says I can teach you how to play checkers. Love is not shown between Logan and Janie, or Joe and Janie. They may be married but they do not make each other smile or put the other person before themselves.
ReplyDeleteIn Hurston's novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God", she explains what love is and what love isn't. She doesn't exactly come out and say it directly, but Janie's love life explains it all. Love is not Janie's first and second marriage. Janie was miserable in these marriages. In her first marriage, she had so much hatred for it that it urged her into running away and getting married to her second husband, Joe Starks, when she barely knew him. She also wasn't satisfied with her second marriage. She couldn't even showcase her hair at this time because she was forced by Joe to wear head rags. It indicates in the novel that she was happy when he was gone when Joe died she burned all of her head rags and wore her hair into a thick braid all the way down her back. Hurston defines love by saying that it doesn't matter if you are rich or poor, loved by society or not, as long as you are happy with who you are and how you are being treated by your significant other, then that's all that matters and no one should judge you - and if they do, then ignore them, because love conquers all. Janie's first and second marriage are Hurston's way of defining what love is not. I completely agree. Why be miserable in a marriage that you were pushed into just because that's what everyone else wants? Do what you want and makes you happy. Janie realizes that when she married Tea Cake.
ReplyDeleteI agree love is being happy together with someone you feel at home with. Janie when she was forced into her first marriage, it was like she was being thrown in the deep end of the pool in order to teach her how to swim. It felt wrong, she didn’t like it, didn’t like him, he didn’t make her happy. He didn’t make her feel like he was her home. In her second marriage, Jody made her feel less than him, he didn’t make her happy. He thought that it was her job to please him and obey him. That didn’t make her feel at home, so when he died and she burned her hair rags it was this symbol of freedom and being able to finally find someone new whom she could feel at home with. She finally found that with Tea Cake.
DeleteSimply being married does not mean love is there. Hurston shows this through Janie's first two marriages. Her first marriage to Logan Killicks is arranged by her grandmother, Nanny, for reasons of respect, protection, and fulfilling the wish of a grandmother seeing her granddaughter married. Simply put, Janie's first marriage is not good. Despite being with Logan for around a year, Janie never began to love Logan, and ended up running away to Jody Starks, a man with three hundred dollars and a desire "to be a big voice" in the new colored town of Eatonville. Despite promises of being "uh man wid principles [sic]" and claims of better treatment than Logan, she still suffers in this new second marriage. Jody ends up being an oppressive husband with more of a desire to keep Janie as a type of trophy than an actual loving person, keeping her away from social gatherings and demanding she wears rags to cover her hair. When given the chance with Jody's death, Janie indeed burns the symbol of repression - her rags - and after finally meeting Tea Cake, runs away from Eatonville to finally live with someone she loves. As Lexi stated, love can only come from happiness and not from society's expectations. I believe that Hurston links love and happiness in such a way that they cannot be separated - no love without happiness, and no happiness without love.
ReplyDeleteIn the novel "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" Maya's definition of love comes from her brother Bailey. Bailey always supports her, stays with her, and protects and helps her in any way possible, even giving her advice while she struggles with her pregnancy. He is the one person that is always there for Maya, unlike their parents who left them with their grandmother in Stamps. Even when Maya needs the guidance from a mother figure, it is her brother Bailey that gives her advice on how to tell the family about the baby and other caring advice on how to handle her pregnancy. Vivian, the siblings' real mother, who left them in Stamps for the beginning of their life, originally makes her children question why their parents didn't want them and instead sent them to live with their grandmother for a large amount of time. However, later Vivian shows that she is another source of love and support for the children, but she focuses more on her own life that the lives of her children, as long as her children are healthy. By not really offering help unless Maya specifically asks for it, Vivian gives her daughter too much freedom and not enough guidance, leading to Maya's questions about her sexuality which also leads to a teen pregnancy. Maya's lack of a true mother figure also makes her worry about her ability to take care of her baby, and I believe that this is when Vivian truly gives Maya good advice and shows her love and support for her daughter. She shows Maya that Maya has great maternal instincts, and that she can care for her child without hurting it, even though she is scared and unsure.
ReplyDeleteLove can be a very confusing, captivating, and even sometimes repulsive emotion that has the ability to change the perspective of even the most stubborn individual. Maya manages to reveal nearly every capacity for love a person can imagine in her novel "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings". On one side there is her child-like love for her dearest brother, Bailey, who she feels that could never betray her or even tell a simple lie to her. With him she even first confided the secret of what had happened between her and Mr. Freeman after he had promised her that the man could never do harm to him. Then Maya also perfectly recreates her love for her grandmother who raised her and her brother when they felt the most unwanted after the abandonment of their mother and father. What truly amazes me is Angelou can also portray her love for an inanimate object, such as the Store, and how it is as alive as a person to her while also showing the confusing need of love she felt after moving in with her mother and how it was Mr. Freeman who filled the void that was not his to fill. He brought her something that she felt was close to happiness but also brought on revulsion and even self-hate which the vilest of loves tend to do. Yet, as a child she knew no better than to trust those who were kind to her when she felt that she herself was a burden to her mother and father who had not wanted her or Bailey from the beginning. I feel that Maya depicted every possibility of love with the utmost skill and obviously a great deal of forethought and understanding that as a child it was not her fault to be confused about who you should and should not love.
ReplyDeleteWhat is love exactly? No one can tell someone what love is because we all have a different outlook on love. Janie's first marriage to Logan Killicks was arranged. How can you love when you do not even know the person? Many people say that there is love at first sight, and they may be right, but my opinion on that is that I think you are in love with their physical self but you cannot love until you know their mental self. Janie on the other hand, did not love Mr. Killicks even after getting to spend time with him. Janie wanted someone to love her and care for her, not make her sit in the kitchen all day or to be used only for the others convince. Now with Janie's marriage to Joe Starks I think that there was indeed love, but it slowly faded as Joe's work took over his life and eventually pushed Janie away. Tea Cake was the definition of love for Janie. By teaching her to play checkers and taking her hunting showed that he loved her. Love is more than the physical things like hugging, kissing, and holding hands, love is when you can go to work knowing that when you come home the one you love will always be there for you, and Janie finally found her love.
ReplyDeleteWhat is love? Love is unexpected, and a roller coaster of emotions that you never thought were possible to feel all at once. In the novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, I feel like Maya describes this well when she had her baby boy. Love is beatiful and you enjoy every mintue of it. But on the other hand it can also be scary because you feel as if you could destroy or somehow damage it. Such as when Maya felt like she didn't want to touch her baby because she was afraid she would damage his perfection. Or when she didn't want to hold him because she felt as if she would drop him and his bones would break. But that is the price you pay for loving someone. You're willing to risk it all and as terrifying as it may be, there are moments when loving another person reminds you that it's all worth it. For example when the baby had rolled onto Maya's stomach and slept there. She knew that she was doing the right thing.
ReplyDeleteHurston shows us in the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God that love is not and will never be arranged, you cannot truly love someone just by being married to them. Love of a person does not come from the love you have of their power or wealth. Love is and will always come from mutual respect and the cherishing of one another as equals. I completely agree with the way Hurston shows us what love is or at least the way I perceive it from her book.
ReplyDeleteLove is an emotion that has many different levels, but it is based on trust and respect for an individual. Love for a family is the willingness to help and protect them just because you care for the person. Love for and individual is quite different from my perspective anyway, you have created a bond with someone that is unbreakable no matter the circumstances and will do anything for them. It is an emotion that happens by chance and cannot be forced like in Hurston's novel Their Eyes Were Watching Good when Janie had the arranged marriage with Logan Killicks. They didn't have the trust and respect for each other so their individual needs were not net as a unity.
ReplyDeleteWhen reading "Their Eyes Were Watching God", Hurston shows readers that love is a bundle of many different feelings. Janie shows her love for Nanny by marrying Logan. Even though Nanny was forcing Janie to marry Logan, Janie understands that Nanny is looking out for Janie's best interests out of love. Janie soon finds peace with the marriage, "Finally out of Nanny's talk and her own conjectures she made a sort of comfort for herself" (pg. 21). Her next marriage to Joe shows how she sacrifices her life for the happiness of Joe. Even though she does not like the way Joe treats her until he dies, she still stays in the marriage out of love. Lastly, her last marriage to Tea Cake shows that there is a mutual love between Janie and Tea Cake that nobody can replace. In my views of love, each person has a different feeling of love for each person that makes an impact on their life.
ReplyDeleteIn "Their Eyes Were Watching God", Hurston displays the feeling of love in many different ways. In the beginning of the novel, Janie's Nanny is controlling in a way that is protective to Janie. She wanted Janie to marry young, which is why she married Logan. This shows that Janie's Nanny loves her and cares about her because her Nanny wants what is best for Janie. Also, looking at it from Janie's point of view, this shows Janie's love for her Nanny because she does marry Logan so young. After running away with Joe Starks, she is forced to work the store and is in a controlling relationship. this shows what love is not because love should be a feeling that brings mutual happiness to each person in the relationship. In the relationship between Joe and Janie, Janie is not happy because she is taken out of fun situations such as the talks outside the store and games like checkers. Janie could not even be herself; she had to keep her hair up because Joe told her too. This is not love because the happiness is only going Joe's way. Janie finally finds true love with Tea Cake and realizes this when she wakes up with Tea Cake and her money gone. She worried he was gone forever, but he came back with her money and more. This is an act of love because the happiness is shared among both people. Janie was then allowed to where her hair down and work in the fields with Tea Cake, which she was never aloud to do in past relationships.This act of sharing happiness between one another shows what love is between two people.
ReplyDeleteLove is a beautiful thing, but it comes with the fear of loss. To me, love and fear come hand-in-hand. The fear Maya had towards losing the many things she loved in her novel emphasized her feelings towards them. The different types of fear she felt for Bailey and Mr. Freeman showed this. Maya loved her brother more than anything. He was her rock throughout her entire life. When he moved out of the house, Maya feared that they would lose the closeness that the two of them shared. However, there are other kinds of fear. The type of fear that Maya felt towards Mr. Freeman was different. She enjoyed when Mr. Freeman held her, but that was not love. She enjoyed the physical closeness she shared with another individual, not the man himself. Children cannot often differentiate the difference between these different types of emotions. When he threatened to kill Bailey if she told a soul what he did to her, her true love for her brother was shown. She did not tell anyone because Bailey was so dear to her. In opposition, she did not fear losing Mr. Freeman- she feared him.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that she feared losing was her son, as mentioned by previous commenters. She was petrified to so much as sleep next to him due to the fear of crushing him. She loved her child with such intensity that she did everything she thought possible to prevent her from rolling over onto him. Maya learned the difference between what love was and what was not as she matured and grew.
Love is the idea of feelings for one another that grants a warmness and trust in one another. Love is found with family, friends, hobbies, and much more. There is no actual definition or meaning since its a feeling interpreted in many ways, as mentioned it can be shown in songs and other works of art also. Haddaway asked what love is but yet as well known to what it is he asked not to be hurt anymore. Hurston defines love as not a legal marriage, but more so the feeling of trust and mutual respect. She vividly shows love is not just a document or status, but a connection and bond that is not broken. Hurston also points out love for family as Nanny was intent on Janie marrying Logan, this love shown was a double-edged sword. In order for Janie to show her love to Nanny she had to marry Logan, even though there was no connection between the two. Hurston shows perfect representation of love with multiple points between family, partners, and the love for ones self. One point I may disagree with is there was no strong symbols of hate and dislike, there were some but it was a "scratch the surface" kind of topic throughout the book.
ReplyDeleteLove is a beautiful feeling people have for one another that is perceived differently by people . Love can be great but also very complicated. This was proven many times in Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings". The complications of love were especially shown between Maya and Mr. Freeman. Mr. Freeman didn't have the respect for Maya that he should have had. He hurt her in awful ways and threatened her with the death of her brother, Bailey, yet Maya still loves him and yearns for him to love her as well. She didn't realize that Mr. Freeman's feelings and actions towards her didn't stem from love. Maya also explores the idea of love from her brother Bailey. He has been the one person that has stuck with her through everything. Bailey always protected Maya and stood up for her because he loved and respected his sister. Maya learned what love should and shouldn't feel like through these important people throughout the novel.
ReplyDeleteLove, an emotion that almost has a life of its own, can change the way a person acts or feels. "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou tests the boundaries of love and compassion. Maya kept a secret from her family in order to save her brother from the wrath of Mr. Freeman. Later in the novel, Maya tries to be the mother she never had. She would be willing to give her newborn baby all of her unwavering love and affection. Bailey Jr. thought he loved a girl, but she broke his heart by running away. He has faced normal teenage heartbreak problems; he has also been through the emotional wringer.
ReplyDeleteBailey and Maya remind me of “Yin and Yang”; the two siblings support each other to the best of their abilities. Without Bailey, Maya would have to face the torment and taunts alone. Without Maya, Bailey would have no one to confide his feelings and love.
In Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", love plays a huge role and has enough complexity and influence that it almost seems like a main character. In the novel, there are many types of love. There is the less obvious love from Momma to Maya and Bailey that has a great impact on the children. Maya and Bailey's relationship is built around their love and connection as siblings. Maya's uncles love her in a protective sense. All of the previous examples indicate the different forms of love as they appear in the novel. So to answer the question what is love in the novel, they are the way the characters react with those they value the most.
ReplyDeleteI read the same novel and have the same opinion about those relationships. But one critical one in her childhood was left unmentioned. The things which occurred between Maya and Mr. Freeman revolve around a type of relation that is mainly unspoken of by society, unless in a mocking or joking way. It's a tragedy really, to experience that kind of pain from someone. The emotions that result from something like that are hard for even an adult to comprehend. As a child, simply living in a world of confusion, can be haunted for life. Maya is fond of Mr. Freeman when he holds her. That is not love though, as Brooke mentioned. But I do not exactly view it as fear. Yes, she did fear for her brother's life when he was threatened. I think though, a little differently, that she was scared of losing the feeling she cared for so much. When she was held, she felt loved. She knows she was not loved, but she felt like it.
DeleteI agree about love playing a big role in the story "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings". Maya is a confused girl when it comes to love throughout the story. In the beginning, shes asks her grandmother if she loves her. Her grandmother responds by saying that God loves her, and that is what she should be concerned about. Later on with Mr.Freeman, she enjoys being close to him and feels like she wants his his touching and care with her, but she doesn't like it later on. She does not feel too much love at all for a while, except for Bailey who she remains close with for the time being.
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ReplyDeleteWhen looked up in the dictionary love is defined as a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person. Love is not, as Hurston shows, a forced relationship where one feels stuck or held down. In the beginning of Janie's life she is in love with the idea of being in love but she isn't allowed to find the love she desires, instead she is thrown into a marriage in which she thinks love will be an outcome. Yet love cannot be forced, it's a feeling that must grow and like a flower in order to grow it must have a foundation and a steady supply of nutrients, in this case actions that show love. Janie's first marriage had no love, she was stuck in it and went along for the ride. It isn't until her third marriage that Janie finally finds the love she wanted. Hurston defines this love as ones partner bringing out the best in the other and encouraging them to be their self. Also the love Hurston writes about is seen as two people doing kind things for each other and never expecting too much from the other. When Janie gets married a third time one can see these things. Tea Cake brings out a Janie that hasn't been seen since her childhood, he has her fishing, hunting, and even doing hard work which she wouldn't ever do before. Until meeting Tea Cake, Janie was a empty shell of her old self but he brought out the best in her and helped her realize what she had been missing. Hurston's definition of love is very true. Love brings out the best in a person and makes them do crazy things but love is worth it.
ReplyDeleteI think the only large moment of love shown in "Their Eyes Were Watching God", was when Janie found Teacakes. They understood each other and tried to make each other happy. Love can make you do things that you wouldn't expect. They were equal together and treated each other fairly and they both realized that. When they met they realized they were good for each other like he never fought against her they just played chess and had normal conversations that Janie has never really experienced. She traveled with him and stuck with him through everything. Teacakes brought out the best in Janie and let her be herself for once which no man ever really allowed her to.
ReplyDeleteIn "There Eyes Were Watching God" Janie does not find love from what society sees is best for her. Love is complicated, you can't order it and then have it come in a nice little pretty box on your doorstep in 3-5 business days. In order to be loved you need to go out there and find it. Love should not have to be a responsibility, when Janie marries Logan that is not an act of love that is an act of respect towards her grandmother. Hurston makes it obvious that love is not given, love is not responsibilty, and love is not forced. Love comes at moments in a persons life when they are at a complete zen. Janie had no way of knowing who she would end up truely loving because love cannot be predicted. When Janie fell in love with Tea Cake that just meant that she had finally won after all of her gambles for finding "the one"
ReplyDeleteIn Maya Angelou's novel, love is either found in great abundance(with Maya's family), or lost in normal acts of love twisted into acts of lust, or self-sustenance. The greatest example of lust was Mr. Freeman taking advantage of Maya's body and her naiveté in the assault and rape. This is clearly not love, and is an abomination that ultimately condemns him to death -presumably killed by Maya's uncles, a pugnacious group that fights anyone that wrongs them. Marriage and elopement are most often tied to a long-lasting love, but not in the case of Joyce, she chooses to or is persuaded to run off with a railroad porter, most likely with the promise of a steady supply of food and a decent home. The biggest way Angelou demonstrates what love is is by explaining what love isn't and how it can be corrupted due to how most people are quite clear on what it is.
ReplyDeleteI personally believe that the definition of love is subject to opinion. There is no true definition to it because love varies for everyone. I think that Hurston tries to show that in "Their Eyes Were Watching God" love is not obtained just by marrying someone to make your grandmother happy and hoping over time that you will eventually somehow create love, love takes time and cannot come from nothing. Hurston also shows that love is most definitely not living with someone that controls your life. Hurston had Janie find love with someone that Janie had time to become friends with first and develop a bond, which I think was good with Tea Cake because Tea Cake was respectful to Janie and didn't take control of her life like Janie's first two husbands.
ReplyDeleteI believe Hurston accurately described what love is. Hurston showed that love isn't based on how many things you give someone and how nice they are, such as when Joe tried to give Janie everything he could and thought she needed, it matters how much you and the other person care for each other, help each other, trust each other. If it seems like only one person truly cares, such as when Janie was with Joe, then the relationship becomes nothing more than just a contract between the two, Janie always felt the need to help Joe and Joe never treated her right. When Janie married Tea Cake though, it was truly love where they looked after one another and cared for each other and never wanted to lose each other.
ReplyDeleteIn "Their Eyes Were Watching God" I believe that love is shown correctly between Tea Cake and Janie. Hurston shows that to have love you must create a bond with the other person and care for one another. Its not just about how many things you can give the other person, just like what Joe tried to do. Janie didn't fall in love with her first two husbands because she never got to know them the way she should have. When Tea Cake came to town he talked to Janie and took her places to get to know her better. This caused a strong relationship betweeen the two of them. Hurtson shows that love isn't something that is given to someone, it is something that is created between two people with a strong bond who would give anything to be together.
ReplyDeleteIn “Their Eyes were Watching God,” Hurston defines love by comparing it to the sea. Hurston states that love is a moving thing like water contained in a sea, which is different for every person similar to how each shore that lines a sea is different. To define what love is not, Hurston relates love to a grindstone. A grindstone has one set purpose no matter where it is located and that is to grind something and weather it down. By comparing love to a grindstone, Hurston aims to show that love is not a "set in stone" emotion as it is thought to be by the porch sitters in Eatonville. By contrasting the varying shorelines of the sea and a grindstone, and comparing them both to love, Hurston attempts to show that love is not a made up of a combination of set patterns that can make everyone happy but rather that it is a free flowing emotion that depends on the preferences of the individual. I entirely agree with Hurston’s point of view about love that it is not a set in stone emotion but a varying and changing one depending on the individual.
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ReplyDeleteIn "Their Eyes Were Watching God," Janie finds love in the end with a man that she chose for herself to be with. Everyone around her told her she was wrong, but she didn't follow the standards that were set. I believe that Janie was much happier at the end when she wasn't in controlling relationships like her first two, but rather one based on her personal affection for the man. Love cannot be decided upon by someone else, but rather it has to be by one of the people in the relationship. That was the only way that Janie could be truly happy and love freely.
ReplyDeleteI am reading "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings". The most interesting relationship in the novel is that between Maya and her mother. She is conflicted when she receives a Christmas present from both her mother and her father because she had previously convinced herself that they must be dead if they had not already come for her and her brother, Bailey. Now that she knows for sure they are alive, she wonders what they did so wrong that her parents would send them away at three and four years old to live with their grandmother. I believe that in order for there to be love, there must be two sentient beings feeling the same amount of admiration for one another. In this case, Maya was one and her mother was the other being, but only her mother felt admiration toward Maya. I do not believe that Maya loved her mother until she was sent to live with her for the second time, when she was told by the woman who raised her that she must live with her real mother now.
ReplyDeleteWhat is love? It seems to be such a simple question but it is one of the hardest questions out there. To me, love is many things and there is no simple answer. It appears sometimes that it is easier to show what love is not, rather than what love is. In Angelou’s novel, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, love is portrayed in many different settings. There is the silent yet constant love between Momma and Maya and the strong and steady love felt between Maya and her brother Bailey. However, that love is displayed silently throughout the novel rather than plainly stated. Angelou displays what is not love in a rather stronger approach. Two major examples are in Mr. Freeman and Joyce. Joyce plays with Bailey and his emotions and then later runs off with a railroad porter, and Mr. Freeman sexually molests and rapes Maya. In both of these instances it is clearly shown what love is not. For Joyce acts on impulse and is rash while Mr. Freeman takes what is supposed to be something portrayed between a loving couple and twists it into a morbid display that later results in his death. While Angelou may not have clearly stated what love is, she has clearly stated what it is not. Love is not something to be toyed with and ultimately everyone has a different answer to the never-ending question of, “What is love?”
ReplyDeleteWhat is love? What isn't love? Does anyone really ever find love? After reading Hurston's novel I believe that she portrayed love as two people that carried so deeply for each other that they put the other persons needs and want in front of their own. Janie didn't want to shoot Tea Cake, but he was in pain and he was no longer himself so instead of making Tea Cake live in a world where he was no long himself, she put him out of his misery. If you were asking me what love is, I would tell you that love is a lot of different things. Love is not only made up of the big moments but the little ones too. The little moments like how a guy can make you giggle with joke he's already told you a million times, or how she still looks beautiful to you without her make up and fancy clothes on. Loves in a lot of things to a lot of different people so I don't think there is jus one definition.
ReplyDeleteI feel like the simplest way to sum up what love means is when you care deeply for a person, you have respect for them, you are honest with them, and you are willing to help that person. At first Janie was married to a guy she did not love. Her grandmother had pushed her to marry logan. Second she married Joe. He was not the one for her either. Once she met Tea Cake she then found true love because she chose to marry him and no one forced her too.
ReplyDeleteI think love is when you care a lot about someone whether is be boy or girl. Love is when you are willing to sacrifice for someone and know they will do the same. Maya shows what love is by the quiet, yet very strong love between Maya and her grandma. But also shows what it can be by the outspoken love for her brother. Maya shows what love is not with the incident with Mr. Freeman. She also shows what love is not when Joyce messes with Baylee then runs off.
ReplyDeleteI think love is when you care a lot about someone whether is be boy or girl. Love is when you are willing to sacrifice for someone and know they will do the same. Maya shows what love is by the quiet, yet very strong love between Maya and her grandma. But also shows what it can be by the outspoken love for her brother. Maya shows what love is not with the incident with Mr. Freeman. She also shows what love is not when Joyce messes with Baylee then runs off.
ReplyDeleteI believe love is when one realizes flaws, but still sees the beauty of someone/something, and cares about that someone/something. Yes, that's right, I believe you don't even have to love someone; you can actually love something, whether it's a cherished memory, a thought-provoking book, and much, much more. One example of this in "Their Eyes were Watching God" is with the blossoming pear tree. Janie doesn't exactly go that deep to actually thinking about the tree's flaws, but with the way Janie acknowledges the pear tree's beauty, I'd say Janie loves the pear tree, as it provides her very fond memories to look back on, and its beauty strikes her with awe throughout the entire book. Of course, it's not limited to things either; love also includes people, and the perfect example of this in the novel is the relationship of Tea Cake and Janie, as they really do see the beauty in one another, and are still willing to deal with each other's flaws in sight of each other's beauty. These are my thoughts on the topic of love.
ReplyDeleteWhat is Love? The hardest question that faces us today. You ask people that and get so many different answers. In Hurston's novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God" its portrayed as needing a person that understands what you want and is willing to let what you want come true. True love is what I feel is between Tea Cake and Janie. Janie doesn't care what people say about Tea Cake or that he is not the kind of guy she should be with. She doesn't let someone else's story change her's. Tea Cake is wiling to let Janie work with him in fact he want's her to. They both don't care what one is doing as long as the other can join.
ReplyDeleteTo me, love cannot be defined by words, it is defined through actions people carry out each day for others that they are passionate about and care for, it's not something that is defined, it's something that is expressed. In "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" Maya defines love through the bond that her and Bailey share. Maya and Bailey's love is shown as the way the two are always there for each other, and can both trust each other with anything, and always pick up the other when they're down or needing some advice or help. Maya shows that love is not sexual actions through Mr. Freeman and Maya's relationship. I agree with both of these, the author makes a good point, especially for a lot of young people today.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Hurston's definition of love. There is no definition - it's different for everyone, and it changes due to the choices we make. Love is defined by actions, not words. However, I don't think the people of the younger generation understand what love is. To them, love is just when two people like each other a lot. In reality, it's so much more than that. It depends on trust, on friendship, on our choices. No one will ever be able to give a correct definition of love, and that's why it's so precious: it's always a new adventure.
ReplyDeleteI think Maya's point of view on love in 'I Know Why The Cage Bird Sings' gives an interesting perspective compared to society's ideas on what love means. Through her relationship with her brother Bailey, she shows that love is not always romantic, and that it can simply be admiring a person, wishing the best for them, and entrusting them with things that you don't know if you could with anything else. With her relationship and the sexual abuse that came from Mr. Freeman, she shows that love does not always equate to sex. This relationship also has a strange version of love, where even though he had abused her and committed a crime, in a sense she still loved and cared for him and did not want anything bad happening to him or those she loved because she chose to tell. Finally, she shows that just because something is a result of meaningless sex, does not mean it will be neglected or unloved. Maya had a child at 16 with a boy she did not love or care for, but she loved her child, because he gave her a sense of hope and life. Maya's different styles and different ways of defining love give the book a special sort of meaning, because it explains thing such as sex not meaning love, and love not meaning romance.
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ReplyDeleteAfter reading "Their Eyes Were Watching God", I noticed that love is expressed throughout the book. Hurston's definition of love is when two people love each other everyday and whenever one of them is sad the other will be on the rescue. I agree with this because that is what love is. When someone will risk whatever to make their partner happy. Hurston shows how love works when Janie is with Tea Cake. When Tea Cake leaves in the morning and doesn't come back, Janie begins to get worried that he ran off with the $200 Janie had left. Later Tea Cake comes back. Why? Because he loves her and Tea Cake knew that Janie would be disappointed if he didn't get Janie the breakfast he talked about. Hurston shows the reader when love is not active during Janie's first and second marriages. In Janie's first relationship, Janie isn't happy and Logan had been forcing her to do the things he wants. In Janie's second relationship, it begins as a romance. As Starks gets older and taking more responsibility as mayor, he loses interest in Janie. Janie is later put in the same spot like when she was with Logan. She isn't happy with she is being pushed around without her saying anything. Love isn't when one is forced into a relationship, it is when one will risk their life to make their partner happy. This is what love is and how Hurston shows it in "Their Eyes Were Watching God".
ReplyDeleteAfter reading "Their Eyes Were Watching God", I noticed that love is expressed throughout the book. Hurston's definition of love is when two people love each other everyday and whenever one of them is sad the other will be on the rescue. I agree with this because that is what love is. When someone will risk whatever to make their partner happy. Hurston shows how love works when Janie is with Tea Cake. When Tea Cake leaves in the morning and doesn't come back, Janie begins to get worried that he ran off with the $200 Janie had left. Later Tea Cake comes back. Why? Because he loves her and Tea Cake knew that Janie would be disappointed if he didn't get Janie the breakfast he talked about. Hurston shows the reader when love is not active during Janie's first and second marriages. In Janie's first relationship, Janie isn't happy and Logan had been forcing her to do the things he wants. In Janie's second relationship, it begins as a romance. As Starks gets older and taking more responsibility as mayor, he loses interest in Janie. Janie is later put in the same spot like when she was with Logan. She isn't happy with she is being pushed around without her saying anything. Love isn't when one is forced into a relationship, it is when one will risk their life to make their partner happy. This is what love is and how Hurston shows it in "Their Eyes Were Watching God".
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone really understand the concept of love? It's tossed around so much that sometimes we forget to comprehend what it means to love someone truly. In the book 'I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings' Maya seems to have the strongest bond with her older brother. The two had been through it all together. The love she felt for him would always differ from everyone else in her life. I think we all know different forms of love, even on some levels Maya loved Mr. Freeman and how he would "hold her." But in my opinion I believe you can't really understand love until you can love yourself. Maya had a lot of self hatred built up through out this entire story and she seemed to push herself away from most people. She had relationships with her family and a few close friends but she was always hesitant. I think that's something she just needed to grow into and with having a child she probably became more hopeful of good things in life which would let her open up to new people and let herself be loved. Maya was always hesitant with love and feelings but when she felt deeply about something or someone (like Bailey) that love radiated from the pages.
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