3rd Response

The insights I have given in previous responses, about how Janie is actually imprisoned in her marriage, and that she is like a slave, appears to have become apparent to Janie. She has a revelation as she peers into a mirror, and when her situation became clear, it is no surprise that when Joe died a few months later, she felt no remorse. She describes her freedom of having no husband as the most joyous moment of her life. It was as if she went back to the life as a young teenager, where she would just sit under a pear tree and enjoy it.

But her dream is short-lived, at least in my opinion. Because when Tea Cake began to charm her she felt, and acted the same way she did when Joe picked her up in the beginning. Tea Cake may just be another man that will treat her the same way. Of course, this fact can be countered by the way he is referenced in the beginning of the story, but it is always possible that Tea Cake will act the same as Joe Starks. Tea Cake’s fate is unknown, and due to Janie’s cold attitude in the beginning, it is possible that she caused Tea Cake’s fate, which may have been because of the way Tea Cake will treat her. But this is, in all likely hood, a wild guess. Her attitude in the beginning may just as well have been as a result of a tragic accident that Tea Cake had, and the lost of a love one (a real love one rather than a man like Joe), causes her to become distant.

I think the greatest difference in Janie between these chapters and previous chapters, is she seems to be happier. She can do anything she wants, such as go fishing at midnight; she is not tied down by anyone now. She feels the breath of freedom swift over her, and is relinquishing every cool breeze brushing against her. It now appears that Tea Cake is now the one blowing against her, and whether it will be soft breath, or a destructive blow, remains to be seen.

Eyes were Watching God 2

As the plot begins to unravel, it is clear to me of how Janie became such a strong women. She could articulate great speeches, but seldom gives them because of her status of a women and how Joe treats her as a women. After seven years she sees Joe who he really is and, "she was saving up feelings for some man she had never seen" (72). But she continues to bear the burden of being Joe's wife. Even though Janie is the wife of the mayor of the most developed black town, it appears she is still imprisoned and is still required to do slave work. She enjoys watching conversations on the store porch, yet she seldom says anything, and is forced to sell something in the store constantly. The one time she does enter the conversation Joe scolds her, "You gettin' too moufy, Janie" (75). I wouldn't be surprise if she becomes a "runaway" and flee her husband. The journey she takes will build her into a stronger women, until she becomes the women that was seen in the begining (16 years in the future).

Eyes were Watching God 1

The colloquial dialog within the book instantly brings me into the place and time of when the book takes place. The character of Janie, as she is depicted in the first 6 chapters appears to be a teenager that is living the life of a young women. Due to her position as well as her race she is put at the bottom of the social cycle (as her grandmother points out to her). Because of the introduction (before Janie tells her story), it seems that Janie becomes a powerful women, but in her first experiences of living a life of womanhood, she seems to be far from it. Though she is determined (especially to be married to someone she loves) it appears as though she does not enjoy nor is she content with the life she is living. In both of her marriages she is never allowed to do her own thing, and, in the case with Starks, she is scolded harshly for mistakes. It reminds me of the book Ties that Bond and Ties that Break. The protagonist in that book is also always to be told what to do (as a women), and is never content with where she is placed. But due to her characteristics in the first chapter, it can be inferred that Janie will break the bond that forces her to do what man tells her.

Ehtan Frome Post

After the completion of the novel (or novella), it is prudent to realize the importance of Zenothia Frome. Given the opportunity, I would have named the book after her, rather than her husband. She is perhaps, the most important character in Ethan's life, Zeena is in fact, the Antagonist. Some may point out the irony that Zeena, a women that was once very sick, was now taking care of the one that took care of her. Not to mention the fact that she hold Mattie's hand for the rest of her life, right after she was ready to kick her out of the house. But I believe that the story is not ironic, but merley displaying the character of Zeena. To put it in today's terms, Zeena is a drama queen or perhaps a control freak. She was a stubborn character that never compromised once she reached a decision. Her personality obviously reveals that if she were to be put into any kind of power, she would love it. Thus, when the two people she lives with needs care, she took the job willingly. Earlier in the story she presentsherself as if she was extremely sick, whether that is true or not is not clearly defined. However, Zeena would be the type of women to utilize any possible thing to gain a position over her husband. Because she claims she is so sick, Ethan is compelled to try and please her to make her better (if not for her, than to make Ethan's conscious clear). Thus, it is not hard to believe, that Zeena, while had some illness, exaggerated her condition. By the end of the book, her recovery is referred to as "magic."

2nd Response Ethan Frome

Ethan's character is shows his true colors following the flashback. His social silence that he presented to the Narrator is the same of that decades before. He is a shy person, that cowards before anything that frightens him, whether it is a man threatening him, or even the women of his dreams. But as the story moves on, his character is revealed to show a secret. His secret, or rather what he thinks is a secret, is his love for Mattie. He ignorantly believes to be the only one to know this secret. But it is obvious from their actions, that both Mattie and his wife are well aware of his passionate love. His wife is cold to him when talking about Mattie, and at one point she tries to spy on them, by staying awake while Mattie and Ethan return home one night. Ethan refused to go to bed when his wife asked him to, but at the instant Mattie retired to her bedroom, Ethan soon followed her example, and went to his own bedroom. This action was of course, not missed by Mattie or his wife. It is apparent, that whatever "incident" that caused Ethan to have a scar across his face, as well as his stunted walk, will be a result of his forbidden love.

First Ethan Frome Entry

The first chapter of Ethan Frome resembles the story Bartleby, The Scrivener. There is a narrator, who is curiously interested in one man. As the narrator investigates the person, they realize that their curiosity is not misplaced, that the person has a certain oddity that draws a certain, perplexing intrest. But there are key, underlining, differences between the two stories. Unlike Bartleby, there are people who know of Ethan Frome and know his story. By the second chapter, Ethan Frome ceases to have a narrator. Thus, the first chapter was meant as a background story, so as to define the setting as well as the character, Ethan Frome.

Letter to Emerson

Letter to Emerson

Peter Joelson

12/17/08

July 23, 1846

Dear Waldo,

My confinement is over, Waldo! I am happy to report that my two year experiment at Walden was an extreme success! I guess that is why I am laughing as I write to you. Just a day after my experiment finished, before I could even write to you about my marvelous revelations and new ideas, I was arrested for refusing to pay my tax, and brought to a place a person may conceive as a “prison”. You have taught me valuable lessons in life, in fact, you changed my life when I first met you and heard you preach. But highlighted in your “doctrine” (as some people would call it), is to live life for what you believe in and not subside to people who hold the power or the money. Well, I certainly have followed that lifestyle faithfully. But old friend, do not feel the slightest tinge of guilt for me and my current predicament. This prison is actually an almost luxury of a kind. I look out and see the sun set brilliantly over concord, and I realize that this feeling I have in the pit of my stomach is in no way a reaction to my own predicament, but rather it is a feeling of great pity that I feel for the rest of concord. For they are imprisoned in a way I will never be, they are imprisoned within their own minds. My experiment in Walden has taught me a good many things, one of which is that exploring one’s own mind is the key to salvation! Never have I thought so clearly then the days in which I spent at Walden. I journeyed to the corners of my brain, discovering new ideas and new places, to which I have never been! Waldo, you’d love the experience! You must explore your own mind; it will shed light into your life like never before!

I find myself quite enjoying my imprisonment, for I have the self-knowledge that I am just and that the government is wrong. In fact, “under a government which imprisons unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison” (that sounds pretty good, maybe I’ll include it in one of my essays!). As I told you before, I had refused to pay my tax. You might find that strange, but think for a second, don’t you see? I am walking down the path that you created (yes I realize I have said that man should make paths through woods, not walk down them, don’t throw my own words back at me). I have sought to refute this government for their unjustly policies, policies which I am sure you have recognize. “I do not wish to be regarded as a member of any society which I have not joined!” Their policies in treating blacks, as well as their war with Mexico, none of this should be tolerated by us. But, what do we do? We sit and do nothing, we watch as our own government destroys their own citizens, whether it is through war or through racism. Well I say that we should revolt and that we should fight our own government! Our only chance is through “peaceable revolution.” We must do no harm, yet “enable the State to commit violence and shed innocent blood.” Do not sit around and do nothing as you have done so often in the past. Please, join me in a revolution against our own government.

Sincerely, your friend,

Henry David Thoreau

P.S. Say hello to Lydian for me