Doctor Meyers

No other man, unless is was Doc Hill,

Did more for people in this town than I.

And all the weak, the halt, the improvident

And those who could not pay flocked to me.

I was good-hearted, easy Doctor Meyers.

I was healthy, happy, in comfortable fortune,

Blest with a congenial mate, my children raised,

All wedded, doing well in the world.

And then one night, Minerva, the poetess,

Came to me in her trouble, crying.

I tried to help her out – she died-

They indicted me, the newspapers disgraced me,

My wife perished of a broken heart.

And pneumonia finished me.

Doctor Meyers believes that he is the most important man in town because of what he was able to do.  He felt that he was at the top and that he had achieved his goal of being the best doctors.  Unfortunately for him that he wasn’t able to save everyone and one of his patients died under his custody ruining his reputation.  He had the ability to make it to the top but then to fail like everybody else has in the other books we have read.

The pistol snapped once.  Instinctively Janie’s hand flew behind her on the rifle and brought it around.  Most likely this would scare  him off.  If only the doctor would come!  If anybody at all would come!  She broke the rifle deftly and shoved in the shell as the second click told her that Tea Cake’s suffering brain was urging him on to kill (183).

During the hurricane that hit, Tea Cake was bit by a rabid dog and now the illness was slowly killing him.  His brain was deteriorating and he no longer trusted Janie’s actions towards him.  Janie at the same time could sense this broken bond and tampered with the bullets in Tea Cake’s gun so that if he did try to shoot her, the first three shots would be empty chambers.  Tea Cake does in fact try to shoot Janie and after hearing the third click Janie had to shoot Tea Cake herself in order to guarantee her own life.  Janie then is brought to court where she gives her testimony about her grand love for Tea Cake; she is then found innocent.

Now, dat’s how everything wuz, Pheoby, jus’ lak Ah told yuh.  So Ah’m back home agin and Ah’m satisfied tuh be heah.  Ah done been tuh de horizon and back and now Ah kin set heah in mah house and live by comparisons (191).

Janie finally returns home to Eatonville, she is completely satisfied with her life because she has been able to accomplish so much.  All Janie really wanted was to do her own thing but most importantly to live life to the fullest.  Janie feels that she can live the rest of her life in peace because she had legitimately loved Tea Cake and he was able to teach her so much.

The house was full of people every night.  That is, all around the doorstep was full.  Some were there to hear Tea cake pick the box; some came to talk and tell stories, but most of them came to get into whatever game as going on or might go on.  Sometimes Tea Cake lost heavily, for there were several good gamblers on the lake.  Sometimes he won and made Janie proud of his skill.  But outside of the two jooks, everything on that job went on around those two (133).

Although Tea Cake may be poor, Janie is definitely having a lot more fun with him than she was with Jody or Logan.  Everything with Tea Cake is adventurous and that is all Janie really wants, that and to be treated like an equal.  Tea Cake took her hunting and she eventually perfected her shot to be better than his; he also throws parties all the time and everybody from town comes to gamble and simply have a good time and Janie loves it.  Just to spend more time with Tea Cake, Janie goes to work with him, picking beans all day but at least they have each other is her philosophy.  I think Janie has finally achieved her dream because she truly is happy with Tea Cake and the way she is able to live her life around him.

She was borned in slavery time when folks, dat is black folks, didn’t sit down anytime dey felt lak it.  So sittin’ on porches lak de white madam looked lak uh mighty fine thing tuh her.  Dat’s whut she wanted for me – don’t keer whut it cost.  Git up on uh high chair and sit dere.  She didn’t have time tuh think whut tuh do after you up on de stoll uh do nothin’.  De object wuz tuh git dere.  So Ah got up on de high stoll lak she told me, but Pheoby, Ah done nearly lanquished tuh death up dere.  Ah felt like de world wuz cryin’ extry and Ah ain’t read de common new yet (114).

Janie tells Pheoby that she doesn’t care what the town thinks about Tea Cake and that she wants to sell the store and run away with him.  She has lived up to her grandmother’s dream of marrying somebody rich and simply being able to do nothing but gossip on the porch, but she doesn’t like it.  Janie is way too active of a person to sit down and gossip and would much rather leave with Tea Cake than stay and run the store.  Since she fulfilled her grandma’s dream, Janie feels that she can now do what she wants.  I found it disturbing when Tea Cake stole Janie’s $200 and tells her that he spent it all on dinner for his co-workers.  I don’t understand why Janie would marry somebody like that who gambles and spends money without second thought.

After the scene at the store, Jody and Janie stop talking completely but continue to live in the same house.  Jody continues to age quickly and after seeing a doctor, it is discovered that he is dying from kidney failure.  When he finally dies, Janie feels as if she is at last free to do as she pleases and is not tied down by Jody any longer.

She went over to the dresser and looked hard at her skin and features.  The young girl was gone, but a handsome woman had taken  her place.  She tore off the kerchief from her head and let down her plentiful hair.  The weight, the length, the glory was there (87).

Since Janie is finally free she takes off her head cap that Jody made her wear to cover her beautiful hair.  After taking a look at herself in the mirror, she realizes that although she has aged, she is still just as pretty as she was before.  She is full of joy by the fact that Jody is dead but has to pretend to be sad otherwise people around town will become suspicious.  She continues to run the store and ignores any suitors that try to impress her.  One day during a baseball game, a man came into the store and introduced himself to Janie.  They hit it off and flirt all day and it is discovered that he is Tea Cake, who we know Janie later marries.  I believe that Janie will be more intelligent in this marriage and will not let Tea Cake boss her around, she won’t make the same mistake that she previously made with Jody.

Janie spends most of her time working in the shop where she is bossed around by Jody who doesn’t let her do what she wants.  Janie bites her tongue and never complains back to Jody, giving him power over her and the rest of the town.  After a few years of marriage the couple still runs the store and Jody still uses insults to overpower Janie, who continues to keep her mouth shut.  Janie realizes that her love life with Jody has fallen apart and that the marriage is a failure.

Then Joe Starks realized all the meanings and his vanity bled like a flood.  Janie had robbed him of his illusion of irresistible maleness that all men cherish, which was terrible.  The thing that Saul’s daughter had done to David.  But Janie had done worse, she had cast down his empty armor before men and they had laughed, would keep on laughing (79).

Janie was fed up of being bossed around by Jody and made fun of his old age and looks, making the man feel embarrassed in front of the customers in the store.  Jody realized that he had now lost power do to Janie speaking out to him and he beats her for it.  Janie is run out of the store by Jody for her actions.

Janie spends most of her time trying to improve her status and find love.  Trying to improve Janie’s life, her grandmother marries her off to Logan who is rich and old. Janie realizes that she won’t just start loving Logan and wants to leave the marriage. Janie’s goal is to find love and to be in a happy marriage. One day while Logan is gone, Janie meets a man named Joe who has great ambitions and dreams.

“Green Cove Springs,” he told the driver. So they were married there before sundown, just like Joe had said. With new clothes of silk and wool (33).

Janie has now been married for the second time since the beginning of the book and it is only the end of Chapter 4. Her goal is to find love and settle down, Joe promises her many things which makes Janie attracted to him. They arrive in Eatonville where Joe (Jody) is a big success, he begins to build a store and sells land to new townspeople proving to Janie that he a hardworking man. Jody soon becomes mayor of the town which makes Janie very proud of him adding to her dream of marrying somebody successful and rich.

The dialect used in Their Eyes Were Watching God is a southern African-American type and it present throughout both chapters.  What I find most interesting about the book is that the narration is in perfect English but the characters speak with this southern black tone.  It interchanges back and forth very smoothly just as Zora Neale Hurston had planned.

“You answer me when Ah speak.  Don’t you set dere poutin’ wid me after all Ah done went through for you!”

She slapped the girl’s face violently, and forced her head back so that their eyes met in struggle (14).

This is a quote I picked from the chapter to show the difference and the transition between the two dialects, perfect English and southern African-American.  It is sometimes very confusing to read the dialog because many of the words are skewed to the point where I have to read it out loud to understand it.  I’m sure that after a few more chapters of the book, the dialect will become easier to comprehend.

And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock.  He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it.  He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night (180).

Nick expresses that Gatsby should have put his priorities in order and not have put so much effort into winning Daisy back because it wasn’t worth it.  He concludes earlier that Daisy and Tom are careless people who will do whatever they want because they can hide behind their money.  Unknown to Gatsby, but Daisy was not going to leave Tom for him, making his goal a complete waste of time.  Gatsby should rather have worried more about his future not involving Daisy because of her inability to care for others.  Nick does not blame Gatsby for trying to win back Daisy, but he does believe that there was too much effort put into the entire equation.  Daisy and Tom ended up moving away without leaving any address for Nick to follow and nobody showed up to Gatsby’s funeral, not even his corrupt friends.  Gatsby put himself through so much just to win back the love of his life, but all it brought him was suffering and his eventual death.

He wouldn’t consider it.  He couldn’t possibly leave Daisy until he knew what she was going to do.  He was clutching at some last hope and I couldn’t bear to shake him free (148).

Gatsby can’t leave Long Island until he is sure of what Daisy wants and that she has made her final decision.  She had previously admitted that she did in some ways love Tom and this hurt Gatsby a lot because he thought he was the one and only man for her.  Gatsby wants Daisy to completely make up her mind and choose who she wants to be with for the rest of her life and that is why he can’t leave yet.  He spent so much time trying to win Daisy back that he won’t stop now, he needs to completely achieve his goal and not lose her again.  It is obvious that Daisy and Tom are going to work out their differences and will not divorce, resulting in Gatsby being left behind, but the man will not quit on Daisy and he will keep trying.  Tom assures that Gatsby won’t be bothering him anymore by leading Wilson right to him, explaining to him that it was Gatsby’s car, therefore making him the killer and the man in Myrtle’s life.  Wilson finds Gatsby and shoots him, ending not only his life, but his dream of spending the rest of his life with Daisy.