Chapter 5 focuses on Joe and Janie’s new life in Eatonville. Joe puts his plans concerning the town into action. What are some of the things he does when he gets to Eatonville? How would you characterize Joe on the first two pages of chapter 5? How is he viewed by the people of the town? An emotional divide starts to show between Joe and Janie in this chapter. Re-read this quote from chapter 5 “Thank yuh fuh yo’ compliments, but mah wife don’t know nothin’ ‘bout no speech-makin’. Ah never married her for nothin’ lak dat. She’s uh woman and her place is in de home.” In what context is this line delivered? What’s Janie’s emotional reaction to that line? How does this symbolize Joe and Janie’s relationship and his ideas about her worth? Describe their different approaches to their new position in town. Describe the scene around the lamplighting. Does it remind you of anything? By the end of chapter 5 there is a shift in the way the town perceives Joe and his possessions. How do the people of the town come to regard him? Re-read the last paragraph of chapter 5. How does that paragraph summarize the relationship between Joe and the people of the town?
In order to receive full credit you must respond to the questions in full sentences, as well as respond to two of your classmates' posts. This must be completed by 8am Monday.
As soon as Janie and her husband get to Eatonville, he asks some strangers questions about the place and later buys all the land. Joe character is in the beginning of chapter 5 is very flirtatious. I can tell he's ambitious because of the way he's dressed and his resonings on traveling. When Joe and his wife get to the town, he is viewed as stranger who speaks with words of wisdom and and who is a higher class. The line where Joe talked about His wife not being a public speaker came from the people giving speeches for the success of the town and store and wanted joes wife to speak on her own behalf. Janie feels like it was wrong for Joe to react like that and would have liked to have tried to speak. " Naw, jody, it jus' looks lak it keeps us in Some way we ain't natural wid one 'nother." Joe and Janie's relationship is symbolic for higher power (Joe) and lower power (Janie). Her worth to Joe isn't to the people. Janie's worth to Joe is for him and only him. Joe feels like her wife's power isn't high enough for her words or actions to benefit the people unless shes doing maintenance work. Because of joes new position in town, he invested with his new dignity. His wife didnt feel the same. The lamp lighting scene was filled with joy, prayer, people, music and speech. It reminded me of the joy people felt about the success of the store. By the end of the chapter the towns feelings towards Joe us more so hate and envy than love and support. In the last paragraph of chapter 5 the town relationship with Joe will continue to be for them to bow down to Joe as he gave them commands.
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ReplyDeleteJody and Janie arrive in the Florida town to find that it consists of little more than a dozen shacks. Jody introduces himself to two men, Lee Coker and Amos Hicks, and asks to see the mayor; the men reply that there is none. Jody moves over to a porch to chat with a group of the townspeople, who tell him that the town’s name is Eatonville. After hearing that Eatonville contains only fifty acres, Jody makes a big show of paying cash for an additional two hundred acres from Captain Eaton, one of the donors of Eatonville’s existing land. Hicks stays behind to flirt—unsuccessfully—with Janie. Later, Coker teases Hicks because all the other men know that they can’t lure a woman like Janie away from an ambitious, powerful, moneyed man like Jody.
After buying the land, Jody announces his plans to build a store and a post office and calls a town meeting. A man named Tony Taylor is technically chairman of the assembly, but Jody does all the talking. Jody hires Coker and Taylor to build his store while the rest of the town clears roads and recruits new residents. Jody soon recovers the cost of the new land by selling lots to newcomers and opens a store. At his store, Jody is quickly named mayor, and for the occasion Taylor asks Janie to give a short speech. Jody prevents her from doing so, saying that wives shouldn’t make speeches. His opinion angers Janie, but she remains silent.
After becoming mayor, Jody decides that the town needs a street lamp. He buys the lamp with his own money and then calls a town meeting to vote on whether or not the town should install it. Though some dissent, a majority vote approves the motion. After the lamp arrives, Jody puts it on display for a week, and it becomes a source of pride for the whole town. He organizes a big gathering for the lighting, complete with guests from surrounding areas and a feast. The party is a huge success, full of ceremony and dignity. Afterward, Janie hints that she wants to spend more time with Jody now that he has done so much work. He replies that he is just getting started.
After a while, Jody and the rest of the town start to grow apart from each other, and Janie, as the mayor’s wife, becomes the object of both respect and jealousy. The townspeople envy Jody’s elaborate new two-story house that makes the rest of the houses look like servants’ quarters. Jody buys spittoons for both himself and Janie, making them both seem like aristocrats flaunting their wealth and station. Furthermore, Jody runs a man named Henry Pitts out of town when he catches Henry stealing some of his ribbon cane. The townspeople wonder how Janie gets along with such a domineering man; after all, they note, she has such beautiful hair, but he makes her tie it up in a rag when she is working in the store. Though Jody’s wealth and authority arouse the envy and animosity of some residents, no one challenges him
Nice wording. My favorite part was Janie seeing what she was getting herself into. I can tell that marriage was going to be tough and Joe is going to be controlling
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