GO BEAR GO

The Bear is a deeply symbolic novel that not only symbolizes relationships but also what every man must go through; the right of passage. This novel has the boy desperately waiting his turn to go along on the hunt and when that turn finally arrives he naturally is not sure if he is ready. He mentions a few times, that if given the option he would not be able to shoot the bear; he already feels some sort of deeper connection to it. The bear itself represents a greater power in the forest. It seems to be the wisest creature there and the strongest, yet at the same time cleverly elusive. The bear, to me, represents something more, something ever-present, and something deeply in touch with both the men and the forest. The bear is there reason for being there. He is the legend they all hope to be a part of, and the one creature they all respect. They call it his forest because that is what it is. He sees them more than they see him, and the men know this. It is the boy's turn now to experience the bear, and that truly is what it is; and experience. Sam has to teach the boy how to be patient and wait for the clear shot. The boy has to learn how to be a man and find his own way without taking the stupid risks that could lead to other hunter’s deaths. He has to learn how to be stealthy and quiet, patient and careful, and above all else the boy has to learn to be smart; all the same qualities that are prized in the bear. Without these the boy is still a boy and will never be the man that he went out there to be. It is for these reasons why it is so important to the boy to see the bear. He knows the bear knows about and has seen him, but he is not going to be a true member of the forest, or even of the pack of men, until he sees the bear and becomes an equal.

Buildingsroman? or BOLD feminist novel?

When I first began to read this book I was a bit confused of why it was considered a buildings roman book. It seemed to me to be about every thing but the growth of the main character and a coming of age tale. I could see the growth of the city much more than I could the growth of Janie. It was not until much later did I realize the growth that Janie was going through. It really becomes evident in my opinion when Janie gets beat for the first time by Jody, and then again during the storm. When she gets beat, she begins to realize that she had been living in a pretty bad fantasy world and that she needed to lock herself out of the real world that she had created for herself. She began to grow and deal with things like a rational adult. However, she began to become impulsive when the opportunity struck and so she ran away again with Tea Cake after Jody’s death. But while with Tea Cake she was able to do all the things that she always wanted to do. She was able to do all the things the men did, she could hunt, listen to the jokes and conversations on the porches, go to parties, and even work in the fields along side her husband like an equal rather than another work horse. She was growing and was completely happy about it. Now one thing that still is bothering me about our discussions about this book is that the general consensus seemed to be, all from the female majority I might add, was that this was a BOLD feminist novel. I remain unconvinced and to be honest, all the arguments they made for the bold aspect of it actually pushed me further away from believing that it was. Every example given was a minute aspect of the book that could be taken in so many different ways. Yes the grandmother raised Janie on her own but what other choice did she have? She was also still very poor and clearly uneducated, both of which could be argued as downsides to being a woman in that time period. If this were a bold novel the main women would have at least persevered a bit more. That was just one example but there were many more, but I just do not have time to name them all. The arguments made in class were such that they could be put to any novel. By their standards Harry Potter is a bold feminist novel because the main female character is so powerful, she converts the men around her, and she makes her own decisions. The other female characters could also boost that claim by their actions as well, well at least according to the arguments made in class. I can see where there is some feminism in this book but to call it a BOLD feminist novel is stretching it as far as saying Harry Potter is one too, and that just is missing the point in my opinion. Sorry to rant, but I just do not agree, and it is safer to do it here than in a class full of women…

There eyes were watching God ONCE

The phrase "there eyes were watching God," only appears once in this whole book and it comes near the end when Janie, Tea Cake, and Sop were all huddled together in the shack watching the door as the hurricane started up outside them. The hurricane had been going on for a bit and put out all the light, and they could already hear things flying around and crashing into things, which meant that the winds were already really strong let alone the rain and lightning as well. This phrase comes then because in the dark they could not see anything and yet their eyes were wide open. They also could not see anything outside the door yet they continued to stare at it. They did this because they believed that they were watching God's wrath and might, and that it was God's test for them and they were completely in his mercy. Their lives have always been up to God in their beliefs, however, in this moment they were never as aware of this as they were then, and all they could do was watch. It seemed odd that Zora would choose such a small line to be the title of her book, but when one looks back I guess it becomes a bit more obvious. She seems to choose this title because all of her characters believe that their lives are completely up to God and in the greatest moment of crisis or simply in completely key moments of everyone’s lives, their eyes are only watching God's work and not their own. No matter how much they like to believe in their own work, or trust themselves above all others, they will always fall subject to God's deeds and that was proven many times in this book. Also this title could be directed towards the reader. The reader’s eyes were watching God through this book because this book is about life, and only life. It is about growth, love, security, nature, society, all things controlled and created by God. So by reading about Janie's life, and her love, and her hardships, we are really watching God's work.

Their eyes were watching Janie

This novel was a bit difficult to get into due to the language used and the accents. But once I got past all that and was able to get to the meat of the book I began to realize that at least in the beginning of the book that this was a story about both the development of Janie and her growth, but also of the growth of the town. Janie noticeably grows up from a troubled and confused teenager forced into marriage for security and not love. She then realizes that she can be happy elsewhere and runs off with a man who seems to understand what she wanted. How ever she soon learns that Jody is more interested in the town than he ever really was with her. That makes her angry but she begins to hold back her anger and becomes more accepting of things the way they are because she has what her grandmother always wanted for her, and that was the security and wealth to protect her. She begins to work and develop into her life as the mayors wife but she still had to struggle with the oppression of her husband. He is trying to keep her away from the lower class people and also away from the prying eyes of the other towns folk. This really hinders Janie's growth and even though there are events where she noticeably acts and thinks in a more adult manner she is still repressed by her husband, and she resents him for it and begins to fall out of love with him. The town develops in somewhat a similar way. With the town being this small group of shacks and then being added to and recruited to in order to make it a more habitable place. This one man is at the center of it all, Jody, and as a result he shelters the town and makes it develop in the way that he wants it to, just like Janie.

Thrown through the View

I was not a fan of three of the main characters of this book, Lucy, Lucy's mom, and Cecil, however, I can understand why these characters were created this way. They all seemed superficial, fake, selfish, and ultimately ignorant in relations with others. The mother in particular, was my least favorite. Although, when I look back at these characters and their relationship with one another I can seem to understand what Forster was trying to do with them. The mother represents the haughty wannabe upper class British society and she forever pushes her daughter and everyone else she "believes in her mind" to have societal place over. She pressures her daughter to marry the man who will move her up in the world, she pressures her boy to be the proper gentlemen and become a doctor, she strikes me as the person who would purchase nice things but never use them for fear of them getting ruined, she is the person who wants everyone to see how well off she and her family is and keeps up those pretenses to an absurd level. Yet some how despite all of her faults Lucy is able to overcome her mother and others, and is able to allow herself to grow up and be thrown through the window. She has all these things holding her back and telling her how to act, she finally becomes sick of it all and gives it up. She gets lost both literally and metaphysically in her mind and is able to overcome it. She realizes what she wants and that she was old enough to take it and so she did. She is still a bit afraid and that is why she seems to cling to George a bit tightly now, he is her firm hand there to catch her if she falls, but she is still free and flying out on her own which is what she was searching for in her life and in Italy.

Lucy Gets Her Man

Throughout this book it seems that Lucy has gotten everything she has wanted. She got the trip to Italy, she got the room, she got the Italian adventure, she got the drive, she got the man that her mom would approve of, etc... But she never seems to be satisfied. Lucy always wants more and that is why she was never happy with Cecil. She knew that he could not give her the happiness that she really wanted. She wanted to be free and if she kept following the conventions of what her mom and class told her she should follow then she would always be repressed. This is evident in the fact that she constantly chose to play depressing music, go off on her own, and change her mind. Lucy was always attracted to those things that seem to grow on you, she did not like Beethoven at first but latter in life started to like it, she did not like the Emerson's until they grew on her and proved to her that they meant well and could entertain her. She also did not like the Miss Alan's and all their gossip, but then later in the novel she asks for them to be allowed to move into the vacant house and to go on their trip to Greece with them. It is understandable then why she would eventually realize that Cecil was not for her and she fell madly in love with George. George intrigued her in ways that Cecil could not. He loved her fully and was able to make his own decisions and not the ones that society, which is what Mrs. Honeychurch represented for Lucy, told him to make. Lucy recognized these things and that is why she chose him.

A Room With A View?

A room with a view refers to the beginning of the novel when the main two characters Lucy and her Cousin are compelled to change rooms with two strangers who are staying at the same hotel that they are. Lucy is over heard to remark how terrible her rooms are because they smell and over look a blocked off courtyard that is really nothing to look at at all. She was very upset that she was promised a room with a view of Florence and instead she was given nothing at all in the back of the hotel. The Emerson’s hear her and offer to switch rooms with them because they have a great view and it is wasted on them because they are men, and women greatly enjoy views more than the men do. The women then rebuke this offer because it is un-lady like to accept it and the men offered their rooms in un-gentlemen like ways. This episode sets the background for the moral character of the “lady,” or at least what is thought by these two women a true “lady” would do. This decision and reasoning behind this decision shows these women to be superficial and concerned with irrelevant aspects in life. They reject people solely on the class of the person and how educated they seem to be when they themselves are completely uneducated in the true ways of the world. They busy themselves with trivial aspects of life such as being without a guide book, playing the piano for other people, arranging seating for groups on a trip to insure the best “day” for every one. They seem to have not grown up in any way and are completely self-centered.

Huck's Final Journey

Many critics argue that the last portion of this book does not fit or even flow with the rest of the book. This seems to be because the character of Tom Sawyer appears to revert Huck back to the beginning of the book before his growth. I think this may be a different challenge for Huck. These scenes represent Huck confronting his past self and how he used to act before his adventure with Jim. Huck shows himself to be the person who enjoys being back with his old friend and pursuing those old crazy adventures that he used to have with Tom, however now he also seems to realize that they are just for fun. He understands how ridiculous they actually are and only seems to go along with them because he wishes to be a kid again and have the life that Tom seems to have. Huck had lost his childhood and wanted to regain some of it through Tom. Huck still in a time of crises makes the adult decision and chooses to send for a doctor to fix the bullet wound in Tom's leg which means his growth and his adventure with Jim actually had a positive effect on his development. If it had not, then he most likely would have done as Tom foolishly wanted and would have gone the more story book route of not calling for a doctor and having Tom die on the island. Huck then allows himself to be adopted by Aunt Sally and have her attempt to civilize him once again, even though he announces his disapproval of being civilized and how he does not think that it will work once again. Although despite all his worries and cares, Huck still allows all of this to happen so he may have the actually childhood that he deserves and grow up like he has wanted.