Currently, the part
of Their Eyes Were Watching God I enjoy
most is Hurston’s gift with prose: her lyrics so often sound like poetry. These
words evoke powerful images that are imprinted in one’s memory, with her script
echoing in the background. Sometimes, however, this is a curse as much as a
blessing: there are some images I don’t want to keep. Well, to be more specific,
I’m thinking of is the scene of Janie’s revelation under the pear tree. I see it now in my minds eye, strongly accompanied by a intensely dramatic male voice reading the
narrative (Just who could that be...). I have kindly included the scene for your
reading pleasure:
She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom;
the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic
shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and
frothing with delight. So this was a marriage! She had been summoned to behold
a revelation. Then Janie felt a pain remorseless sweet that left her limp and
languid. (12)
However, as important as just about
any scene with Hurston—and a sexual awakening would definitely count an
especially important one—there is more to it than first meets the eye.
We must ask first
ourselves, what is literally happening in this metaphor? Well, the flower
attracts the bee and entices it with nectar, which the bee seizes from the
flower. In return, it would seem that the bee allows it to bear fruit. However,
this transaction is not a fair one by any means: while the bee suffers no consequences
from its tasty treat, the flower has to sacrifice its body to bear the fruit.
To make matters worse, that fruit is taken away. It is interesting, then, that
Jamie thinks, “Oh to be
a pear tree—any tree in bloom!” Hmmm, what a strange ideal to have. It
reminds me of the narrator of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man: how great it would be to be like Bledsoe!
Does anyone have
anything to add on to that? Anyone disagree with my interpretation? Honestly,
while it does feel good to be complemented, I like your criticism and your new thoughts much more because
it gives me something to think about and build off of. What does the grandmother think of this vision of marriage? Also—since we’ve probably
progress further into the book by the time you are reading this—how does the
metaphor of the pear tree connect to Jamie’s later ideals? What about her
relationship with Tea Cake? Then ask, would Jamie still like to be a pear tree? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
You bring up some good points, and I'd never thought about the metaphor that way. At the scene you bring up, Janie seems to have a beautiful idea of what marriage is supposed to be like. However, she's now been through two marriages, both of which made her very unhappy. Because of this, I'm not sure if she still believes in this ideal of marriage. She seems happy to have freedom after Joe's death. Now with Tea Cake, this shattered dream may be part of the reason she has trouble believing that he loves her.
ReplyDeleteI was hoping we would get into some of the less idealistic implications of this metaphor for "a marriage" in class, and I was trying not to ask questions that were too leading in this direction. On the one hand, the pear-tree image does present a positive, natural depiction of love, and in Hurston's prose it seems like a mutual transaction (as the flower's movements are animated along with the bee's). But if we really break down what's going on when a bee pollinates a flower, it isn't the most egalitarian image, and there could indeed be undertones of violence or abuse. Like many poetic metaphors, there's an ambiguity here--but you're right that Hurston's lyrical language nudges us toward a more positive, natural reading (and this certainly seems to be how young Janie takes it).
ReplyDeleteWhether or not this was the interpretation the author intended for the reader, I think you bring up some interesting points. At first glance the metaphor seems like a beautiful one, but at closer inspection it turns out to be alarmingly flawed. This is also the case with both of Janie's marriages where at first she thinks the marriage will be good but then there ends of being problems further down the line or that to the outside world the marriages might look good but there are internal problems.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mr. Mitchell in that this image of the bee pollinating the pear tree is a very "natural" image; and on top of that, even a very necessary image, given that pear trees need bees to pollinate their flowers, in order to produce pears for humans (does that make sense lol?). As metaphor, does this mean that Janie needs to be around a man she loves in order to fully be a productive farmer/lively member of society? (Is this too much of a reach?) This passage does make love feel very wholesome, and written into the very ecosystem. Inevitable, perhaps, which I'd say could parallel Janie's repeated voyages into marriage, with each more successful than the last. Although I haven't finished Their Eyes Were Watching God just yet, I do have this feeling that Janie and Tea Cake's relationship is gonna go awry pretty soon, so I wonder if that conflicts this idea of love as natural and cyclical?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I think the erotic undertones of this passage definitely speak to the joy and excitement Janie finds in love, and marriage, in its ideal form. I think Janie seeing this bee and pear tree and seeing it for something so pure and wonderful explains a lot of her extreme discontent with Jody, and even Logan.
While I understand where you're coming from, I truly believe that the pear tree is supposed to be positive and Janie's sexual awakening is supposed to be a positive experience. Especially because of how Hurston depicts rape and Janie's mother and Nanny as rape victims makes me hesitant to say that she would depict an ideal marriage with abusive and violent undertones.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, even in Janie's seemingly perfect marriage with Tea Cake, there are instances of abuse. For example, the domestic violence that Hurston depicts in a non-negative light.