Skip to main content

Background Men

I feel as though the men throughout all the books we have been reading have been interesting to say the least. In "Invisible Man", they seemed to be more well rounded although some of them were still considered bad people. In "Their Eyes Were Watching God", the men seemed much flatter, with only a few being well rounded. I don't know how to feel about the contrasts really, but what I do know is that I don't feel too strongly either way. However, I suppose I prefer the way they were depicted in "Their Eyes Were Watching God". Their role in the novel was what really sucked me in.

The men in "Their Eyes Were Watching God" served primarily as love interests for the main protagonist, Janie. Outside of that, they weren't really used for much (this is not to say they weren't crucial to the book, but in relation to Janie's story, that was their primary purpose). A good comparison would be the women in "Invisible Man". They were just there for sex with the unnamed narrator and not much else as well. There is something I liked about Janie's lovers though, I liked how the author captured their personalities with just a few pages dedicated to some of them. For instance the first lover, who was apparently unattractive and unromantic. Zora Hurston managed to make her background characters (the men) really stand out to me, particularity by highlighting how Janie didn't like them. I sympathize with Janie because of this; men are trash and Janie leaving for Tea Cake made me happy.

I suppose the point of this blogpost was to point out how I liked how the background/rarely seen characters were portrayed in "Their Eyes Were Watching God" vs. in "Invisible Man". The author actually gave us reasons to sympathize with Janie not liking the men and gave the men personalities. To help with the comment section, what do you guys think on how the two authors utilized characters that were never brought back into the story?

Comments

  1. Xanthe BrownOctober 25, 2018 at 1:41 PM

    Hmm interesting post. I never really thought about it like that, that in some way the gender roles upheld by the women in Invisible Man are reversed and then put on the men in Their Eyes Were Watching God. I like that you call them "background men" because I think you're right - the focus is truly on Janie and not on her relationships. Still, I struggle with the fact that Janie's whole life story is pretty much defined by her relationships with men, while Invisible Man featured only brief cameos of women. On the other hand, the Narrator in Invisible Man was almost entirely defined by other people while Janie defines herself, even though that definition is often in relation to men. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ZonaOctober 25, 2018 at 7:46 PM

    I think what's really important is that Hurston still has an anthropological lens in this novel. So even if she doesn't develop a character for a narrative, it still matters that they are complex for the sake of her cultural exploration. But your blog post made me think about a lot of comparisons fo Invisible Man and TEWWG. Thanks!!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Mary"

I don't know what to really say in response to a Mary. They're everywhere and they only want one thing and its disgusting. Social interaction with minorities to make it seem as though they're making a difference. Now, some of you that even read the book may not know what a Mary exactly is and I'm here to help you. Here are some tips and tricks on spotting a Mary: Are they a liberal? Do they smile too easily?  Are they approachable, but you'd rather not? Like in the way that a friend's parents or a teacher is approachable , but you'd rather not . Do they talk too much? Do they talk to YOU  too much? Do they invite you out to things you would just rather NOT go to?  Does their presence occasionally make you uncomfortable? Is this your face around them? Are they a bit too happy for a Monday? Do they laugh at jokes, that just aren't THAT funny? Everyone has their own sense of humor, but I'm talking like laughing so hard you walk ar...
10 comments
Read more

Bigger Is a Killer

I know that we already know that Bigger is a killer, but in this blogpost, I plan to expand on that. I also plan to possibly do an essay on this topic as well. Anyway, Bigger is a killer and he was raised in an environment that only encouraged violence. From the very start of the book, Bigger's thought process can be described as hitting the problem until it goes away.While we aren't given his background in too heavy of detail it is likely due to him being raised in a corrupt city, where the white man controls everything and the only path he knows is the one of violence. Typically, young men that join gangs are stereotyped as being violent and bigger is no exception. This can be seen when his gang plans on robbing a white man, which in itself is an act of violence (kind of). Instead of voicing his displeasure of the thought of robbing a white man, he decides to just beat up his friends instead. I am not psychiatrist by any means, but I feel as thought his environment has some...
6 comments
Read more

Ghost Baby

At first this book kind of confused me. I didn't really understand how there could be a ghost of a baby in any form of literature, it just doesn't make sense. Why would a baby linger around after death? Perhaps I haven't read far enough to get the answer, but any answer still doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Its a baby, don't they like get a free pass into heaven or something? Like, why does this baby care so much about making everyone miserable? Why is the ghost baby so mean to the dog? Who names their dog Here Boy? When I started this class, I wasn't expecting to read a book quite like this one. I wasn't ready to suspend my disbelief and accept there were ghosts (although I kind of believe in them... its complicated). This book just uses the paranormal like I use my cellphone, often enough for it to be worrying. In Invisible Man, I didn't know it was even a fiction at the start, then again I don't know a lot of things, I just know enough to sur...
6 comments
Read more