Journal #10

Theme: Jealousy clouds the mind with thoughts and assumptions leading to bad judgement and or bad actions.

Seeing the woman as she was made them remember the envy they had stored up from other times. So they chewed up the back parts of their minds and swallowed with relish. They made burning statements with questions, and killing tools out of laughs. It was mass cruelty. A mood come alive. Words walking without masters; walking altogether like harmony in a song.  (pg 2)
   

 "What she doin coming back here in dem overhalls? Can’t she find no dress to put on? – Where’s dat blue satin dress she left here in? – Where all dat money her husband took and died and left her? – What dat ole forty year ole ‘oman doin’ wid her hair swingin’ down her back lak some young gal? – Where she left dat young lad of a boy she went off here wid? – Thought she was going to marry? – Where he left her? – What he done wid all her money? – Betcha he off wid some gal so young she ain’t even got no hairs – Why she don’t stay in her class?  (pg 2)

"They, the men, were saving with the mind what they lost with the eye.  The women took the faded shirt and muddy overalls and laid them away for remembrance.  It was a weapon against her strength and if it turned out of no significance, still it was a hope that she might fall to their level some day." (pg 2)

"She ain’t even worth talkin’ after," Lulu Moss drawled through her nose. "She sits high, but she looks low. Dat’s what Ah say ‘bout dese ole women runnin’ after young boys." (pg 3)

The jealousy that the men and women have leads later on to gossip and judgement.

"You know if you pass some people and don’t speak tuh suit ‘em dey got tuh go way back in yo’ life and see whut you ever done.  They know mo' 'bout yuh than you do yo' self.  An envious heart makes a treacherous ear.  They done 'heard' 'bout you just what they hope done happened." (pg 5)

"Logan with his shovel looked like a black bear doing some clumsy dance on his hind legs." (pg 30)
-Figurative language-use of a simile

"Janie soon began to feel the impact of awe and envy against her sensibilities. The wife of the Mayor was not just another woman as she had supposed. She slept with authority and so she was part of it in the town mind. She couldn’t get but so close to most of them in spirit. It was especially noticeable after Joe had forced through a town ditch to drain the street in front of the store. They had murmured hotly about slavery being over, but every man filled his assignment." (pg 44)

"Maybe he make her do it. Maybe he skeered de rest of us mens might touch it round dat store." (pg 47)

"That was because Joe never told Janie how jealous he was.  He never told her how often he had seen the other men figuratively wallowing in it as she went about things in the store.  And one night he had caught Walter standing behind Janie and brushing the back of his hand back and forth across the loose end of her braid ever so lightly so as to enjoy the feel of it without Janie knowing what he was doing.  He felt like rushing forth with the meat knife and chopping off the offending hand.  that night he ordered Janie to tie up her hair around the store.  That was all.  She was there in the store for him to look at, not those others.  But he never said things like that." (pg 51-52)

"So he didn’t come that night and she laid in bed and pretended to think scornfully of him. "Bet he’s hangin’ round some jook or ‘nother. Glad Ah treated him cold. Whut do Ah want wid some trashy nigger out de streets? Bet he’s livin’ wid some woman or ‘nother and takin’ me for uh fool. Glad Ah caught mahself in time." She tried to console herself that way." (pg 102)

"It was after the picnic that the town began to notice things and got mad. Tea Cake and Mrs. Mayor Starks! All the men that she could get, and fooling with somebody like Tea Cake! Another thing, Joe Starks hadn’t been dead but nine months and here she goes sashaying off to a picnic in pink linen. Done quit attending church, like she used to. Gone off to Sanford in a car with Tea Cake and her all dressed in blue! It was a shame. Done took to high heel slippers and a ten dollar hat! Looking like some young girl, always in blue because Tea Cake told her to wear it. Poor Joe Starks. Bet he turns over in his grave every day. Tea Cake and Janie gone hunting. Tea Cake and Janie gone fishing. Tea Cake and Janie gone to Orlando to the movies. Tea Cake and Janie gone to a dance. Tea Cake making flower beds in Janie’s yard and seeding the garden for her. Chopping down that tree she never did like by the dining room window. All those signs of possession."  (pg 105)

"De men wuz talkin' 'bout it in de grove tuhday and givin' her and Tea Cake both de devil.  Dey figger he's spendin' on her now in order tuh make her spend on him later."
"Umph!  Umph!  Umph!"
"Oh dey got it all figgered out.  Maybe it ain't as bad as they say, but they talk it and make it sound real bad on her part."
"Dat's jealousy and malice.  Some uh dem very mens wants tuh do whut dey claim deys skeered Tea Cake is doin'." (pg 106)

"They had to give it to her, she sho looked good, but she had no business to do it.  It was hard to love a woman that always made you feel so wishful." (pg 111)

"Janie learned what if felt like to be jealous...She began to be snappish a little.  A little seed of fear was growing into a tree.  Maybe some day Tea Cake would weaken.  Maybe he had already given secret encouragement and this was Nunkie's way of bragging about it.  Other people began to notice too, and that put Janie more on a wonder....She just acted on feelings.  She rushed into the cane and about the fifth row down she found Tea Cake and Nunkie struggling.  She was on them before either knew.
"Whut's de matter heah?"  Janie asked in a cold rage.  They sprang apart.
"Nothin'," Tea Cake told her, standing shame faced. 
"Well, whut you doin' in heah?  How come you ain't out dere wid de rest?"
"She grabbed mah workin' tickets outa mah shirt pocket and Ah run tuh git 'em back,"  Tea Cake explained, showing the tickets, considerably mauled about in the struggle....She walked slowly and thoughtfully to the quarters.  It wasn't long before Tea Cake found her there and tried to talk.  She cut him short with a blow and they fought from one room to the other, Janie trying to beat him, and Tea Cake kept holding her wrists and wherever he could to keep her from going too far.
"Ah b'lieve you been messin' round her!"  She panted furiously. (pg 130-131)