Journal 1

Hey, I'm sorry for posting so late in the night, but I just got back from my PYP rehearsal about an hour and a half ago (commitment), and English wasn't the first assignment I started working on. Here is my Journal 1:

Janie strikes me as a woman who has deep struggles with who she is and who she wishes to think she is. Janie, "had come back from burying the dead", and was instantly met with criticism and jealousy on the part of the other townspeople. The men lust after her and the women gossip. These opinions outside of her family do not have any affect on her, but the things that her nanny says cause Janie to reconsider where she is going and if she has any idea what she is going to do with her life. Her nanny asks Janie to get married: "Janie, youse uh 'oman, now, so- . . . Ah wants to see you married right away" (pg 12). Janie replies by stating that she doesn't think of herself as "no real 'oman yet". Janie doesn't know where she is in life. Also, "Nanny's words made Janie's kiss across the gatepost seem like a manure pile after a rain." This shows that Janie was raised in a home with straight morals and dislikes the thought of not meeting those morals. Janie's careful consideration of Nanny's words (The fact that she felt the way she does when she imagines the kiss as a manure pile: sinful, disappointing, etc) exhibits a loyalty that she has with people close to her.
The narrator has the perspective of seeing all the actions of the characters in third person, but he/she seems to know the thoughts of Janie only. She(assuming the narrator is female), still manages to describe the other characters very descriptively through imagery, metaphors, and diction. The narrator shows that all the people of this community have the same colloquialisms ( 'oman, Ah, mout, betcha, lak, etc). Because of this all encompassing feeling of knowledge (knowledge of Janie's thoughts, all the characters' actions, etc) except for the thoughts of others, the idea that Janie must be followed is given by the Narrator.

Just a thought:
In the passage "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", the narrator describes the actions of the townspeople, even going so far as directly telling us that "a mood [had] come alive". The narrator also uses Irony(?) by saying "Words walking without masters". The words of the townspeople are are being said under no rule, no restraints, and no constraints. However, the words are being presented by the narrator, contradicting the earlier statement. Maybe this means that, through the language of the story and the position of the narrator, Hurtson will reveal reasons for a future disorderliness? (Just a thought )