"Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men."
The beginning of Their Eyes Were Watching God definitely confused me. What does the ship metaphor have to do with the rest of this story? Hurston rapidly transitions between omniscient narration to following Janie's life from her perspective, which can be disorienting for readers. However, I would argue that the ship metaphor serves to ground Janie's story by explaining the background to how Janie's world works.
First of all, starting with ships connects people's hopes and dreams to Florida's costal landscape. Ships represent everyone's aspirations that often go unfufilled. Aspirations can come in with the tide (fail) or sail forever on the horizon (go unrealized, but still hoped for). There is no option for success because of racial and economic oppression that restricts Janie's community. These ships cannot steer or land themselves, only be thrown in or out with the tide.
The Watcher represents uncontrollable forces that dictate life. This view of life is almost naturalistic because people really have no control over their destiny. Janie just ends up married to Logan Killicks, who is smelly and likes manure, without any choice of her own. Then she finds herself chained to Mayor Starks, who treats her like a fancier, dressier bell cow. These marriages just kind of happen without Janie's approval, as if the Watcher has decided her future without regard for her own hopes. Janie's dream of a romantic pear tree love continue sailing away from her as Time mocks her.
I completely agree with your views about the meaning of the ship metaphor. I always associate the idea of a ship with secret isolation and risk, as a boat is alone in a special way where it could be lost forever to the ocean and nobody would ever know where it went. I think this perspective fits well with Janie as she seems to be drifting from place to place, never really making stable connections and always truly solitary. Sure sometimes she may stop at the port of a marriage but those are bound to end one day and she'll find herself back adrift at sea.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great interpretation of the opening lines. I think your point about the ships setting the stage and symbolizing an unobtainable freedom was interesting. After thinking back on those first couple chapters, I realized that a lot of the events could be linked back to this idea of freedom and helplessly watching your dreams float in the distance. For Janie, she has always had this romantic idea of love but is unable to attain this due to her Grandmother's pressure to marry someone immediately.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I was also definitely very confused yet intrigued by the beginning of the novel but as we get deeper into the story I am beginning to understand it a little bit more. It will definitely be interesting to see how the beginning begins to make more sense as the story progresses.
ReplyDeleteI'm interested in the last line. "That is the life of men" could be generally talking about all people or it could be making a distinction between men and women. (I don't remember where in the open of the novel she talks about men and women but it might be this part) Is there something about men that makes them more susceptible to this idea of lost but lingering hope? If so, why is Janie the one in the novel who seems to have all of her options and dreams taken away more than others because of her status in society?
ReplyDeleteThis passage about "the life of men" is followed immediately with the more colloquial sounding, "Now, women forget all those things they don't want to remember . . . ," so it does seem as if "men" is gendered and not "universal" in that opening paragraph. Hurston depicts men's and women's dreams, desires, and relationship to "horizon" in starkly contrasting terms.
DeleteTo me, this metaphor sets the precedent for Janie's struggle with love. The next line especially, which says for women the "dream is the truth", foreshadows the romanticism imbedded in Janie's psyche in that same hopefulness. In a sense, it allows her to make her dreams reality, but ultimately she's just picking and choosing what to pay attention to, it's a selective reality.
ReplyDeleteI really like your interpretation of the opening section of this book. Another way that the naturalistic view of Hurston comes through in this section is how she puts everyone at the whim of the ocean, one of the most powerful natural forces. This really shows Hurston's point, especially because the ocean is so big and uncontrollable. I think Hurston is a little like Richard Wright, in that they have a more cynical view of a predetermined future for everyone.
ReplyDeleteThis metaphor was very interesting to me as I had almost no clue with what it could actually mean when I started reading. I really liked the interpretation of the metaphor you took. To me, I think that it could maybe be tied into Janie's love life. The metaphor really shows the struggles that Janie went through to achieve her dream of a romantic relationship and how it is always in the horizon waiting to be achieved. It shows kind of her dream and how the dream could turn into reality, but also how dreams could never fully be turned into reality, grounding Janie.
ReplyDeleteI really like your reading of this metaphor in how true it is. It brings out the sort of helplessness we as humans feel but also hopefulness when looking at our futures and destinies. I'd also add that those ships are being piloted by people, meaning that the dreams of someone else are inherently affected by others.
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