Happiness or Day Jah Voo? (based on scenes in "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston)

Cory

Their Eyes Were Watching God Essay

Topic #1: Narrative that tells a story from Janie Stark’s point of view.

-This narrative is told from the point of view of Janie, after she had married Joe and left Logan, and looks back

on how this happened.

Happiness, Or Day Jah Voo?

Boy I shir got tarred werkin down thurr in those thurr fields cuttin dem god danged seed ‘taters. Logan thought dat I gots to werk hard fer him because his first wife werked hard. ‘Parently I wu’n’t be good nuff for him, cuz I wanted to be inside the house takin care my man and makin beaten bisquits while he worked hard. But Naaah, he had tah “drive down tah Lake City for a mule” and make his wifey work. Well, I ain’t no first wife of his, I’z a lady, and a lady don’t cut no fields fer her knightnshiningarmer! I just got plain ‘ol got sick n tarred. Seriously, he wanted so much outa me. Now he can kiss my royal diasticutis!

When ‘Ol Joey Starks came commin round tha way on dat road, I cud see him from my seat wurr I waz cuttin’ dem tater’s. He was dah guy I been dreemin of all dis time, tah get me way from my mizzerabull laff. I gave ‘im some sweet well water tah slake dat thursty throat of his. I got in quotations wid him and he told me dat I shuddent be doin’ wat I be doin now, doin deh “man’s work.” Dats wat I was be thinking all long!!!! I gotsd so happy at dat time, cuz all dat time I ben wating fer a way to get away frum dat terrible man Logan Killicks. One nite, I was so upset wit Logan cuz he kept telling me to do all ‘dis borin werk. I was all lak “If you can stand not to chop wood and tote wood Ah reckon you can stand to git no dinner.” Ohh Lawd Lawd Lawd he almost wuz cryin’. Secretly I wuz so happy dat I stood up to dat mizzerble excuse for a man.

Erry day after dat day since he came down to see me, he came again, the bee tah mah bloom, deh horizon wuz vizz’ble, I swurr tah gahd. Den one day I told Logan dat I wanted tah leav him. He was all like “ya right” but I cud see dat he was hurtsd by it, which was good because he treeted me lak I was my mother, a slave. Despicable. I ain’t no slave. Mmmm umm. Not afta wat mah Nanny went throo tah make my laff az good az it cud get. Not then, not now. Joe waz tah ‘xact opp’sit wut Logan wuz. While Logan wanted me tah work, Joe wanted me tah “relax and enjoy life.” Dass wat ahm talkin ‘bout!

Fahnly, one mornin’, Joe was tah come and pick me up. To really stick it in his face, I made Logan a final breakfast so he cud see what he wud be missn’ widout a nass wife lak me to whip up dem’ hearty meals lak dat. Dat ‘il teach him a kidogo. Heh, sure will be tough fer him up dere. Dat booboo never loved me, he jus thad an anya uku. I think he only wants a wife so he dun’t haffta do all da work ‘round da house. Hell, wouldn’t s’prize me if hiz first wife didn’t really die, but juss lak me ran right off wid a betterman. Tah me, Logan iz a lazy son of Combunction, passin off his work to me.

Joe picked me up dat morn’ in a hired rig, almost lak a dream, and dah wagg’n carried us off tah Green Cove Springs, and we gots married tuhgethah, and we was buggin’. We took dah train down tuh a town full uh colored peoples juss lak me, and Joe wuz surprisinly gud at conversin’ tuh everyone. I was m’pressed. For duh hole train radd we wuz talking bout wut to do wid duh new town we wuz goin to. Joe had duh whole thing planned out.

When we gots to duh town it wuznt as gud as we both had hoped fer it to be, but Joe wuz still cool ‘bout it. We only hadz 50 acres wen we gots thurr. Joe di’nt think that was gud ‘nuff, so he went out and bot s’more land fer deh town. 200 acres t’be ‘xact. After dat, he bilt a mail place and a generile stoar. Den one day he told me I hadda werk in dat dere generile store. I was like in my hed “Aww hell nah, hurr we go aggin!”. Frum dat point ahn, our relashunship wuz a ball was lak a snowball rollin down a hill, ‘xcept instead of snow the snowball was collecting… bad… So our relationship gotstd bad. He start’d gittin all crazy and all ‘bout my hair. He thought there was be other guyz tran’to git wid me cuz mah hair was purrty. His control started tuh get more stronger, and I gots more sadder.

So now hurr I am, trapped in uh ‘nuther relashunship that is wid a guy dat controls mah laff az much as he can. Ahll never reach dat horizon. Love is a Sisyphean struggle. How I lurned dat word wid duh turrble vocablary dat I gotz I don’t know. But it works. So iz duh next man I meet gonnah be happiness, or duh same thing all ova again, or will I be stuckszed with this man fer mah whole laff. I hope not, I hope he getz rull sick n’ dies…