dale12’s Blog

     I finally understand why so many people were against this book when it came out. There are specific things that Hurston says that really insult African Americans. It was reasonable to think that because of the time period when this book was published that there would be some people who were angry about the airing of the dirty laundry, but I did not expect Hurston to say things like this,

“Us colored folks is too envious of one ‘nother. Dat’s how come us don’t git no further than us do. Us talks about de white man keepin’ us down! Shucks! He don’t have tuh. Us keeps our own selves down,” (39).

     This is some powerful stuff that I have honestly never read before. It shows Hurston looking past how white people treated blacks, and all of those race issues, and decided to talk about different African American issues at hand. What she says about African Americans is the same for any other race. People in general have problems that have nothing to do with race. One of the examples in this quote is greed. Everybody wants to be rich and have lots of land, but if you try to take others land and they do the same to you, no one will get anywhere. This new town that Janie and her new husband visit needs to let Joe step up to the plate and guide their town to success, or at least the ability to get on the map. Joe really has this attitude of change around him and he seems to be ready for that leadership role. If Hicks can stop being greedy, and let Joe bring prosperity to the little town then Hicks will see the profits too. We will all benefit from the profits as long as our goal is the same.