Comparison Of The Courtroom Scene Of Janie's Their Eyes Were Watching God?

In the courtroom scene of “Their eyes were watching god”, where the main character Janie is on trial for shooting her husband Tea Cake after, he charged at her and she shot him with a gun that he gave her. The critic that I am going to be talking about is Washington, who says that because Janie’s important speeches are being told in 3rd person point of view in the courtroom scene, she is disempowered as a female character. In this essay it will talk about how even though some parts of the story with Janie being the one experiencing them is being told in a 3rd person perspective, it doesn’t mean she is being disempowered as a female character. The reason for this is because she is the one who is experiencing some of these events that are being …show more content…
However, in “Jonah’s Gourd Vine”, it is a little different than in “Their Eyes were watching God” because the man in Jonah’s Gourd Vine is choosing to be silent. The reason for this is so that he can defy a hypocritical, racist system and to protect the black community. She sees this as an opposite because the silence of Janie in the courtroom scene and having a 3rd person narrate it, is enforcing the silence of Janie. While in the Jonah’s Gourd Vine the silence is being enforced and instead is being chosen by the main character in the character in the courtroom …show more content…
One example of how this is wrong is in chapter 11 (100), where it says “Janie wanted to ask Hezekiah about Tea Cake, but she was afraid he might misunderstand her and think she was interested”. This relates to the statement that it doesn’t disempower Janie as a female character because even though it is being told by another person, it is still coming from Janie’s thoughts and actions in this scene described in the book. Another quote to support the thesis is also on the first page of chapter 11 as well and it says “She heard someone humming like they were feeling for pitch and looked towards the door”. This relates to the thesis because even though it is told from a 3rd person point of view it is describing her own actions for her, but from her directly. Also another quote from the first page of chapter 11 can relate to the thesis “Finally she smiled and he sung middle C, pit his guitar under his arm and walked on back to where she was”. This relates to the thesis like the other two pieces of evidence and that is because it is being told by a 3rd person narrator, but it is describing what Janie herself is seeing and is doing from her perspective. On page 103 of chapter 11 there is another scene in the book that is being told in a 3rd person narration, but is also describing to the reader what Janie is seeing from her point