Rowe 2 Mia Rowe
Ms. Johnson
AP English Literature
6 November 2017 The Conflicting Ways of Mrs. Turner
In most stories, characters are introduced with unknown intentions and unknown worldly views. Mrs. Turner, on the other hand, is not a character from most stories. From the second she makes a closer connection with Janie, she is very clear about her opinions on social structure and her own beliefs. Mrs. Turner is a stubborn-minded woman with bloodlines reaching to both black and white descendants; however, she chooses to neglect her African-American relatives and in return, chooses to claim her superiority with the Caucasians. Her strong beliefs on whites over blacks are a strong metaphor to the beliefs of the Christian religion in the sense of idolizing one thing and believing that it comes before all. This shows another level to her already known fanatical ways and reveals her strong devotion, her hypocritical ways of seeing color, and how jealous …show more content…
Turner holds one person higher than the others; Janie. Mrs. Turner sees all colored folk just the same, but surprisingly has a somewhat soft spot for Janie. She holds Janie unaccountable because of her features. Janie, just like Mrs. Turner, is mixed with both African American and Caucasian. The only difference is that Janie has more of the “white” feature that Mrs. Turner lacks. Janie is more slimmed out, has a thinner nose, and less prominent lips. Mrs. Turner envies Janie for this and tries to make Janie see things the way she does. Janie does not give into her thought process, as she would put it, “If dat’s her notion she’s barkin’ up de wrong tree” (143). Even though Mrs. Turner’s attempts to change Janie fail, she still idolizes her. This reveals her jealousy and another layer of her already layered insecurities. Although Mrs. Turner tries to make herself seem high and mighty to others, Janie reveals it is only a front. All in all, revealing even more of Mrs. Turner’s
Ms. Johnson
AP English Literature
6 November 2017 The Conflicting Ways of Mrs. Turner
In most stories, characters are introduced with unknown intentions and unknown worldly views. Mrs. Turner, on the other hand, is not a character from most stories. From the second she makes a closer connection with Janie, she is very clear about her opinions on social structure and her own beliefs. Mrs. Turner is a stubborn-minded woman with bloodlines reaching to both black and white descendants; however, she chooses to neglect her African-American relatives and in return, chooses to claim her superiority with the Caucasians. Her strong beliefs on whites over blacks are a strong metaphor to the beliefs of the Christian religion in the sense of idolizing one thing and believing that it comes before all. This shows another level to her already known fanatical ways and reveals her strong devotion, her hypocritical ways of seeing color, and how jealous …show more content…
Turner holds one person higher than the others; Janie. Mrs. Turner sees all colored folk just the same, but surprisingly has a somewhat soft spot for Janie. She holds Janie unaccountable because of her features. Janie, just like Mrs. Turner, is mixed with both African American and Caucasian. The only difference is that Janie has more of the “white” feature that Mrs. Turner lacks. Janie is more slimmed out, has a thinner nose, and less prominent lips. Mrs. Turner envies Janie for this and tries to make Janie see things the way she does. Janie does not give into her thought process, as she would put it, “If dat’s her notion she’s barkin’ up de wrong tree” (143). Even though Mrs. Turner’s attempts to change Janie fail, she still idolizes her. This reveals her jealousy and another layer of her already layered insecurities. Although Mrs. Turner tries to make herself seem high and mighty to others, Janie reveals it is only a front. All in all, revealing even more of Mrs. Turner’s