Loveless Marriage

I think in each of the books we have read, there has been one or more people that marry for status and wealth then for love. Then there were a few that actually held out for love. Now that makes me wonder, how many people, in real life, actually married for love back then, instead of money and social class.

In Pride and Prejudice, I think he name was Caroline or something married the creepy cousin for wealth. Then there is the marriage at the end that we are kind of satisfied with, did Elizabeth really marry for love though? They did have a connection and a secret passion for each other.

In Wuthering Height, Catherine married Edgar instead of Heathcliff, who was her soul mate, because of status. Heathcliff married Isabelle for revenge. I think the only ones that married for love is Hindly and his wife that was not in the story long. Young Cathy Might have liked Linton but they were more forced into a marriage, later she married Hareton not really for love but just because they grew together and just decided it would be the thing to do.

Now in Their Eyes are Watching God, Janie got married to Killicks which definitely not love. She has interest in Jody, who has bought her almost everything she wants, and she is happy. Out of all the books so far I say this is the only book that the main character has actually married for love, but look what is happening to her. He is treating her badly and hiding her from society.

Is it better to marry for love or for status and wealth?

Love and Freedpm

Today in class the topic of love and freedom was brought up. This instantly made me think of my life and the decisions that brought me to this class. The choice of maintaining love or pursuing personal goals caused me to make the most difficult decision of my life. I walked away from the only love I have known since I began dating some 15 years ago. I chose to break it off because I felt I was holding her back. We had a 9 year age difference and she was in the middle of college. I was constantly feeling the need to finish my life dreams and attempt to right some wrongs I had done. I felt that if I did truly love her it would be selfish of me to drag her through my crap when she has her whole life ahead of her. I had lived mine and she was just starting hers. I did not want to rob her of the ability to experience limitless potential. Something that we start to loose as we get older, or at least find difficult to achieve. I left her 3 years ago and earned my black belt (life goal,11 years to complete) moved to Wisconsin to be a dad to my 8 year old daughter and enrolled in college to pursue my other life goal. I have maintained a close friendship with her. The only ex I have ever managed to stay friends with. To get back to my original point of love and freedom. The more I pursue the "right things" the more I feel like I have to make a choice of freedom and goal setting or love and settling for mediocre. Many characters in these books seem to choose security and boredom over love. I am starting to feel that you cannot have both, freedom and love. In my case it is hard to find someone to be your best friend, who is able to stand by you, and you by them, while being flexible enough to relocate for schooling and jobs while still maintaining contact with my daughter, and be marriage minded, but not kid minded. As I get older I am surer of what I want and feel that I may be becoming to inflexible to meet someone. This causes me to contemplate my choice of love or freedom on an almost daily basis. I seem to have gone on a ramble here yet again. I will sum up by saying that finding love and freedom together is the ultimate ideal. If that is an impossibility, then I hope to find the inner peace to exist in lonely freedom and the strength to not succumb to unfulfilled love.

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Hurston's novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, I feel is a refreshing change in reading compared to that of Pride and Prejudice and Wuthering Heights. The words seem to be somewhat poetic in the introduction. I also like the fact that Janie isn't afraid to go searching for the person she really wants to be with. The fact that she switches men from time to time searching for someone she loves feels like I can relate to her. Shes just trying to find that certain person who she can fall madly in love with and be treated with respect and not like a "mule" like Logan was trying to do or being dominated like she was with Jody.

I feel that Janie and I kinda have the same ideas when it comes to love. We both don't want to just settle for someone, we want to have that yearning for someone who truly cares and loves us. The fact that we have both come across guys who are controlling and jealous helps me really understand her point of view in the novel. I really like this book so far!

Love Among the Pear Trees

In high school, I read this book and I fell in love with it immediately. Since then, I've read it several times and still cannot get enough of it! One of the things I love about "Their Eyes Were Watching God" is that is reads almost like poetry. It is so detailed in every image that it feels as if I'm there witnessing the story.

It also has powerful and beautiful symbolism. For example, the scene with the pear tree and the bee. It is written with flair of naivety that reveals Janie's own personality. It shows that she wants to experience love and "to struggle with life" no matter the cost (11). This scene also shows how close Hurston was to nature. Not only this scene, but the mule, too. The mule symbolizes how Nanny believes that the "[black] woman is de mule uh de world" (14). By allowing the townspeople to treat Matt Bonner's mule that manner, Hurston is creating a metaphor for the way black women were treated.

Another interesting aspect of this book is that it shows how fleeting and unpredictable life is. I mean, Janie first had to marry Logan Killicks whom she really did not want to even be with. Then, out of thin air, comes Joe Starks, promising that she'll be treated like a queen and how he'll always be there. Of course, Janie believes him thinking that this will surely be love.

Hurston proves that there's nothing wrong with trying to find love among the bees and pear trees.

Their eyes were watching god

Their eyes were watching god, is deff catching my interest. I really think that this is going to be the book i enjoy the most. I love the book already and i don't want to stop reading it. I think other then the other two books in a way this one is a different style and i like it. i like the character Janie. she may seem like she is leading all these guys on but i feel like shes just trying to find love the right way. She don't want to be with someone who she isn't happy with, but at the same time shes still trying to make everyone happy. In class i really enjoyed how we talked about the book because i did find some parts that were a bit confusing. There is allot of times when reading this the way they talk gets me puzzled and i don't know what they mean. This book falls so with on my soc234 class because its about race and ethnicity. I think that this is the reason im enjoying the book so much, because i am talking about something im talking about in another class so i know allot of history on it and its fresh.

It's A Love Story, Baby Just Say Yessss

In class on Tuesday, the lovely Taylor Swift was brought up because of her song about Romeo and Juliet called "Love Story." This song is a modern take on the ancient play. I started to think that a lot Taylor Swift songs are based on love stories and I started to wonder if stories about heartbreak and relationships ending are considered love stories too. When I look back at the qualities of a love story there are many similarities. In her songs there is usually a story about two people,romance, passion, and sometimes drama, and tragedy. These songs remind me of the romance novels that are not necessarily literary works of art but are very popular. Taylor Swifts songs appeal to a wide variety of teenage girls just like romance novels appeal to a wide audience.

Heathcliff, Its Me Catherine. Come Home.

I thought Heathcliff was rather creepy near the ending of Wuthering Heights. The way he flung himself at Catherine's grave, went crazy over her and opened up her grave was rather ... dark and creepy. Perhaps he reacted that way towards the end because he finally realized how his actions towards everyone was. It seems that his actions are rather an impulse rather than to think about how the situation is at the moment and how to solve it. When something does not go his way, he reacts in a violent way towards everyone who comes into his path.

Another thing was the music video by Kate Bush. I understand that it was wierd and crazy & etc. but I enjoyed the song (without the video). Although I just wanted to comment that she acted that way in the video because she may have been portraying the characters in the novel. I mean the characters in the novel were uber crazy and just everywhere unlike the characters in Pride & Prejudice or the ones in Their Eyes Were Watching God. Bronte's characters are in a different time setting and period, therefore their actions and personalities will be different apart from everyone else's set of what a character holds and portrays. I found the music video to be interesting and it shows a part of every character in her odd performance. Like how she was in a trance walking foward with her arms out, that's like Heathcliffe at the end of the novel; how he went around thinking he saw Catherine or spoke to her.

But I love the book we are reading at the moment :) The movie is great also!! ♥Adieu.