Their eyes were watching God (ch.4~ch.6)

The second part I read incensed me. I don't know if this book will give me misanthropic views about men promising a rosy future and betraying the woman, but Joe Starks surely isn't a guy to trust. Maybe I should blame it on the general idea of the society and the era, not the individual, but his male chauvinistic lines were quite dramatic.

I did not like him from the start. His part about 'a young girl like you should sit down and eat potatoes and fan yourself' may be pretty impressive for lame girls, but for me that's not what I should be treated like. I recognized that it's the difference of paradigm since at that time I'm sure not a lot of women actively participated outside the house. So I concluded it's okay for Janie to fall into that, because it's better than being treated like a mule.

The second time he really made me frown was the part when he stopped the crowd requesting for Janies' speech and said she doesn't know anything about giving speeches. Reading Janie's lines, I think she is a clever woman who knows what she's saying. The prejudice that Joe put on his wife was something Janie should have gotten offended by, and I was glad that she did not accept it, saying she actually felt uncomfortable by what he said.
One question that came upon me was, would men with authority, intelligence and power have been more drastic in male chauvinistic attitude? What would have made such men that way? How is education different nowadays so that educated men recognize gender equality?

The part about Janie tying up her hair did make me chuckle a bit, because it showed Joe's jealousy which was expressed in such a childish, unwise way. It's like never showing his inventions to the world because he's afraid other people would steal his ideas. From a lot of sources, and growing up, I discovered men express jealousy oftentimes.
The notion I got here was that Joe did not treat Janie lot a proper person, or a seperate individual. If you don't like other people looking at your new bag, you can hide it. But you can't force someone you love to hide her attractive features just because you feel jealous of other people admiring it. I concluded that Joe views 'wife' as a 'thing', to be really dramatic in expression.

Men hitting women only proves that the only way they got over women in the early history was because of their strength. Joe Stark proved my thoery. Women can't hit men even if he earns little money. In the same sense, men should not even think about hitting women even if she cooks bad. But Joe Stark did, because he knew Janie could not hit back; she's a woman, naturally weaker than man. I believe hitting women is a way to show their inner weakness. If men want to beat women, they should beat women with intelligence, not strength.

Joe Stark reminded me of men with success these days who doesn't treat their wives right. I had a friend in middle school whose dad was a renowned doctor. She told me (confidentially) that her dad treats her mom very harshly. They may have a notion that women are naturally inferior to men.
Joe's line where he says "I god, they sho don't think none themselves/ They just think they's thinkin'. When Ah see one thing Ah understands ten. You see ten things and don't understand one," was pretty much the finale of his chauvinism.
I just felt so much passion for Janie standing up for it. I love her because she has things to say for women. I guess Janies' active attitude(though not always) made women get attracted to this book. She mentions God who created all people equally. I felt like I would get into the book right there and cheer for her. I think this scene was a victory for Janie, with her courage to refute.

A last question I thought of was, black men experienced inequality posed by others. Which means they know what it feels like to be treated inferior. But then, why do they do so to women? Shouldn't they realize that it is a terrible idea and rather stop?
Because I once read this article with statistical facts that showed how teenagers who have been bullied before tends to bully other teens more than average teens do. A son who had an alcoholic dad is more likely to become alcoholic and abuse his family when he becomes the leader of the family.
I am very into psychology. I wish to delve deeper into this issue.

Anticipating for what comes up next!