My thoughts on "Their Eyes Were Watching God"...

Having read the book previously in high school, it dawned on me how enthused I may have been at thew time not notice the story for it was. Maybe I seen it as just another book in a college preparatory class, I may have even spark noted it to pass my exam! Who knows, what I do know now is that the story is off the charts. The beginning is the most significant for me because it set the tone for the entire book. Kind of like a "little black girl lost" type of vibe. The fact that she grew up without a mother and father and had to live with just enough with granny immediately clicked the switches in my head about books I'd read with similar plots, but that was thing that got me, tis was only the exposition, not EVEN the rising action, I was intrigued. Anyhow the use of symbolism is ever so present with Janie's talk about spring, the bees, flowers, and most importantly, the pear tree. So to start from the top, and these are MY interpretations of the symbols posed; Spring time, in literary symbolism, the spring is a sign of birth and/or new beginning. The fact that Janie was starting to find her sexuality, and becoming of age solidified for me that she was either going to "become a woman" or break free from granny and start a whole new life fresh and anew. However, her constant referral to the color yellow (bees, flowers, the sun) made me second guess that her new life was going to be sugar. In fact, yellow symbolizes maturity, heat, violence, old age(Mr. Killicks' OLD SELF) and even decay(Janie's feelings that her life is slipping away before her once she gets with Killicks). To close this out the infamous pear tree, this symbolizes mourning and/or fleeting nature of life. So as I read on and Janie's grandmother revealed her strife and MOURNING for her daughter's life and her grand daughter's future. BUT, trying to sign poor Janie's life off to some old, rich, MAN, at sixteen was Janie's childhood decayed, her life was slipping away from her because she was unhappy and definitely not in love.

What do I think about diversity?

Diversity, as it relates to America, carries the weight of an immense double standard on it's back. It's glorified in a sense that has the opportunity to experience any culture, at any time at their local festival or movie theatre; but on the other side of the coin, it can also be constantly taken for granted when an employer or event coordinator for such events refuse to hire too many minorities. Instead they opt for the latter and hire just enough to keep the government from breathing down their necks. So even as America has enhanced by people from all cultures, walks, and ethnicities, she refuses to accept the fact that she was built on the blood, sweat, and strength of multicultural ancestry. No matter how much her European born "founders" try to westernize the values and belief systems into the man-made watch dog we know as society, the rich and everlasting dynamics of as people from far and near have marked her territory and embedded their own contribution in her very soil. The voices of the past and their reflection on today's norms permeate the atmosphere every time a group of African-American, Chinese-American, and Native-American kids can patronize a prestigious private school, and stand to learn the importance of team work; not only is America diversified, but the majority of her inhabitants enjoy every moment of it, whether they like it or not.

is america a post racial society??

America won't allow itself to see past color. Racism as a whole was a learned behavior and with being said, anything learned or taken in can be purged; so why are there still hate crimes against minorities? Simple. The white race has surpassed racial oppression and cultural imperialism, and have took it there with ethnocentrism. The old adage "if it's white, it's right" is the standard America still stands on because that's what it's society was built on. After decades of the same behavior, it does not take someone in social or political power to crack the whip of oppression and/or racism, it could be a few managers at a second rate clothing store inside of a city mall; as is the case for my situation. I was employed at Levi's & Dockers By Most in the Sawgrass Mills Mall of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and I witnessed blatant disrespect of my people on a daily basis. Not only were blacks watched as SOON as they entered the store, but one could also say they experienced retail harassment. They were followed around, and myself and another black co worker (we were the only two there, bearing the burden of everyone task imaginable throughout the whole store) were the delegates to carry out the mission. Day by day people from all walks of life, ethnicities, cultures, social classes or what have you patronized this establishment, but only the blacks had to receive the viciousness of judgement upon appearance of color. SMH. Anyhow one day, an assistant manager whom I'd grown to like, AGAIN came to me asking that I watch a group of Jamaican guys once they walked in the store, only this time she said: "watch those black bastards, I don't trust them." Yes, she did, as if she had gotten so comfortable with me that she could come out of her mouth with CONSPICUOUS disrespect to a fellow HUMAN BEING. No circumlocution to eventually get around to the fact that she WOULDN'T trust a black face; but total disrespect. So you ask, is America a post racial society? No it isn't.