Exploring Black Trauma
Their Eyes Were Watching God is a book telling the story of the life of Janie Mae Crawford. Janie lives what I would say is rather fulfilling life. She finds love, gets married, does it again, acquires wealth, happiness, and eventually peace as well. Her story is a captivating one, but in this post the focus shifts to her grandmother, Nanny Crawford. Nanny's life was considerably more disconsolate than Janie's, she was born into slavery and raped by her master. She managed to escape slavery with her daughter, though failed to protect Janie's mother from being raped by her schoolteacher. Nanny faced considerable horrific moments of pain and violence, experiences that shaped her into a very hardened old woman. Nanny's outlook of life is bleak, she prioritizes her granddaughter's safety over all else, and while her methods are disagreeable at times, her position is understandable. Considering the hardships that Nanny has faced, it's no surprise when she decides to force Janie into a loveless marriage with what she perceives is a safe man. Janie is not so understanding, and eventually grows to hate Nanny for ingraining in her values of wealth, security, and status. These are all things that Nanny never had, and it is reasonable for her to want better for her granddaughter. The psychological effects of Nanny's experience with slavery and rape from white aggressors manifested in her prioritizing safety and stability for Janie, over things like romance or love or adventure, things that Nanny is probably skeptical of.
If you look at the story of Margaret Garner, the woman Beloved was inspired by, you can see the psychological affects of slavery manifest in a different, more violent form. Margaret was a woman willing to kill not only herself but her own daughter as well, rather than be subjected to slavery. Both Margaret and Nanny escaped under dire circumstances, but Nanny was fortunate enough to stay free. Drawing a parallel between these two women, one could point out that each felt that they knew what was best for their daughters, without regard for what their daughters may have felt on the matter. Margaret's story is more drastic, more saddening, but it also drives home further the severity of the mental damage the experience of slavery had on African Americans, but African American women in particular. Sethe, the woman based off of Margaret was, like Nanny, sexually assaulted by white captors. Neither of these women were willing to see their daughters face the same hardships, nor were they willing to leave it up to chance, and both did what they felt was necessary to ensure that. Without experiencing what these women experienced, I don't know that I can say for sure I would've done anything different.
I agree that these perspectives from these different authors are good representations on the trauma that slavery inflicted, as both of them (especially Beloved) go into detail about the horrors they endured and what they were willing to sacrifice. In Beloved, comparing School Teacher, nephew, the sheriff, and the slave catcher to the four horseman, as they mark the end of her existence with her family.
ReplyDeleteGreat job! I really like how you explore different points of views and different characters' stories and experiences; comparing and contrasting Janie and Nanny to analyze how their stories played out. The theme of trauma is a thread in both Their Eyes Were Watching God and Beloved, but I never noticed it until now. I also like how you mention Margaret Garner while exploring Beloved.
ReplyDeleteSethe really had no choice, and her knowing about how they would have treated her kids was more of a reason to "save them". Nanny had similar logic, she knew the alternative and chose what she thought would have been better for her loved one. Black history has been riddled with many moments of choosing the "lesser evil", and people are just doing what they have to do.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really great comparison that I had not thought about very much. I also think that similar to Nanny, Sethe's mother makes a big impression on her, even though she doesn't remember her very well. It seems to me that it is partly because of her mother having to leave her at a young age that Sethe doesn't ever want to leave her children,
ReplyDeleteI would never have thought to compare these two characters but this is a really good comparison. When we get Nanny's backstory it is right before we learn about her choosing to marry Janie off to a man that Janie doesn't want to marry, which Janie finds very frustrating. On the other hand, the information about some of what happened to Sethe in Beloved comes long before we learn about Sethe's reaction to it. I think that this also makes the characters and their actions seem different to readers when they are really much more similar.
ReplyDeleteI think your analysis of these two characters is really good, and I totally agree that they were both doing whatever they could to protect the people they loved. I mean, Margaret didn't really have another choice in order to keep her child safe, and Nanny didn't want to leave Janie without providing her a safe future.
ReplyDeleteI think you did a great job here showing the parallels between the two stories. I haven't recognized this connection until now, and it makes a lot of sense. Nanny and Margaret's experiences with slavery caused them lasting trauma that caused them both to take extreme measures in order to protect their loved ones from it.
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