Schoolteacher's view

I don’t know about you, but I was totally expecting for this scene to go as the rest of the book up to that point; narrated in third person, told primarily from Sethe’s viewpoint. But this chapter starts to sound different after a few paragraphs. We don’t hear any names of familiar characters, instead, they’ve been replaced with the title “crazy old n” and “and old n-woman with a flower in her hat. Crazy, too.” 

As we transition to the shed scene, we realize that these “crazy old n’s” are none other than Stamp Paid, the surrounding black community’s pariah, and Baby Suggs, the ultimate maternal figure. It angered me to realize that these men who stormed into Baby Suggs’ yard aren’t going to give any of the residents there even a touch of decency. Since when is Stamp Paid ‘crazy’? And Baby Suggs is the ultimate caretaker of all, not just some crazy woman who wears flowers in her hat. She grows flowers just as she grows children and mothers and life. As we came to realize, this section was narrated from the viewpoints of the slave catcher and schoolteacher. 

Given the context of the time, this isn’t the most terrible shock, but it’s quite disturbing nonetheless. As kids we learned about slavery and how bad it was and how Abraham Lincoln was a great man for freeing the slaves but in our young age we never delved into the deep psychological aspects of slavery. We didn’t comprehend that these white semi-elite men truly believed that doing what they did was what was best and religiously justified, nor did we comprehend the traumatic effects of being treated and viewed as nothing more than property.  

What’s more disturbing is schoolteacher’s view on the bigger situation at hand, as he realizes he won’t be taking Sethe and her children back with him. He’s expecting to retrieve his property. Upon seeing Sethe’s trauma-stricken “insane” state and Beloved’s dead body, he doesn’t ponder over or sympathize with the horrific loss of life, he just sees it as a teaching moment for his nephew. As if Sethe was some sort of tool that nephew handled a bit too rough or too wrong and now doesn’t work properly. While Stamp Paid is wrapping his head around the fact that he just saved Denver’s life and Baby Suggs is retreating to her room to contemplate color, schoolteacher is thinking, “snap, would’ve been a great catch. Oh well. Just gotta tell nephew to do better next time.”

We didn’t expect it to be, but this was our introduction to the pinnacle scene of the book, which is all the more harrowing. The deeper and deeper we analyze the language and the context, the more chilling it becomes how these psychological factors of race and inferiority have become second nature to some characters. Truly, no one can write and yank at your heartstrings like Toni Morrison.

Love

In the eyes of Janie, from the moment she kissed Johnny Taylor under the pear tree, love has been this powerful, gorgeous, awakening experience. She had “pollen” in her eyes as she saw the long, lean Johnny stroll up the street to her, and as she kisses Johnny she feels this pure yet enticing rapture inside her. That is, until Nanny calls her in the thwart her plans. In Janie’s world, the ideal for marriage is what she experienced with Johnny that day under the pear tree. Even before he comes bumbling along, she looks up at the tree and sees a simple yet captivating phenomenon. “She saw the dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight. So this was a marriage!” (11) Janie sees marriage as something that naturally comes with love and the wonders of nature, but in her first two marriages, she finds it to be quite different. 

Logan Killicks isn’t a bad guy, but he isn’t the type to marry. Old and ugly, Logan is a farmer who’d rather berate Janie for not helping him with chores than speak any sort of “poetry” to her. He throws Janie off quite a bit, and despite the early signs, she assumes that naturally, she will learn to love him as she found love under the pear tree. When she doesn’t, it crushes her, until she gets her wits about herself and leaves him for Joe Starks. 

Joe Starks isn’t a bad guy, either, but he’s more of a salesman than a genuine human. He was fun to talk to Janie first met him, so it makes sense why Janie would consider him a much more likely candidate for her expected love experience. It seems quite promising at first, until always strong-willed and independent Janie is forced to stay inside and be an idle housewife. When she brings her concerns to him, he passes her off, insisting it’s her “job” as the mayor’s wife to not impose herself on any major tasks but rather, basically, sit still and look pretty. 

Tea Cake Woods is different. He’s “not like other boys”. He listens. He likes Janie for her personality, not just her beauty or physicality. He wants to know her for her, not put her on display or use her as a working mule. We as readers are quite skeptical of Tea Cake, now that we’ve seen Janie go through two unsuccessful relationships with men who ended up being bland and self-serving. Through Tea Cake, though, Janie finds love and pleasure in life. He includes her in his adventures, makes her feel like part of the group, and works with her to find a working situation that suits them both the best. And yet, Tea Cake has his flaws. He’s addicted to gambling. He doesn’t keep all his promises. While the Turners are in town, feeling the pressure to prove who’s boss in their home, Tea Cake turns to beating Janie for a brief time. This aspect of their relationship is probably one of the toughest for readers to wrap their heads around, and it was certainly hard for me. 

But did Janie capital-L Love Tea Cake? I think she did. She dressed for his funeral in overalls intentionally, as that reminded her of their relationship. When Joe Starks died, she just wanted to mourning and boo-hoos to end so she could go on with her life. She dressed up in black for show. But for Tea Cake, Janie kept him with her. She forgives herself for the tragic end of his life, it seems, but she genuinely mourns him. And during his life, Janie seemed to be quite happy with him. They would play together on the muck, and Tea Cake made her feel like “part of the group”, whether it be goofing around with her in the fields, teaching her to shoot. She calls him affectionate names, and tells the truth when she goes on trial following his death. 

Love is complicated. And in the world of early-1900s Florida, it probably wasn’t any easier, especially for a woman like Janie with her family history and circumstances. All Janie wants is to kiss a handsome man like Johnny Taylor under the pear tree and love him forever and sing and watch the bees pollinate flowers, but it takes her until she’s around forty to get something close to that. It doesn’t last her very long, but you can tell she’s grateful for the experience she had with Tea Cake, the one man she truly loved.