ShmoopTube

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Their Eyes were Watching God, a la Shmoop.

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My name is Janie Crawford...

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And if you hear anybody else talkin' bout a Janie Crawford,

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you can tell 'em to KEEP ON FLAPPIN' THEIR BIG YAPPERS!

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....'cause there ain't nobody who ain't me that know what I been through.

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... if you listen to my story, you might learn a thing or two about the real Janie Crawford.

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From the time I was a young woman 'til now, I've changed a lot...

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And each time, my heart had somethin' to do with it.

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You could say that I was changed by the men I loved...or didn't love.

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But I'd tell you that it was me doin' the changin'... and those men?

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...well, I'd say they were just lessons I learned about who to listen to

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and who to tell to shove off.

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True love... Ever since I was a young woman, I wanted it.

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Back then I was seduced by the beauty of a pear tree in full blossom,

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a bee pollinating its flowers...

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...subtle metaphor alert.

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And then this boy from my class came walkin' over and in the glow of the pear tree,

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he changed...

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...and so did I, on account of my heart had never made executive decisions over my brain before.

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I guess my heart's always been a go-getter.

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My Nanny was not pleased, even when I explained

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that it was the pear tree and bees pollinatin' and true love and stuff...

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So, my Nanny did what any sensible woman does when she sees her granddaughter kiss a boy

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for the first time...

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...she married me off to some old geezer who

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could never make me feel like that pear tree in bloom.

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Needless to say, Mr. Killicks was not my type.

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I mean, I'm all for a reliable man, Nanny, but not a man I can rely on to threaten to

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kill me when I... disobey him.

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So I took to standin' outside our house

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and gazing off into the distance wishin' for something else...

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...and I wished so hard that I made a man appear...

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...um, well, I mean, he was walkin' down the road whether I liked it or not, but I

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like to think that my heart was tryin' to get what it wanted again....

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...Since me and my long, flowin' locks did convince him to take me along and make me

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Mrs. Joe Starks. Joe was very persuasive himself, and he made

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himself the first mayor of the first all-black city in America: Eatonville, Florida.

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But then that fool tried to persuade me to be nothin' but a common slave to him.

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He made fun of me in front of everybody!

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And this little heart of mine was not having it.

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Then I gave him a piece of my mind back, he got so insulted that he up and died!

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Look, I felt bad and all, but I ain't gonna pretend it wasn't awfully convenient...

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After Joe died, I did just fine on my own, thank you. No one to tell me what to do or

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what to wear...

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...nobody to kiss me under a blooming pear tree.

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But then this young guy named Tea Cake... that's right -- Tea Cake... came by and

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started botherin' me at my store.

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Then my house, annoying me silly.

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And he annoyed me right smack-dab into loving him.

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We left Eatonville straight for rip-roarin', true love adventures! The Eiffel tower! The

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Italian Riviera!

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...well, okay... from Eatonville to workin' on a field in the Everglades. But hey, I ain't

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never been happier. That muck was my own personal pear tree in bloom...

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Now, fallin' in love is a whirlwind and all, but you ain't expectin' no literal

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hurricanes.

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Well, Tea Cake and I had a real whirlwind.

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And my heart learned a few things...

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Love ain't just a pear tree.

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Love is saving your partner from a rabid dog in a hurricane and getting bit yourself.

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Love is...becoming vicious and aggressive because you contracted rabies until you have

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to get shot by the loved one you saved.

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Love is a million memories which shape who

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you are today, and can't no gossipy old hens ruin that.

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Whether they think I'm a biddy or an angel...

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...I'm just me.

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And my heart will do what it wants.

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