TEWWG #1

Interestingly, Janie is the focus of the gossip of the neighbors. This is done even before the author describes her. There is a definite choice that the author made by using one characterization before another. What the people on the porch said was pretty harsh, "'She's 'way too old for a boy like Tea Cake'"(3). When Janie explains the situation, she has an easy answer. "'Yeah Pheoby, Tea Cake is gone. And dat's de only reason you see me back here—cause Ah ain't got nothing to make me happy no more where Ah was at.'"(7). She seems to me as misunderstood. Also, with Phoeby, she seems to be in the right, explaining her situation. Also, she understands what is going on. "'If they wants to see and know, why the don't come kiss and be kissed? Ah could then sit down and tell 'em things. Ah been a delegate to de big 'ssociation of life. Yessuh!'"(6). In short, she is saying, 'if they asked me what was going on in my life, I would be happy to tell them.'

The narrator is harder to figure out. From the first two paragraphs, the narrator separates men from women. There is more sympathy or understanding for the women.  This separation comes up again on page 2 when the neighbors on the porches perceive Janie. The men basically look her up, while the women commit to memory that she wore overalls, as to use it as a weapon against her later on. The narrator also has intimate knowledge of the friendship between Phoeby and Janie. "...Phoeby Watson didn't go in by the front gate and down the palm walk to the front door. She walked around the fence corner and went in the intimate gate with her heaping plate of mulatto rice. Janie must be round that side"(4). It seems that the narrator is a common friend of the two. These pieces of evidence make me believe that the narrator is a female.