Journal 10-Theme

Theme: Belief in white superiority affects how black men treat their women.  They feel like they need to exercise power and force over women to demonstrate that they do have some superiority.
Quotes:
1. ""So de white man throw down de load and tell de nigger man tuh pick it up.  He pick it up because he have to, but he don't tote it.  He hand it to his womenfolks.  De nigger woman is de mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see."" (14)

2. "Been workin' for white folks all his life...He had always wanted to be a big voice, but de white folks had all de sayso where he come from and everywhere else, exceptin' dis place dat colored folks was buildin' theirselves...Let colored folks build things too if dey wants to crow over somethin'." (28)

3. ""Us colored folks is too envious of one 'nother.  Dat's how come us don't git no further than us do.  Us talks about de white man keepin' us down!  Shucks!  He don't have tuh.  Us keeps our own selves down."" (39)

4. ""Thank yuh fuh yo' compliments, but mah wife don't know nothin' 'bout no speech-makin'.  Ah never married her for nothin' lak dat.  She's uh woman and her place is in de home."" (43)

5. ""All we can do, if we want any light after de settin' or befo' de risin', is tuh make some light ourselves...De first street lamp in uh colored town...let de light penetrate inside of yuh, and let it shine."" (45)

6. "Take for instance that new house of his...he painted it--a gloaty, sparkly white...It made the village feel funny talking to him--just like he was anybody else." (47)

7. ""Ah'm uh man even if Ah is de Mayor.  But de mayor's wife is somethin' different again."" (60)

8. "She is black and she knows that white clothes look good on her, so she wears them for dress up.  She's got those big black eyes with plenty shiny white in them...It's negro hair, but it's got a kind of white flavor." (67)

9."Time came when she fought back with her tongue as best she could, but it didn't do her any good.  It just made Joe do more.  He wanted her submission and he'd keep on fighting until he felt he had it." (71)

10. ""Jody classed me off...When Ah wasn't in de store he wanted me tuh jes sit wid folded hands and sit dere.  And Ah'd sit dere wid de walls creepin' up on me and squeezin' all de life outa me.  Pheoby, dese educated women got uh heap of things to sit down and consider.  Somebody done told 'em what to set down for."" (112)

11. "It was generally assumed that she thought herself too good to work like the rest of the women and that Tea Cake "pomped her up tuh dat."" (133)

12. "...Tea Cake found her there and tried to talk.  She cut him short with a blow and they fought from one room to the other, Janie trying to beat him, and Tea Cake kept holding her wrists and wherever he could to keep her from going too far." (137)

13. "Janie's coffee-and-cream complexion and her luxurious hair made Mrs. Turner forgive her for wearing overalls like the other women who worked in the fields.  She didn't forgive her for marrying a man as dark as Tea Cake..."It's too many black folks already.  We oughta lighten up de race."" (140)

14. ""Who want any lil ole black baby layin' up in de baby buggy lookin' lak uh fly in buttermilk?  Who wants to be mixed up wid uh rusty black man, and uh black woman goin' down de street in all dem loud colors, and whoopin' and hollerin' and laughin' over nothin'?"" (141)

15. "Anyone who looked more white folkish than herself was better than she was in her criteria, therefore it was right that they should be cruel to her at times, just as she was cruel to those more negroid than herself in direct ratio to their negroness.  Like the pecking order in a chicken yard.  Insensate cruelty to those you can whip, and groveling submission to those you can't." (144)

16. "Before the week was over he had whipped Janie.  Not because her behavior justified his jealousy, but it relieved that awful fear inside him.  Being able to whip her reassured him in possession...It aroused a sort of envy in both men and women." (147)