Mrs.

Dalloway Summary

Part I, Section One:

Clarissa Dalloway decided to buy the flowers for her party that evening. Lucy had too much
other work. Clarissa thought of the hush that fell over Westminster right before the ring of
Big Ben. It was June and World War I was over. She loved life. Hugh Whitbread walked
toward her and assured her that he would attend the party. Clarissa thought of her
boyfriend before she married, Peter. She could not stop memories from rushing over her.
She knew she had been correct not to marry Peter. Peter would not have given her any
independence, but still her refusal bothered her. Clarissa realized her baseness, always
wanting to do things that would make people like her instead of doing them for their own
value.
Bond Street fascinated her. The same things did not fascinate her daughter, Elizabeth.
Elizabeth was fascinated with callous Miss Kilman. Clarissa hated Miss Kilman. She entered
Mulberry's florist and was greeted by Miss Pym. Miss Pym noticed that Clarissa looked older.
Suddenly, a pistol-like noise came from the street.
Part I, Section Two:
The loud noise had come from a motorcar, likely carrying someone very important. The
street came to a stop and Septimus Warren Smith could not get by. Septimus anticipated
horror. His wife, Lucrezia, hurried him. She knew others noticed his strangeness. The car
was delayed. Clarissa felt touched by magic. A crowd formed at Buckingham's gates. An
airplane took to the sky, making letters out of smoke. The plane's trail mystified its
observers.
In Regent's Park, Septimus believed the letters were signaling to him. Rezia hated when he
stared into nothingness. She walked to the fountain to distract herself and felt alone. The
doctor said nothing was wrong with him. When Rezia returned, he jumped up. Maisie
Johnson, a girl from Edinburgh, asked the couple directions to the subway. Maisie was
horrified by the look in the Septimus' eyes. Mrs. Carrie Dempster noticed Maisie and
thought of her younger days. Carrie would do things differently if she had the chance. Flying
over many other English folk, the plane's message writing continued aimlessly.
Part I, Section Three:
Clarissa wondered at what everyone was looking. She felt as a nun returning to her habit.
Richard had been invited to lunch with Lady Bruton. Clarissa felt snubbed. She withdrew
upstairs to the virginal attic room that she had occupied since her illness. She thought back
to her old best friend, Sally Seton. She had known what men feel toward women with Sally.
Sally taught Clarissa about all the things from which she was shielded at Bourton, her home
before marriage.
Clarissa took her dress downstairs to mend. Abruptly, her door opened and Peter
Walshentered. Peter noticed that she looked older. Clarissa asked him if he remembered
Bourton. It pained him to remember because it reminded him of Clarissa's refusal. He felt
that Clarissa had changed since marrying Richard. Peter mentioned that he was in love with
a girl in India. He had come to London to see about her divorce. Peter suddenly wept.
Clarissa comforted him. She wished he would take her with him. The next moment, her
passions subsided. He abruptly asked if she was happy with Richard. Suddenly, Elizabeth
entered. Peter greeted her, said good-bye to Clarissa, and rushed out the door.
Part I, Section Four:
Peter had never enjoyed Clarissa's parties. He did not blame her, though. She had grown
hard. He thought the way she had introduced Elizabeth was insincere. He had been overly
emotional when he had visited Clarissa. Peter associated St. Margaret's bells with Clarissa
as the hostess. He had never liked people like the Dalloways and Whitbreads. Boys in
uniform marched by Peter. He followed them for a while. He had not felt so young in years.
A young woman passed who enchanted Peter. He followed her until she disappeared
He was early for his appointment. He sat in Regent's Park and felt pride in the civility of
London. Thoughts of his past continued to combat him, a result of seeing Clarissa. He
settled next to a nurse and sleeping baby. Peter thought that Elizabeth probably did not get
along with her mother. Smoking a cigar, he fell into a deep sleep.
Part I, Section Five:
Peter dreamed. The nurse beside Peter appeared spectral, like the solitary traveler.
Suddenly Peter awoke, exclaiming, "The death of the soul." He had dreamt of a time when
he loved Clarissa. One day they had gotten in a fight and Clarissa went outside, alone. As
the day went on, Peter grew increasingly gloomy. When he arrived for dinner, Clarissa was
speaking to a young man, Richard Dalloway. Peter knew Richard would marry Clarissa.
After dinner, Clarissa tried to introduce Peter to Richard. Peter retorted insultingly that
Clarissa was the perfect hostess. Later, the young people decided to go boating. Clarissa
ran to find Peter. He was suddenly happy. Yet, Peter still felt that Dalloway and Clarissa
were falling in love. Following that night, Peter asked ridiculous things of Clarissa. Finally,
she could take it no longer and ended their relationship.
Part II, Section One:
Rezia wondered why she should suffer. When Septimus saw that Rezia no longer wore her
wedding band, he knew that their marriage was over. She tried to explain that her finger
had grown too thin, but he did not care. His nerves were stretched thin. Still, he believed
that beauty was everywhere. Rezia told him that it was time to go. Septimus imagined
Evans approaching. Rezia told Septimus she was unhappy.
Peter Walsh thought of how Sally Seton had unexpectedly married a rich man. Of all of
Clarissa's old friends, he had always liked Sally best. Clarissa, though, knew what she
wanted. When she walked into a room, one remembered her. Peter struggled to remind
himself that he was no longer in love with her. Even Clarissa would admit that she cared too
much for societal rank. Still, she was one of the largest skeptics Peter knew. Clarissa had so
affected him that morning because she might have spared him from his relationship
problems over the years.
A tattered woman's incomprehensible song rose from the subway station. Seeing the
woman made Rezia feel that everything was going to be okay. She turned to Septimus,
thinking how he did not look insane. When Septimus was young, he had fallen in love with a
woman who lent him books on Shakespeare. He became a poet. Septimus was one of the
first volunteers for the army in World War I. He went to protect Shakespeare. He became
friends with his officer, Evans, who died just before the war ended. Septimus was glad that
he felt no grief, until he realized that he had lost the ability to feel. In a panic, he married.
Lucrezia adored his studiousness and quiet. Septimus read Shakespeare again but could not
change his mind that humanity was despicable. After five years, Lucrezia wanted a child.
Septimus could not fathom it. He wondered if he would go mad.
Dr. Holmes could not help. Septimus knew nothing was physically wrong, but he figured, his
crimes were still great. The third time Holmes came, Septimus tried to refuse him. He hated
him. Rezia could not understand and Septimus felt deserted. He heard the world telling him
to kill himself. Upon seeing Holmes, Septimus screamed in horror. The doctor, annoyed,
advised that they see Dr. Bradshaw. They had an appointment that afternoon.
Part II, Section Two:
At noon, Clarissa finished her sewing and the Warren Smiths neared Sir William Bradshaw.
Bradshaw knew immediately that Septimus had suffered from a mental breakdown.
Bradshaw reassured Mrs. Smith that Septimus needed a long rest in the country to regain a
sense of proportion. Septimus equated Bradshaw with Holmes and with the evil of human
nature. Rezia felt deserted. The narrator describes another side to proportion, conversion.
One wondered if Bradshaw did not like to impose his will on others weaker than he. The
Smiths passed near Hugh Whitbread.
Though superficial, Hugh had been an honorable member of high society for years. Lady
Bruton preferred Richard Dalloway to Hugh. She had invited both to lunch to ask for their
services. The luncheon was elaborate. Richard had a great respect for Lady Bruton. Lady
Bruton cared more for politics than people. Suddenly, Lady Bruton mentioned Peter Walsh.
Richard thought that he should tell Clarissa he loved her. Lady Bruton then mentioned the
topic of emigration to Canada. She wanted Richard to advise her and Hugh to write to the
London Times for her.
As Richard stood to leave, he asked if he would see Lady Bruton at Clarissa's party.
Possibly, she retorted. Lady Bruton did not like parties. Richard and Hugh stood at a street
corner. Finally, they entered a shop. Richard bought Clarissa roses and rushed home to
profess his love.
Part II, Section Three:
Clarissa was very annoyed, but invited her boring cousin Ellie to the party out of courtesy.
Richard walked in with flowers. He said nothing, but she understood. Clarissa mentioned
Peter's visit, and how bizarre it was that she had almost married him. Richard held her hand
and then hurried off to a committee meeting. Clarissa felt uneasy because of the negative
reactions both Peter and Richard had toward her parties. Yet, parties were her offering to
the world, her gift.
Elizabeth entered. She and Miss Kilman were going to the Army and Navy surplus stores.
Miss Kilman despised Clarissa. Whenever Miss Kilman was filled with sinister thoughts, she
thought of God to relieve them. Clarissa despised Miss Kilman as well. She felt that the
woman was stealing her daughter. As they left, Clarissa yelled after Elizabeth to remember
her party.
Clarissa pondered love and religion. She noticed the old woman whom she could view in the
house adjacent. It seemed to Clarissa that the ringing of the bell forced the lady to move
away from her window. All was connected.
Miss Kilman lived to eat food and love Elizabeth. After shopping, Miss Kilman declared that
they must have tea. Elizabeth thought of how peculiar Miss Kilman was. Miss Kilman
detained her by talking, feeling sorry for herself. She drove a small wedge between them.
Elizabeth paid her bill and left.
Part II, Section Four:
Miss Kilman sat alone, despondent, before heading to a sanctuary of religion. In an Abbey,
she knelt in prayer. Elizabeth enjoyed being outdoors alone and decided to take a bus ride.
Her life was changing. She felt that the attention men gave her was silly. She wondered if
Miss Kilman's ideas about the poor were correct. She paid another penny so that she could
continue riding. Elizabeth thought she might be a doctor or a farmer.
Septimus looked out the window and smiled. Sometimes, he would demand that Rezia
record his thoughts. Lately, he would cry out about truth and Evans. He spoke of Holmes as
the evil of human nature. This day, Rezia sat sewing a hat and Septimus held a normal
conversation with her, making her happy. They joked and Septimus designed the pattern to
decorate the hat. Rezia happily sewed it on.
Septimus slowly slipped from reality. Rezia asked if he liked the hat, but he just stared. He
remembered that Bradshaw had said that he would need to separate himself. He wanted his
writings burned but Rezia promised to keep them from the doctors. She promised no one
would separate her from him either. Dr. Holmes arrived. Rezia ran to stop him from seeing
Septimus. Holmes pushed by her. Septimus needed to escape. After weighing his options,
he threw himself onto the fence below.
Part II, Section Five:
Peter appreciated the ambulance that sped past him as a sign of civility. His tendency to
become emotionally attached to women had always been a flaw. He remembered when he
and Clarissa rode atop a bus, and she spoke of a theory. Wherever she had been, a piece of
her stayed behind. She diminished the finality of death this way. For Peter, a piece of
Clarissa stayed with him always, like it or not. At his hotel, Peter received a letter from
Clarissa. She wrote that she had loved seeing him. He wished she would just leave him
alone. He would always feel bitterly that Clarissa had refused him. He thought of Daisy, the
young woman in India. He cared little about what others thought.
Peter decided that he would attend Clarissa's party, in order to speak with Richard. Finally,
he left the hotel. The symmetry of London struck him as beautiful. Reaching Clarissa's,
Peter breathed deeply to prepare himself for the challenge. Instinctively, his hand opened
the knife blade in his pocket.
Part II, Section Six:
Guests were already arriving and Clarissa greeted each one. Peter felt that Clarissa was
insincere. Clarissa felt superficial when Peter looked on. Ellie Henderson, Clarissa's poor
cousin, stood in the corner. Richard was kind enough to say hello. Suddenly, Lady Rosseter
was announced. It was Sally Seton. Clarissa was overjoyed to see her. The Prime
Minister was announced and Clarissa had to attend to him. He was an ordinary looking man.
Peter thought the English were snobs. Lady Bruton met privately with the Prime Minister.
Clarissa retained a hollow feeling. Parties were somewhat less fulfilling recently. A reminder
of Miss Kilman filled her with hatred.
Clarissa had so many to greet. Clarissa brought Peter over to her old aunt and promised
they would speak later. Clarissa wished she had time to stop and talk to Sally and Peter.
Clarissa saw them as the link to her past. Then, the Bradshaws entered. Lady Bradshawtold
Clarissa about a young man who had killed himself. Distraught, Clarissa wandered into a
little, empty room. She could feel the man, who had been Septimus, fall. She wondered if
the man had been happy. Clarissa realized why she despised Sir Bradshaw; he made life
intolerable. Clarissa noticed the old woman in the next house. She watched the old woman
prepare for bed. Clarissa was glad that Septimus had thrown his life away. She returned to
the party.
Peter wondered where Clarissa had gone. Sally had changed, Peter thought. Peter had not,
Sally thought. They noticed that Elizabeth seemed so unlike Clarissa. Sally mentioned that
Clarissa lacked something. Peter admitted that his relationship with Clarissa had scarred his
life.
Richard was amazed how grown up Elizabeth looked. Almost everyone had left the party.
Sally rose to speak with Richard. Peter was suddenly overcome with elation. Clarissa had
finally come.

Major Themes

The sea as symbolic of life

The ebb and flow of life. When the image is portrayed as being harmonized, the sea
represents a great confidence and comfort. Yet, when the image is presented as disjointed
or uncomfortable, it symbolizes disassociation, loneliness, and fear.

Doubling
Many critics describe Septimus as Clarissa's doppelganger, the alternate persona, the
darker, more internal personality compared to Clarissa's very social and singular outlook.
Woolf's use of the doppelganger, Septimus, portrays a side to Clarissa's personality that
becomes absorbed by fear and broken down by society and a side of society that has failed
to survive the War. The doubling portrays the polarity of the self and exposes the positive-
negative relationship inherent in humanity. It also illustrates the opposite phases of the idea
of life.

The intersection of time and timelessness

Woolf creates a new novelistic structure in Mrs. Dalloway wherein her prose has blurred the
distinction between dream and reality, between the past and present. An authentic human
being functions in this manner, simultaneously flowing from the conscious to the
unconscious, from the fantastic to the real, and from memory to the moment.

Social commentary
Woolf also strived to illustrate the vain artificiality of Clarissa's life and her involvement in it.
The detail given and thought provoked in one day of a woman's preparation for a party, a
simple social event, exposes the flimsy lifestyle of England's upper classes at the time of the
novel. Even though Clarissa is effected by Septimus' death and is bombarded by profound
thoughts throughout the novel, she is also a woman for whom a party is her greatest
offering to society. The thread of the Prime Minister throughout, the near fulfilling of Peter's
prophecy concerning Clarissa's role, and the characters of the doctors, Hugh Whitbread, and
Lady Bruton as compared to the tragically mishandled plight of Septimus, throw a critical
light upon the social circle examined by Woolf.

The world of the sane and the insane side by side

Woolf portrays the sane grasping for significant and substantial connections to life, living
among those who have been cut off from such connections and who suffer because of the
improper treatment they, henceforth, receive. The critic, Ruotolo, excellently develops the
idea behind the theme: "Estranged from the sanity of others, Œrooted to the pavement,'
the veteran [Septimus] asks Œfor what purpose' he is present. Virginia Woolf's novel honors
and extends his question. He perceives a beauty in existence that his age has almost totally
disregarded; his vision of new life... is a source of joy as well as madness. Unfortunately,
the glimpse of beauty that makes Septimus less forlorn is anathema to an age that worships
like Septimus' inhuman doctor, Sir William Bradshaw, the twin goddesses ŒProportion' and
ŒConversion.'"
Their Eyes Were Watching God Summary

Janie Crawford, the protagonist of the novel, returns home after being away for a very long
time. The townsfolk, particularly the women, are unfriendly towards her. They gossip about
Janie and how Tea Cake was too young for her. Janie's best friend, Pheoby, is angry at the
women and leaves their company to take some supper to Janie. Janie tells Pheoby that she
is wealthy, with nine hundred dollars in the bank. Tea Cake was a wonderful husband who
never took a cent of her money. He recently died, and that is the only reason that she is
back from the Everglades. Janie tells Pheoby the story of her life to so that Pheoby can
explain her actions to the nosy community on her behalf.
She never met her mother or her father, and is raised by her grandmother. Her
grandmother works as a nanny for white children in the Washburn family, and Janie grows
up playing with the Washburn children.
Janie loves to spend the afternoons lying under a pear tree, staring into the branches. One
afternoon, she is mesmerized by the beauty of bees pollinating the pear blossoms.
Intoxicated by her new sexuality, she kisses Johnny Taylor. Nanny sees the kiss and
proclaims that Janie is a woman now. She slaps Janie for her indiscretion, and tells her that
she must get married.
Janie marries Logan Killicks and moves in to his ugly house. Three months pass and she still
feels no love for Logan, so she goes to visit Nanny. Janie starts crying and Nanny sternly
tells her not to worry because Janie's mind will change as time passes. Later that evening,
Nanny prays to God saying that she feels sorry for Janie's unhappiness but that she did the
best she could. Heavy-hearted, Nanny dies a month later.
Long before the first year of their marriage is complete, Logan's stops being sweet to Janie.
One afternoon, Janie meets Joe Starks, a citified, stylishly-dressed man. Joe tells Janie that
he wants to buy land in Eatonville, a new town that is run entirely by black people. Joe asks
Janie to leave Logan and marry him. One afternoon, when Janie and Logan are fighting,
Logan threatens to kill Janie with an axe. Janie runs out of the gate, gets in a carriage with
Joe Starks. They run away and get married before sundown.
When Janie and Joe arrive in Eatonville, both are disappointed with the town. Joe buys land
to increase the size of it. He calls a meeting on his porch to discuss his desire to build a post
office and a general store. Very quickly, Joe earns back all the money he invested in
building the store by selling land to people who want to move to the town. Joe becomes
hugely influential in the town and is elected mayor. As time passes, Janie tells Joe that his
interest in the new town is putting a strain on their relationship. But Joe states that he has
always wanted a big voice and finally, as town mayor, he has it.
Janie and Joe's relationship continues to deteriorate. One day, he slaps her face for
preparing a bad meal. Eleven years pass. Janie learns to stop fighting and rarely contradicts
her husband. Joe constantly criticizes Janie for being old and ugly. He hopes that by
pointing out her flaws, he can distract others from noticing his own advancing age.
One afternoon, Joe begins to insult Janie after she makes a small mistake. For the first
time, Janie retaliates in front of a store full of people. She tells Joe that he is nothing but a
loud voice; she tells everyone in the store that when he pulls his pants down, there is
nothing there. Joe is irrecoverably crushed. His health deteriorates quickly. He becomes
very ill and takes to a sick bed permanently, but refuses to allow Janie to enter his room.
Janie wants to talk to Joe before it is "too late." Janie tells Joe that "not listening" has been
the main problem in his life. He has been too busy listening to himself to listen to her. She
tells Joe that she did not leave Logan and "come down the road" with him to lead a life of
"bowing down" and obedience. Joe breathes his last painful breath and dies of kidney
failure.
Janie mourns on the outside, but on the inside, she rejoices. She is finally free of the
heavily restricted life that Joe had forced her into.
One evening, a man named Tea Cake walks into the store. He and Janie play chess, flirt and
chat all day while the rest of the town is at a ball game. He helps her close the store at the
end of the evening, and Janie appreciates his help. About a week after their first meeting,
Tea Cake comes to the store and pretends to play an invisible guitar. He suggests that they
go fishing in the middle of the night. They catch a few fish and have to smuggle Tea Cake
out of the back gate of Janie's house so that the people in town won't gossip.
Their relationship progresses slowly and playfully. The town criticizes Janie: how can she
stop mourning the death of her dead husband so soon? Why is she with a man that has no
money and no power? Pheoby asks Janie why she allows Tea Cake to take her to places she
used to never go to: baseball games, fishing ponds, forests for hunting. Janie explains that
she never wanted to be restricted from doing activities that Joe had considered lower-class,
but that Joe had forced her to. Furthermore, Janie confides to Pheoby that she intends to
marry Tea Cake, sell the store, and move out of town. She says, "Dis ain't no business
proposition, and no race after property and titles. Dis is uh love game. Ah done lived
Grandma's way, now Ah means tuh live mine."
One morning, Janie takes a train to away from home and marries Tea Cake in her blue satin
wedding dress. She packs herself two hundred of the dollars that her husband left her, but
does not tell Tea Cake about the money. Janie is so happy, "that she scares herself." One
week after they are married, Tea Cake leaves before Janie wakes up and steals the money.
Immediately, Janie thinks of of poor Ms. Annie Tyler, a rich widow whose money was stolen
by a younger man who pretended to love her. Tea Cake reappears the next morning, telling
Janie that he spent all her money entertaining his friends. He promises to win it back
gambling. He does win it back one week later, but is almost killed by the angry men who
lose their money to him and want it back. Tea Cake promises Janie that from that moment
on they will live only using his money.
Tea Cake says that when he recovers from the cuts he wants to head to the Muck down in
the Everglades because "folks don't do nothin' down dere but make money and fun and
foolishness."
Once the season begins, Tea Cake spends his day picking beans while Janie tends the
house. At night the men have have discussions and arguments, just as they did on the
porch in Eatonville. But here, Janie can "listen and laugh and even talk some herself if she
wants to. She [gets] so she can tell big stories herself from listening to the rest."
When Janie finds Tea Cake flirting with a young girl named Nunkie, she slaps him. Janie
asks if Tea Cake loves Nunkie. Tea Cake says he never did love Nunkie and that no woman
could compare to Janie. He says that his wife is "something tuh make uh man forgit tuh git
old and forgit tuh die."
In the autumn, Janie becomes acquainted with Mrs. Turner. Mrs. Turner is a mixed-race
woman who hates her own blackness. She is intent on re-marrying Janie to her white-
looking brother. Tea Cake tells Janie that if Mrs. Turner hates black people so much, she
should stay away from him and Janie.
The following season, many people return to live on the Muck; some of the people are
familiar from last year and some are brand new. Mrs. Turner brings her brother to town to
introduce him to Janie. Tea Cake slaps Janie to show Mrs. Turner's brother that Tea Cake
had full control over Janie. They make up the next morning, to the whole town's envy. Tea
Cake and his friends stage a bar brawl, destroying the Turners' restaurant.
One afternoon, Janie sees Seminole Indians passing through the Muck heading east. They
warn of a hurricane coming, but no one believes them. That night, the weather gets
extremely bad. The lights go out. Janie, Tea Cake, and some friends huddle in their
basement. "They seemed to be staring at the dark, but there eyes were watching God."
After the storm, Tea Cake and Janie decide to leave the ruined area on foot. As they escape,
the dam on the lake breaks and water rushes up fast behind them. Janie falls into the water
and starts to drown, but Tea Cake helps her swim. As the two walk to safety, a rabid dog
tries to attack Janie, and while Tea Cake protects her, it bites him on the face. Janie tells
Tea Cake that they should find a doctor for his dog bite, but Tea Cake says that he is fine.
Tea Cake becomes ill and Janie grows worried and calls Doctor Simmons. She tells him that
Tea Cake was bitten by a dog one month ago in the storm. Doctor Simmons tells her that
Tea Cake has rabies and will probably die. He advises Janie not to sleep with Tea Cake
because he may bite her and give her rabies.
Tea Cake becomes extremely moody, he is unable to drink water, and he starts behaving
like a wild dog. He falls into a jealous rage when he finds out that Mrs. Turner's husband is
back in the Everglades. He confronts Janie, shooting her with a pistol while Janie shoots
with a rifle. The rifle fires slightly faster, and Tea Cake falls to the ground dead, biting
Janie's forearm. Janie is put in jail and tried in court. Simmons explains her case to the jury
and she is acquitted of murder.
Janie arranges a beautiful funeral for Tea Cake in Palm Beach and then moves back to
Eatonville. The narration returns to the porch with Pheoby where it began in the first
chapter. Janie says she has been to the horizon and back; she knows now that, "you got tuh
go there tuh know there...Two things everybody got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go
tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin' fuh theyselves." Janie then tells Pheoby to
explain her story to the townspeople; perhaps they will learn a little about love from her
experiences.
Janie climbs the stairs to her bedroom with her nightlamp. Tea Cake is not dead; while Janie
is living, he will live on in her memory. Janie finally finds peace; she pulls in the horizon like
a great net and drapes it over her shoulders. "So much of life in its meshes! She called in
her soul to come and see."

Major Themes

Sexuality
Their Eyes were Watching God is in many ways a novel about Janie's sexual awakening.
Because it was written in the conservative 1930s, much of this sexuality is masked in
metaphor. When Janie finally finds a "bee for her blossom," it is the man that she has been
most sexually attracted to in her life. Hurston takes a naturalist approach to sexuality.
Unlike her grandmother, Nanny, who sees sexuality as threatening and destabilizing and
punishes Janie for kissing a boy, Hurston sees it as an integral part of identity. Janie's
sexuality is linked to nature from the very beginning. She learns about it from bees, rather
than from a human mentor.
Power
Power, specifically black power, was an issue of great importance to the Harlem
Renaissance writers. Various characters in Their Eyes were Watching God have different
notions about the best way to gain power in a white-dominated world. Nanny's idea is that
her granddaughter should marry a wealthy man so that she doesn't have to worry about her
financial security. Joe gains power in the same way that whites traditionally did, by gaining
a position of leadership (the mayorship) and using it to dominate others. However, Janie
finds that the type of power that she prefers in a man is personal, rather than constructed.
She thinks that a person's power is derived not from their material possessions, but from
their personal experiences, and their manner of relating to others.

Black Autonomy
One of the most politically notable aspects of Their Eyes were Watching God, a decidedly
apolitical novel, is the concept of black autonomy. Jim Crow laws were still in effect in the
South during the 1930s, keeping blacks and whites in seperate schools, churches, and
bathrooms. Eatonville, the town in which Zora Neale Hurston grew up, was famous as the
first all-black incorporated municipality in the country. Hurston's novel is a ringing
affirmation of black autonomy, portraying a town with a black mayor, post office, and so on.
But she questions the methods of the leader of this town, concerned with whether he
achieved power through traditionally white avenues.

Consumerism
Hurston was by no means a capitalist, but this does not mean that she was unaware of
some of the evils of capitalism. The easiest way to divide the "good" and "bad" characters in
this novel is to ask which characters value material possessions. Nanny, Logan, and, to a
certain extent, Joe, all value goods because they see how hard it is for African-Americans to
attain them. However, their goods only make these characters look foolish. Joe's golden
spittoons are a pitiable attempt to approximate the fashions of his white former bosses.
Hurston is careful to draw the connection between characters like Janie and Tea Cake and
nature, rather than consumable goods.

Gender
The distinction between activities appropriate for men and those appropriate for women is
strongly drawn in the first half of this novel. Janie is prohibited from speaking her mind,
playing checkers, and attending mule funerals. Hurston suggests that these gender
constructions are absurd, however. One of Tea Cake's most appealing characteristics is that
he empowers Janie to break these rules. Tea Cake encourages her to work, play checkers,
speak out, fish, and shoot a gun.

Appearance of Race
There is a high incidence of African-Americans with mixed black and white descent in this
novel. Janie's mother, Leafy, was the product of a rape by a plantation master, and was
visibly white enough to garner punishment of Nanny by the plantation master's wife. Janie
is described as having coffee-colored skin, and Hurston is careful to describe the degree of
blackness of all of her characters. Caucasian characteristics can have a positive (Janie's
shiny hair) or negative (Mrs. Turner's pointed nose and thin lips) effect on the character's
attractiveness. Hurston is consistent on one point, however, and that is that people who try
to look like something that they are not (usually whiter than they are) always end up
looking terrible.

Work/Money
Janie differs from many of the other characters in Their Eyes were Watching God in that she
is financially stable throughout the book with a fair amount of money in the bank.
Therefore, for Janie, work is isolated from making money, and depends entirely on the
nature of the labor. Contrary to most people, she enjoys laboring in the field more than
clerking in a shop (despite the fact that the latter is "higher class") because it allows her to
be near nature and the man that she loves. Janie's naturalism extends beyond her sexuality
to include which type of labor she prefers.

If on a winter’s night traveller

How It All Goes Down

The book opens with a curious line: "You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino's new novel, If on
a winter's night a traveler" (1.1). From the get-go, the book places you, the Reader, as its main
character. Well then.

The story begins in a train station, where the narrator introduces himself as someone who is
implicated in some sort of grand plot that he doesn't fully understand. Okay, Calvino, you've got our
attention. Just when this story becomes interesting, though, it breaks off because of an error with the
book's printing. Argh.

Frustrated, you (yes, you) return to the bookstore where you bought it and meet Ludmilla, an
attractive young woman who's had the same problem. Now you not only want to read the book for its
own sake, but to also have something to talk about with Ludmilla. In pursuit of Ludmilla, you agree to
meet her at "the university," where you run into a nutty professor of dead languages named Uzzi-
Tuzii. You also meet Lotaria, Ludmilla's academic sister, who reads novels only so she can project
her political and overbearing theories onto them.

As the novel unfolds, you begin to read other books, only to have them break off the same way the
first one did. Eventually, you go to the books' publisher and demand an explanation. A man named
Mr. Cavedagna explains that a fraudulent translator named Ermes Marana has intentionally sent the
entire publishing house (and possibly the publishing world) into chaos by swapping books' titles,
contents, and authors until it seems almost impossible to set everything back in order. In the
meantime, you continue to come across new novels that Marana has counterfeited only to find
yourself completely engrossed. For one reason or another, though, you're never able to get past a
first chapter.

Your search for an explanation sends you poring over Marana's letters, which eventually lead you to
a reclusive old author of detective fiction named Silas Flannery. After confronting him, you learn that
Marana might be in Ataguitania, and go there in search of—well, you're no longer entirely sure.

After landing in Ataguitania, you encounter a woman who goes by many different names, but who
you're certain is Ludmilla's sister, Lotaria. When you arrive in the country, the police swipe the book
you were trying to read (foiled again!) and you find yourself embroiled in some insane war between
dictators and revolutionaries. Crestfallen after all your failed readings, you retreat to a library that
seems to have copies of all the books you've begun to read.

While at the library, you encounter numerous readers, one of whom seems to point out a secret
buried within all of the books you've been trying to read. (You'll have to finish the book to find out
what.) After he explains to you that stories traditionally only have two endings, marriage and death,
you decide that you want to marry Ludmilla.

his detailed literature summary also contains Related Titles and a Free Quiz on The Death
of Artemio Cruz by Carlos Fuentes.
The Death of Artemio Cruz is a sweeping novel about 20th century Mexico, viewed through
the prism of Artemio Cruz's life. Cruz is an idealistic young soldier during the Mexican
Revolution dedicated to redistribution of land so that peasants may enjoy a decent life. By
1919, the successful revolution has deteriorated into a series of confusing and bloody
skirmishes between rival rebel factions that won't truly end until 1942. Cruz betrays a fellow
soldier and blackmails the man's sister into marriage, ensuring his position in a wealthy
land-owning family. He quickly becomes a wealthy, arrogant, unprincipled scoundrel—the
exact types he fought against during the revolution. Throughout his long life, Cruz continues
to accumulate wealth by way of corruption, betraying his family, lovers and former
comrades alike. Eventually, Cruz's lust for wealth results in the death of his only son,
Lorenzo.
Although it is not revealed until almost the end of the novel, Cruz is the illegitimate son of a
handsome, wealthy young heir to a plantation or hacienda. The arrogant young man raped
Cruz's mother, a young mulatto slave. After Cruz's birth, his mother is beaten and forced to
leave. Cruz is raised by his uncle Lunero, a man he would defend to the death if necessary.
After Lunero's death, Cruz joins the revolutionary movement, dedicated to wresting the land
from a few wealthy individuals and allowing each peasant enough fields to feed his family.
Cruz's first love, Regina, is hanged by the opposing forces. By 1919, Porfirio has been
defeated and the country seems enmeshed in permanent, bloody confusion. When Cruz is
imprisoned with an idealistic young officer, Gonzolo Bernal, he gains valuable information
about the man's personal life. Cruz makes no effort to save the man, who is executed by a
firing squad.
Using deceit and deception, Cruz parlays the information he gained from Bernal into a
loveless marriage with the officer's young sister, Catalina. Because women are not allowed
to own property, Cruz inherits all the family's wealth in a short time, when Don Bernal, the
father, dies. There is little available cash, but a vast fortune in land. Cruz soon expands the
family's holdings through trickery and violence.
Cruz buys a newspaper in Mexico City and uses the power and voice it gives him to expand
his business holdings. He uses the paper to blackmail business competitors and destroy
uncooperative politicians. Cruz begins to act as an intermediary, facilitating corrupt business
deals to sell the country's natural resources to U.S. businessmen—for a hefty fee, of course.
Cruz sends his only son, Lorenzo, to manage the family estate at Cocuya at the age of 12,
partly to spite Catalina, who adores the boy. At 17, idealistic and determined to join the
fight against the Fascists, Lorenzo books a passage to Spain. The boy is killed in the
fighting, leaving Cruz with only a daughter, Teresa, whom he disdains. On his deathbed,
Cruz torments both women, lying to them about the location of his will. In fact, he has left
the bulk of his estate to his loyal aide, Padilla.
The seamless transformation from an impoverished, idealistic youth to a corrupt, decadent
middle age and the turbulence of Mexican history are the primary messages of the novel.
Fuentes suggests that only those who die young or live in abject poverty manage to retain
their idealism.
The author ably uses Cruz's free-ranging, disembodied consciousness as he dives to explore
different points of view and language styles throughout the novel. Fuentes uses metaphor
and juxtaposition like a poet, interspersing vivid action scenes with Cruz's stream-of-
consciousness thoughts. Sam Hileman ably translates Fuentes' prose, which includes
lengthy sections without punctuation, and unusual passages told in the second person.