the power of the voice

Voices are powerful when they are allowed to be, and a loss of voice can be a loss of power. Janie looses her voice constantly throughout the first four chapters in Zora Neale Hurston's Their eyes were watching God. at the beginning of the book Janie looses her voice with her Grandmother, lacking the ability to stand up for herself in her upcoming marriage. "'you answer me when Ah speak. Don't you set dere poutin' wid me after all Ah done went through for you!" (Hurston 14). Janie doesn't have the voice to speak up for herself or even answer her grandmother. She doesn't have a voice to respond to the gossipers or stand up against their gossiping words. "they scrambled a noisy 'good evenin' ' and left their mouths setting open and their ears full of hope"(Hurston 2). Janie doesn't use her voice to stand up against the gossipers hopeful ears, wanting to hear about all her bad news. Her lack of voice is so prevalent that she even looses it around her best friend, Jody. "Janie at heartily and said nothing. Janie doesn't use her voice until she is given it by someone else, not using it when she may need to, or when she doesn't want to. her voice is controlled by the will of others, not her own will.

Her husbands also silence her voice and control it to suit their will. '"Ah wants to make a wife outa you'" (Hurston 29). He doesn't giver her the option of saying yes or no, he just states what he wants without giving her the option to say yes or no. taking her way her voice. Her first husband doesn't want her to speak when he hears things he doesn't want to hear "'Ah'm gettin' sleepy, Jainie. Let's don't talk no mo'.'"(Hurston 30). He shuuts off her voice when he hears her complaints about the marriage. When he hears things he doesn't want to hear he refused to hear them, making Janie's voice silenced and be take her power. Jannie completely looses her voice and s silent around her husband and his wishes. "Jannie turned from the door without answering, and stood still in the middle of the floor without knowing it. she turned wrongside out just standing there and feeling."(Hurston 32). Her voice is taken so she has no choice but to just feel what she's feeling without having a voice to express her feelings.

did the 20's roar for everyone?

Feminism has been growing and changing the world for women through all of American History. The 1920's too a radical step forward in granting women the right to vote. Women started to break out of expected gender norms, work, and involve themselves in the political world. Women's rolls grew outstandingly during the 1920's bringing us one step closer to the freedom they experience today. However, while the 1920's brought radical change to the lives of women, their lives were still controlled by gender norms and expectations controlling every aspect of their lives socially and politically.

Though women legally got the right to vote in the 1920's there was still a lot of discrimination towards women and they were still controlled by gender norms. Women in the 1920's were expected to have getting married and having kids as their top priorities. The 1920's pushed these expectations with flapper girls and vamps, but this was the more radical group of women, where as most were expected to want to get married and have kids. Schooling past high school wasn't something expected of the women of the 1920's and the few who did go often went to a women's school. Schooling wasn't seen as necessary for women, they were also seen as less smart and intellectual. Some schools had allowed women to study, but made it very clear the women were not wanted or welcome. The work force, though existing, wasn't very broad for women who were expected only to be teachers, nurses, or other jobs considered 'suitable for women'. These jobs were not expected to be held if her husband had a well paying job, if their husband was well off staying at home and preforming wifely duties was the norm.

The right to vote, though legally accessible, wasn't practiced in reality among all women. Any woman without the privilege of being rich and white didn't get the privilege of having a voice in privilege. Though it was legal, social norms and constructs made it difficult for working class women to be able to vote, as well as people with color. Black women suffered the same hardships in the south preventing voting under Jim Crow laws and the very large and influential KKK. Women, though seen as more independent than anytime previous, were still expected to marry into a good life and depend on her husband for money and politics. The political and economical world, while legally available, still wasn't as accessible or expected.

The 1920's wasn't roaring for everyone, and though it roared fr some women, it didn't roar for all. Women still suffered discrimination in their schooling, the workforce, and the political world, as those places were still expected to be a man's place. Women gained the right to vote, but not the freedom from gender norms and expectations. Women still had a long way to go before they can reach full equality.

works cited
http://ncpedia.org/history/20th-Century/1920s-women
http://www.arenastage.org/shows-tickets/sub-text/2009-10-season/sophisticated-ladies/sophisticated-ladies.shtml
http://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties

the roaring 20's

There is a lot of organized crime in this picture. The picture is busy and doesn't have anything you immediately focus on. it draws your eye more in a circle around the table, making the viewer scan the number of people drinking alcohol and involving themselves in illegal activities. The crime in this picture is rampant, nearly every person is drinking alcohol. The picture shows how normalized it is to be drinking in the 1920's, even though there is prohibition and alcohol is illegal. The picture also emphasizes the glamour of drinking in the 1920's. because it was so expensive, due to being illegal, only the wealthy could drink alcohol creating a glamorous feel to breaking the law and it brought along an uprising of organized crime and glorification of it. 

Though the 1920's are portrayed as glamorous and roaring, it didn't roar for the minority. The minority classes were excluded in aspect of life, jobs, restaurants, living spaces. This picture draws a divide between the life white people get to live and the lives minorities live. The fence is symbolic of this divide, as it divides the black man from a job. At first the picture looks normal, like someone looking at a help wanted sign, but then the eye is drawn to the racial discrimination and the fact that theirs a person who has to live on the other side of the divide. 

Culture boomed in the 1920's with new music and art. Jazz music became incredibly popular at time. Because it stemmed from the black culture it created a feeling of pride among the black communities. Jazz tied the culture of the 1920's together, and it became the music of the era. Jazz brought the nation together and broke down barriers between black and white. The picture emphasizes black pride. The eye is first drawn to the drum in the center advertising themselves. The advertising itself shows black pride in their knowledge of being good enough to be advertised. The people are posed in fun, jazzy poses, as if ready for a fun night out. The suits show class and elevation in who they are as people. 

majority rule

The U.S. democracy depends on a system of Laws in which the Majority always rule. The philosophy is that if not everyone, at least the majority of people will be satisfied with the laws and justice system. However This set of laws can leave the minority in a powerless situation completely without a voice. A majority rule isn't always a just rule and the minority are those who suffer. Thoreau Supports this message in Civil Disobedience. The Majority rule is not always a just rule. Thoreau argues that the majority are in power simply through physical strength. “a majority are permitted, and for a long period continue, to rule is not because they are most likely to be in the right, nor because this seems fairest to the minority, but because they are physically the strongest” (26-29). A majority isn’t necessarily just, and it rules on strength alone. Conscious cannot be based on physical strength, and therefore Majorities are not always conscious. “Can there not be a government in which majorities do not virtually decide right and wrong, but conscience?” (31-33). Majorities decide all of right and wrong, and conscious, leaving no room for the minorities.

Minorities get overshadowed and over looked in a system in which the majorities rule, and Majorities aren’t always just, leaving the minorities to suffer.