Yay last post!!!!!! (lol)
So in the last 30pgs of the book a lot of dramatic things occured. Tea Cake got sick out of the blue and was struggling, but trying not to show it to Janie. Their love showed a lot in the ending because they stuck by each other through a lot. Janie tried her best to make him better and once realized that he was going to die she tried to keep him comfortable. The doctor who diagnosed Tea Cake told her that he could go mad and she should watch out for herself. She thought she could handle it, but she kept her self prepared with a gun knowing Tea Cake had one as well. One day when she noticed he was acting extremely wierd they started arguing and he aimed his gun at her. She had been smart nd emptied out most of his gun so she would have time to react if this situation happened. In a loving manner she tried to calm him down, but when that didnt work she had to shoot him! She killed Tea Cake, but out of her safety and for him. She wanted the evil part of him to move on and that was the only way it would happen. Its sad that people acused her of murdering him on purpose! Why would she do that? All that he ever did for her was love her and she loved him back. They should be helping her through this time! The one thing that struck me the most out of the end is after the trial was over and she was declared not-guilty she started to leave, but stopped when she overheard some white men talking. They said that the only reason why she was let go is because Tea Cake was black. If he was a white man she would have been found guilty. WHile reading this i became disgusted to know that people truly thought that way; that who cares about black people and wheter they are alive or dead! Its a horrible thought and if true just shameful. This book gave a lot of messages/morals and overall was a good book.
Peace out!!! (in 4 hours we will be JUNIORS!!!!!)
For my final project i looked at the Atlantic Monthly’s list of the Top 10 “most influencing” people. On that list there are only men and dominatly white men. They all have different reasons for being on that list and it makes sense, but where are the women? I researched women and found that there are alot of people missing from that list. For example, Jo Ann Robinson. She was a major part in the Civil Rights Movement. She was behind the scences, and did the planning of the Bus boycott. Even though MLK lead the movement and made wonderful speeches he didnt make the movement, “the movement made him.” If so many woman were apart of the biggest events/movements that changed the lives of people, why are women still degraded? Why can’t people of sexes and race be equal? Why don’t we learn about these people who worked behind the scences?
Sooo, we finished the book this week, and had a great surprise. Or at least I did. 
IF YOU WANT TO READ THIS BOOK, DON’T READ THIS PARAGRAPH! IT’LL GIVE AWAY THE END!
Anyways, to sum up the end really quickly, I’ll just let you know that Irene kept having fears that her husband and Clare were having an affair, but we never really found out for sure if that was true or not. Nella Larsen, the author, just leaves that topic alone for us to think about. Then, Clare’s super racist husband, Brian, finds out that she is really a Negro and that she had been passing all along – he is furious. Then, at the very end, we are surprised to see that Clare “accidentally falls out of a window” and dies. We never find out if that was really an accident and if Clare was committing suicide or if Irene pushed her out of the window, that’s also left up in the air by Larsen for us to think about.
Now that I’ve summed that up, I did a little bit of research about Nella Larsen and her writing. I found out that Passing is only one out of her two books she ever wrote. I was quite surprised at that, just because she was very young at that time, lived a long life, and was such a noted author. During the Harlem Renaissance, Nella Larsen was one of the most influential authors ever! In her other book, Quicksand, she also bases her plot around issues with race. I know I’m interested in reading that one myself, I really enjoyed this book and her style of writing.
Another thing I learned about her was that she was accused of plagiarizing her short story she wrote after these two novels called Sanctuary. She was eventually cleared of this scandal, but regardless she lost a lot of fame and respect of others. She was the first African-American women author to win the Guggenheim Fellowship award or something, yet people still didn’t like her. I found that very surprising.
One last thing I think I should mention is just the fact that throughout this whole book, Nella Larsen tries to recognize the African culture and expose American readers to that. I think that along with the time – the Harlem Renaissance and everything else going on in the 1920’s – that this was very important in literature. Many other noted African-American authors also tried to do the same in their writing. By opening the white Americans’ eyes to this new culture they didn’t really know about, they were able to accomplish some progression.
Overall, I just want to recommend this book to all you guys, it really was a good book. Also, the other one that Nella Larsen wrote, Quicksand, could be good too! Go buy it! Or borrow mine.
