What is the difference between cornmeal dumplings and a bed quilt

They are astonished to see a bedraggled and weary-looking Janie Starks trudging into town, then turning her face in their direction. The women see her as a disaster, but the men see her as still possessing physical attraction. Janie speaks, acknowledges them, and goes on, and their indignation is great. How could she have the nerve not to stop and explain why she went off a year and a half ago in a blue satin dress and now she returns in dirty overalls? Surely her husband — they assume she married the man, the guitar-playing, roving Tea Cake — took her money and probably went off with a younger woman.

After all, Tea Cake was nearly ten years younger than Janie. They believe that Janie should have stopped and talked to them. The inherent jealousy of the women is quite apparent. Janie's friend Pheoby defends her to the porch sitters. Pheoby believes that Janie does not have to share any of her personal business with them.

Assuming that Janie is hungry, Pheoby volunteers to take Janie a pot of mulatto rice, and soon she finds her way through the darkness to Janie's back steps.

Pheoby's motive is not completely unselfish. She is quietly certain that Janie will talk to her and explain what happened during the past year and a half. Janie welcomes her friend and the gift of food.

She informs Pheoby that Tea Cake did not run off with the money that Joe left her. She reveals that the money is safe in the bank, but Tea Cake is dead. After Janie has rested for a while, cleaned and soothed her tired feet, and enjoyed the rice, she tells Pheoby about her months with Tea Cake.

Their Eyes Were Watching God opens with a focus on judgment, a powerful and prevalent theme in the novel. It was homey, comforting and delicious, and my whole family had a post-dinner glow. But in this case, with both self-rising flour and self-rising cornmeal, the dumpling recipe comes together in a flash and seems legitimately like something a country home cook would make for an average dinner.

Stir until the sugar dissolves, then let sit for 20 minutes. Working with wet hands, form it into small balls, around the size of a marble. For the soup:. Although Janie is 40 years old, she is still an attractive woman, much to the annoyance of the women.

Joe is terminally ill, and the people do not understand the illness. It is much easier for them to accuse Janie of putting a voodoo spell on Joe to hasten his death than it is for them to understand that Joe's condition is helpless. De big Sunday School picnic The Sunday School picnic that took place on a spring or summer day was often the biggest social event in a small community like Eatonville. Dixie Highway U. Highway 1, the major Maine-to-Florida highway in the old U.

Don't keer how big uh lie get told, somebody kin b'lieve it Tea Cake believes that the size of a lie has nothing to do with whether some people will believe it.

Drag him out to the edge of the hammock a precarious place to be because a hammock tips very easily when the occupant gets too close to the edge. Indians Hurston has inserted two seemingly insignificant details here which she will later use for dramatic effect when the hurricane strikes. Tea Cake and Janie live very close to the lake, and they will see Indians leaving as the storm approaches — yet they choose to ignore the wisdom of these local people.

An envious heart makes the treacherous ear Pheoby characterizes the gossipy women with this biblical-sounding adage. Her charisma reinforces their envy and is proof that they do not think well of themselves. Feeds 'im offa 'come up' and seasons it wid raw-hide This is a way of saying that the animal is not well fed. Rawhide is untanned cattle skin, certainly not very palatable for man or beast. Rawhide is also a material used for whips.

Folks up dat way don't eat biscuit bread but once a week Biscuits must be made of white wheat flour, something better than cornmeal. Cornmeal is the staple of the poor, used in corn bread, corn pone, hush puppies, cornmeal mush, and a host of other stomach-filling items. Biscuits are special and an indication of some prosperity. Give it uh poor man's trial A poor man takes any respectable job he can get and does his best with it.

It was only by talking around, though, that Nanny found out what was going on. He ain't got uh dime tuh cry The townspeople are sure that Tea Cake has no money.

Janie, however, knows he works and always pays their way. He'd be all right just as soon as the two-headed man found what had been buried against him Hurston discusses this phrase of conjure in Mules and Men.

If indeed Janie has "fixed" Joe, then the conjure man has to find out what the "fix" is and where it is buried. His next task would be to concoct something that would counteract the "fix. Isaac and Rebecca at de well This biblical reference is not literally accurate.

Isaac never met Rebecca at the well. Isaac's father's servant encountered Rebecca at the well. The servant had prayed for divine guidance in finding a wife for Isaac — that after his long journey to the land of Aramnaharaim, a generous and humble woman would approach him at the community well and offer him a drink of fresh water from her jug, as well as to offer to draw sufficient water for his camels. Rebecca did so and agreed to leave her village and travel to the land of Canaan to become Isaac's wife.

They were about two-and-a-half to three inches long and were sold in a box, the side of which contained a strip of abrasive-like fine sandpaper. The abrasive contained the chemicals needed to ignite the match when it was briskly scraped across the surface. Before electric stoves and gas stoves with the automatic pilot lights, no kitchen was complete without a box of these matches. Many campers still include them in their equipment. Apparently, Janie, a good housekeeper, either left the lamps clean when she went away or took time to clean at least one of them as soon as she returned.

Kerosene lamps and their chimneys must be clean in order to function properly. Turner's brother's legs are malformed and not straight — clearly, an insult.