Ships and Horizons

Before we get too far into The White Boy Shuffle, I wanted to return briefly to Their Eyes Were Watching God. For one thing, I think some of my comments in class the other day were interpreted harsher than I intended. I actually liked the book, I just didn't quite think it stacked up to Invisible Man, which was a book that I really really liked. One part of Hurston's book that I found really interesting were the first two paragraphs and the last paragraphs. In these paragraphs, the narrative voice is very distant and talking in really complicated metaphors. I didn't understand a lot of the metaphors while I was reading, so I wanted to revisit them in detail after I finished the book, and now is the first time I could do that in any detail.
"Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men." (1)
This is the first paragraph of the novel. It tries to make a broad, sweeping statement about men, but I don't think this is supported in the novel. To me, this passage is implying that men are never contented, always wishing for something they don't have. Except for some lucky men, whose wishes come true early on in life.
To me, this claim is not supported by either of the two main male characters in the novel. Jody certainly has ambition and wishes, but they come true easily and early on. Joe is one of the lucky ones who gets his wishes. He is never portrayed as being discontented; once he achieves his success he is content. The other male character is Tea Cake. Tea Cake does not fit either category. He has no ambition or wishes, he just takes whatever life gives him. He is never at all discontent. Hurston seems to disprove her own claim about men when her two main characters are either the lucky exceptions to the claim, or the claim doesn't apply to them at all.
Her claim about women, on the other hand, is born out by her novel. "Now, women forget all those things they don't want to remember, and remember everything they don't want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly." (1)
This way that women act, not lingering on the past and acting without hesitation, is a good description of how Janie acts throughout the novel. She leaves Logan without hesitation, and as far as we know, never thought about it again. Once she is with Tea Cake, she never seems to think back over her time with Jody, either.
Never does Janie prove this view of women more clearly than the last paragraph of the book, where the narrative tone returns to the distant, metaphorical tone of the beginning. "Of course he wasn't dead. He could never be dead until she herself had finished feeling and thinking. The kiss of his memory made pictures of love and light against the wall. Here was peace. She pulled up her horizon like a great fish-net. ...So much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see." (193)
Here is a prim example of Janie remembering the things she doesn't want to forget, and forgetting the rest. She remembers what Tea Cake was like when he was alive and this satisfies here. She is able to forget the things she doesn't want to remember, like Tea Cake's death.