Hurston, Zora N. ''Their Eyes were watching God''-Fr-En-Sp

tr. de Fr. Brosky Zora N. Hurston’s Their eyes were tr. de Andrés Ibañez notas
8
CHAPTER 8
CAPÍTULO 8
Chapter 8
Cette nuit-là, Jody déménagea ses After that night Jody moved his
affaires et alla dormir dans la pièce du bas. things and slept in a room
Il ne haïssait pas vraiment Janie, mais il 5 downstairs. He didn’t really hate
voulait qu’elle le croie. Il avait rampé dans Janie, but he wanted her to think so.
un coin pour lécher ses blessures. Au He had crawled off to lick his
magasin non plus, ils ne se parlaient guère. wounds. They didn’t talk too much
Qui n’était pas au courant se serait dit que around the store either. Anybody that
les choses s’étaient tassées, tant tout 10 didn’t know would have thought that
semblait paisible et tranquille. Mais ce calme
things had blown over, it looked so
était le sommeil des épées. De quiet and peaceful around. But the
nouvelles pensées devaient être formulées, stillness was the sleep of swords. So
de nouvelles paroles prononcées. Elle new thoughts had to be thought and
n’avait pas envie de vivre ainsi. Pourquoi 15 new words said. She didn’t want to
Joe lui en voulait-il tant de l’avoir
rapetissé aux yeux des autres alors que lui
le faisait sans cesse avec elle ? Le faisait
depuis des années. Bah, si elle devait
manger avec une cuillère à long manche,
qu’il en soit ainsi. Jody pouvait émerger
à tout moment de sa crise de rogne et
recommencer à se conduire comme
quelqu’un avec elle. [151]
live like that. Why must Joe be so
mad with her for making him look
small when he did it to her all the
time? Had been doing it for years.
20 Well, if she must eat out of a
70
long-handled spoon, she must. Jody
might get over his mad spell any time
at all and begin to act like somebody
towards her.
bouffir I vtr hinchar, abotargar. II vi hincharse, abotargarse
25
Elle remarqua aussi à quel point Joe Then too she noticed how baggy Joe
bouffissait de partout. Comme des sacs was getting all over. Like bags hanging
accrochés à une planche à repasser. Un petit from an ironing board. A little sack hung
sac pendouillait au coin de ses yeux et from the corners of his eyes and rested
s’appuyait sur ses pommettes ; un sac mou 30 on his cheek-bones; a loose-filled bag
et duveteux pendait de ses oreilles et of feathers hung from his ears and rested
s’appuyait sur son cou, sous le menton. Un on his neck beneath his chin. A sack of
sac empli d’une matière flasque descendait flabby something hung from his loins
de ses reins et se posait sur ses cuisses and rested on his thighs when he sat
lorsqu’il s’asseyait. Mais même ces 35 down. But even these things were
bouffi I adj 1. abotargado(a), hinflado(a). 2. fig engreído(a). II bouffi m arenque ahumado 3. bloated : boursouflé, gonflé, bouffi (with pride, d’orgueil). congestionné.
sacs-là s’écoulaient au fil du temps,
comme de la cire à bougie.
running down like candle grease as
time moved on.
Il se forgeait aussi de nouvelles He made new alliances too. People
alliances. Des gens dont il ne s’était jamais 40 he never bothered with [77] one way
soucié semblaient avoir son oreille à or another now seemed to have his ear.
présent. Il avait toujours été plein de mépris He had always been scornful of
pour les guérisseurs de tout poil, mais voilà root-doctors and all their kind, but now
qu’un charlatan d’Altamonte Springs she saw a faker from over around
venait traînailler presque chaque jour au 45 Altamonte Springs, hanging around the
magasin. Qui chaque fois qu’elle place almost daily. Always talking in
approchait baissait le ton ou se taisait low tones when she came near, or
carrément. Elle ignorait que Joe était mu hushed altogether. She didn’t know
par l’envie désespérée d’apparaître à ses that he was driven by a desperate hope
yeux dans son corps d’autrefois. Cela 50 to appear the old-time body in her
peinait Janie de voir le guérisseur parce sight. She was sorry about the
qu’elle craignait que Joe ne compte sur rootdoctor because she feared that Joe
cette fripouille pour le guérir alors qu’il was depending on the scoundrel to
avait besoin d’un médecin, et d’un bon. Elle make him well when what he needed
se faisait du souci car il ne mangeait rien 55 was a doctor, and a good one. She was
aux repas jusqu’au jour où elle découvrit
qu’il avait demandé à la vieille [152] Davis
de cuisiner pour lui. Elle savait qu’elle était
bien meilleure cuisinière que la vieille
femme et qu’elle gardait sa cuisine plus
propre. Alors elle acheta un jarret de boeuf
et fit de la soupe.
worried about his not eating his meals,
till she found out he was having old
lady Davis to cook for him. She knew
that she was a much better cook than
60 the old woman, and cleaner about the
kitchen. So she bought a beef-bone and
made him some soup.
carrément squarely, directly, directamente 2 honestly, fairly, justamente, straight out
« Naan, merci, lui dit sèchement Joe.
Jme donne bien assez dmal à tâcher d’aller 65
mieux. »
Elle fut d’abord stupéfaite puis blessée.
Et donc elle se rendit tout droit chez sa
meilleure amie, Phoeby Watson, et lui
raconta l’histoire.
« J’aimerais mieux êt’ morte que
dlaisser Jody croire que jui veux du mal,
expliquat-elle en sanglotant. Ç’a pas 75
toujours été marrant, pasque tu sais
combien Jody vénère le travail dses dix
doigts mais Dieu qu’est au Paradis sait que
“Naw, thank you,” he told her shortly.
“Ah’m havin’ uh hard enough time tuh
try and git well as it is.”
She was stunned at first and hurt
afterwards. So she went straight to her
bosom friend, Pheoby Watson, and told
her about it.
“Ah’d ruther be dead than for Jody
tuh think Ah’d hurt him,” she sobbed to
Pheoby. “It ain’t always been too
pleasant, ’cause you know how Joe
worships de works of his own hands, but
God in heben knows Ah wouldn’t do one
A partir de aquella noche, Joe trasladó
sus cosas y durmió en una habitación
de la planta baja. No odiaba realmente a
Janie, pero deseaba que ésta lo creyera.
Se había arrastrado lejos a fin de lamerse
las heridas. Tampoco hablaban mucho
cuando estaban en la tienda. Tan tranquilo
y silencioso estaba todo que el que no
estuviera al tanto podría creer que las cosas
habían vuelto a su cauce. Pero bajo
esa calma se escondían tempestades. De
modo que hubo que pensar cosas nuevas
y decir nuevas palabras. No era así como
Janie quería vivir. ¿Por qué Joe tenía que
enfadarse con ella porque le había ridiculizado
cuando él hacía lo mismo con
ella todo el día? Llevaba años haciéndolo.
Bueno, si ella tenía que pasar por
aquello, pasaría por aquello. En cualquier
momento, a Jody se le pasaría el
disgusto por completo y empezaría a tratarla
de una manera normal.
Entonces observó que la piel de Joe comenzaba
a colgarle por todas partes. Como los pliegues
de una tabla de planchar. De los ojos le
colgaban unos saquitos que descansaban en los
pómulos; de sus orejas pendía una fofa talega
de plumas que, por debajo de la barbilla, se
posaba en el cuello. De los costados le colgaba
un saco blando y fláccido que, cuando se
sentaba, se apoyaba sobre los muslos. Pero
incluso todas estas cosas iban consumiéndose
como el sebo de una vela a medida que
pasaba el tiempo.
También había hecho nuevas alianzas. Se interesaba
por gentes de las que nunca antes se
había preocupado en ningún sentido. Él siempre
había hablado con desdén de los curanderos
y de ese tipo de personas, pero ahora Janie
veía que casi a diario se pasaba por su casa
un impostor venido de Altamonte Springs.
Siempre hablaban en voz baja cuando ella
se acercaba [99] o se callaban al
mismo tiempo. Ella no sabía que Jody actuaba
movido por una desesperada ilusión de aparecer
ante sus ojos con el cuerpo que había
tenido siempre. A ella le preocupaba el asunto
del curandero porque temía que Joe estuviera
depositando en aquella sabandija sus esperanzas
de curación, cuando lo que en realidad
necesitaba era un médico, y un médico bueno.
Le preocupaba que no tocara las comidas, hasta
que descubrió que estaba haciendo que la anciana
señora Davis cocinara para él. Sabía bien
que ella era mucho mejor cocinera que la anciana
y mucho más limpia en la cocina. Así
que un día compró un hueso de ternera y le
hizo un poco de sopa.
—No, mucha gracia —dijo él con sequedad—.
Ya me está costando demasiao tiempo
ponerme bien.
Al principio se quedó atónita y, luego,
dolida. Así que fue a hablar con su
amiga del alma, Pheoby Watson, y le contó
lo que sucedía.
—Preferiría estar muerta a que Jody pensara
que yo puedo hacerle daño —le dijo a
Pheoby, sollozando—. Nunca ha sío una tarea
fácil, porque tú ya sabes cómo adora
Joe todo lo que él hace con sus propias
manos pero Dió sabe que yo no movería
After the confrontation, Jody moves into another
room in the house. His health keeps
deteriorating and he grows desperate, consulting
with quacks who promise miracle cures. He
avoids contact with Janie and stops eating her
cooking. Janie learns from Pheoby that there is
a rumor around town that Janie is trying to
poison Jody for revenge. Nevertheless, Janie
sends for a real doctor from Orlando. The doctor
examines Jody and determines that his
kidneys have stopped working and that he will
soon die.
Janie begins to pity Jody and wants to see him
one last time. Jody refuses, but Janie decides
that it will soon be too late, so she enters his
room. He is cold and distant, and their
conversation quickly deteriorates into an
argument. He says that she never appreciated
all that he did for her; she responds that he never
let her express her emotions. She then tells him
that he is dying and Jody finally realizes the
truth. He breaks down, releases one long,
anguished sob, and begs Janie not to tell him
such things. Nevertheless, she berates him,
accusing him of tyranny and egotism. She adds
that he was always trying to change her and was
never satisfied with who she really was.
Jody pleads with Janie to stop but she continues.
She sees that he is struggling with death and is
filled with pity. He dies, and she thinks about all
the time that has passed since she met him. She
looks in a mirror and sees that she has aged
but is still beautiful. She rips off her head-rag,
freeing her imprisoned hair, but then realizes
that she must appear to be mourning. She ties
it back up, assumes a mask of sadness, and
yells out the window that Jody has died.
Analysis
These two chapters focus on the disintegration
of Jody and Janie’s marriage, culminating in
Jody’s death. Janie’s interest in the marriage has
already waned by this point. She loses hope
when it becomes clear that her relationship to
Jody will not realize her dreams. Jody, on the
other hand, loses everything, including the will
to live, as soon as he loses the ability to exert
control. Despite their obvious differences, Jody
and Janie’s situations are, in a way, similar. Both
realize that they have constructed lives that have
not delivered the fulfillment that they expected.
But Janie is able to survive her disillusionment
and, by the end of Chapter Eight, has begun to
once again head in the direction of her dreams.
Jody, however, doesn’t survive; in part, his
destruction results from Janie’s reassertion of
herself.
In Chapter 6 we see how intimately Jody’s control
is related to language. He uses language to
belittle Janie while at the same time forcing her
to remain silent. The one-sidedness of this
dynamic is the only real tool left with which Jody
can preserve the imbalance of power in his
relationship with Janie. Jody tries to use his control
of discourse to compensate for his physical
deterioration and ultimate inability to control the
world. His insults attempt to reshape the world
around him by incorrectly describing Janie’s
appearance while ignoring his own.
Janie’s two outbursts further underscore the
importance of language. When she speaks, she
asserts herself and her own power; this
assertion, of course, deeply troubles Jody.
Janie’s sharp retort in Chapter 7 about Jody’s
feebleness completely shatters Jody’s
misconceptions about the extent of his power:
he is «robbed … of his illusion of irresistible
maleness.» Janie’s rejoinder (réplica) has
reversed their situations. Earlier, Jody prevents
her from speaking and asserting her identity;
now, he himself is left without a voice: «Joe
Starks didn’t know the words for all this, but he
knew the feeling.» Stung by words, shown the
limitations of his power, and robbed of his ability
to speak, Jody breaks down. He resorts to
physical violence—a display of beastliness—
because his lofty aura has dissipated completely.
Jody’s disintegration is completed in Chapter 8,
and, once again, he is undone by the power of
Janie’s speech. She finally lashes out at him in
full, expressing her feelings and criticizing his
faults. Janie compromises the source of Jody’s
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