In this article Caroline makes a
comparison between the different African American types. She talks about the
upper class women, women who flirt with one another’s husbands, and to the
middle class. Carr and Caroline is a couple. Caroline is not sure what she
wants so once she knows he is falling for Carr she stops visiting him. Carr
becomes upset because Caroline has a flirtatious independence and he realizes
he is in love with her too. They make it up by kissing and acting like nothing
happened. This reminds me of Janie because she never truly knew what she wanted
and kept going along with her different men.
This is a picture of Janie from Their Eyes Were Watching God. Janie's hair represents her freedom because of her long dark wavy hair. When she is wearing her hair up, she feels hidden and not free. She will wear it in a long braid or up tightly.
The vision of Logan Killicks was desecrating the pear tree but Janie didn’t know how to tell Nanny that. She merely hunched over and pouted at the floor (14). Janie has an ideal of love and it is all she is wanting. She experienced this under the pear tree in her sixteen years old eyes. It was very romanticized and Logan is not satisfying her. She doesn't like the idea of marrying an ugly old man for no other reason than to please her grandma, Nanny. She didn't want to get anything but her ideal vision of love. Janie pulled back a long time because he did not represent sun-up and pollen and blooming trees, but he spoke for far horizon. He spoke for change and chance (29). Janie is nervous about giving herself to Joe too quickly because she is not sure he has the ideal love she is looking for. Joe is a far more romantic than Logan though. He doesn't remind her of the ideal love of the pear tree's and blooming trees but he does have the "far horizon" that she wants. "De way you looked at me when Ah said whut Ah did. Yo’ face skeered me so bad till mah whiskers drawed up."
"Ah ain’t got no business bein’ mad at nothin’ you do and say. You got it all wrong. Ah ain’t mad atall."
"Ah know it and dat’s why puts de shamery on me. You’se jus’ disgusted wid me. Yo’ face jus’ left here and went off somewhere else. Naw, you ain’t mad wid me. AH be glad if was, ‘cause then Ah might do somethin’ tuh please yuh. But lak it is – "(104). Tea Cake is very open with Janie and she loves it. He admits his fears and says she will do anything to make her happy. Tea Cake will listen to Janie and pays close attention to her facial expressions. Joe never did this to Janie, he never cared enough.
I picked the song I
won’t give Up by Jason Mraz to explain Janie throughout Their Eyes Were Watching God. I chose
this song because it is a song based off of love. It starts by saying loving
someone needs strong determination and commitment. Without determination and
commitment, it is impossible the love can last long or forever. Loving and
living with someone who is different than yourself comes with obstacles. Janie
runs into trouble with her grandma, Nanny. Nanny wants to force her into a
marriage that she knows won’t be right. In order to deal with problems dealing
with differences, strong determination and commitment are needed for loving the
person.
Janie’s old grandmother has Janie
targeting for men of all ages. She experiences three different marriages, all
of which teach her about different aspects of love and she never gives up. Janie
doesn’t care about being the first wife in her family, but she is caring about
finding true love. Nanny is forced into a marriage with an older man she cannot
love. Janie learns that marriage does not necessarily include love and puts the
future into her hands.
Janie gives herself to Joe Starks, a
man she believes she loves. Joe makes her be quiet, not associate herself with
locals, hide her long beautiful hair, and rules her. Joe keeps her all to
himself and isolated from others. Joe becomes sick and she is not able to keep
herself resting. She does everything in honor of him but feels she won freedom
at his death.
Janie meets another guy named Tea
Cake. He is much younger than her and he does not seem worthy at first. He wins
Janie’s heart by showing his fun-loving and characteristics that her past
husbands did not have. She is able to enjoy being with those around her and be
social in this small poor rural area. They have a strong marriage because of
their communication with each other; they talk out their troubles and talk
about their love for eachother.
There were so many times where Janie
could have given up but she kept herself positive and looking around for
others. She had her mind set on what she wanted and was not trying to settle
for anything less. Janie really values herself and ends up happy with her
freedom.
