How Does Hurston Present The Change In Janie's Life

Janie moves on from her first relationship after she meets Jody. who attracts her with his charm and confidence. Janie describes Jody when she first sees him: “It was a cityfied, stylish dressed man with his hat set at an angle that didn’t belong in these parts” (Hurston 27). At first sight, Janie sees Jody as a cityfied man, who carried all her dreams on his shoulders. His sense of fashion and swagger is attractive to Janie, as she feels oppressed by her first husband. As Jody stopped to talk to Janie, his soft-spoken words of promise to Janie pull Janie over to him and away from her first husband. Jody dismisses Janie from her roles around the farm she lived in, he states that: “You ain’t got no mo’ business wid uh plow than uh hog is got wid uh holiday! You ain’t got no business cuttin’ up no seed p’taters neither. A pretty doll-baby lak you is made to sit on de front porch and rock and fan yo’self and eat p’taters dat other folks plant just special for you" (29). Jody demonizes the duties Janie is forced to do around the farm, and promises a luxurious life with him. Janie contemplates the decision to leave her first husband for Jody, and the materialistic promises and financial goals in his life lured her towards him. As the relationship progresses, Jody becomes increasingly oppressive, and demands that Janie does

In Janie’s marriage with Jody Starks, her hair is representative of her power when Jody represses it and when he indirectly liberates it by dying. At first, Jody draws Janie in with his own authority, self-confidence, and good looks. Janie seems infatuated with these characteristics; yet, ironically, she comes to loathe them, since she realizes that authority creates an air of condescension, self-confidence causes arrogance, and good looks eventually become mundane. Jody, in addition, seems to be extremely misogynistic and treats women like property. He accordingly believes that oppressing them as he sees fit is an acceptable manner of treatment, which is shown when he forces Janie to constantly wear a head-rag in

Instead of treating Janie like the beautiful woman that she is, he uses her as an object. Joe was a man who “treasured [Janie] as a posession” (Berridge). Joe’s demanding nature suppresses Janie’s urge to grow and develop, thus causing her journey to self-realization to take steps backward rather than forward. In Janie’s opinion, “he needs to “have [his] way all [his] life, trample and mash down and then die ruther than tuh let [him]self heah 'bout it” (Hurston 122). It is almost as if Janie loses sense of her own self-consciousness due to the fact that she becomes like a puppy being told what to do by her master. The death of Jody is actually a positive thing. Joe’s controlling nature stifles Janie’s inner voice. While married to Jody, Janie became closer to others, however, she did not become closer to herself. Being on her own again gave her another chance to embark on her journey and realize who Janie Crawford really is.

She ended up living a life full of manipulation and mediocrity. While living with Joe, she had to tend to many different tasks as his wife.  She wasn't independent with him either.  She was Joe's tag-a-long.  'She went through many silent rebellions over things like that.  Such a waste of life and time.  But Joe kept saying that she could do it if she wanted to and he wanted her to use her privileges.  That was the rock she was battered against.' (Hurston, 51)  Janie always had to wear her hair a certain way, always up in a head rag, in order not to attract attention to other men and women. She was always in a state of loneliness with herself.  While married to Janie, he would not allow her to attend the people's gatherings believing that she does not belong to such a group of lower class people.  Joe was depriving Janie of her independence and sanity.  "Naw, Ah ain't no young gal no mo' but den Ah ain't no old woman either.  Ah reckon Ah looks mah age too.  But Ah'm us woman every inch of me, and Ah know it.  Dat's uh whole lot more'n you kin say.  You big-bellies round here and put out a lot of brag, but 'tain't nothin' to it but yo' big voice.  Humph!  Talkin' 'bout me lookin' old!  When you pull down yo' britches, you look lak de change uh life." (Hurston, 75)  This quote spoken by Janie proves that she was getting sick and tired of being pushed around by Joe and his stuck-up ways.  This was a slow

These strong female characters are able to portray their independence. Hurston’s fictional Character, Janie, sets a standard for women and proves that she does not need to rely on anybody. Janie is in an abusive and controlling relationship with her second husband, Jody. He would never let Janie do what she wanted, made her wear a cloth on her head so other men would not admire her, and always spoke for her. When Jody gives a speech at his welcome party for his new store,

Janie, again, finds herself in a loveless marriage. Unlike her first, however, the lack of affection is reciprocal. “Again with Jody [as with Logan], Janie has money and respectability, but Jody's objectification - of her and his demand for her submission stifles any desire

At the beginning of their marriage they have a few ups and downs but they then promise to share everything with each other. In chapter fourteen, because of Tea Cake, Janie decides to start working in the fields on her own free will. This was something neither Logan nor Jody were able to get her to do, but now because of how in love with Tea Cake she is, she works in the fields so she can spend more time with him. She actually enjoys this work and tells him that “Ah laks it. It’s mo’ nicer than settin’ round dese quarters all day” (pg. 133). Her character has changed significantly at this point since the beginning of the novel since, while hanging out with the towns people, she “could tell big stories herself” which she would never have imagined doing while with

Janie’s outward appearance and her inward thoughts contrast following Joe’s death. She finally frees herself from his control only after he dies as she, “…tore off the kerchief…and let down her plentiful hair” (87). In freeing her hair, Janie begins to free herself from others’ control and social norms. However, she chooses to keep it tied up until after Jody’s funeral in order to keep appearances that she is grieving his passing in front of the townspeople. However, on the inside, Janie doesn’t really feel any sorrow and “sent her face to Joe’s funeral, and herself went rollicking with the springtime across the world” (88). It is only after Joe’s elaborate funeral that Janie shows her first act of freedom by burning “every one of her head rags and went about the house next morning with her hair in one thick braid swinging well below her waist” (89). She chose to let her hair be free from his domination, thus freeing herself from him overall and allowing herself to move onto the next journey in her life.

People in Janie’s life have always been concerned that men were only dating her for her richies and she would end up getting her heart broken by self centered men. Hurston continues the comparison between the two ladies by observing, “But she had gone off laughing and sure. As sure as Janie had been,” connecting how Janie should be more attentive to the men in life life to prevent herself from being used like Mrs Taylor (119). Despite the clear comparison, Hurston utilizes the juxtaposition to distinguish Janie from Mrs Taylor, rather than parallel the two ladies. The quotes compare the two love affairs and juxtaposes how each situation ended up.

Once Janie leaves Logan, she believes she has found salvation in her new husband, Jody Starks, but he makes it apparent that he too wants Janie to follow his command. Furthermore, the citizens of Eatonville pass judgment on Janie while seeking to govern her

Janie had three different marriages with three different men: Logan Killicks, Jody Starks, and Tea Cake. These three marriages were very different from each other, each spouse having a different personality. Janie learns from each relationship and she develops her sense of independance.

Janie’s first marriage ended with a fight and she freed herself from Logan by just telling him that she will never worship him and that weakens Logan and then she runs off with Jody. Jody “spoke of the horizon” and his speech dazzled Janie into coming with him. But then Jody prevents her from making a speech, and despite being angered by his opinion, she stays silent. That was his first act of control, silencing her from asserting herself to

As we can see Janie is using her voice to defend herself against what Jody Starks says to her, but Janie embarrasses Jody in front of all of the men because of what she says about Jody. This is the first time in the novel that Hurston gives Janie a voice/agency because usually Janie stays quiet and keeps her thoughts to herself. As the novel evolves Janie finally begins to gain a sense of voice and agency and gains the ability to be able to speak up for what she wants because in the beginning of the novel she is not able to speak up to others, especially to Joe Starks. T fight between Janie and Jody becomes worse and worse as their insults go back and forth between one another. Jody Starks insults Janie’s womanhood saying that nobody will be looking to make her their wife because she is older, so Janie decides to fight back and insult Jody’s manhood. Janie’s words have power to them because they are her inside thoughts that she has finally decided to speak out loud. Janie’s use of her voice causes a big fight between her and Jody, which puts them in separate rooms when they go to sleep. For the first time in the novel, Janie is turning her voice against Jody instead of always staying quiet when he says things that she doesn’t like very much. It was about time that Janie spoke up to Jody because he was insulting her and if she just should there and took it, Jody would think that he had a right to do this to her. Jody’s dreams of being with Janie are shattered because

Janie met Jody Sparks when she was still married to Logan. Janie was immediately intrigued by Jody given his nice clothing and ambitions. shortly after meeting Jody, she left Logan and married Jody. Their marriage started out as very nice. Janie admired Jody’s ambition and strength in building the town of Eatonville and also becoming the town’s mayor. And Jody loved pleasing Janie and making her happy. Janie was happy in her marriage and she thought that she found real love with Jody, making this marriage very different from her marriage with Logan. though the two marriages were different, they were also very similar. For example, both men were controlling and kept trying to change Janie and make her become someone who she is not. For example, Logan tried to make Janie work outside and he also tried to change her by trying to make something out of her. Jody tried to turn Janie into something that she is not by trying to control

Janie’s three marriages were all different for the most part, though they each had their ups and downs. Her marriage with Logan Killicks was the worst of the three. The only upside to this marriage was that she did have the protection and security her grandmother wanted, but Logan was not willing to make compromises like, “And ‘tain’t nothing’ in de way of him washin’ his feet every evenin’ before he comes tuh bed. ‘Tain’t nothing’ tuh hinder him ‘cause Ah places de water for him.” (Hurston 24) which shows that he wasn’t even willing to wash his feet so Janie wouldn’t have to smell his feet. Logan also expected Janie to help him with everything he was supposed to do and still make dinner for him. Despite all that Janie still wanted to love him but she just couldn’t do it. Janie’s marriage to Joe was better than Logan’s but was still really bad. Joe provided Janie with anything and everything she needed, but not what she wanted. Their relationship was about Joe, and what Joe wanted. Joe also thought he was superior to Janie. “Ah knows uh few things, and womenfolks thinks sometimes too!” “Aw naw they don’t.