Janie’s moments of transition
We see Janie as an old woman at the beginning of the novel. She struggles to control her language and voice which shows the quest for defining her life which is complicated and with no single resolution for her. She dreams and desires a lot but also chooses what to forget which makes it difficult to define. Janie in this case is victim of psychological fragmentation of black America and modernity. In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, she portrays an unformed and undefined character. Her ambitions are to have a life not controlled or defined by her nanny. She follows the paths defined by her nanny which make her life a wreck. She feels destroyed as an aging woman. Janie’s dream is to have a nice and romantic true love contrary to her family’s love history which is not exciting. She is concerned about finding true and romantic love which is seen through her relationship with her grandmother. She concentrates on trying to please her but in the end she is married of to an old man.
The moment where Janie is under a pear tree is a defining one in her life. This relates to sexuality of the spring time. She relates the blossoming of the pear tree with an experience of romantic love and she is inspired to seek love from then onwards. Janie is associated to the imagery of flowers which depicts her natural beauty, innocence, ripeness for romance, and gentle nature. The tree is her means of sexual fulfillment and emotional fulfillment. The tree symbolizes some gender, the female waits for the male but even so Janie does not want to be male because she wants to complement nature. She does not want to be owned or possessed by the male but rather help each other in a perfect union. The conversation between her and the nanny shows clearly the difference between their ideal love life. The grandmother thinks that because Logan is a rich man he takes care of the wife and offers her security and shelter. She contradicts these thoughts and clings to the thought of romance and true love. She wants to connect emotionally and be shown physical passion by her husband. She even thinks Logan is ugly and does not treat her right. This indicates her disagreement on the notion of marriage on the side of women. She is masculine on this idea and argues that marriage is a two way union.
Jody offered Janie something more. He speaks of the horizon which is a limitless possibility and imagination which is what Janie wants but does not have. She does not know what to expect of Jody because according to her the things that lie beyond the horizon are not clear. Jody did not bring changes to her love life because he was nothing close to the sunrise or blooming trees and pollen which are her desires in life and what she expects. She is almost giving up and can easily fore go her desires for the possible thought of Jody changing. His realistic ideas of power and ambition are impossible in the world of love that Janie lives in her mind. She is it as reaching for the horizon but still puts up with it for the hopes of better life.
Her turning point in life is the death of her love Tea Cake. He offers everything that she has been looking for in life though he is younger than her. Tea cake helps in defining the character of Janie, meets her desires and also puts her as a woman on the correct path. In her relationships Janie could not attain her dreams because they were being destroyed every time she came close to it. For example Logan termed her as lazy and she opted to leave. This shows her difference in thinking about marriage as compared to other women in the society. With Starks she was beaten to stay at the place defined by society as belonging to women in marriage which makes her want to leave. Tea Cake on the other hand showed her respect which defined her as a mature woman. He did not have any money or wealth which shows that Janie had attained her dream of true love which was not based on money or security like every other person thought of love. She is treated like a queen and even involves herself in activities with the man. She does not feel like a property; notion of men about women and marriage. All her desires and goals are met with Tea Cake who takes her on outings and makes love to her out of love but not obligation. They talked a lot thus making their relationship fruitful not just in the eyes of the public but in reality.
Janie has been transformed by this relationship in many ways. Her goals on love were met but they can not go on forever because she is old. She is ready to face life after his death on her own as she has fulfilled her desires and dreams. In her old age there was no better way of holding onto these memories than not getting married again. She believes she finally made it as she narrates the story to her friend.
References
Hurston, Z. (1937). Their Eyes Were Watching God. London: J B Lippincott.
Shmoop Editorial Team. (2008, November 11). Their Eyes were Watching God Characters. Retrieved from Shmoop.com: http://www.shmoop.com/eyes-were-watching-god/characters.html
