Character Analysis Of Janie In'she Spoke Of The Horizon By Zora Neale

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

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

One scene that shows Jody and Janie’s relationship is on page 43. In this scene, one of the townspeople asks Janie to make a speech. Before Janie even has a chance to answer Jody tells them that Janie does not know how to make a speech and is not meant to be doing that. This scene is the first scene that we see Jody fully control Janie and make decisions for her.

Janie's marriage to Logan Killicks was the first stage in her growth as a woman. She hoped that her obligatory marriage with Logan would

She doesn’t feel married to him, she feels like his worker. Logan is incapable of giving her love, belonging, and encouragement, the next stage in the theory, cornering Janie and preventing her from moving forward in her process towards self-fulfillment. She is unable to move on because Logan only meets her physiological needs, not her psychological

“It was a spring afternoon in West Florida. “First Janie is exploring the nature of spring. Spring as being part of a season. A season that seems to her like a regrowth of flowers and life. “Spending every minute that she could steal from her chores. “Janie has being putting aside her chores to explore nature. “It had called her to come and gaze on a mystery.” Jamie felt that there was something that nature or the blooming pear tree want to teach her. Janis’s attraction with the pear tree blooms open her mind to concedes with her occurrence as sexual being. One that is “stirred’ that make her feel like the caress of an awaking sexual feeling was starting in her life. With all this changes in her innocent mind and body she start asking herself “What? How? Why?” Of this things.

In the first marriage Janie was a 16-year-old girl who was forced into marriage with a man in his 50’s. She lives with Logan on his potato farm, where Logan is very set in his ways and does not care what Janie has to say or think. Being that Janie is only 16years old she allows her outer personality to submit to whatever Logan wants even though her inner self, her true self is miserable. She believed that because they were married that just being married would bring love. So she continues to submit to Logan’s

Janie’s quest begins with her grandmother forcing her to marry Logan Killicks; her compliance demonstrates her need to follow what others expect of her. Although she believes "[Logan] look like some ole skullhead in de graveyard", she marries him, simply because her grandmother tells her she will love him with time (13). She compares him to a “skullhead”, literally likening him, and subsequently their relationship, to death. Although she knows she wants to find love, and that she does not love Logan, she marries him to appease her grandmother. This shows how much Janie cares about what other people think of her, and what lengths she is willing to go to keep others pleases with her.

This makes Janie feel like he does not care about her and that she is wasting her time with him. His lack of communication with Janie symbolizes the despair and emptiness she feels in their marriage. He does not open up to her and so of course the marriage will not work out. Hurston ultimately portrays how unhappy Janie is when she leaves Logan so easily the day after she brought up the topic of her leaving: "Janie hurried out of the gate and turned south" (Hurston 32).

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.

So one day she meets Joe Starks and after spending some time together, Janie asks Logan what he would do if she ran away. Logan, rather than responding honestly, lies and hides his true feelings through insults. Janie learns that a marriage does not always withhold love. Love is something that must come naturally without force or thought and Janie sees that she has no such feeling towards Logan. Hence Janie runs off with Joe Starks and Logan is never heard of again.

The book frames Janie’s awareness of her growth from a young girl to a mature, adult woman: "She thought about herself. Years ago, she had told her girl self to wait for her in the looking glass. It had been a long time since she remembered. Perhaps she'd better look" (83). Her taking that “look”[ing], the act of reflection upon, guides her to take a “careful stock of herself” (83), with her “girl-self” by her side. Janie’s spiritual journey serves as a mental stocktaking in which she realizes the true woman she has become; in spite of the afflicted abuse of her second husband, Jody. This is how Janie understands the concept of self as a transaction and a product that grows physically, and cognitively, over time through experiences with the

The story that Janie tells Pheoby includes the novel itself and communicates how Janie has at long last discovered her voice and is willing to recount to her story to a future era of women. This procedure of discovering her voice is a troublesome voyage in which she perseveres through two loveless marriages and encounters social oppression that causes her to hold back her tongue and prevents personal development. Janie demonstrates her inner soul and voice by leaving Logan for Jody and letting Logan know that he “ain’t done [her] no favor by marryin’ [her.]” However, her voice is immediately subdued by her new status as Jody's wife, a mayor’s wife, when she discovers that her high society status forces her to yield. After many years spent

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