Discuss The Relationship Between Janie And Mrs. Turner

When Janie is about sixteen her grandmother finds her in the act of kissing a boy, and afraid for Janie, she arranges for Janie to be married to Logan Killicks, who is an older man with vast property to his name. Nanny, as Janie calls her, is unable to wrap her mind around the idea of marrying for love and mocks Janie saying, "So you don't want to marry off decent like, do yuh? You just wants to hug and kiss and feel around with first one man and then another, huh?" (Their Eyes Are Watching God, 13). Her grandmothers’ gift of life is different from the life that Janie wants to live. She tells Janie, “De nigger woman is de mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see.'” (Their Eyes Are Watching God, 11). Nanny doesn’t believe that trying to find love and make a better life for you will succeed, she tells Janie that marrying and older man with land to his name will bring security, and she shouldn’t want more than that. Because of this Janie agrees and goes along with the plan. She is depicted as very compliant and rarely speaks her mind, even saying “But Ah hates disagreement and confusion, so Ah better not talk. It makes it hard tuh git along” (Their Eyes Were Watching God, 90).

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

Then, Janie finally stands up for herself and tells him that he was always trying to change her and control her. She yells at him until she dies. When Jody dies, Janie lets her hair down, symbolizing her newfound freedom.

Therefore, both Joe and Janie are looked up to by the townspeople. To some extent, this could be considered a form of equality. Unfortunately, this is about where the equality stops. While Joe gains prominence through his own actions and words, Janie gains some prominence by doing what she is told to do. She is not permitted to voice her own opinions or join in the lighthearted gossiping which occurs outside of their store. Janie is expected to be the dutiful wife. If she makes a mistake, then she should have known better and therefore should accept her punishment quietly. Joe holds the obvious upper hand in the relationship until his death whereupon Janie inherits a large amount of money and learns to enjoy the freedom of living as her own person.

She marries him because he starts seeing her secretly at her current home with Logan Killicks. He convinces her to run away with him to Eatonville where they establish a town. Their relationship starts very loving and close, but as time passes their love fades away slowly. Jody is a man who needs power and rule to satisfy him; therefore, he seems to be a bit bossy. He was in charge of the town, the store and more and “They bowed down to him rather, because he was all of these things, and then again he was all of these things because the own bowed to him.” (Their Eyes Were Watching God 50). At the end of their marriage Jody gets sick and dies. Janie is left a widow for six months until she meets Tea Cake, a store

She marries Jody quickly, and Janie is full of excitement as they head off to a new town for blacks in Florida. Just as quickly her joy is diminished as Jody evolves into a domineering, power-hungry male, whose disregard for his wife is reminiscent of Mr. Pontellier's treatment of Edna. When Jody and Janie first arrive in Eatonville, Janie is mistaken as Jody's daughter, and while Jody corrects the locals, his behavior towards Janie does begin to resemble that of an overly-controlling father. The first indicator of Jody's true values comes when he actively silences Janie's voice, her ability to express herself with word. " 'Mah wife don't know nothin' 'bout no speech-making'.

Throughout Wu’s article, Wu address Janie’s marriages and the representation with the imagery regarding the mule. One of Wu’s stronger arguments is the first marriage Janie has with Logan Killicks. Wu argues that the marriage between Logan and Janie is an “obvious surrender to Nanny’s concept of black women, which defines them as the mule of the world” (Wu 1054). In the beginning of their marriage, Logan treated

When Janie is in a relationship with Joe “Jody” Starks, he restricts the freedom she has through Hurston’s symbolization of hair. Joe begins this oppression of her freedom when he witnesses the townsman Walter stroking the end of Janie’s braid “ever so lightly as to enjoy the feel of it without Janie knowing what he was doing” (Hurston 55). This violation of Janie’s body enrages Joe, for he views Janie’s body as exclusively his property. Regardless of Janie’s desires, he demands “Janie to tie up her hair around the store” (Hurston 55). By revoking Janie’s ability to wear her hair as she pleases, Joe strips her freedom to make her own choices. As she does not yet have the

The suppression of Janie, both as a woman and a human, is Jody's most interesting facet. He sets a limit on her self- fulfillment, treating her more like an object than a woman. Of course, he lumps women in with mere things--"Somebody got to think for women and chilun and chickens and cows (67)." He's good to Janie, but he's good to his animals also. In fact, Joe's attitude towards Janie is echoed in his behavior towards the overworked mule he buys and sets free: he lets the mule loose to wander around town as evidence of his generosity and wealth.

My reaction to Jody’s comment is that the comment is offensive. Women should have their own mind. I can infer based on the reaction that jody has no respect for women.Janie hates working in the store and post office. Jody makes Janie keep her hair tied up because he is jealous of the men who stare at it. It is there for him to stare at, not others. They make fun of Matt Bonner's mule more and decide to play a joke on Matt. Some of the town members stand around the mule and tease it. "Naw, Ah ain’t no young gal no mo’ but den Ah ain’t no old woman

Janie) in a sexual manner. It also shows how jealous Joe was of Janie and her youthfulness, as Jody was 10 years her senior. The head rag “irked her endlessly” (55), however she submits to Jody’s control. With Joe Janie must hide her real self, being what her husband wishes her to be, presenting a façade to the outside world of whom they think she should be, not who she really wants to be.

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.

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

"Jody told her to dress up and stand in the store all that evening" (Hurston 58). That must've been Jody Starks' most said command to Janie throughout her marriage. He only used her because she was so pretty, and didn't want much more. Being proud of Janie as his wife, the mayor's pretty wife, he himself built the image for Janie as 'trophy wife'.