Janis Ian Literary Devices

In the novel, Janie’s focus was her spiritual journey. She was able to experience love as well as struggles black women went through during this time. Overall the book was about her personal growth. The movie was centered around her relationship with Tea Cake. This made Janie seem weak and vulnerable, while the novel represented her as brave and

“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.

The events of her life encompass the scope of her journey for love and self- understanding. Janie is the protagonist of the story. She is the main character and the reader analyzes the story through her eyes. Nanny Crawford Another character in the story, Nanny plays the role of Janie’s guardian in the beginning of the book. She wants what is best for Janie but is a

During this time while slavery was abolished a woman was very much expected to serve her husband fully, who was not always chosen out of love. Growing up Janie's guardian and major influence was her nanny, a woman that grew up during slavery and in turn hoped for janie to have a better life, she says, “You know , honey, us colored folks is branches without roots and that makes things come round in queer ways. You in particular. Ah was born back due in slavery so it wasn't for me to fulfill my dreams of what a woman oughta be and to do” (Hurston 16) Her view was imposed on janie to the extent where she grew up believing that a woman's dreams were predetermined and don't go far beyond being a wife, unlike men who are seen to have the world

Janies life was not perfect by anyones standards, she had many defeats and let downs. Janies Grandmother was one of her supressors. She made Janie feel worthless at times “Nannys words made Janies’ kiss across the gatepost seem like a manure pile after rain” (Hurston 13). Her Grandmother did not approve of her little boyfriend, so she made an ill-judged decision for janie to marry Logan Killicks. Janie hated him “The vision of Logan Killicks was desecrating the pear tree… She merly hunched over and pouted at the floor” (Page 14). Nanny did not care what Janie thought, she just wanted her to be safe after she was gone. She slapped Janie when she started pouting, which threw Janie off. She was not used to this kind of treatment. Even though Janie

A woman of mixed white and black heritage, Janie's birth was the result of a poor black schoolgirl being raped by an unnamed white schoolteacher. When her mom splits, Janie is brought up by her grandmother, a woman whose views have been shaped by a) living through the Civil War and b) having been in a forced relationship with her white master in the years before the war.

This creates a visible contrast between Janie’s past and present. This strategy helps to contribute to the purpose because throughout the novel, Janie reminisces about her past longingly and in a wistful way; it is as if she wants to relive her past because she is so unhappy with her present. As each of her husbands become more and more restrictive over her life, she begins to find the strength within herself to make her present situations as beautiful as her past ones.

The novel is not a story of Janie’s quest for love but rather than her quest for sense of security and independence. Janie’s improvement has been charted along the way as she studies

Janie was silenced for most of her life, having been in two relationships that silenced her. Nanny silenced her when she had second thoughts about her marriage to Logan and Jody silenced her during their wretched marriage. It seems to be a harbinger since she was silenced during two of her marriages.

All Janie had wanted in life was to be loved and love but her community had pressured her into being someone she wasn’t and loving someone she didn’t. Because of white society many of the people in her community did not care about love and thought that being financially secure was more important. But Janie loved love and she left her community and their expectations behind and found her last husband Tea Cake. After Tea Cake had died her community had turned their backs on her and she realized she didn’t need them anymore because found her love and loved herself.

The novel presents a story of an African American woman, Janie Crawford. It shows her struggle in which she fights for acceptance and a sense of security. Throughout the novel, her growth into womanhood is presented. At the beginning, Janie is depicted as a shy and withdrawn woman who is not inclined to speak about her emotions and feelings. Her voice is often stifled, and, as a result, she remains unheard and unnoticed. She feels that her community ignores her. She could not define herself as a woman, and, in turn her inner self is not integral (Fard & Zarrinjooee, 2014). Miller writes that Janie`s character can be considered as a canonical figure from the feminism`s point of view because of the fact that she wants to free herself from men`s

During the hurricane, they are forced to look into the darkness, a world of blacks only, because in a time of danger, whites are just as helpless as any other race. Everyone begins to question God once they realize He is now the only one who knows their fate, and simply wait for Him to either save or kill them. Hurston implies by this that perhaps in the end, God is the real master, and the fate of humans of all races are under His control, as we can see through the damage of the hurricane that was created. Throughout the whole story, as Janie finds herself in a war against people, she learns to watch and let God to take her where she needs to be in life, instead of letting the wrong people do the job for her. Unlike Nanny, she did not rely on whites to plan her life for her; she made sure to stay on her own path of finding love. Because she let God’s will matter most, she was able to maintain inner peace and fight against those who do not support her, an implication of the title that is for us to discover through Janie’s

this is a mask and not her true identity: 'my glass showed me an old

Joe is a very wealthy, smart, successful businessman that is jealous of Janie, unlike Tea Cake who has full trust in her. Janie begins to realize how much power Joe has after becoming mayor. “Janie soon began to feel the impact of awe and envy against her sensibilities” (46). Early in their marriage, Janie can already see how controlling Joe is going to be over her. It’s not that he doesn’t love her, but he is just simply jealous. He cannot stand for the spotlight to be on anybody but himself. Janie’s hair plays a big factor in this. The attention she gets from her hair angers Joe greatly, so he demands that she keeps it tied up in a head-rag. This bothers Janie very much. Since she does not have any say in their marriage, she thinks to

This evidence shows that she wants some people to maybe stand up for themselves and to not let down on themselves. One connection is once I was getting bullied and one of my friends told me to be brave and tell the bully to stop. In conclusion, this is why she wrote the story.