Japes: A Short Story

Throughout her marriages Janie has grown and become a mature woman. When she married Logan Killicks she was a young girl with no idea of the harsh world. She learned that she does not want to be with Logan. “Ah wants to want him sometimes” (Hurston; 3, 26). He does not treat her like wife should be treated, he treats her like a worker. She realizes that this horrible marriage to Logan is not what she dreamed about under the pear tree. When Janie meets Joe Starks he speaks to her in rhymes and promises her the world. Her dreams of a beautiful marriage are alive once again. Joe and Janie move to Eatonville, Florida, an all-black town where Joe becomes mayor. As time progresses and Joe gains more power and respect Janie feels lonely. Joe is so focused with his position that he unknowingly pushes Janie into loneliness and sadness. Joe had taken all the fun and life

We start out in Lake Windsor, the housing development where Paul and his family live. Their neighborhood is nestled in among a bunch of other ritzy developments with fancy-sounding names, like the Manors of Coventry, and the Villas at Versailles. Lake Windsor even has its own middle and high school, so, for the first part of the book, the Fisher family's lives revolve around that one area of town. Mrs. Fisher heads up their Home Owner Association Architectural Committee, Erik joins his school's football team, and even Paul makes friends in their neighborhood.

Joe ends up becoming the Mayor, Post Master, storekeeper, and the biggest landlord in the town. Although this is all fine for him, Janie in the mean time is not happy with the relationship and struggles to deal with it. Over the years Janie places all of her old dreams into the corner of her soul. She submits to Jody's need for control on the outside but on the inside she hides her real feelings and her real self. At one of the town meetings someone asks for a “few words uh encouragement from Mrs. Mayor Starks” and Joe replies buy saying, “Thank yuh fuh yo’ compliments, but mah wife don’t know nothin’ ‘bout no speech-makin’. Ah never married her for nothin’ lak dat. She’s uh woman and her place is in de home”(41) After hearing this from Joe, Janie feels as though, “that took the bloom off of things”(41). She is no longer truly in love with him anymore. After Joe dies, Janie feels free for the first time in years. Janie is in the room when Joe dies and soon after, she walks across the room to the mirror and tells herself that she, “The young girl was gone, but a handsome woman had taken her place”(83). Janie becomes a more independently thinking woman after his death because she doesn’t have the restriction that Joe forced on her. She is free from Joes dominant self and can now do what she pleases, which ends up being a very good thing for her.

Jannie meets Joe who she believes can give her the life that she wants, one filled with love so she leaves Logan. The life she expected with joe didn’t turn out how she hoped. Expressing Jannies opinion, “this business of the head-rag

“The land was broad and level, and there were cottages neatly arranged. There were good fields and lovely pools, with

In the beginning, Janie meet Jody as she spies a good-looking, sharply dressed stranger ambling down the road. As he approaches her, she gives him something to drink and they sit and talk. Jody tells her where he’s from also, she tells him a little about herself as well. After he leaves she gets back to doing her chores. Soon after she meet Jody, they start each other every day after that. One day, Logan wants her to stop what she’s doing in the kitchen to help him outside, but she refuses. They then get into a argument because she doesn’t want to help, so now Janie has an excuse to leave Logan, because the argument, so now she able to

After Jody’s death Janie unwraps her hair and is living happily single until she meets the handsome, ambitious, and much younger Tea Cake. Despite their drastic age difference,

Hot sultry days and cool nights were the norm that first year. Evenings brought a favorite ritual of cocktails before dinner on the drinking porch, surrounded by Pittosporum bushes, old as the house and big as trees, with little critters scurrying underneath. The children bunched onto the limited seating with the adults as well. Miles, true to himself, wore khaki shorts, navy golf shirt and dock siders – not to be changed once in two weeks. His long hair belied his profession, but this was a vacation. Anything went.

After a supper of fried fish, grits, and biscuits, the children’s bellies were full and their imaginations were running wild- they hadn’t completely forgotten living on the trail- The same as when they were younger, they wanted Charity to tell them a story before they went to sleep. She smiled at their eagerness, remembering all the stories she had told them at night while they were on the trail from Sandersville to Canton. It seemed that once they were settled in a house and not camping under the stars, the need for her bedtime stories were no longer necessary. Living on the trail seemed to bring her children much closer to her; she missed living that way…

Earl turned onto Main Street of his new home, Lyme Connecticut and was immediately struck with a child-like sense of wonder. The cobblestone road was lined with white shops packed side to side; everything from toys to mannequins stare back at him from the windows. As he, his mother, and his father continued down the road, a beautiful shimmering bay could be seen from the distance, the August sun reflecting brilliantly off the ocean water, seemingly calling for him to jump in. They continued, taking many turns and different road for about 15 minutes until they arrived at their new home in a small neighborhood of about 20 houses. Earl exited the car and took his suit case out of his family's black hatchback Volvo and walked towards the house,

If you’ve ever lived near Mulberry Street in the small town Southington, Connecticut, then you would remember these three children. They were friends; I suppose you could say childhood friends. Jalinea Kannas [Ka-nis], Tyler Peytirch [pay-ter-ch], and Kier Antonna [an-toe-nah]. They are very different from each other, but they are as close as can be. Jalinea has her slightly wavy mop of flaming red hair in a medium cut, just below her shoulders. Her brown eyes are bright with excitement. Her slightly freckled face gives her character, and she is full of it. Tyler’s brown hair was in his typical messy style, his hazel eyes matching along with it. He gave a soft smile between the two (girls). Kier was giggling quietly to herself, but loud enough for the other two to hear. Her voice was like

When first beginning to read this novel the reader may think that the child in this story is young and just being told all of these foolish stories from him grandfather but in actuality he is being told all of these stories when everything his grandfather is telling the truth. This child, Jacob, has a grandfather who tells him all of these wild stories about when he was younger. Like this island he grew up on and all of the strange and exhilarating stuff that he saw when he was on the island. The island is located off of the coast of Wales. The house that the grandfather grew up is not like any other normal home you would find in a neighborhood.

Japes grew up in a resort and met every type of person known to mankind or so he thought. Anyone who could afford a summer vacation at a beautiful resort frequented this area. In the off-season his real friends were the locals. Japes, in reality, embodied the identity of a “local” he simply enjoyed the benefit of having the world come to him every summer. A community of five hundred, growing to five thousand during “the season”, along with his friends and parents would bestow upon him his values.

Johnny had been dry heaving, and Jessica would say it is his asthma. She would not take him to a doctor, and his grandfather eventually did, and he had bronchitis. Johnny would have marks on him from his head to his feet of red blotches/scratches. Jessica would say it is Eczema, but the reporter stated is looks like he feel, or had been drugged across concrete. Johnny's diaper would be full of urine, and he clothes would not stay up because they would be soaked. His private area has big swollen marks that look like staph on it because it is hard. Johnny would always scream of not wanting to go with Jessica. He was with the grandfather for a while because Jessica's car stopped working, but the grandfather returned him to Jessica on 4-18-16.

When Willy and Linda purchased their home in Brooklyn, it seemed far removed form the city. Willy was young and strong and he believed he had a future full of success. He and his sons cut the tree limbs that threatened his home and put up a hammock that he would enjoy with his children. The green fields