The earliest influential moment on Janie’s view of love and marriage occurred at the age of sixteen in her Nanny's back yard. Janie lies beneath the pear tree when, "the inaudible voice of it all came to her. She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight. So this was a marriage! She had been summoned to behold a revelation" (Hurston 11).

elf- 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 (Hurston 71)." 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. As Janie so bitterly sees, "Freein' dat mule makes a mighty fine man outa you. Something like George Washington...you got uh town so you freed uh mule. You have tuh have power tuh free things and dat makes you lak uh king uh something” (Hurston 58). Joe desires Janie's complete submission, and occasionally beats her when she does not submit. Janie was again a prisoner as Joe sheltered her and made her feel different from the rest of society. Janie slowly begins to break out of the clay shell that Starks has been molding her i!

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ayor Starks” (she no longer has her own identity). “Mah wife don’t know nothin ‘bout no speech-makin’. Ah never married her for nuthin’ lak dat. She’s uh woman and her place is in de home ” (Hurston 43). It soon becomes apparent that Joe is only interested in having a wife to use as a show piece. Their marriage was strictly for social appearance. Joe feels that his marriage is a part of his image, a part of his job. He does not marry her for love. Joe marries Janie to look good in front of the people who look up to him. Janie wants to feel a part of the community, but Joe keeps her isolated so that she will continue to be his “prize” and not become just another woman in the town. He did not realize that Janie was different in her needs, she did not require status or material goods, she required love. The suppression of Janie, both as a woman and a human, is Jody's most interesting facet. He sets a limit on her s!

Janie's resilience is rewarded when she finally meets and marries Tea Cake, who represents the closest semblance to her youthful idealism regarding love and marriage; he also represented another step to freedom. “He looked like love thoughts of women. He could be a bee to a blossom – a pear blossom in the spring” (Hurston 106) He provides the ultimate fulfillment of her idealism regarding what marriage could and should be. Her marriage to Tea Cake is opposite from both of her previous marriages. Tea Cake makes Janie feel like she can do anything. Tea Cake makes Janie a part of his social life and this is something new to Janie’s life. He makes her feel like an equal human being. The love she feels for Tea Cake and the love she is given in return helps Janie truly understand what love means. Tea Cake respects Janie as an intelligent woman, recognizing her individuality, giving her the feeling that she now has room to live. Janie is reaching for her !

Janie’s first marriage to Logan Killicks is the result of an arrangement by Nanny, Janie‘s grandmother. Nanny’s dream is for Janie to attain a position of security in society, “high ground” as she puts it (Hurston 13). As the person who raised her, Nanny feels that it is both her right and obligation to impose her dreams and her ideas of what is important in life on Janie. The conflict between Janie’s idyllic view of marriage and Nanny’s wish for her to marry for stability and position is a confrontation that Janie will carry with her throughout her self-discovery. Janie, prior to her marriage to Logan Killicks, still maintained the romantic notion that marriage is what she witnessed under the pear tree. Nanny’s idea of a good marriage is someone who has some standing in the commun

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Approximate Word count = 2603
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)