"Janie stood where he left her for unmeasured time and thought. She stood there until something fell off the shelf inside her. Then she went inside there to see what it was. It was her image of Jody tumbled down and shattered….She had no more blossomy openings dusting pollen over her man, neither any glistening young fruit where the petrels used to be. She found that she had a host of thoughts she had never expressed to him, and numerous emotion she had never let Jody know about. Things packed up and put away in parts of her heart where he could never find them. She was saving up feelings for some man she had never seen."
Respond to this passage in Ch. 6. What do you think this means? What are some symbols in this passage that we see throughout the novel? What causes her to think this? Do you believe this is some sort of epiphany for Janie? Why or why not? Could this be foreshadowing for any future events?
I think this passage symbolizes Janie and Jody's relationship and how Janie felt like she was living with a man she hardly knew at all. Mainly, because he never took the time to really get to know Janie and he never let her express herself and relax. We continually see the pear tree reference in the line that says, " She had no more blossomy openings dusting pollen over her man." The key words in that quote are "blossom" and "dusting pollen" because now she feels that her dream of having this exciting marriage is really dead and not realistic. What causes her to think this is the way Jody treats her, he never lets her voice her opinion, forces her to work in the store, and commands her to do what HE wants, not what she wants. I do believe that this is a major turning point in Janie's life, when she finally takes a reality check and realizes that her idea of marriage is unrealistic and not accurate. Yes, this could be foreshadowing the downfall of Janie and Jody's marriage and Jody's death.
ReplyDeleteThis passage comes after Jody slaps Janie in the kitchen after she makes a less-than-satisfying dinner (for Jody.) Immediately preceding this passage, Janie talks about how she is no longer "petal-open" with Jody. Later, she says that there are no more "blossomy openings dusting pollen over her man." The symbolism of the pollen and flower terms goes back to the beginning of the book with the tree and how it represents her sexual curiosity and search for love. When Janie met Jody, he was new and exciting and full of potential: Janie thought he held more promise for a loving marriage, and an escape from her loveless one with Logan. However, as the years wore on and Jody's true colors begin to show, Janie realizes that life with Jody is just as loveless as it had been with Logan. He oppresses her and forces her to work in the store, and "gradually, she pressed her teeth together and learned to hush. The spirit of the marriage left the bedroom and took to living in the parlor." Janie and Joe's marriage becomes an empty shell: it looks functional from the outside, but Janie understands that there is no pollen, no life, in it. Especially after he hits her, she realizes that what she has been yearning for all this time is for someone to love and to love her as well. She is saving the things she has packed up in her heart, her "petal-openess" you might say, for some other, brighter man in her future. I think this "man she had never seen" is foreshadowing her relationship with Tea Cake.
ReplyDeleteThis passage comes after Jody slaps Janie in the kitchen after she makes a less-than-satisfying dinner (for Jody.) Immediately preceding this passage, Janie talks about how she is no longer "petal-open" with Jody. Later, she says that there are no more "blossomy openings dusting pollen over her man." The symbolism of the pollen and flower terms goes back to the beginning of the book with the tree and how it represents her sexual curiosity and search for love. When Janie met Jody, he was new and exciting and full of potential: Janie thought he held more promise for a loving marriage, and an escape from her loveless one with Logan. However, as the years wore on and Jody's true colors begin to show, Janie realizes that life with Jody is just as loveless as it had been with Logan. He oppresses her and forces her to work in the store, and "gradually, she pressed her teeth together and learned to hush. The spirit of the marriage left the bedroom and took to living in the parlor." Janie and Joe's marriage becomes an empty shell: it looks functional from the outside, but Janie understands that there is no pollen, no life, in it. Especially after he hits her, she realizes that what she has been yearning for all this time is for someone to love and to love her as well. She is saving the things she has packed up in her heart, her "petal-openess" you might say, for some other, brighter man in her future. I think this "man she had never seen" is foreshadowing her relationship with Tea Cake.
ReplyDeleteI think that this means Janie has made up her mind that she will never try to love Joe again after all these years they have been through. Janie realizes that she has no other option, but to stay with him and "save her love for someone else." Some of the symbols in this passage that we see throughout the novel are love and aging. She finally decides this after Joe hits her one more time. Yes, I think this passage hints at the fact that she will eventually remarry. I think this because when the narrator says, "she was saving up feelings for some man she had never seen," we know that there will be someone else.
ReplyDeleteThis passage is when Janie admits that she shouldnt be with Joe. That they shouldnt be together. The most obvious symbol in this passage is similar to one in chapter 2. In the passage from chapter 2, Janie is curious about sex and love. Before this passage Joe slaps her. Later, Joe hits her again, Janie says she 'found that she had a host of thoughts she had never expressed to him.... Things packed up and put away in parts of her heart where he could never find them. She was saving up feelings for some man she had never seen." I think Janie "saving up feelings for some man she had never seen" is Zora Hurston giving the readers a hint that Janie will meet another man.
ReplyDeleteThis passage is showing the readers how Janie's relationship with Joe is falling apart. She is keeping her feelings of love from him, for the next man in he life, because of his treatment of her. The symbols are the reoccurring pollen, which shows how she expects life to be; full of love and light, and that the flower has lost its youth. Janie begins to think this because Joe continuously keeps her quiet, never letting her do anything she had expected she would be able to do when they got married. Joe's treatment of Janie is the main cause of this train of thought. I do believe that this is an epiphany for Janie because even thought she knew that their relationship was headed down hill, she never thought that it could get too bad. And finally this is a moment of foreshadowing because the shattering of Joe's picture represents his death in the years to come.
ReplyDeleteThis passage follows Janie getting slapped by Jody when her food does not meet his standards. I think this shows that Janie has fully realized that their relationship is in disarray and beyond repair at this point. There is some vivid symbolization that we can find throughout the book, she says, "She had no more blossomy openings dusting pollen over her man, neither any glistening young fruit where the petrels used to be." This is in line with her fruit tree comparison to marriage and what it should be in her eyes. Jody's terrible treatment of Janie by disparaging her and ignoring her feelings on a regular basis is the root of this realization. I think that this is a big time epiphany for Janie realizing that even after two years their marriage is in awful shape and most likely will never be repaired. This foreshadows the ultimate decline of their relationship leading up to Jody refusing to live in the same room as her or eat the food she makes. The shattering picture represents Jody's image in Janie's eyes, broken and forever ruined.
ReplyDeleteThis is the first time Janie actually realizes how awful her relationship with Jody truly is. She had an image of Jody, the person she thought he was, and when she realized they weren’t the same person, it shattered. Along with the realization that her husband was not the man she thought he was, she also realizes that she’s been hiding a lot of emotions and thoughts from him, even if she didn’t know him at all. The pear-tree image is also in this passage, with the mention of pollen, blossoms, and young fruit, but this time, they are all disappearing; she can’t picture this kind of image in Jody anymore. Also, in terms of future events, we sense that there is going to be a big fall between Janie and Jody, and we also sense that she is going to share some of those emotions and thoughts that she has been hiding for so long.
ReplyDelete