Janie speaks

Janie was on trial because she had killed Teacake. They believed that she might have killed him out of hate and not because Teacake had been bitten and went crazy. Janie wanted so much for the court to know that she loved Teacake so much and it was difficult for her to have had killed him. She was not as quick to speak because she was on trial and she had just lost her husband and the one she really loved. They did the trial right after his death and she just thought the worst thing worse than death sentence would be for them to think that she killed him out of hate and that Janie didn’t truly love Teacake. Janie wanted so bad for them to understand what happened and she talked about how she wanted to explain everything to make sure they knew and to explain it well so that they knew how much she loved him. She took her time to make sure that she got her point across.

"Their Eyes were watching God"

This chapter a hurricane was coming and a lot of the people didn’t believe that it was really coming. Many of the people stayed and figured it would just be a small storm and blow over. Teacake and Janie decided to stay because he didn’t think it was worth leaving a way to make a lot of money for the storm. On the night before the storm they were all in the backyard of Teacake’s house rolling dice and a lot of people started to leave because it started getting bad. They were talking about the storm in the way as comparing it to God’s works and everything that was happening was due to God. When the storm got really bad they said the line, “their eyes were watching God.” Janie was saying this because the storm was coming and so they were waiting, waiting for the worst to come. They were waiting to see what God would do and how bad the storm would get. All they could do was watch and wait since they had decided not to leave at first chance.

Working in the muck

Janie has a lot more fun in the muck than she ever had before. She enjoyed the work and was for the most part very happy. The difference was that Logan and Jody had told her to do the work and had made her to be who she was. She wasn’t allowed to decide things for herself. Logan made Janie work and she hated it because she didn’t like Logan and she didn’t like being told what to do. Then Jody took complete control over Janie and forced her into things. He never let her decide things for herself and always had her on top of a pedestal. When she and Teacake went to the muck she didn’t work at first and it sort of was her decision to start working. Everything with Teacake has been her choice and he hasn’t bossed her around the way that Jody and Logan did. With Teacake he does kind of control what she does but in the end it is mostly her decision. Also Janie is allowed to be more involved in the muck and can actually talk to everyone unlike how it was with Jody where she had to keep her mouth shut.

Janie Chapter 9

In this chapter Janie talks about how her grandmother had made things seem smaller than they were. She made Janie marry someone she didn’t know and just forced her into one direction. Janie was very limited by her options. Then it goes to talk about how man had created God and their parts were cut up and covered in mud. Janie can relate to this because she is covered in mud and she is smothered and not able to show her true self to anyone. Her grandmother smothered her and sent her into a direction, marriage to a man she didn’t know or love, and Jody smothered her by not allowing her to have any say in anything. Jody treated her poorly and like she was property, he covered her up and wouldn’t let her do anything that he didn’t think she should have to talk really ever. Janie is a strong spoken person and she wants to be seen but Jody makes sure that that never happens.

Janie and the mule

The people treat the mule very poorly and that is why Janie feels bad for him. The owner of the mule rarely feeds him and makes him do hard jobs. He treats the mule like he is nothing and so do the townspeople. There is one part in the chapter when the mule had gotten lose and all the men went out and started hitting and trying to grab the mule. They were hurting it and Janie felt terrible for it. Janie can relate to the mule because she is put down and made to do things that she doesn’t want to do. Jody bosses her around all the time and makes her do things and acts a certain way. He will not let her be like a normal person. She must always be at her best and he will not let her have any say in anything. Jody also puts Janie down a lot. She is like the mule, mistreated and doesn’t get a say in things.

Jody in charge

Jody comes into the town and takes charge right away. He takes over and starts having town meetings, buying land and setting up a community. Mostly everyone is really excited about the change and believes that he can do it. They love that he sets up a post office and brings in light and sets up a little store to make it easier to get stuff. The changes that he makes are for the better and the people realize it but he does act like a controller and controls everything and tells everyone what to do. The reason that nobody challenged him was for the most part that they liked the changes he made. Also he had a very commanding appearance and just gave an aura that said that he was boss. He came into town right away taking control and that probably helped with not having people try and complain about him. It stops people from challenging him.

Nature Connection

The sun represents the beginning of a new day and the setting sun is the end of an old day. Janie had just run away with Joe and left her husband who she hated. With her husband she lived a life that she didn’t love and had to work sometimes. Joe showed her and told her that she deserved more. He said that he could provide this for her and told her to run off with him. She would have a completely different life from her husband with Joe. The quote at the end connecting to nature was just talking about how the sun was setting in the same spot and that there was going to be a new day. It was saying that the sun was setting on her old life with her husband and the next day would begin again with a whole new life for her with Joe.