While reading Chapters seven through ten, many emotions ran through my head. At the beginning of chapter seven, we see the defeat Janie feels. She eventually gives in to Jody’s cruelty and begins to lose her own spirit due to this. Just like in the past chapters Janie feels that she has two different sides of herself. One side where she takes Jody’s cruelty and is an obedient wife, and another side that holds her true emotions and thoughts.
When Jody’s health began deteriorating, I saw this as a sign of hope for Janie. For the most part, I was wrong. Jody’s poor health led more vicious and frequent verbal attacks. In my mind, this was only a ploy to mask his own insecurities, but at the end of chapter seven, Janie refuses to take this treatment any longer. My favorite part of tonight’s reading was when Janie stood up for herself and released the built up anger within her. This of course results in Jody lashing out and hitting her, but Janie feels a sense of liberation.
After this fight, Jody begins to avoid Janie at all costs. She embarrassed him and he hates her because of that. To me, it is ironic how he believes this upsets her and harms her while in reality it almost has the opposite effect. Janie’s true character continues to shine when she still wants to see him one last time. When they talk for the last time, I saw this as the second sign of liberation for her. The readers can almost feel the weight being lifted off Janie’s shoulders during their last argument. Though it is a sad argument it is necessary to Jody to feel the pain he has caused Janie.
When Jody dies, Janie is free. Another one of my favorite parts of tonight’s reading is when she lets her long hair down. This signifies the two different parts of Janie unifying and her true self being able to come back out. However, it was interesting to me how Janie still felt this sense of division within herself after the funeral. She feels free and calm inside but on the outside, she masks her emotions and has to seem sad and heartbroken. Even after Jody’s death, Janie is still masking her true emotions for him.
As time passes by Janie is seen as a wealthy single woman and men begin to approach her, but of course, with her newfound sense of freedom, Janie does not want to be imprisoned by another man. The encounter Janie has with Tea Cake is nice and refreshing, but I am afraid that this could end up like her past relationship with Jody and only be good for a short time. Some questions I have are: How do we think Janie really feels when Jody is dying? Is she sad? Happy? Or both?
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