Janie, though she dreams about love, knows nothing about it. I feel that Janie knows nothing about it because of the fact that she has no role models in her life that can show her what true love is. I find this sort of tragic for everyone should know what true love is, in some sort of form. Most children have parents or members of their family that are in love, however Janie does not. Even the only family member that she has, Nanny, does not believe in love, and only wants to make sure that Janie is “provided for”, not loved. Nanny even tells Janie that she will simply grow to love Logan Killicks. I feel that Janie almost shuts out the rest of the world, along with the huge issue of segregation that was present during her time, because she believes that true love does not exist. She feels that it is unobtainable and almost impossible to find, yet because of her persistent personality, she keeps searching for the answer to her dreams, love.
Even at the beginning of the novel, when Janie comes walking back into her old town, I question whether or not she ever found love. The townspeople claim that she was always looking for a better life or a higher-classed type of life and Joe could have just been the answer to that. I also question whether Janie just went off with Joe in order to escape the cruel and harsh life that she had with
3 comments:
Jessica, your point about how Janie struggles with finding love even within her family is a really interesting one. She has no one around her to look to for an example of love, and I think that creates part of the idealism Janie first expresses about love. However, Nanny ruins it as you point out by showing no interest in love. Marriage, to Nanny, is a societal must for women (esp. black women) in the South. Their rights were so restricted Nanny feels that the only way a woman can be taken care of is to marry a man.
I found it very interesting while reading your blog and your idea that Janie did not have any role model to tell her what love was, or help her in any way. Nanny made it harder for Janie and does not help her situation by not showing her how to react to love, or what Janie thought was love.
I asked myself the same question. I kind of see Logan as being this run down kind of nerdy type guy and Jody being the gorgeous muscular jock type guy that loves to sweep women off their feet. So Janie chooses Jody and leaves poor Logan behind, but we never really can figure out whether she was leaving Logan because she was in love with Jody or she thought that she could fall in love with Jody. We never get a straight answer.
Post a Comment