Logan and Joe

Today in class we talked about Janie's first two relationships--Logan Killicks and Joe Starks. I think it's safe to say that both men are pretty crappy husbands, but I was hesitant to side with Janie.

First off, we mentioned how Janie may just be too lofty to appreciate either of her men. However, if I were in her shoes I don't think I'd be enjoying myself either. One thing I found interesting, though, was that while they were both pretty bad, the way she handled them may have factored in to her misery. During her short marriage with Logan, once all the frill and poetry is gone, he really starts expecting her to actually help out on their farm. While Janie is taken aback at being used to shovel manure, we have to remember that this was the norm during these times. When a couple owned a farm, both were expected to contribute. She soon leaves him rather quickly for the seemingly magnificent Joe Starks. However, it soon becomes apparent that he is much worse than Logan. While Logan was just complaining about her laziness and incompetence, Joe takes their 20 years of marriage to psychologically deteriorate her. Making her conceal her hair in an insecure attempt at controlling her, he also repeatedly belittles her to the helpless mayor's wife position. Later, near the end of his life when they are both showing signs of age, he takes out his insecurities onto her, calling her old and wrinkly when he isn't much better. Additionally, his buying the mule that one time may have seemed heroic in the moment, but in the grand scheme of things he is really quite abusive.

Still, their actions alone weren't enough for me to side with Janie. One thing that particularly bothered me was how freely she moved on from both of them. Considering how traumatic she made her experiences seem, I'd assume that her parting ways with both of them would be a little more dramatic and heartfelt, like a sort of unshackling. However, she just seems to discard both of them without a care in the world, relating back to her pear tree ideals of love. When she ditches Logan, she simply gets up and walks away, not really caring about the way she leaves him. Considering that Logan wasn't as abusive as Joe turned out to be, I still have some sympathy for him. Likewise, when Joe is on death's door, she continues to verbally attack him in an attempt to stand up for all the times he's abused her. I am glad that she's finally taking charge, but quite frankly this doesn't seem like the time. I kinda wanna tell her to pick on someone her own size. When he finally dies, she feels no emotional connection or regret. She is definitely an independent woman who doesn't need a man, but her jumping around from guy to guy this easily makes it harder for me to sympathize with her troubles.

In the end, it is nice to see how happy she feels when she is single, and the power she gets from detachment. However, when she meets Tea Cake and they start having a relationship, I am worried as to how it will end. I'm also curious as to how this book will end, and why we see her returning in muddy overalls in the first chapter.

Janie's Love Life

At the start of the book, we are introduced to Janie as sexy woman who wouldn't give anyone the time of day. Men ogle her, and women envy her. They jealously take in her muddy appearance as a sort of blackmail in a "hope that she might fall to their level some day." However, it is soon apparent that the book will be about Janie, and we start learning more about her as a person. In class today, we touched on how this might affect our opinion of her, and how her delusions of love may have affected the way she is at the start of the novel.

Thanks to the backstory in the following chapter, we can kind of learn why she is the way she is. From her childhood days of pondering love and marriage under a pear tree, we can tell that her promiscuity is in a way no surprise. As mentioned in class, her admiration of the bees pollinating the majestic blossoms leads her to think of love as an ideal. "So this was a marriage!" she thinks dazedly. Monogamy is probably not her main focus--rather, she strives to find the perfect relationship. If she is unsatisfied, it is sure she'll move on. From what we've seen so far, she certainly takes this to heart in her relationships. When Logan Killicks isn't up to her standards, she doesn't even think twice about deserting him in pursuit of something better. However, we soon see that her rushed marriage with that something better, a wealthy entrepreneur by the name of Jack Starks, proves equally disappointing.

While on one hand I feel for her, that the men she has married aren't the men of her dreams, we also have to remember that she rushes into love with extremely high standards, and isn't really preparing herself for a let down. This lets me to wonder if she will ever find her perfect man. She is definitely pretty enough to win any man over, but considering she jumps on the first one available, I'm guessing the likelihood of her landing a dream man is limited. Her excessively high standards also factor in to that, as by that definition no man will ever be the "perfect" man. In her mind, there is always something better out there, and, like the bees of the pear tree, she will move on. At the beginning of the book we learn about Tea Cake, who seems like yet another promising partner, but their relationship is also over by the time she returns to town. 

Additionally, we don't know how many men she's had by the time she turns 40 (and is once again single and ready to mingle). The pear tree ideal is really a curse, then, as she sees reality as more of an ideality. She has already turned 40, and considering life in the early 20th century is limited, I believe she's setting her standards a little too high. Personally, I wonder if she will ever get married and and live happily ever after, or if her history of disappointments will keep her from finding true love.