Janie Quotes And Analysis

Chapter 8 stood out to me as a big change in Janie's life. Janie shows her heartless qualities once again in this chapter when she yells at Joe while he is on his deathbed. Janie let out all of her built-up anger on Joe minutes before he passed. Janie yells at Joe about all the reasons he was a bad person and a horrible husband to her as he lay dying on his bed. This scene reveals how selfish and heartless Janie is. Janie tells Joe “And now you got tuh die tuh find out dat you got tuh pacify somebody besides yo’self if you wants any love and any sympathy in dis world. You ain’t tried tuh pacify nobody but yo’self. Too busy listening tuh yo’ own big voice.” (Pg 87) Janie thinks very little of Joe. She believes he needs to be pacified to be forgiven

Once Joe dies, Janie takes down her hair as a symbol of her newfound freedom and detachment from what used to make her unhappy. Janie must have had a great big smile on her face as she had to correct the expression to make people believe she is sad and in the process of mourning. Janie is a selfish human who believes that her life goals are the most important thing in the world. She does not care about anything as much as she cares about finding love and happiness in her life. “The young girl was gone, but a handsome woman had taken her place.” (Pg 87) This quote represents the new masculine aspect of Janie. The masculine and ruthless properties that Janie exhibits redefine what a woman is and indicates what a woman is to her and what she thinks a woman should be. Janie married Joe as he represented freedom to her in that cycle of her life. She entered a man's world where she was a part of the dreams along the horizon. Being a woman did not allow her dreams to be on the horizon which made her lay them on Joe. This chapter makes Janie realize what she wants in life and it is not what her grandma wants. She wants love and freedom. Joe gave her more than what her grandma wanted for her although Janie did not achieve the life she wanted while being married to Joe. Janie may have placed her goals in life onto Joe although he did not give her what she wanted deep down which made her resent him, show her selfish qualities,