Who Is Jody Starks In The Great Gatsby By Zora Neale

In the book, “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, Janie had many relationships with men. And just like all of her other male companions, Tea Cake played second fiddle to the main character of Janie. In “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, Janie had many different love interest which included the likes of Logan Killicks, Jody Starks, and eventually Tea Cake. Before meeting Tea Cake, Janie was just stringing along in two different marriages that just were not in Janie’s favor in terms of her happiness. Janie’s first two husbands ended up basically being duds when it comes to pleasing and treating Jane properly. However, Janie appeared to have finally found her true happiness once she met Tea Cake.

Is it worth risking everything in order to be happy? In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, an African American woman named Janie makes many challenging decisions in order to be happy. This novel takes place in the 1920’s which creates many obstacles that Janie must overcome in order to achieve happiness. There are many stereotypes and inequalities during this time that make life extremely difficult for Janie. Although Janie allows others to mistreat her at points throughout the novel, she is overall an excellent role model for young readers because she overcomes several stereotypes of African American females during this time period, and she makes many difficult decisions based solely on her own happiness.

Nanny’s portion of the novel shines a light on how Janie really views the world compared to her grandmothers. Ultimately Nanny wants Janie to be happy and well taken care of by any means necessary, regardless of how Janie feels. Nanny grew up while being in slavery and lived a hard, loveless life. She ended up getting pregnant with a white man, which to some degree helped her life and the life of her daughter better than it was before. Nanny believes that having the “ultimate life” is based off of status and what the man can bring to the table and provide for her, not solely from mutual

In the beginning Janie feels as if Tea Cake’s age would effect their relationship. She has strong feelings for him, but on the other hand people are saying he will run off with her money. Janie proves them wrong and runs off and gets married to Tea Cake. He makes Janie feel wanted, she feels like she could be herself. Janie states, "We been tuhgether round two years. If you kind see de light at daybreak, you don 't keer if you die at dusk. It 's so many people never seen de light at all. Ah wuz fumblin ' round and God opened de door" (Hurston 159). She says this quote in the situation of the hurricane. Janie explains that she does not regret anything she has or done with Tea Cake. She would not have done anything differently to save her life. This love and marriage has the most impact on

Jody controlled major aspects of Janie’s life, such as her appearance, when he forces her to keep her hair up. Janie does not like that Jody feels the need to control her: “This business of the head-rag irked her endlessly. But Jody was set on it...that was because Joe never told Janie how jealous he was” (Hurston 55). Janie goes along with Jody’s requests for a while before she realizes what he is doing to her. Jody needed to have complete dominance of everything in Janie’s life to be content with their relationship, and when Janie had different opinions than his, this caused problems in their relationship. In another instance, Jody insults Janie’s age, which leads to a significant argument between them. When Jody insults Janie, it is accepted in their society, but Janie finally gets fed up when she says, “But Ah’m uh woman every inch of me, and Ah know it. Dat’s uh whole lot more’n you kin say… When you pull down yo’ britches, you look lak de change uh life” (Hurston 79). Janie stands up for herself and verbally attacks her husband, which was unusual for the time

“The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it.”

"There's two things everybody got to find out for theyselves: they got to find out about love, and they got to find out about living. Now, love is like the sea. It's a moving thing. And it's different on every shore." (Film) Janie, a young, strong willed, black woman, sets of on a life long journey to find her perfect shore in Their Eyes Were Watching God. While this is true for both the film and novel, some argue that the film excluded some of the most important pieces from the novel. However, details about Nanny, Leafy, Logan Killicks, and Jody, may have been unnecessary for the big screen.

He, even in her eyes, is not perfect, however they love each other mutually. For once, one of Janie’s husbands is not trying to dominate and make himself superior. Janie states this mutual love for him at their relationship’s beginning by saying, “he could be a bee to a blossom — a pear tree blossom in the spring”(Hurston ). At last, the mutual relationship like a bee and blossom is possible, both benefit and neither feels left out. He teaches her to shoot, hunt, play checkers, and work outside. Instead of telling Janie what to do he gives her options, creating a two way relationship instead of a dominant partner. As well as being a good man, the circumstances change, in the past Janie had no way to support herself and was younger. In comparison to her old relationships, Janie is older and has quite a bit of money to keep herself standing while with Tea Cake. Janie also loves how sweet and caring Tea Cake is. He expresses his love constantly, like in chapter eleven when he claims, “Things lak dat got uh whole lot tuh do wid convenience, but it ain’t got nothin’ tuh do wid love."(Hurston ). Tea Cakes communicates how he feels constantly, in this quote he claims that despite her age, he loves her unconditionally. As a result this helps to bring them closer as well as shut down her insecurities. The death of Vergible also teaches Janie a cruel lesson, that love can be taken as fast as

9. If you could offer Janie advice at this point, what would it be? Explain your rationale.

Nanny lived a hard life and she made a rough conclusion about how to survive in the world for her granddaughter, provoked by fear. "Ah can’t die easy thinkin’ maybe de menfolks white or black is makin’ a spit cup outa you: Have some sympathy fuh me. Put me down easy, Janie, Ah’m a cracked plate." Nanny is beyond exhausted. She grew up during slavery, was raped and had to raise her child, Leafy, without a father. Nanny never got married because she was worried that Leafy would be trampled upon like she was. But, she still lost her child after living to see her be trampled upon the same way she was. She raised another child, her granddaughter, Janie. And, now, Janie is entering the same remorseless territory, where she 's liable to be trampled upon, at any time,

Janie’s grandmother, Nanny, forces Janie to marry a man she is not in love with out of convenience. Nanny does not want Janie to suffer the necessities of life, but Janie cares little about materials and seeks love. Nanny’s ideology haunts Janie for much of her life, influencing decisions she takes later in marriage. Huston says, “The memory of Nanny was still powerful and strong,” which shows how Janie conforms to the ideology her grandmother instilled in her. And although Janie conforms, she continues to question inwardly about love. Nanny did not believe in love, so Janie had little guidance in how one can find love. Janie does not realize until the end, that one must “go there tuh know there”(192).

Nanny who has been Janie’s caretaker has several hopes and dreams for her granddaughter. Nanny is not entirely perfect at her job of raising Janie, since her dreams for her are clouded by her own scarring experiences. Nanny attempts to insure a better life for Janie by forcing her to marry Logan Killicks, an old and wealthy man. Blinded by her own dreams, hopes, and desires, Nanny makes many impositions on Janie, “Have some sympathy fuh me. Put me down easy, Janie, Ah’m a cracked plate” (Hurston 20). Nanny is successfully able to convince her granddaughter through her own traumatic experiences and make her feel “sympathy” as she tells Janie she doesn’t want her life to be spoiled like her own life was. At first, Janie refuses to marry Logan Killicks. Nanny being the older one, defends herself by saying “put me down easy” since she can no longer care for Janie and only her wish is for Janie to get married and be protected from the dangers she and her own daughter faced. By calling herself a “cracked plate” Nanny further elucidates that she went through many hardships in her own life and wants to do the right thing for her granddaughter by

More importantly, the relationship teaches her the meaning of togetherness. Tea Cake and Janie did good agricultural work, though Tea Cake was not as wealthy as the two men, Lorgan and Joe. Admittedly, they argued because of Nunkie, who flirted with Tea Cake in a party and because of Tea’s small secrecy. However, after the conflicts melted, they relied on each other in the hurricane and flood. Her insistance of freedom and love is amplified in the sentence, “they stared at the dark, but their eyes were watching God.” She chose to “watching God” and follow the belief in her innermost, despising the doctrine of “watching the white.”

Janie shows determination as she persists and struggles to define love on her own terms through her marriages. First, her determination shows when Janie runs away with Jody. She becomes aware that her marriage with Logan does not satisfy her goals and dreams for love, so she takes a chance and marries Jody. Hurston states, “Janie hurried out of the front gate and turned south. Even if Jody was not there waiting for her, the change was bound to do her good” (32). The quote shows how Janie is thinking for herself and starting to release her mentality to always look to someone else. Logan threatened to kill Janie if she left, but her determination to reach her goals let her go past that fear and put her own life on the line to push towards her goals. Also, if she left Logan, Janie would leave her known world to venture off into potential dangers and her safety from their marriage would be gone. Even with all these threats and dangers over her head Janie was determined to reach her dreams for love, so nothing could stop her. Next, Janie continues on her determined journey for love when she goes off to marry Tea Cake. In the quote,

In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Hurston, Janie’s story reflects the beliefs of the Harlem Renaissance by showing the theme of pride, and disappointment. In the Harlem Renaissance one of the main themes of the African American’s art was pride, and to fight on gaining progress even though thee African Americans were an oppressed race in America. After Janie's kiss grandma had this to say, “Yeah, Janie, youse got yo’ womanhood on yuh.” This is an example of how grandma wants Janie to grow up and become a respectable black woman with pride. Also, this novel shows the theme of disappointment. “Where he left her?” This quote from one of the porch dwellers explains how Janie had just come out of a relationship with Teacake, and