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Janie Mae Crawford's Life Refles By Zora Neale Hurston

584 Words3 Pages

Memory is our gateway to the past. It changes and alters overtime and may become at some point inaccurate. What people see in the present also changes our opinions on previous events. It plays a great role in storytelling for better or worse. In Janie Mae Crawford’s story of her entire life is affected by her memory in many significant ways. Her recollation changes the story’s imagery, emphasis on certain topics, and favor towards certain people.
Some people in Janie’s life provide certain memories for Janie, both good or bad. One example is that the recurring symbol of the pear blossom. The blossomed tree only returned to her mind when she felt the feeling that was experienced when she laid under it: marriage or true love. This same feeling …show more content…

The drastic change is observed during the time she finds new husbands. When Janie and Joe first take leadership over Eatonville, Joe went on about how he aimed to be a “big voice” in the town. "Ah told you in de very first beginnin’ dat Ah aimed tuh be uh big voice. You oughta be glad, ‘cause dat makes uh big woman outa you" (Hurston 46). Joe’s idea of a woman is one who sits back and lets the husband do the talking, something that Janie just went with and followed. “So gradually, she pressed her teeth together and learned to hush.” (Hurston ) As this part of the book progresses. She learns to voice her opinion and speak back. This of course destroys the man Joe STark was in public and their marriage falls apart. The book speaks about this occasion as something “did what she had never done before” (Hurston 75). So this might as well be the turning for the personality change. Janie’s relation with Tea Cake is one molded by her memory. She vocally lets her opinions and emotions made known to him. When she was jealous in chapter 15 she confronted him about it. “Ah b’lieve you been messin’ round her!” she panted furiously” (Hurston 137). This is something she never would have done to her first husband Logan Killicks. This paper

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