Annotated Passages
“ ‘Ah knowed you wasn’t gointuh lissen tuh me. You changes everything but nothin’ don’t change you- not even death. But Ah ain’t goin’ outa here and Ah ain’t gointuh hush. Naw, you gointuh listen tuh me one time befo’ you die. Have yo’ way all yo’ life, trample and mash down and then die ruther than tuh let yo’self heah ‘bout it. Listen, Jody, you ain’t de Jody ah run off down the road wid. You’se whut’s left after he died. Ah run off tuh keep house wid you in uh wonderful way. But you wasn’t satisfied wid me de way Ah was. Naw! Mah own mind had tuh be squeezed and crowded out tuh make room for yours in me.’
‘Shut up! Ah wish thunder and lightnin’ would kill yuh!’
‘Ah know it. 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…All dis bowin’ down, all dis obedience under yo’voice—dat ain’t what Ah rushed off down the road tuh find out about you’" (82).
In this passage, Janie speaks out against her weak husband. In Southern society at this time, going against patriarchy is unheard of. She mentions the typical female role of perpetually obeying her husband while she laments about, "all dis bowin’ down, all dis obedience under yo’voice." Jody fills the male role assumed by feminism; overpowering and expecting Janie to follow his stubborn demands even in death. This is shown by him attempting to suppress her even in his weak state, "[...]shut up! Ah wish thunder and lightnin’ would kill yuh!" This passage exemplifies androgyny, which is an idea that women can freely express themselves with no gender affiliation. Janie uses her newly found voice that she discovers with the waning power of her husband to belittle him, "too busy listening tuh yo’ own big voice," and to verbally realize a truth about her current life that women rarely were able to admit out loud.
“No knowledge of fear nor rifles nor anything else was there. He pain no more attention to the pointing gun than if it were Janie’s dog finger. She saw him stiffen himself all over as he leveled and took aim. The fiend in him must kill and Janie was the only thing living he saw.The pistol and the rifle rang out almost together. The pistol just enough after the rifle to seem its echo. Tea Cake crumpled as his bullet buried itself in the joist over Janie’s head. Janie saw the look on his face and leaped forward as he crashed forward in her arms. She was trying to hover him as he closed his teeth in the flesh of her forearm. They came down heavily like that. Janie struggled to a sitting position and pried the dead Tea Cake’s teeth from her arm. It was the meanest moment of eternity. A minute before she was just a scared human being fighting for its life. Now she was her sacrificing self with Tea Cake’s head in her lap. She had wanted him to live so much and he was dead. Janie held his head tightly to her breast and wept and thanked him wordlessly for giving her the chance for loving service. She had to hug him tight for soon he would be gone, and she had to tell him for the last time. The the grief of outer darkness descended" (184).
The love between Janie and Tea Cake was known by all, blacks and whites. As the passage shows, the moment when Tea Cake dies is the cruelest moment of her life. Tea Cake, the man who had such confidence and connection with nature, was different than the rest of society to Janie. After years of constant reminders that she essentially can not live without a man providing for her, Tea Cake came along and they fell in love. Unlike her previous relationships, Tea Cake gave Janie a chance to see the side of her she always wanted to be. He allowed for her true, natural self to flourish. When Tea Cake’s illness came about and threatened Janie’s life with a gun, many wives of the time would have accepted themselves to be doomed. No women would have felt confident enough in herself and her love with her husband to shoot any man. On the other hand, Janie knows the power of the love between Tea Cake and herself as well as the fact that a man as sick as Tea Cake should be relieved. With the strength and beliefs Janie acquired through her male dominanted relationships, Janie was able to allow her feminist side to prevail and save her own life.
‘Shut up! Ah wish thunder and lightnin’ would kill yuh!’
‘Ah know it. 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…All dis bowin’ down, all dis obedience under yo’voice—dat ain’t what Ah rushed off down the road tuh find out about you’" (82).
In this passage, Janie speaks out against her weak husband. In Southern society at this time, going against patriarchy is unheard of. She mentions the typical female role of perpetually obeying her husband while she laments about, "all dis bowin’ down, all dis obedience under yo’voice." Jody fills the male role assumed by feminism; overpowering and expecting Janie to follow his stubborn demands even in death. This is shown by him attempting to suppress her even in his weak state, "[...]shut up! Ah wish thunder and lightnin’ would kill yuh!" This passage exemplifies androgyny, which is an idea that women can freely express themselves with no gender affiliation. Janie uses her newly found voice that she discovers with the waning power of her husband to belittle him, "too busy listening tuh yo’ own big voice," and to verbally realize a truth about her current life that women rarely were able to admit out loud.
“No knowledge of fear nor rifles nor anything else was there. He pain no more attention to the pointing gun than if it were Janie’s dog finger. She saw him stiffen himself all over as he leveled and took aim. The fiend in him must kill and Janie was the only thing living he saw.The pistol and the rifle rang out almost together. The pistol just enough after the rifle to seem its echo. Tea Cake crumpled as his bullet buried itself in the joist over Janie’s head. Janie saw the look on his face and leaped forward as he crashed forward in her arms. She was trying to hover him as he closed his teeth in the flesh of her forearm. They came down heavily like that. Janie struggled to a sitting position and pried the dead Tea Cake’s teeth from her arm. It was the meanest moment of eternity. A minute before she was just a scared human being fighting for its life. Now she was her sacrificing self with Tea Cake’s head in her lap. She had wanted him to live so much and he was dead. Janie held his head tightly to her breast and wept and thanked him wordlessly for giving her the chance for loving service. She had to hug him tight for soon he would be gone, and she had to tell him for the last time. The the grief of outer darkness descended" (184).
The love between Janie and Tea Cake was known by all, blacks and whites. As the passage shows, the moment when Tea Cake dies is the cruelest moment of her life. Tea Cake, the man who had such confidence and connection with nature, was different than the rest of society to Janie. After years of constant reminders that she essentially can not live without a man providing for her, Tea Cake came along and they fell in love. Unlike her previous relationships, Tea Cake gave Janie a chance to see the side of her she always wanted to be. He allowed for her true, natural self to flourish. When Tea Cake’s illness came about and threatened Janie’s life with a gun, many wives of the time would have accepted themselves to be doomed. No women would have felt confident enough in herself and her love with her husband to shoot any man. On the other hand, Janie knows the power of the love between Tea Cake and herself as well as the fact that a man as sick as Tea Cake should be relieved. With the strength and beliefs Janie acquired through her male dominanted relationships, Janie was able to allow her feminist side to prevail and save her own life.