Janie was approached with many different situations in her life. She, not only, dealt with family, but her husbands also. Janie arrived to her conclusion after Tea Cakes death. Janie journeyed to different places, met different people, and was involved in outrageous situations.
Janie did not leave her hometown when she was married to Logan Killicks because her marriage was set up. Janie did not love Logan anyway. She married him because her grandmother told her it was best for her. As soon as her grandmother died, Janie moved to another town with her new husband Jody. Jody was a talker. He knew how to persuade people into doing things. Jody did this to Janie and to the town people when he first arrived. Janie thought she loved Jody. That is why she left Logan for him. Jody told her what she wanted to hear, such as, "De day you puts yo' hand in mine, AH wouldn't let de sun go down on us single.
English: Janie Fricke
Janie porche
Janie Porter BarrettAh'm uh man wid principles. You ain't never knowed what it is to be treated lak a lady and Ah wants to be de one tuh show yuh."ÃÂ(Pg. 29) Jody did such, but Janie seemed to have lost the freedom she had. She was not allowed to answer for herself, associated with people, or learn new things. She married herself into a state of silence and secrecy. But things changed after her husband died.
After Jody's death, Janie began to show her real self to people. She let her hair down, talked to people, and learned new things. Many of the men in town tried to sell themselves to Janie. They told her things like, " Uh woman by herself is a pitiful thing, dey needs aid and assistance. God never meant "ÃÂem tuh try stand by theirselves. You ain't been used tuh knockin' round and doin fuh yo'self, Mis' Starks. You been well taken keer of, you needs uh man. "ÃÂ (Pg. 90) But Janie said that she would never marry another soul; that is until Tea Cake came along. Tea Cake pampered Janie, even more than Jody did. Tea Cake was young though; by this time Janie was in her forties. She was interested in him at first, but as time went on, she realized that she loved him. Tea Cake was nothing like her last two acquaintances. He let her do whatever she wanted do and he taught her how to do things. Of course the town did not approve of their relationship, so Janie and Tea Cake left the town and went to a new place, the Everglades. They got married here.
The Everglades was crowed with all types of people. She met a lot of people here. Janie had never been around that many people at anytime in her life, especially black people. So the whole experience was astonishing to her. Janie stayed at home while Tea Cake went to work everyday. People would stop by to visit her while he was at home to. One woman in particular would come by almost everyday, Mrs. Turner. The reason she came to visit her was because Janie looked like her. Mrs. Turner was prejudice against dark-skin people, and because everybody in town was dark skin except for her family and Janie, she naturally took a liking in her. Janie also met people when she began working out in the fields with her husband. She met some very nice people, and some very rude people. Some of the woman tried to get a hold of her husband, and some of the men tried to get a hold of her. But that stopped after people found out that they were married. Everybody in the Everglades looked out for each other though, especially in a crisis.
When the town had a hurricane threat, a lot of people were leaving town. Since Tea Cake and Janie did not own a vehicle, many of their friends offered them rides to the next town, so no harm will come to them, but Janie and Tea Cake said no thank you. They thought that the hurricane would not come, but it did. Janie had to swim and fight her way to safety. The hurricane hit their town hard because it was below sea level. So Janie and Tea Cake swam and swam and swam. They took breaks in between, when they could, but they were only for a few minutes. Janie almost got bit by a mad dog, but Tea Cake, tired and weary, fought the dog away from Janie and killed it; in the process, he was bitten by this dog. When Janie and Tea Cake finally reached high land, they went to find a place to stay. Soon after that, Tea Cake became sick. Weird things started to happen to him, like when he couldn't drink a glass of water. After that incident, Janie took him to the hospital and the doctor said that a mad dog had bitten him. The doctor had a cure for him but it had to be ordered and delivered. So while Janie was waiting for the medicine to come in, Tea Cake became delirious. He almost killed Janie, so Janie killed him, to save her life. Janie had to kill the one and only person she ever truly loved, because of his condition. After she shot him, " Janie held his head tightly to her breast and wept and thanked him wordlessly for giving her the chance for loving service. "ÃÂ(Pg. 184) Janie was trailed for Tea Cake's death and she was found innocent of murder.
In conclusion, Janie learned a lot of things on her own; she had nobody there to guide her but god. She prayed to God and put her life in his hands. Everything that happened to her, happened for a reason; her past marriages, the hurricane, and Tea Cakes death, were like lessons to her, given by God. Janie had to figure out how to deal with those situations, and she had to learn how to live with her decisions. This is why she said, " Two things everybody's got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin' fuh theyselves. "ÃÂ(Pg. 192)
Janie Watkins Thornhill
Janie, Don't Take Your Love to Town
Janie Watkins Thornhill