It starts off that the girl lives with her grandma in the south. Everything is going fine until the Grandma makes the decision that her granddaughter will get married. I don't why why she makes that decision at such a young age. She has plenty more years to get married and she could've waited longer in my opinion. The gets married to this guy named Logan who makes her do a lot of work around the house which she doesn't like and tells him that to his face. She just wants to stay home and be an in house wife. This man comes along one day named Joe Starks and he tells her that he would be the best husband for her. She decides to leave Logan and go with this guy. This is a big mistake because he turns out to be just as bad. Joe Starks is the mayor of the town and runs everything. He doesn't allow his wife to speak at an open public speech he gives. The town says that they want to hear what his wife has to say and he doesn't let her. A quote from the novel is,"Thank you fuh yo' compliments, but my wife don't know nothin' 'bout no speech makin'. I never married her for notin' like dat. She's a woman and her place is de home." It seems like Joe is very degrading to woman. It annoys me that he just wants all the glory and his wife can't take any of the power. Then Joe tells her that he wants her to work in the store while he's being mayor putting her to work. It's very weird how he contradicts himself. He says that he wants her to be an at home wife then puts her to work in the store.
In the end Janie is not happy with her life and speaks her mind to Joe. She says she's not enjoying being his trophy wife.
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It seems that Janie doesn't follow all the "rules" of what a woman should be doing. As you mentioned, she doesn't want to do work (presumeably that a man should do) and she'd rather be a housewife. However, when she is married to Jody Starks, she gets angry that he doesn't allow her to speak in public.
During this time period, it seems that women were supposed to stay at home as a housewife and weren't really allowed to speak in public. It appears that Janie wants the best of both worlds. She doesn't want to do much work, but she wants her voice to be heard. In a sense, she is trying to break down the barriers between men and women.
I also don't think that Janie really knows what she wants. She went through a few husbands, all of which she found something wrong with. But at the same time, Janie stands up for herself and speaks her mind. This is not typical behavior for a woman during this time period.
I see her grandmother as a very weak person. she forced her grandaughter into a marraige that she new she wasnt happy about just so she would have to worry about her anymore. she also just gives up at the end and rather than thinking clearly and talking to her granddaughter like a human being puts all her decisions and actions into the hands of god. religion is one thing but she abuses, and uses it as an excuse... she expects him to take control etc. she isnt a good role model or somone that can even justify her actions. it kind of just makes me mad, and makes me think along with being weak, she is also lazy, she cant even sum up enough energy to take care of her grandaughter.
I also was struck by Nanny essentially forcing Janie to get married. I think that Nanny was a very traditional woman and wanted to protect Janie’s sexual innocence. Under the pear tree, Janie seemingly discovers her own sensuality through her examination of the interaction between the bees and flowers. Then she kisses a boy and, instead of letting Janie enjoy her first kiss, Nanny makes Janie feel ashamed. The grandmother says, “You just wants to hug and kiss and feel around with first one man and then another, huh?” (13), making Janie out to be trashy. She thinks that since Janie has discovered her sexuality, there is way to prevent her from becoming sexually active, so Janie needs to be married off in order to preserve her dignity. Educating Janie in morality and having discussions with her regarding sex apparently never occurred to Nanny.
It seems to me that she should have waiting longer to marry as well. During these times events were much different though, and the pressure that was put on her by the grandmother was the main factor that pushed her into marriage. I also found it interesting about how open Janie was in confronting Logan about his actions and what she did and did not want to do. She was not at all afraid of any consequences. I felt that she acted this way because she resented the situation she was in. She had listened to her grandmother and done what she had wanted, but it was never what Janie really wanted to do. She could not be overly happy with Logan in any sense, mainly because she had not made her own path, she had done what was expected of her.
The first problem I see with this situation of marrying the granddaughter off so young is that the grandmother decided it was time for her to get married. It seems to me that Janie should have been the one to decide. From there on, I agree with you, she was probably way too young, even for that time period.
I think that the marriage that Janie has with Jody is a very strange one as well. It kind of seemed like maybe she just wanted to love someone and that is why she "fell in love with him." I think that he is a horrible husband. He does not really seem as though he wants a wife, he wants power, and if he needs her to help him achieve it than so be it. You made a good point when you wrote about the part where he contradicts himself. He wants a woman in the home, yet he wants her to go to work. Maybe this is why he makes her pull her hair back while she is working because it is clearly a symbol of her femininity and sexuality.
I think a lot of the characters we saw were illustrating the traditions of the time. Women worked from home and men worked outside the home making money. It was also tradition for women to marry young. I agree that it did not seem like Janie knew what she wanted and just kept trying different things like being married to Logan and then Jody, wanting to work at home and then wanting to be involved in the community. Maybe this is because of the way she was raised with grandmother and she didn't see this everyday.
I also wondered why Janie's Grandmother wanted her to marry at such a young age and without love. If I were in Janie's shoes I would never have married Logan because I was told too. But after thinking about it I realized that Janie's Grandmother was just trying to protect her. She wanted her to marry Logan because he was a good provider. Janie's Grandmother knew she was dying, and told Janie to marry Logan so she would have shelter, food, and protection.
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