The Journey Can Teach Us a Lot About the Destination

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was hard, but heah, we ain’t got nothin to do but work and come home and love." Janie is explaining how she loves the muck, and how it is all about hard work. She shares love between her and Tea Cake, and the people on the Muck. Janie’s clothes show the true love she tries to find throughout the book. Her clothes are deeper meanings for how she feels about the people in her life, and where she lives. But, Janie will sometimes be judged for the clothes she wears by others. She will also get judged by the way she looks, because she has white features. The judgement that Janie gets is caused by jealousy.

Janie has been judged by people who are close to her, and people who aren’t close to her. Joe makes her feel insecure and ashamed of herself. Jealousy can be caused by many things, but for Janie, people are judging her because of her physical features and characteristics. Huston writes “She tore off the kerchief from her head and let down her plentiful hair. The weight, the length, the glory was there. She took careful stock of herself, then combed her hair and tied it back up again” (page 87). In this quote, Hurston wants you to know that after Joe Starks dies, Janie is able to be herself and wear her hair how she wants. She isn’t afraid of anyone, or worried of impressing anyone. She does not care if people are jealous of her, and only cared about that when she was married to her now dead husband, Joe Starks. WIthout caring what people think, Janie is able to find herself in a situation that she never thought she would come across, peace. Janie doesn’t care what anyone thinks, and is jealous of no one, she is at peace with herself, and has found her unique self. Hurston writes, "She ain’t even worth talkin’ after," Lulu Moss drawled through her nose. "She sits high, but she looks low. Dat’s what Ah say ‘bout dese ole women runnin’ after young boys.” (page 3). This woman was jealous of Janie for her looks. Janie did not care if the ‘sitters’ were talking about her, because she was at peace with herself. She had just gone on her long journey to find what she was looking for. Along the way she found peace, love and happiness. "You know if you pass some people and don’t speak tuh suit ‘em dey got tuh go way back in yo’ life and see whut you ever done. They know mo’ ‘bout yuh than you do yo’self. An envious heart makes a treacherous ear. They done ‘heard’ ‘bout you just what they hope done happened." (page 6). Phoebe makes a good point about how just because Janie won’t be friendly to the ‘sitters’, they have to be mean and crude towards Janie. But because Janie has just come back from The Muck, she is feeling content and well with her own self. She doesn’t need any negativity, so she chooses not to care when the ladies are jealous of her. Deeper problems can cause someone, especially Janie, to be insecure and jealous, but once you can solve the problems, you can finally be at peace.

Throughout Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie is finding peace, but she does not know that at first. It takes her a long journey to find what she was truly looking for. Janie is put through many hard things, including sexism, racism, judgement, jealousy and trust issues. Janie in the beginning of the novel is looking for something meaningful in her life. She doesn’t know what she is searching for, but she knows she will find it. She wants someone to love her, and that is what she thinks she is looking for in the beginning. This is when you see her get married to Joe Starks and Logan. She was treated badly, and was judged at for her looks and who she chose to love. When her life is at a low point, she finds another man, otherwise known as Tea Cake. Janie thinks that this is what she was searching for, love. Even though Janie does find real love with Tea Cake, she also blooms into the person she is supposed to be. Janie can be totally free, free with herself, and nothing to hold her back. She is finally full of contempt after she can trust and fall back on someone she is truly comfortable with. So after Janie’s unique journey, she was shaped into who she was looking for all along, a woman who is comfortable with herself, and can’t be brought down by anyone. She is finally at peace with herself, and found her independence.

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