Much discussion has been had around the question of Janie's ideals of love in a relationship. The scene with the pear tree where she has an "epiphany" about how life is supposed to work and the point where she enters into full consciousness, gives her the ideal of love being a state that should be attainable, most likely through marriage, and affects her decisions in the future heavily.
Are Janie's ideals bad? I don't think so, and I don't think this is a point that the book is trying to make. Janie seems to care a lot about her ideals, and is willing to go fairly far away from where she is comfortable, as she leaves home for a guy that she had only know for a week. She is willing to go through any experience just to achieve this ideal. At first the experience is marriage, where she think that since all the adult say that marriage leads to love, it will happen to her too. When it doesn't really live up to her expectations, disappointing her in many aspects, she decides to have more experiences, leaving her old marriage behind completely. She leaves with Jody, not really knowing what she is getting into, but because there is a chance for her ideals to be recognized she takes the chance and goes with it.
I think Janie's ideals lead to a determination that isn't present in many people other than for survival. After leaving her first marriage, she can't go back, so she has to make her situation with Jody work, and because of this she endures all of his antics for 20 years, trying to find what she is looking for and surviving until she can, trying all the time to get closer to her ideals. For Janie it seems that surviving is just part of trying to reach her ideals.
This is a determination that we don't really find present in many other characters. I'm sure her attachment to her ideals will be tested much more, as it already has, and this will lead to more developments in the book. It will be interesting to find out how these ideals change, or don't change, and what happens with her in the future.
Are Janie's ideals bad? I don't think so, and I don't think this is a point that the book is trying to make. Janie seems to care a lot about her ideals, and is willing to go fairly far away from where she is comfortable, as she leaves home for a guy that she had only know for a week. She is willing to go through any experience just to achieve this ideal. At first the experience is marriage, where she think that since all the adult say that marriage leads to love, it will happen to her too. When it doesn't really live up to her expectations, disappointing her in many aspects, she decides to have more experiences, leaving her old marriage behind completely. She leaves with Jody, not really knowing what she is getting into, but because there is a chance for her ideals to be recognized she takes the chance and goes with it.
I think Janie's ideals lead to a determination that isn't present in many people other than for survival. After leaving her first marriage, she can't go back, so she has to make her situation with Jody work, and because of this she endures all of his antics for 20 years, trying to find what she is looking for and surviving until she can, trying all the time to get closer to her ideals. For Janie it seems that surviving is just part of trying to reach her ideals.
This is a determination that we don't really find present in many other characters. I'm sure her attachment to her ideals will be tested much more, as it already has, and this will lead to more developments in the book. It will be interesting to find out how these ideals change, or don't change, and what happens with her in the future.
Yes i agree that it is really interesting to see that she actually wants something from marriage. She wants the experience. This fact alone makes her one of the most compelling characters of this class so far. This attitude is far from those of Bigger and many others. Her ability to abandon her present situation in search of something better is taking it a step further. She has ambition that most do not.
ReplyDeleteThat's a really interesting point! I have never thought about it like that before. I had thought about all the problems that would be caused for her because of her clinging to her ideals but never saw her putting up with relationships that were sub-ideal as surviving until an opportunity arose to become closer to her ideal. This definitely does show a lot of drive in her. It also makes me feel really weird because I usually see that kind of acting (waiting to strike later when a good opportunity arises) as a bit cruel and calculating, and not very strongly attached to whatever they have (though I guess Janie doesn't have too many good reasons to be attached). This idea of cruel and calculating seems to instinctually go against (at least in my mind) to go against the idea of love. There is nothing rational about love, yet Janie has somehow managed to make a science out of love. I'm not going to lie though, now I am a bit more confused about the entire Janie love situation, so I guess I'll just have to wait and see how this all works out in the end.
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