1. I think the ships are supposed to be your dreams just waiting to happen. They’re out there and possible to get you just have to go for it. Like the book says they’re just floating on the horizon waiting for you. If you just stand on the shore watching them then it’s like having a dream and never going for them. You have to get to those ships before they go away like you have to achieve your dreams before you go away. I think Janie does live up to my expectations. Although it may seem like her dreams didn’t work out too well she still went for them. She chased after the ships so to speak but it just didn’t work out. She didn’t just stand on the shore and wait though.
Page 1 “Ships at a distance have every man’s dream on board. For some they come in with the tide. For some they sail forever on the horizon.”
2. The townspeople react by being very critical and judgmental to Janie. They start talking about how she went off with a man and then how he left her. They complained about how she was wearing overalls and a braid when she came home, something they found disrespectful. They started wondering where all the money and nice clothes she left with went, including her husband. They also talked about how her husband, tea-cake, was too old for her. Basically they began to gossip about her between themselves and pick her apart. ( they were jealous of her)
3. Phoebe’s reaction was not to gossip too much about her like the others but to defend her. Once she went to go talk to Janie her reaction was happy to see her old friend and she immediately brought her out some rice to feed her and take care of her. She asked her about what happened and was very curious about what happened to her since she left. Janie trusted she would tell the story right when she repeated it and proceeded to tell of what happened to her.
Page 6” Dat’s just de same as me cause my tounge is in mah friends mouf”
4. Janie tells her life story to Phoebe because she trusts her. She probably thinks others will skew the story and tell it differently if she tells them. She knows Phoebe is her friend and will be honest and tell everyone else exactly what she hears, and not some made up story to make Janie look bad or something. As Janie says “ Mah tounge is in mah friends mouf.” She means this in the way that she knows Phoebe will tell the same story she hers like Janie’s tounge is in her mouth.
5. Nanny raises Janie because she doesn’t have a mom or a dad. Her mom was raped when she was 17 by a teacher. The teacher ran off and Janie’s mother got pregnant from it. She began to drink and go out a lot and eventually ran off. This left Nanny to take care of Janie because she had no mom or dad. They lived in the back room of a white persons house where Nanny worked even though she wasn’t a slave. It was with the Washburn family. So she grew up with a white family.
Page 8” Mah grandma raised me. My Grandma and the white folks she worked for. “
6. When everyone was looking at a picture of the Washburn family, Janie, and Nanny. Everyone could find themselves except Janie. She didn’t know she was African-American so she didn’t recognize herself. She then realized she was black. Everyone laughed at her when she found out because she didn’t know for so long.( Janie had been growing up with Nanny while she was working for a white family the Washburn’s.
7. The pear tree represents Janie coming of age and becoming a woman. It represents how she is growing and finally growing up into a woman. The pear tree is also blooming and coming to its biggest stage. The tree is big, beautiful, and blooming. The branches are spreading out on it and the flowers are blooming on it. Also Janie begins to go under it once it starts to bloom which is around the time she gets married and becomes a woman. It is a beautiful tree and it mesmerizes Janie when she looks at it. Janie loves being under it and that relates back to how it represents her.
Page 10 “ Janie had spent most of the day under a blossoming pear tree in the backyard. That was too say ever since the first tiny bloom had opened.”
8. Nanny arranges the wedding because she is sick and might die soon. She wants Janie to live a good life with a husband that can provide for her. She also sees Janie kissing Johnny Taylor so she wants Janie to marry a good guy and not shifty Johnny Taylor. She wants her not to have to live through the same ordeal she did. She knows Logan Killicks is well off and good. She doesn’t want Romantic love for Janie. She wants Janie to be settled in and living a good life without going through the same things her mom and Nanny had to go through.
9. Nanny reacts so strongly to seeing Janie kissing Johnny Taylor because of what she wants for Janie. She thinks Johnny is bad and Janie will end up like her mother and run off. She wants Janie to settle down and live good not run off with good for nothing Johnny Taylor. She doesn’t want Janie falling in love with someone else too because she doesn’t believe marriage is about love so she doesn’t want Janie falling in love.
Page 13 “ Whut Ah seen just now is plenty for me, honey, Ah don’t want no trashy nigger, no breath and britches like Johnny Taylor usin yo body to wipe his foots on.”
10. Nanny’s view on romantic love is that it is nonexistent. She believes getting married is not about love or being romantic. She believes that it is about settling down with a good well off husband and living good. This is how she was raised and wants Janie to marry this way too. Janie thinks the opposite and wants marriage to be about love. Nanny though changes her mind and makes her believe that marriage is not about loving.
11. Janie doesn’t want to marry Logan Killicks. She thinks he is a creepy old man who looks like a skull head in a graveyard. She wants to marry someone she loves not him. Her nanny wants her to marry someone rich so she can live well. They have conflicting views on this as nanny believes marriage isn’t about love while Janie does.
Page 13” Naw nanny is that what he been hanging around here fo. He looks like an old skull head in da graveyard.”
12. She that assumed that if she stayed long enough with Logan she will eventually come to love him and get used to him. She assumes she will get over Logan being an “old skull head” and love him and live well. She was wrong and never became to love him and even he stopped loving her. He forced her to work and he got mad at her. She eventually ran away with Joe to Eatonsville without even telling Logan. So no it didn’t work out.
13. This affects Janie because it changes the way she thinks. When she was little she always thought that love was supposed to be romantic and there was real love. Her Grandma always told her that love isn’t about being romantic instead about marriage is about trying to get settled down and live well. When she finally married Logan and thought she might love him she was wrong. This made her think that love is about living well and that her grandma was right. This will affect her life with other men in the future.
Page 35” she knew that marriage did not make love.”
14. Logan has an ever-changing attitude towards Janie. First he loves her a lot and does everything he can to be nice to her. He is rich and thinks he can get Janie to love him by being very nice to her and letting her live good. When she never starts to love him he gets mad at her and figures that she won’t. He figures he should make her work and she should work to live her. Basically near the end he doesn’t love her and treats her like dirt. She then runs away.
15. Janie is very surprised when he first sees Joe. Most people around here aren’t very wealthy and the only man who is very rich is Logan who isn’t very good looking or charming. She sees Joe and at first he looks like a white man. He is dressed fashionably and looks rich like a white business man. HE looks a bit chubby like a white man too. She thinks he looks wealthy, smart, and successful and he wasn’t even white!
Page 27” it was a citified stylish dressed man with his hat set at an angle that didn’t belong in these parts.”
16. I think Janie runs off with Joes because she wants to chase her dreams. Like Zora says in the beginning of the story woman chase their dreams and make what they want to happen, happen. Pertaining to that idea she chases her dream of being with Joe and decides not to waste her life being unhappy and treated badly by Logan.
17. Janie and Joe are very surprised when they first go into Eatonsville. They went there with high expectations. They were expecting some developed town that was organized and had good business. He also expected it to be bigger. When they got there it looked horrible and way below what they expected. It had only a few shacks people lived in and only 50 acres of land so it was very small. It also had no mayor so it wasn’t organized and couldn’t move forward. They thought the town was bad.
Page 34.” God they call this a town. Why taint more than a raw place in the woods. It’s a whole heap littler than I thought, Janie said admitting her disappointment.
18. Joe has a lot of goals for the town. First he wants to get more land since the town is so small and only has 50 acres. HE decides to buy about 200 more acres of land to build on. He also wants to build a general store. He wants it to first to create business in the town and also for it to act like the heart of the town and a place to meet. He wants to make a lamppost in the town so that they can have light and be more like a real developed town. He also wants to show with this that black people can move forward to which is more implied. HE wants to build a post office for communications also. Some implied things are that he wants to be more powerful. He shows this by making people do work and building himself a big house, getting a spittoon, and a nice spinning chair. He also implies that he wants black towns to move forward.
19. Joe takes the town by storm by buying and building a lot of new things. For one he came in and basically said that he wanted to be mayor of the town since they didn’t have one. He basically took over the town within a day. He also built a general store, lamppost, bought 200 acres of land, and built himself a big two story house. This was showing off his power and strength and that he was better than everyone else.
Page 40.” Oh well have this town fixed up tereckly don’t miss bein at the meetin tomorrow”
20. The townspeople have very mixed feelings about Joe. At first they think he was great and very smart. He builds up the town and creates a lot of business. He also buys all the new land from the neighboring landowner. This is surprising because no one thought a black man was rich enough to buy that . They then start to dislike him once he takes hold of power. He builds a big house, treats other people bad and makes them live in shacks. He also shows off his money like when he makes the lamppost. They see him as the rich white landowner and he treats them like the slaves.
21. There were a lot of advantages and disadvantages to being Mrs. Joe Starks. For some advantages she lived in a big house and had lots of money. She was living good like Nanny wanted her too and she was with a man she thought that she loved. Also she had a lot of nice things and clothes. Finally she got to run the store and she and Joe owned it. Some disadvantages are that she can’t go to some public events like dragging outs because Joe won’t let her. Also Joe controls her a lot and makes her feel like she’s stupid and inferior. Finally if she messes up Joe hits her hard and this messes up their marriage.
Page 41 “ So she put on one of her new bought dresses and went up the road all dressed in wine colored red.”
22. Janie had a lot of things that she liked and disliked about the store. She liked it and thought it was pleasant and nice when she didn’t have to sell anything. She liked it when people just sat on the porch and passed around pictures and just relaxed. She disliked it when she was all busy and when people asked for funny orders. It was fine to just get food of the shelf or get something simple like a pound of tomatoes. It gets hard when people ask for funny orders like 10 cents worth of cheese or something that is hard to judge. It all became a mathematical problem she didn’t like to do but Joe wanted her to.
23. Joe thinks about women very differently than Logan did. Logan thought that Janie should work and do stuff for him. Joe instead thought that women should work inside. HE thinks that he should treat Janie like a princess and she shouldn’t have to do hard work. He thinks she should work inside in the kitchen making food, or at the store selling things. HE only wants her to have to do easy work and not work in the field or something. HE thinks women should be treated well and they can’t do hard work like a man.
Page 60” Why Janie you wouldn’t be seen at a draggin out would ya. Wid everyone in a hassle pushin and shoving and without dey manners. “
24. Janie's head rag symbolizes a few things for Janie. It represents the old slavery days. A lot of woman slaves would wear head rags back in the slavery days. This is odd because Janie usually treated like a princess not a slave. It also represents Janie's hair. Joe doesn’t want all the other men looking at Janie's hair and going after her. He is jealous of them and he wants to be the only one to look at her hair. It symbolizes how Joe is controlling Janie a bit and hiding her.
25. Janie and Joe’s marriage troubles start when Joe begins to control what she does. He begins to make her fell like a woman who can’t do anything and has to only do easy things like working in the kitchen or working the store. Also he doesn’t let her join in on the men’s conversation like when they make fun of matt Bonner and his mule. He controls her and doesn’t let her do what she wants and makes her fell like a women without rights.
Page 75 “ yous getting too moufy Janie. Go fetch me the checkerboard”
26. Joe buys the mule from Matt Bonner to make Janie happy. He heard Janie complaining about how the men were making fun of the poor mule that was almost dead and that was worked to death. He wanted to make her happy since she was upset lately. HE bought the mule to let if live the rest of its life easy since it was almost dead. He fed it good and let it rest and everybody loved it. He said that Matt Bonner didn’t have the ability to let the mule of easy so he would.
27. Janie does a few things to cope with her marriage with Joe. She first imagines a lot of things. She imagines she is back under the pear tree instead of working away in the store and obeying everything Jody says. She keeps her mouth shut and tries to make herself believe the marriage will work out. She also thinks about running off down the road and leaving but rebukes it because she is older now around 35. She said imagining she was under a shady tree with wind blowing by was like a drug. It helped her to reconcile with things.
Page 77” then one day she sat and watched a shadow of herself tending the store and prostrating herself before Jody while she herself sat under a tree with the wind.”
28. Joe motivation for hitting Janie is when she talks back to him. He is making fun of her for her cutting the tobacco wrong, being old, and having her butt sag down. She then yells at him and tells him what he is. She says he is nearly 50 and much older than her. She says she may be old but she’s still a woman while he isn’t a man anymore. He’s sick and weak and has lost most of all his manliness which he so cherished. This was a striking blow to him and it made him so made he hit her with all his might.
29. Janie discovers that people are spreading rumors that Janie is trying to kill Joe.
30. Joes death occurred because he got very sick. At first he began to get sick and weaker. He lost muscle and weight and everything began to look like it was sagging. He looked weaker and got weaker. He called in a genie doctor and he finally got a real doctor. He finally found out he had kidney failure and if he would have found out two years earlier and he could have lived. Finally Janie went into his sick room after a while and he died there with her. He then had a big funeral.
31. Janie has mixed reactions about Joe’s death. For one she tries to seem like she is sad about it. ON the inside she is really feeling free and happy. She is happy that she doesn’t have to live with Joe anymore and he wont abuse her and make her feel inferior anymore like she had to live with before.
32. Janie’s inward and outward feelings at the funeral are very different. On the outside her face is “ironed” and she is wearing a veil. This means she is really showing not much emotion maybe trying to look a little sad. On the inside she is “rollicking with the springtime across the world.” This means she is trying to look somewhat sad on the outside but she is really feeling not necessarily happiness but a freedom. She isn’t sad or happy about Joe’s death. She is just moving on in life.
33. Janie felt that she didn’t need a new man in her life. She enjoyed the loneliness and freedom of being single. Even though many men approached her about being with her or saying how a woman shouldn’t be a lone she didn’t change. She said she had found out everything she wanted to know about men through Joe and Logan which basically meant she believes that most men are mean and cruel to woman like they were. She is friends with men but never goes any further.
Page 90” besides she liked being lonesome for a change. This freedom feeling was fine. These men didn’t represent a thing she wanted to know about.”
34. Teacake is a tall man with big purple lips. He is kind, funny, and friendly. He and Janie meet while everyone is at the ball game. He goes into the store to buy some cigarettes and he starts talking to her since he is the only one there. They play checkers together after he teaches her how to play. Then he buys a drink from her and they talk for a while until more people come back. All the while they are joking and having fun and even odder he treats her like his equal something Joe never did.
35. I think Tea Cake chose this time to visit so he could be alone with Janie and away from the other men. Since everybody was at the ballgame but her he could talk to her alone without all the other men. The other men always try to talk to her and tell her she needs a man so she is usually mobbed by men and being put down by them. He wanted to be a lone so he could talk to her and show her he would treat her good and like more of an equal than someone stupid who can’t fend for themselves. He wanted to have the time to himself.
Page 95” why aint you at the ball game too. Everybody else is there. Well I see somebody besides me aint there. Ah just sold some cigarettes.”
36. Tea cake asks Janie to play checkers which is odd for Janie. It is odd because Joe never let her play checkers. He always said she didn’t have the brains to learn to play because she was a woman. Tea cake not only asks her to play but says she looks like she could be good and learn it. He is nice to her when they play and when she says how Joe says she could never learn, Tea Cake says she has a good brain on her head to learn how. Basically he is treating her like an equal unlike Joe, which is significant.
37. Janie refers to Tea Cake as crazy because of the way he acts. He is always joking around with her and doing silly things even though he barely knows her. He treats her nice yet teases her at the same time. He is acting unusual for how most men act toward her and this makes her jokingly call him crazy. She is joking just like he is and This is just a way of her showing she is amused by him and is comfortable around him and feels good.
Page 97” you don’t buy from yo’self do ya? You crazy thing! Course I don’t.”
