Advanced Math. Advanced Physics. Anatomy and Physiology. Earth Science. Social Science. Political Science. Literature Guides. Popular Textbooks. Zora Neale Hurston. Publication Date:. Chapters Discussion Questions. Proofread first! Meet your new favorite all-in-one writing tool! Instead, almost prophetically, Nanny admonishes Janie that she is still young, and many things can happen in her life.
This wait-and-see advice, however, is not what Janie came to hear, and so she returns home. Within a month, Nanny is dead. Janie hopes that her marriage to Logan Killicks will bring her love and happiness. As she says to her grandmother, "Ah wants to want him sometimes. Nanny wishes Janie a comfortable, secure life, unlike what she had.
However, Janie yearns for a marriage filled with unconditional love. While Nanny's wishes for Janie's marriage were filled with good intent, this marriage only brought Janie feelings of unhappiness and loneliness. Although she protested the marriage, Janie hopes her relationship with Logan will blossom and their love for each other will grow.
As she says, "Ah wants things sweet wid mah marriage lak when you sit under a pear tree and think. For Nanny, relationships are a matter of pragmatism: Logan Killicks makes a good husband because he is well-off, honest, and hard-working. In a harsh world, he offers shelter and physical security. As Janie later realizes, in Chapter 12, it makes sense that a former slave like Nanny would have such a perspective.
Her life has been one of poverty and hardship, with any hope of material advancement dashed by the color of her skin. But Janie clearly wants something more. She is searching for a deeper kind of fulfillment, one that offers both physical passion and emotional connection.
Both the physical and emotional are important to Janie and inseparable from her idea of love. She feels no connection to him—neither physical, nor emotional, nor intellectual. It represents imagination and limitless possibility, the type of life that Janie wants as opposed to the one that she has. It was wonderful to see it take form with the sun and emerge from the gray dust of its making. Jody exudes possibility and freedom because he, unlike Logan, who is solid and dependable but dull and mule-like, bursts with ambition and power.
Power, particularly the type of power expressed by Jody, is a crucial theme throughout the book. He talks about the future, travel, and conquest; to Janie, these ideas seem like ways to reach the far horizon. For the remainder of his time in the book, Jody Starks stands as a symbol of masculine aggression and power; he attempts to purchase, control, and dominate the world around him. At this point, though, she is dazzled by the power Jody offers and believes that it can grant her a better life.
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