Chapters 8-12

  Chapter 8-12 mark the beginning of Janie’s self-love journey. In chapter 8, Joe’s life begins to dwindle. As he ages, he refuses to let Janie see him, so he has people in the town observe her and report back to him (very toxic). There is a lot of sword imagery in this chapter, an example being Joe’s death: “The icy sword of the square-toed one had cut off his breath and left his hands in a pose of agonizing protest” (87). After his death, Janie instantly began to find herself: “The young girl was gone, but a handsome woman had taken her place” (87). 

The true start of her self discovery is after the death of Jody (good riddance). Chapter 9 opens with the town of Eatonville attending Joe’s funeral, grieving his death. On the other hand, Janie is described as being without much emotion: “Janie starched and ironed her face and came set in the funeral behind her veil. It was like a wall of stone and steel” (88). Hurston describes Janie as being fairly apathetic amidst the death of her late husband and I don’t blame her! A significant moment happens after she returns home from the funeral that is Janie’s first step to finding herself: she burns all of her head rags and lets her hair down. This is a very symbolic moment for janie, for Joe constantly barked at her to keep her hair out of the sight of other men. I believe that the release of her hair from the head rag is her release from Joe- the metaphor of freedom. Janie describes her self-love revelation after discussing her detest for her grandmother’s “love” on page 90: “She had found a jewel down inside herself and she had wanted to walk where people could see her and gleam it around… Like all the other tumbling mud-balls, Janie had tried to show her shine.” This evoked much confidence within Janie, and after being terrorized by several men trying to gain her hand in marriage, her dear friend Pheoby begged her not to say anything that would make people think Janie wasn’t sorry Joe is gone:“let ‘em say whut dey wants tuh, Pheoby. To my thinkin’ mourning oughtn’t tuh last no longer’n grief” (93).

Chapter 10 is where Janie meets Tea Cake (Vergible Woods)! After he meets her in her shop, Janie describes herself as “glowing inside” after he asks to play checkers with her (96). Tea Cake and Janie get along very well, laughing and flirting with each other. At the end of chapter 10, Janie sits on her porch and describes the horizon: “So she sat on the porch and watched the moon rise. Soon its amber fluid was drenching the earth, and quenching the thirst of the day” (99). This is the last sentence of chapter 10, and I think that it is a beautiful example of horizon imagery. I believe that it is using this horizon metaphor to foreshadow the beginning of Janie’s self-love journey with Tea Cake by her side- because of tea cake, Janie is finally free to chase her own horizon.

In chapter 11, Tea Cake and Janie go on several adventures together such as fishing, the movies, and picnics. Janie tries to hide her activities with Tea Cake, for she is 12 years older than him and he doesn’t have much money to his name and she knows that the town would talk. Tea Cake and Janie share a tender moment where he is combing her hair after having an intimate conversation. Janie asks why he does that for her and responds, “It’s mine too. Ah ain’t been sleepin’ so good for more’n uh week cause Ah been wishin’ so bad tuh git mah hands in yo’ hair. It’s so pretty. It feels jus’ lak underneath uh dove’s wing next to mah face” (103). Although this is a little creepy, we can see that Tea Cake really wants to take care of Janie! This is a significant moment, for her freedom is her hair and he is tending to it.

In chapter 12, the town begins to share their concerns about Tea Cake and Janie, even though they don’t really have a say in the matter. They comment on how she is wearing colors like blue and not black and white. They are gossiping about how she is no longer grieving Joe and how he deserves better. Janie expresses to her friend Pheoby how she used to “sit wid folded hands and sit dere” when she was with Joe, but now when she’s with Tea Cake, she can truly live life (112).