3rd Response

The insights I have given in previous responses, about how Janie is actually imprisoned in her marriage, and that she is like a slave, appears to have become apparent to Janie. She has a revelation as she peers into a mirror, and when her situation became clear, it is no surprise that when Joe died a few months later, she felt no remorse. She describes her freedom of having no husband as the most joyous moment of her life. It was as if she went back to the life as a young teenager, where she would just sit under a pear tree and enjoy it.

But her dream is short-lived, at least in my opinion. Because when Tea Cake began to charm her she felt, and acted the same way she did when Joe picked her up in the beginning. Tea Cake may just be another man that will treat her the same way. Of course, this fact can be countered by the way he is referenced in the beginning of the story, but it is always possible that Tea Cake will act the same as Joe Starks. Tea Cake’s fate is unknown, and due to Janie’s cold attitude in the beginning, it is possible that she caused Tea Cake’s fate, which may have been because of the way Tea Cake will treat her. But this is, in all likely hood, a wild guess. Her attitude in the beginning may just as well have been as a result of a tragic accident that Tea Cake had, and the lost of a love one (a real love one rather than a man like Joe), causes her to become distant.

I think the greatest difference in Janie between these chapters and previous chapters, is she seems to be happier. She can do anything she wants, such as go fishing at midnight; she is not tied down by anyone now. She feels the breath of freedom swift over her, and is relinquishing every cool breeze brushing against her. It now appears that Tea Cake is now the one blowing against her, and whether it will be soft breath, or a destructive blow, remains to be seen.