Janie's Relationships

Throughout the whole novel, Janie is almost always in a relationship. From the very beginning, she is dependent on others starting with Granny. Granny takes care of Janie until she gets married to Logan Killicks. Even though she is not happy with him, Janie stays with him until she meets Joe. A similar thing also happens with Joe. She chooses to stay with him until he dies without saying anything that might make him leave her despite her frustration with him. Tea Cake is a little bit different, since Janie is happy, but Janie is still completely submissive to what he wants. She never opposes what he wants to do. It seems as if she is happy to have someone tell her where they are going and what they are doing so that she doesn’t have to decide for herself.

This seems to contradict Janie’s beliefs. When Joe dies, Janie feels as if she is free and says that she is happy, but she goes right into another relationship. Even though Tea Cake treated her differently than Joe did, I still think that he has just as much control over Janie as Joe had. I don’t think that Janie actually has more freedom, I just think that she is happier with Tea Cake.