The tension between husband and wife is so tight that it is about to break at any moment. They have been married for some years now. They have no husband-wife relationship. They have a master-servant relationship. Jody has ideas of how a woman should behave. Janie has instincts that she resists follow for her safety. She keeps the peace. She just wants to get along.
"The years took all the fight out of Janie's face. For a while she thought it was gone from her soul. No matter what Jody did, she said nothing. She had learned how to talk some and leave some. She was a rut in the road. Plenty of life beneath the surface but it kept beaten down by the wheels...mostly she lived between her hat and her heels..." (76).
Could this be foreshadowing to her freedom? Will she escape "her hat and her heels" (the chains that restrict women)?
I don't think it is foreshadowing of her freedom, but I do think it is a good example of the position she was in while married to Jody. In some sense I think the book makes men the restrict-ers of women--Logan expected her to help him around the house, wouldn't let her do what felt natural to her, Jody repressed her and wouldn't allow her to speak or figuratively, let her soul breathe. THats why she felt like she was in a rut. She had no room to grow while married to Jody. He didn't think she needed it or was capable of it, not letting her play checkers or a number of other things, expecting her to merely sit in the house and look pretty if not helping him in his own pursuits.
ReplyDeleteBut what about Tea Cake? He doesn't restrict Janie.
ReplyDelete