He loves me, he loves me not - Refletions on Chapters 3 and 4 in Their Eyes Were Watching God

Love. This is probably the most powerful word in the English language. So many wonder what it is like to feel love or when you have it what you do with it. These are questions that one can not answer for you...you have to search within your self.

For girls, finding love is a journey that is filled with hardships and struggle and they all tread towards the so-called “fairy tale ending.” As a man, I have gone on my quest for love, but unlike many woman I am not a hopeless romantic. Hopeless romantics (usually woman) are those who spend there lives gazing over the horizons waiting for their one true love to whisk them away on a horse, kiss them under the sunset, and feed them grapes over a camp fire. For me, Hurston's words about men at the beginning of Their Eyes Were Watching God apply more to women than to men.

"Their fantasies are like ships at a distant with all their dreams on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, their dreams mocked to death by time."

Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, portrays one character in this light and it is none other than Janie herself. From Logan to Jody the fantasy of her dream man or her “love” failed. She was unable to fall in love with Logan even after a year of marriage and come the time of Joe Stark’s death there was nothing true about their love.

Now, it may seem that I am trying to poke fun at people like Janie, but that is not the case. It happens that for some, love shows up at their doorstep and that happened with Janie and Joe Sparks. They hit it off and fell in love almost instantaneous which eventually led her to leave her husband at the time, Logan.

I feel that leaving Logan was the best thing for Janie at the time. She had obeyed her grandmother and waited it out for a year, but there still were no feelings for him. If you no longer or never love(d) your spouse you would be doing that person a disservice by staying with them. She did what was right for herself and followed her heart, and she also did right to Logan by being truthful, although the way she did it was messed up.

When I put myself in her shoes and put into perspective my life and where it is going. I am going to start making choices that will make me happy. If the dude smells and looks terrible, I see reason I should stay with him. As a woman, if I am as fine as Janie I am going to be shallow. The things for Janie it was only the physical discomfort from Logan it was the emotional and spiritual. Logan wasn’t much of a romantic or a charmer. He really did not have much to over Janie but a few acres of land and two mules. If I were Janie I would have just killed him in his sleep and take hold of his possessions. I would be able to run away with Jody (pause) and use whatever money I get from selling the old bags valuables. The bottom line is Janie needs to satisfy her needs and she is best following her heart than staying with Logan wasting her youth.

There was a moment in Chapter Three where Janie is having a conversation with her grandmother about her soon-to-be husband. On page 41 Janie says: “Ah’d rather be shot wid tacks than tuh turn over in de bed and stir up de air whilst he is in dere." You can obviously she her disapproval of the marriage and how much she really does not like the man. You shouldn't be forced into a marriage. You should have the choice of choosing your spouse. When Janie ran away she was just doing something she had the right to do: get her freedom, more-so emotional if anything.

Now, her relationship wasn’t so strained in the very beginning. She did make the attempt in loving Logan, but it was unsuccessful.

“Cause you told me Ah mus gointer love him, and, and Ah don’t. Maybe if somebody was to tell me how, Ah could do it” (40).

She actually attempted to create love, the way most people who get in an arranged marriage try. Unfortunately Janie just couldn't create that love which eventually led her to run away with another man. If you consider both quotes you can see how the relationship went from cool to cold. I figured this was a good thing to point out so one doesn’t think that she was didn’t want the marriage to work all along. She did try.

The next chapter started to get a bit more heated, and the relationship between Logan and Janie becomes even more strained. There was one part that really stuck me and the was the morning after Janie tells Logan that she may run off. Logan’s whole attitude towards Janie changed and to me he considered her more of servant than wife.

“Come help me move dis manure pile befo’ de sun gits hot.”

That was a significant turning point in the book for me. Earlier in the chapter Janie talks of how Logan treats her well “he chops all de wood he think Ah wants and den totes it inside." Towards the end of chapter Janie’s dream comes true. She then find someone with whom she shares equal interest.

"From now on until death she was going to have flower dust and spring time sprinkled over everything. A bee for her bloom."

Love had finally come to her and she was happy. However, I don’t feel that Janie is the type of woman that would be satisfied with just one man. I don’t figure to be a wild woman. It's just that I don’t see her being satisfied with just one man. She seems like somebody that wants to experience more in life and not be limited. With Janie you really don’t know what to expect.