User:Mich nangca/sandbox

Liberated Woman
Janie Crawford is searching for her own voice and identity throughout the novel. Throughout the book, Janie is often without a voice when it comes to her husbands as she will not fight back. Janie is faced with situations that also make her feel that her value as an African American woman is little to none. She is seen as separate and different from the other women in the novel who follow the traditions in place and do not find a life independent of men. Janie's womanliness is a source of jealousy for both Starks and Tea Cake who shame her for her looks. Starks orders Janie to cover her hair in public as other men found it a source of attraction. Similarly, Tea Cake is conscious of Janie's lighter skin and her appeal to Mrs. Turner's brother. Throughout the marriage between Tea Cake and Janie, it was a true partnership rather than her being seen as an object that can be useful for the husband. Janie begins to feel liberation when she is in her marriage with Tea Cake because of reasons that made her feel as though she was equal with Tea Cake and that for the most part didn't look down upon her. Though Tea Cake wasn't the perfect husband, he still is the one who allows her to completely fall in love. Janie finds complete independence as a woman after the death of Tea Cake. She returns to Eatonville with her hair down and she sits on her own porch chatting with her friend Pheoby. She has overcome the traditional roles of a woman by the end of the novel, thereby cultivating an image of the "liberated black woman."[14]

Liberation from racial history
Janie grew up under the care of her grandmother, Nanny, because her mother, Leafy, had abandoned her when she was just a baby. Even though slavery was made unconstitutional in 1863, it did not completely abolish slavery in the South. Nanny’s experiences as a slave shaped the way she saw the world and she tried to make Janie follow that way as well. When she realized Janie was more independent, Nanny forced Janie to marry Logan Killicks, an old, unattractive man. Having already learned to listen and follow as her grandmother says, Janie married him but soon found that it wouldn't be as easy to love him as Nanny had to her it would be; for Janie it was actually impossible for her to love him. Also, it was widely believed by African American's during the early 20th century that by marrying, they are morally moving the black community forward. She achieved this when she married Jody because as she became more and more unhappy in her marriage to Logan, she willingly runs off with Jody and marries him. The same thing can be seen with Janie’s marriage to her final husband, Tea Cake. After the death of her second husband, Janie meets Tea Cake and they fall in love with each other. The community Janie is living in sees Tea Cake as a broke person who is going to treat Janie nice for a little while and the take her money and run. Tea Cake wasn't the perfect man, but he proved the community of Eatonville wrong.

Liberation from domestic violence
During the early 20th century, the African-American community discouraged African-American women by setting aside self-realization and self-affirmation values. They did this by restricting them through the use of male dominance and male dominated values such as controlling who they marry. Janie suffered physical domestic violence in both of her marriages with Joe Starks and then with Tea Cake. Her second husband, Joe Starks, was initially the image of a perfect husband for Janie, but later will treat her as a trophy wife. Janie endured a number of beatings from Jody, as he thought of it as a way to exhibit his authority over town. Janie never said anything despite her husband’s physical and emotional abuse, and this was seen by the townsmen as the ideal behavior of a wife. Especially after the beating she got from Tea Cake, the men in town told Tea Cake they wished their wives would take a beating like Janie. Such examples of domestic abuse was not entirely disapproved by the African American community, and it was also seen by men as acceptable behavior during those times. Janie was liberated from the domestic violence she experienced with the death of Jody. Her overall liberation began when she met her late husband Tea Cake, who did not treat her as a mere property like Jody Starks and showed his respects towards her. She began to be treated like a human, rather than property or good looks. Although Tea Cake was not a perfect husband, he was the only husband of hers that gave her the chance to love.

Liberation from sexual norms
The early 1900s was a time in which patriarchal ideals were accepted and seen as the norm. Throughout the novel, Janie in multiple occasions suffer from these ideals. In all her relationships, she is being ordered around by the man. Despite this, she has never questioned her spatial position, whether it be in the kitchen or bedroom. Janie in many ways also show signs of breaking away from the sexual norms of society during her time period. For instance, after the death of Joe Starks, Janie shows up to his funeral wearing black and formal clothes; however, at Tea Cake’s funeral, she shows up in working blue overalls, showing that she cared less for what society thought of her as she got older. In addition, critics argue that meeting Tea Cake was Janie’s liberation in a sense. After marrying Tea Cake, Janie was able to break away from working in the kitchen and went outside the norm or what is classified as women labor in her time period. She went from working in the kitchen and indoors to working more “manly” jobs such as helping in the fields, fishing, and hunting. Although her other two husbands wanted her to work as well, Logan wanting her to chop wood and Jody wanting her to work in the store, and the reason her reaction was different when Tea Cake offered for her to help in the fields was because he saw it as a partnership, he didn't see her as an object through marriage.