Janie, the Unlikable Protagonist

I have a confession. I don’t like Janie. It seems like a crime to write negatively about an English book, but I just don’t find her an appealing character. I do feel sympathetic to her at times, but, at the same time, I really don’t like her as a character.

            After the scene under the pear tree, Janie is quickly married off to a wealthy, middle aged landowner. I feel sympathetic to her here, especially because of her age. Not only is he much older than her, but she obviously finds him extremely unattractive, and doesn’t love him. I don’t think she should have been forced to marry him at such a young age, when she was still trying to understand her feelings.

Despite the fact that Janie shouldn’t have been married off in the first place, the way she treats Logan right from the beginning is incredibly rude. She starts by calling him names behind his back, saying he looks like “some ole skullhead in de graveyard”. Later, after he calls her spoiled when she won’t work, she says “Ah’m just as stiff as you is stout.”

            Logan’s assertion that Janie is spoiled, while indelicate, seems to be true. While she didn’t love him, after the idea of marriage settled, she was perfectly happy, until she noticed that he stops pampering her by doing all of the work himself, speaking in rhymes to her, and complimenting her hair. She’s only been asked to work, and not been asked to do any more work than she does, yet this is one of the main reasons she tries to get out of the marriage. She seems to have an odd idea of love, in which she doesn’t have to work for anything and she can do whatever she wants. While that sounds nice, love doesn’t pay the bills, and if neither her nor her husband works, they would starve. Logan offers her an opportunity for some luxury at the expense of work. Her other options are less appealing, she could live and work by herself, or she could become a trophy wife, which we later see isn’t as great as she thinks.

            After Janie meets Joe Starks, a rich, young, handsome man, she quickly runs off with him under the promise of marriage, and that he’ll pamper her, and she’ll hardly have to work. She neglects to even tell Logan that she’s leaving him, and for all we know, he never is told. Joe quickly rises to the top of the town they move to and becomes the mayor. Janie tries to speak shortly thereafter, but Joe silences her, claiming women shouldn’t make speeches. I again feel sorry for her, as Joe turns out to be increasingly abusive and sexist. However, Janie’s only job is to work the store, and while this is not a demanding job, she hates the job with a passion.

            Janie’s new husband is much crueler than Logan. The irony is that she would have probably been in a better position with Logan, who, while old, didn’t force her to stay in her “place” or beat her, like Joe. It’s especially hard to feel sympathy for her after hearing her Granny’s story, where she was raised in slavery, worked for no pay, had no land, and was raped by her master. Janie would have had an easy life, and wouldn’t have been treated as poorly if she stayed with Logan. Maybe I’m too quick to judge Janie, as the character we meet at the end is much different than the Janie we know now. But, as it is now, I don’t like her.