4. To what extent does Janie acquire her own voice?

[Jen]

4. To what extent does Janie acquire her own voice and the ability to shape her own life? How are the two related? Does Janie's telling her story to Pheoby in flashback undermine her ability to tell her story directly in her own voice?

[Jan]

I think from the start Janie has her own voice, but other people don't want to listen to it. Other people in her life have decided for her who she should be, and aren't interested in hearing who she really is. As the novel progresses, and Janie tires of being disregarded, she starts to articulate who she is. At 16, she struggles to explain what she is feeling and why she tastes her first kiss to her grandmother, but she starts to experiment with expressing what she thinks to her first husband. She's pretty direct, and when he dismisses her as a stupid girl with ideas above her station, she leaves him, acting on what she has told him. She has an inner certainty about who she is and what she can do with her life that is inspiring. Even when she is trying to keep the peace in her marriage to Joe, there are occasional flashes of honesty as she calls him out on his behaviour. Her statement that men don't know half the things they think they do about women is aimed at Joe, and is an expression of her inside self, the custodian of the secrets of her heart.

That separation into two selves that Janie describes gave context to her story being told in the third person. We know that she is recounting her life story to Pheoby so that Pheoby can pass it on to the gossips in town who are chattering about her return at the start of the book. I think the third person narration represents Janie standing outside herself and observing the person she has been in the past. I think the third person is the voice she's chosen to tell the story of the Janie she was. It also enables her to present as fact what other people are thinking and saying in relation to her.

[[deleted user]]

Janie has always had her own voice and her telling Phoeby what happened to bring her back to Eatonville is giving her a voice as an oral storyteller.

[Diane]

Janie's ability to shape her own life is what I liked about her. She had the courage or foresight to leave her first husband and be with Joe. Likewise she trusted her instincts to leave Eatonville and strike out with Tea Cake. I liked how the story ended as I thought it came full circle.

[Pip]

Janie found her voice as her life progressed, I thought. Particularly when the social life of Eatonville took place on the verandha of the store. Then she listened to the banter and realised that she was capable of joining in, although Jody forbade her to do so. I think that this aspect of the story had a universal meaning, as many women only develop their own voice in mid-life. (Although I am speaking of my genrartion here, I think. I asked a couple of young women to do something yesterday and was immediately cha;lenged, which had me ruminating on how things have changed!)