Words unspoken

 

 

 

On page 43, Joe Starks has just opened the new store. The townspeople were excited because Eatonville is a community that is being developed still. In their excitment they ask Janie to make a speech about the occasion. But Joe interrupts and states that he doesn’t approve of it and thinks that his wife is uneducated. He rudely states that, “... but mah wife don’t know nothin’ ‘bout no speech makin’.... She’s uh woman and her place is in de home. “

He conveys the message that he is a patriachist who has authority over his wife. This signifies role playing, because in Eatonville, many of the women were uneducated and at that time period many’s job would be to take care of the house. Janie is seen as the sterotypical woman and Joe doesn’t realize that she is somewhat educated. He wants her to stay in the house.

“It must have been the way Joe spoke out without giving her a chance to say anything one way or another that took the bloom off of things. But anyway she went down the road behind him feeling cold.” When the narrator explains this, it shows that they lost the love that they felt for each other. She felt like her opinion didn’t matter to him. He demands too much of her, and puts many rules on her to make her act the proper way for a mayor’s wife. She follows him most of their marriage, and never expresses her feeling about situations. By keeping her opinions inside, Joe never focuses on her and he always walks forward with dignity. He is very arrogant and focuses on the town and his accomplishments instead of her.


Danielle Pallarca and Drishti Patel