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"It was the time for sitting on porches beside the road. It was the time to hear things and talk." pg.1

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"So gradually, she pressed her teeth together and learned to hush." pg.71

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The community in Eatonville was very tight. People would gossip about everything that happened in the town. The 'porch sitters' were known as the town gossipers, but didn't know the true story about Janie and Tea Cake.

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Janie was always overpowered by the people in her life. Early in her life, she was always told what to do by Nanny. She then had no say on marrying Logan, and later was always silenced by Joe.

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"Yes, she would love Logan after they were married. She could see no way for it to come about, but Nanny and the old folks had said it, so it must be so. Husbands and wives always loved each other, and that was what marriage meant. It was just so." pg.21

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"She went over to the dresser and looked hard at her skin and features. The young girl was gone, but a handsome woman had taken her place. She tore off the kerchief from her head and let down her plentiful hair. The weight the length, the glory was there." pg.87

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“Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the same horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men." pg.1

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"The vision of Logan Killicks was desecrating the pear tree but Janie didn’t know how to tell Nanny that. She merely hunched over and pouted at the floor." pg. 14

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The pear tree represented love for Janie. When Nanny told Janie that she had to marry Logan Killicks the vision of love was wiped away. She started questioning what love really was.

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"Ah wants things sweet wid mah marriage lak when you sit under a pear tree and think." pg.24

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"Honey, de white man is de ruler of everything as fur as Ah been able tuh find out." pg.14

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"Tea Cake's house was a magnet, the unauthorized center of the 'job'. The way he would sit in the doorway and play his guitar made people stop and listen and maybe disappoint the jook for that night. He was always laughing and full of fun too." pg.132

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Janie was told that love would come with marriage. She soon realized this was a lie. She did not find love until she met Tea Cake.

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Racism still existed in this novel. When Nanny tells Janie she needs to marry Logan Janie freaks out. She continues to explain how just like a woman is a slave to a man, a negro is a slave to the white man. She tells Janie that life has always been like this and that she hopes it will change one day.

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"You'se different from me. Ah can't stand black niggers. Ah don't blame de white folks from hatin' 'em 'cause Ah can't stand 'em mahself." pg.141

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"All gods dispense suffering without reason. Otherwise they would not be worshipped." pg.145

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Janie's hair being tied up represented her being trapped by the people around her. When Joe died she realized that she had no one holding back anymore.

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The horizon represented hopes and dreams. Unfortunately, not everyone gets to reach their dreams in life.

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Janie believes that God tests people. She believes that God does not have to have reason for doing what He does.

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"The familiar people and things had failed her so she hung over the gate and looked up the road towards way off. She knew now that marriage did not make love." pg.25

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The community at the muck was very close and happy going. The people who lived and worked there were all friendly and spent a lot of time together. Tea Cake and Janie's house became a hangout place after Tea Cake began singing and playing his guitar on afternoons.

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Janie's 1st marriage was destined to fail because she did not love Logan and was forced into the marriage.

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"Then in a moment it was gone. Tea Cake wasn't strange. Seemed as if she had known him all her life. Look how she had been able to talk with him right off!" pg.99

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"Janie did what she had never done before, that is, thrust herself into the conversation." pg.75

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"Sometimes God gits familiar wid us womenfolks too and talks His inside business. He told me how surprised He was 'bout y'all turning out so smart after Him makin' yuh different;" pg.75

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"Being able to whip her reassured him in possession. No brutal beating at all. He just slapped her around a bit to show he was boss." pg.147

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"Ah set in de kitchen one day and heard dat woman tell mah wife Ah'm too black fuh her. She don't see how Janie can stand me." pg.148

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During this time period men was so much more powerful than women. Tea Cake striking Janie without Janie retaliating showed how strong their relationship was.

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"Didn't buy 'im fuh no work. I god, Ah bought dat varmint tuh let 'im rest." pg.58

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The history of how blacks were treated and viewed was evident in this book. There are many moments, like this one, where race is brought up and discussed.

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"De next mornin' she come crawlin' in on her hands and knees. A sight to see. Dat school teacher had done hid her in de wodds all night long, and he had done raped mah baby and run on off just before day." pg.19

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Janie was always silenced by Joe. She was always over powered her whole life. Her personality finally changes when she stands up for herself and joins a discussion.

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"She had found a jewel down inside herself and she had wanted to walk where people could see her and gleam it around. But she had been set in the market-place to sell. Been set for still-bait." pg.90

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"Then she starched and ironed her face, forming it into just what people wanted to see, and opened up the window and cried, 'Come heah people! Jody is dead. Mah husband is gone from me." pg.87

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"Janie pulled back a long time because he did not represent sun-up and pollen and blooming trees, but he spoke for far horizon. He spoke for change and chance. Still she hung back. The memory of Nanny was still powerful and strong." pg.29

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Janie is finally free from Joe when he dies. She finally is ready to be the person she wants to be.

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"Before she slept that night she burnt up every one of her head rags and went about the house next morning with her hair in one thick braid swinging well below her waist." pg.89

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"She hated her grandmother and had hidden it from herself all these years under a cloak of pity. She had been getting ready for her great journey to the horizons in search of people; it was important to all the world that she could find them and they find her." pg.89

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This part of the novel explains Janie's moms past. It clarifies why Nanny is so protective over Janie.

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Janie felt trapped when Nanny was still alive. She was forced by Nanny to be in a relationship she did not want to be in. Once she died, she finally realized how trapped she was.

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"The wind came back with triple fury and put out the light for the last time. They sat in company with the others in other shanties, their eyes straining against crude walls and their souls asking if He meant to measure their puny might against His. They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God." pg.160

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The hurricane was an event that would test the communities strength. It killed many people and ruined almost everything.

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"De Indians gahn east, man. It's dangerous." pg.156

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Janie finally found true love for the first time in her life.

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Joe shows his power by buying the mule just to set it free. He thinks by doing this that people will like him and respect him more.

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Janie had learned that you can't always control your fate. She realized that although she knew she could be so much more, she was stuck with the life she had.

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Mrs. Turner expresses her hated for colored people. She, a colored woman herself, is very hypocritical and thinks that blacks and whites should not be together. She tells Janie that she should not be with Tea Cake.

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Janie believes that although God made people different, He did it for a reason. She expresses that He is proud of blacks and she feels that blacks should be proud of their selves too.

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After Joe died, Janie wanted to change her old ways. She knew she couldn't change everything about herself though because the town would gossip about her.

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Janie wanted to find true love like she had always imagined. She had always thought that she would find someone who she would love and they would spend their lives together.

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Janie believed when she met Joe that he could be the dream she was hoping to reach. She thought that he could possibly be her true love.

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Janie, Tea Cake, and Motor Boat decided to stay and take their chances with the hurricane. It ended up badly for them as Tea Cake ended up getting rabies which led to his death.