Artist's Statement: Their Eyes Were Watching God Project

While there are many themes, ideas, and messages within Janie as a character and Their Eyes Were Watching God as a book but perhaps the most prevalent throughout is the focus on Janie's journey for independence and how it shapes her from the start to the beginning. Over time her character develops massively and it is often times very hard to encapsulate a development like that in a single drawing without multiple separated parts. I wanted my project to embody this idea of a journey for independence and change in both of those (the very start and the very beginning) points in the novel, with only one image, the tree.

At the start of Janie's journey in Their Eyes Were Watching God she is alone, but far from independent. Her life with her grandmother is Uncomfortable to say the very least and she longs for an escape from the horrible monitnous torture that is everyday life. Eventually, her grandmother decides to marry her off to a man named Logan Killicks who she believes will be able to provide for her and give a stable living situation. This is all out of Janie's control and she has no say in it at all. After forcing herself through the relationship some time , Janie eventually just up and leaves and runs off with Jody Stark. So, if you look at the image as the first part of the book it may look like a beginning. The tree is in bloom and the serene setting begs for something to happen and for the energy of the “too good to be true” calm to be broken by a storm (woooooo foreshadowing). The background depicts an unknown sprawling landscape ready to be conquered and explored by whoever dares to do so. But the start of her adventure is only the tip of the iceberg. After going off with Jody and eventually discovering that he is nothing near the man she thought him to be and quickly she becomes unhappy. Instead of addressing this, Jody attempts to keep her in a box. As tensions build between the two they have a massive fight and Jody ends up dying as Janie is berating him. Soon after this Janie decides to move on in her life. After Jody dies she seems to be more content with herself. Standing up for herself against his abuse gave her some sense of control and this is where we start to see her mindset begin to change and she becomes more independent. Not too long after her period of mourning is over she ends up meeting Tea Cake. At this point in the story, Janie dislikes the idea of being controlled or held back by a relationship but she still longs for one. When she and Tea Cake meet she realizes that he is the one for her. Janie is liberated by the fact that even though the townspeople gossip and talk behind her back about her relationship, she feels comfortable and happy for the first time in a very long time. However, after a long calm a storm strikes. Literally. During an enormous hurricane which destroys Tea Cake and Janie’s house, Tea Cake is bitten by a rabid dog and becomes incredibly sick. They survive the hurricane but due to the Rabies, Tea Cake becomes very paranoid and begins to think that Janie is cheating on him. After a confrontation, Tea Cake becomes violent and attempts to shoot Janie, in self defense Janie kills Tea Cake and thus begins the final phase of the story. After some time of mourning Janie returns to Eatonville with a new sort of resilience. The things which Janie had endured by the end of the novel strengthened her to a point where she doesn't care what people think. As she returns to Eatonville people gossip and talk behind her back but she stands strong. She becomes content with being alone and this very new kind of independence which feels full and liberating. As opposed to being viewed as the earlier parts of the novel the tree viewed as the end of it is calm and serene in a way that symbolizes solemnity and her final independence. Looking at the drawing as the end of the book the clouds and background are less important and more so work as a backdrop to bring out the tree and show how her environment and experiences shaped her independence. Overall, the fact that the tree is the same in both images but can be extremely different depending on how it is viewed shows that her independence and comfort with being independent was within her the whole time and all she needed was to find it herself in order for it to come out. The journey which she took allowed her to find this confidence in herself.