Although we don't see much of Nanny throughout Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie's circumstances are heavily impacted by Nanny's values and subsequent decisions. Janie and her grandmother have strongly contrasting views on Janie's life decisions because of their experiences (or lack thereof) that ultimately put Janie in a situation that she is unsatisfied with.
For instance, Nanny's experiences with men are mostly, if not all negative. As the product of two generations of rape, she sees marriage as a practical tool that she can use to protect Janie. To her, life is a game of strategy, and growing up must occur through a specific procedure. On the other hand, Janie hasn't experienced much compared to Nanny and has a less harsh view of her environment, viewing her world through a romanticized lens.
Nanny's happiness and satisfaction clearly depend on her view of Janie's well-being, and in this regard, her concern in Janie's coming-of-age restricts Janie's freedom. In a way, Nanny is sympathetic since she just wants to protect Janie and put her in a secure, stable position. On the other hand, Nanny clearly doesn't trust Janie to be smart about her own relationships and life since she forces Janie to get married for the sole purpose of making sure she doesn't need to deal with complicated and uncertain relationships. From this perspective, Nanny doesn't seem to sympathize with Janie since her lack of trust and understanding results in her forcing Janie into a situation with which she's not at all comfortable.
Throughout the story, Nanny's actions present an obstacle to Janie's freedom that Janie spends decades of her life navigating out of.
I don't really agree with Nanny's actions but I can definitely see where she's coming from and the baggage she carries which influences how she raises Janie. I think it's quite sad that Nanny's attempt to protect Janie in response to her own trauma sets off a chain of events which ultimately makes Janie very unhappy for two decades of her life. However, I wonder whether Janie's life would have actually been better without this arranged marriage. Perhaps she would have married someone she liked more, but given the way the men that Janie actually does choose to be with treat her, I think simply the lack of decent men and general lack of options for someone like Janie also play a big role in the dissatisfaction she experiences for a large portion of her life.
ReplyDeleteAt the end of your post you wrote "Nanny's actions present an obstacle to Janie's freedom that Janie spends decades of her life navigating out of" and I'm a bit confused by what you mean by that. Do you think that Janie would have been more free without Nanny's influence on her? Obviously, she wouldn't have married Logan, but that would only have affected a short period of her life. I think that Janie's experience with Jody can actually be seen as a bit of a reflection of Nanny's advice (though warped a bit). Nanny says that the black woman is the mule of the world, forced to work for everyone. Jody doesn't make her do the hard labor, but he does use her as a tool for his own personal gain, as a trophy wife rather than a person. I definitely think that Nanny's words are really important for contextualizing Janie's relationships throughout the novel, but I'm not really sure how to fit them in perfectly to her relationship with Tea Cake. What do you think about that? Or maybe you completely disagree and think Nanny is completely wrong including regarding Joe?
ReplyDeleteI found the quoted statement pretty sensical. Janie may not have ended up in a better situation but Nanny's actions indisputably restricted Janie's freedom to make her own choice (even if that choice would be wrong in Nanny's and potentially a reader's eyes). And as for the decades part, it's only after Jody's death do we see Janie getting freedom to make and follow through with decisions with viable alternatives (e.g. enjoy herself with Tea Cake / pursue another man out of financial interests). Contrast that with Janie's decision to go with Joe - she was between a rock and a hard place.
DeleteI agree with your comment, I'm still pretty undecided on Nanny's role to Janie after reading the book and this blog post. I hesitate to cast too much judgement on Nanny since, as discussed, her outlook is understandable, but I also hesitate to say that we really know the impact of her actions. Yes, she married Janie off probably too early for Janie's mental wellbeing and happiness. But we don't know what position Janie would have been in had Nanny died before she was married, and whether it could have been much worse and more unstable. Basically, I agree that Nanny set up an obstacle, but she also could have been wise and experienced enough that that obstacle may have been an escape from an even more difficult journey to happiness.
DeleteJanie's marriage with Logan may have affected a longer period of her life than we think—Would she still have married Jody if she hadn't married Logan? I may be wrong, but it kind of seemed like she married Jody in part because he offered a way to escape from Logan. I definitely think Janie would be freer without Nanny's influence, but I also don't want to condemn Nanny too harshly for her influence since, as Stefania noted, her outlook is understandable given what she's been through. I also find it difficult to fit Nanny's words into the context of Janie's relationship with Teacake, but maybe their relationship is, in a way, what Nanny hoped/expected for her daughter and Janie.
DeleteI find it hard to choose a standpoint when it comes to Nanny and Janie, but I will always believe that Janie should have her own freedom to make decisions. Sadly, we've seen that her decisions do not lead to happy results, but then again we can't be sure that Nanny's would have been better as Janie was thoroughly unhappy with Nanny's choices. However, Nanny had good intentions and I see her actions as an act of love rather than an act of oppression.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm kind of split when it comes to Nanny. On the one hand, it makes complete sense that she would want to protect Janie as well as she could, given her own sexual trauma--I definitely think she does it out of care and love. On the other hand, her wishes ultimately have the effect of restricting Janie's freedom and taking away her opportunity to figure things out on her own. I can see both sides, so I'm really glad you made this post.
ReplyDeleteI really like that you wrote that Nanny sees life as "a game of strategy." We can definitely see the clear generational gap here, that is definitely timeless. Nanny's perspective is coming from a place of wisdom and desire for safety, as any mother-figure would have. On the other hand, Janie is trying to live a more passionate, joyful life. The grapple between these two is constant, and we can see that Janie starts to slowly become less obedient to her grandmother throughout the novel.
ReplyDeleteLike you said, Nanny views marriage as a practical tool in life, and love is not really an important part of the equation. Thinking "logically" for the time period, her stance is justifiable considering the situations she was raised in, like you said. However, I believe she should trust Janie's judgement of character a little bit more. After all, she was not happy when she was married to Logan, despite him being a relatively decent guy. She ended up running away in the end, which was not at all what Nanny wanted to happen. Almost paradoxically, she might've been able to keep Janie safer if she had given her a bit more freedom. Maybe then she wouldn't have met Jody.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your description of Nanny, and while we as readers may disagree with her actions/decisions, I can definitely see why her outlook on life has become what it is. She grew up in an awful time and experienced positively awful things. Her concern first and foremost was the safety of her granddaughter, and regardless of what Janie felt about it, she acted in accordance with that priority, and I think in essence that action is a very respectable thing. I don't think it's unnatural for Janie to feel negatively towards Nanny, but I do think it's a shame that her final feelings about her grandmother were negative, when all Nanny really wanted was her granddaughters' safety.
ReplyDeleteI see the actions of Janie's grandmother as unreasonable but understandable. Janie's grandmother has dealt with her own share of abusive relationships so she wants to put Janie in position that's better than what hers was. I can see why one would justify the actions and thought-process of Janie's grandmother. Janie's grandmother was betrayed by the idea that being in a relationship is all about 'love' so I think her outlook on relationships is fair. I don't think that Janie's grandmother should force her ideas on someone but she should definitely explain her perspective to Janie and others.
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