Chapter 9 Mini-Commentary- Journal #3

            After being married for several years, Janie and Jody’s relationship turned sour. Jody got sick and stopped talking to Janie. Immediately after Janie gets the courage to speak with him and tell him off for his wrongs, Jody dies. Janie attended Jody’s funeral because it’s proper, not because she was grieving. “She sent her face to Joe’s funeral, and herself went rollicking with the springtime across the world,” (88) happy on the inside to have the opportunity to find a ‘bud to her pear tree.’ She was “weeping and wailing on the outside” (88) to please the townspeople by pretending that she was truly sad, but on “inside…[was] resurrection” (88) of her single life and following her childhood dream of love. Her husband’s “death [did not] disturb her calm,”(88) but instead gave her power to start a fresh life. Before leaving her house, “Janie starched and ironed her face [and hid] behind her veil” (88) because she didn’t feel comfortable enough with the people in town to show her real feelings. She thinks that “all things concerning death…were done. Finished. End. Nevermore,” (88) clearly feeling ready to move on to the next chapter in her life and find her true love; the bud to her pear tree.