How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #21
Soon everything around downstairs was shut and fastened. Janie mounted the stairs with her lamp…Now, in her room, the place tasted fresh again. The wind through the open windows had broomed out all the fetid feeling of absence and nothingness. (20.11)
This passage alternates between images of enclosed spaces and wide open ones. But here, nothing feels trapped. Janie has returned to the home that Joe once trapped her in, but even though the downstairs is "shut and fastened," it feels cozy and comforting instead of claustrophobic. Upstairs, the open windows give the room a sense of largeness which, paradoxically, does not feel empty. Instead, it makes Janie feel free.