How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
[The porch gossips]: "What she doin coming back here in dem overhalls? Can’t she find no dress to put on? – Where’s dat blue satin dress she left here in? – Where all dat money her husband took and died and left her? – What dat ole forty year ole ‘oman doin’ wid her hair swingin’ down her back lak some young gal? – Where she left dat young lad of a boy she went off here wid? – Thought she was going to marry? – Where he left her? – What he done wid all her money? – Betcha he off wid some gal so young she ain’t even got no hairs – Why she don’t stay in her class? – " (1.6)
The inhabitants of Eatonville resent Janie for not fitting into an easily-identifiable class. She was known as the venerable wife of the mayor before she ran off with a no-name and no-account man far too young for her. Yet she is beautiful and has her dignity, so the porch gossips jealously point out everything wrong with her – her masculine dress, her hair worn in a manner too youthful for her age, her widowhood, and her apparent poverty.
Quote #2
[Nanny]: "Whut Ah seen just now is plenty for me, honey, Ah don’t want no trashy n*****, no breath-and-britches, lak Johnny Taylor usin’ yo’ body to wipe his foots on." (2.27)
Nanny considers Johnny Taylor far below her and Janie’s station. This is apparent because she uses words like "trashy" and "breath-and-britches," implying that Johnny is poor. She equates his low social status with negative intentions toward Janie – which may or may not be the case. Still, Nanny uses social status as a way of determining a person’s value and integrity.
Quote #3
[Nanny to Janie]: "If you don’t want him [Logan], you sho oughta. Heah you is wid de onliest organ in town, amongst colored folks, in yo’ parlor. Got a house bought and paid for and sixty acres uh land right on de big road and…Lawd have mussy! Dat’s de very prong all us black women gits hung on. Dis love! Dat’s just whut’s got us uh pullin’ and haulin’ and sweatin’ and doin’ from can’t see in de mornin’ till can’t see at night." (3.21)
Nanny envies the middle-class white life, valuing key material objects that signify wealth like organs (not like kidneys, but the piano-like instrument), houses, and "sixty acres uh land." She wants that kind of wealth for Janie and assumes that social status and worldly goods will automatically bring happiness.
Quote #4
It was a cityfied, stylish dressed man with his hat set at an angle that didn’t belong in these parts. His coat was over his arm, but he didn’t need it to represent his clothes. The shirt with the silk sleeveholders was dazzling enough for the world. He whistled, mopped his face and walked like he knew where he was going. He was a seal-brown color but he acted like Mr. Washburn or somebody like that to Janie. (4.14)
Janie is dazzled by this urbane pedestrian’s outfit and jaunty attitude. He seems as if he’s part of another world, one of material wealth and pretty clothes and oozing confidence. His social class seems to be above that of any other black person she’s ever met, so he’s intriguing.
Quote #5
Joe Starks was the name, yeah Joe Starks from in and through Georgy. Been workin’ for white folks all his life. Saved up some money – round three hundred dollars, yes indeed, right here in his pocket. Kept hearin’ ‘bout them buildin’ a new state down heah in Floridy and sort of wanted to come. But he was makin’ money where he was. But when he heard all about ‘em makin’ a town all outa colored folks, he knowed dat was de place he wanted to be. He had always wanted to be a big voice… (4.16)
Despite his wealthy appearance, Joe is an honest worker just like Janie. He has worked diligently for white people his whole life but has been able to save up money and buy the semblance of white wealth. Unlike many other characters, he doesn’t see his social class as fixed – he plans on breaking into the upper-class with his entrepreneurial schemes.
Quote #6
[Logan]: "Considerin’ youse born in a carriage ‘thout no top to it, and yo’ mama and you bein’ born and raised in de white folks back-yard." (4.40)
Logan looks down on Janie for having lived as the white people’s servant and ward her whole life. He considers himself, in his freedom and hard-earned living, classier than Janie. "Considerin’" she comes from a lower social situation, he thinks she doesn’t have the right to act independent or have many opinions.
Quote #7
[Logan]: "Ah thought you would ‘preciate good treatement. Thought Ah’d take and make somethin’ outa yuh. You think youse white folks by de way you act." (4.42)
Janie’s demeanor is too proud for her poor station in life, according to Logan. Apparently, by marrying a woman of a lower social position, Logan was expecting to have Janie feeling gratefully and completely indebted to him. Since he’s also hoping to "make somethin’ outa" Janie, he apparently considers her to be of very little significance the way she is right now.
Quote #8
The morning road air was like a new dress. That made her feel and apron tied around her waist. She untied it and flung it on a low bush beside the road and walked on, picking flowers and making a bouquet. After that she came to where Joe Starks was waiting for her with a hired rig. He was very solemn and helped her to the seat beside him. With him on it, it sat like some high, ruling chair. (4.59)
By throwing off her apron and accepting a high seat next to Joe, Janie symbolically discards her status as a domestic, working-class woman. She emerges to take a seat in higher class, among the people who sit in a "high, ruling chair." Interestingly, Janie has social mobility not because of intelligence or talent or education, but because she’s beautiful.
Quote #9
On the train the next day, Joe didn’t make many speeches with rhymes to her, but he bought her the best things the butcher had, like apples and a glass lantern full of candies. Mostly he talked about plans for the town when he got there…Janie took a lot of looks at him and she was proud of what she saw. Kind of portly like rich white folks. Strange trains, and people and places didn’t scare him neither. Where they got off the train at Maitland he found a buggy to carry them over to the colored town right away. (5.1)
Joe shows his ambition to get into a higher class by flaunting his wealth to Janie, buying her all sorts of treats like "apples and a glass lantern full of candies." Showing off the new social class that he’s brought her into is also his way of trying to endear himself to her. Maybe he sees rhymes and poetry as a poor man’s way of romancing the woman he loves, and money and gifts as the higher class equivalent.
Quote #10
[Coker]: "There’s some women dat jus’ ain’t for you tuh broach. You can’t git her wid no fish sandwich." (5.76)
Coker considers Janie too high-class for Hicks, who tries to woo his women with fish sandwiches.
Quote #11
So that’s where the meeting was held with Tony Taylor acting as chairman and Jody doing all the talking. A day was named for roads and they all agreed to bring axes and things like that and chop out two roads running each way. That applied to everybody except Tony and Coker. They could carpenter, so Jody hired them to go to work on his store bright and soon the next morning. Jody himself would be busy driving around from town to town telling people about Eatonville and drumming up citizens to move there. (5.87)
Joe quickly establishes himself as leader of the town, initiating new building projects, hiring people to work for him, and giving himself the position of a spokesperson – he’s too high and mighty to work with his hands.
Quote #12
"Naw Jody, it jus’ looks lak it [Joe’s new position as mayor] keeps us in some way we ain’t natural wid one’ nother. You’se always off talkin’ and fixin’ things, and Ah feels lak Ah’m jus’ markin’ time." (5.125)
Joe’s new position as mayor inherently puts him in a class above the ordinary citizens of Eatonville, and Janie immediately notices the strain in puts on their relationship. She is always waiting on people and being a pretty face while he is of inflating his ego and making speeches. It makes their marriage less romantic.
Quote #13
Take for instance that new house of his. It had two stories with porches, with banisters and such things. The rest of the town looked like servants’ quarters surrounding the "big house." And different from everybody else in the town he put off moving in until it had been painted, in and out. And look at the way he painted it – a gloaty, sparkly white. The kind of promenading white that the houses of Bishop Whipple, W.B. Jackson and the Vanderpool’s wore. It made the village feel funny talking to him – just like he was anybody else. Then there was the matter of the spittoons. No sooner was he all set as the Mayor – post master – landlord – storekeeper, than he bought a desk like Mr. Hill or Mr. Galloway over in Maitland with one of those swing-around chairs to it. What with him biting down on cigars and saving his breath on talk and swinging round in that chair, it weakened people. And then he spit in that gold-looking vase that anybody else would have been glad to put on their front-room table. Said it was a spittoon just like his used-to-be bossman used to have in his bank up there in Atlanta. Didn’t have to get up and go to the door every time he had to spit. Didn’t spit on his floor neither. Had that golded-up spitting pot right handy. But he went further than that. He bought a little lady-size spitting pot for Janie to spit in. Had it right in the parlor with little sprigs of flowers painted all around the sides It took people by surprise because most of the women dipped snuff and of course had a spit-cup in the house. But how could they know up-to-date folks was spitting in flowery little things like that? It sort of made the rest of them feel that they had been taken advantage of. Like things had been kept from them. Maybe more thing sin the world besides spitting pots had been hid from them, when they wasn’t told no better than to spit in tomato cans It was bad enough for white people, but when one of your own color could be so different it put you on a wonder. It was like seeing your sister turn into a ‘gator. A familiar strangeness. You keep seeing your sister in the ‘gator and the ‘gator in your sister and you’d rather not. There was no doubt that the town respected him and even admired him in a way. But any man who walks in the way of power and property is bound to meet hate. (5.130)
Joe flaunts his new wealth in a parodic semblance of Southern white gentry. He spends his money on trivial items like adorned spittoons for himself and his wife. This exorbitance makes the citizens both jealous and resentful of him. Before Joe moved into town, the people of Eatonville had no reason to think of themselves as low class, because they were all the same class – all the same race and all poor. Joe brought social stratification to town, and now everyone else can see what they’re missing out on.
Quote #14
Janie loved the conversation and sometimes she thought up good stories on the mule, but Joe had forbidden her to indulge. He didn’t want her talking after such trashy people. "You’se Mrs. Mayor Starks, Janie. I god, Ah can’t see what uh woman uh yo’ stability would want tuh be treasurin’ all dat gum-grease from folks dat don’t even own de house dey sleep in." (6.28)
Although Janie doesn’t mind mingling with all the townspeople and making up tall tales about the infamous mule, Joe considers the people "trashy" and "gum-grease." He thinks Janie’s position as mayor’s wife automatically makes her morally superior and he does not want her associating with them. This is, of course, hypocrisy since Joe himself, the mayor of the town, associates and jokes with them all the time. All the same, he seems to think that it hurts his own social status to have his wife hanging around with commoners.
Quote #15
[When Janie wants to go to the mule’s funeral]: Joe was struck speechless for a moment. "Why, Janie! You wouldn’t be seen at uh draggin’-out, wouldja? Wid any and everybody in uh passle pushin’ and shovin’ wid they no-manners selves? Naw, naw!" (6.69-71)
Janie does not matter who she hangs out with if she is having fun, but Joe has a more prescriptive view. He uses he and Janie’s higher class as officials of the town to insinuate that she is better than the other townspeople and will stain her reputation if she spends time with them. Janie doesn’t care much about her social status, but Joe seems to place reputation above his wife’s happiness.
Quote #16
"Dis sittin’ in de rulin’ chair is been hard on Jody," she muttered out loud. She was full of pity for the first time in years. Jody had been hard on her and others, but life had mishandled him too. (8.45)
At Joe’s death, Janie realizes that many of his problems were caused by his position of power in the community and all the expectations that come with that power. Being a member of an upper class, or at least a leader, inflated Joe’s pride and made him too authoritative for his own good – to the point where he didn’t listen to or love his wife anymore. Yes, "life had mishandled Joe," but he also desired the power given to him and was, in turn, corrupted by it.
Quote #17
Joe’s funeral was the finest thing Orange County had ever seen with N***o eyes. The motor hearse, the Cadillac and Buick carriages; Dr. Henderson there in his Lincoln; the hosts from far and wide. Then again the gold and red and purple, the gloat and glamor of the secret orders, each with its insinuations of power and glory undreamed of by the uninitiated. People on farm horses and mules; babies riding astride of brothers’ and sisters’ backs. The Elks band ranked at the church door and playing "Safe in the Arms of Jesus" with such a dominant drum rhythm that it could be stepped off smartly by the long line as it filed inside. The Little Emperor of the cross-roads was leaving Orange County as he had come – with the out-stretched hand of power. (9.1)
Because Joe is considered something of a nobleman, a "little emperor" of Orange County, his funeral is lavish. The powerful come in their "Cadillac and Buick carriages," dressed in "the gold and red and purple, the gloat and glamour of the secret orders." These hints of royalty highlight the townspeople’s high opinion of him and yet his reign is marked by "secret orders" and "insinuations of power" – implying a degree of furtiveness and corruptibility to Joe’s immense power.
Quote #18
When Janie emerged into her mourning white, she had hosts of admirers in and out of town. Everything open and frank. Men of property too among the crowd, but nobody seemed to get any further than the store. She was always too busy to take them to the house to entertain. They were all so respectful and stiff with her, that she might have been the Empress of Japan. They felt that it was not fitting to mention desire to the widow of Joseph Starks. You spoke of honor and respect. And all that they said and did was refracted by her inattention and shot off towards the rimbones of nothing….A Sanford undertaker was pressing his cause through Pheoby, and Janie was listening pleasantly but undisturbed. It might be nice to marry him, at that. No hurry. Such things take time to think about…" (9.16)
After Joe’s death, Janie becomes the object of courtship for many men of the town. However, her status as the late mayor’s wife, renders her seemingly too highborn for the men of Eatonville. They approach her as a delicate object to be honored and spoken to about "honor and respect," never about base "desire." In the high position that Janie occupies, people seem to assume that she no longer has human emotions – like wanting to have a little bit of love or romance in her life.
Quote #19
[Janie]: "Well, is he – he – is he got uh wife or something lak dat?"…
[Hezekiah]: "No’m. And nobody wouldn’t marry Tea Cake tuh starve tuh death lessen it’s somebody jes lak him – ain’t used to nothin’. ‘Course he always keep hisself in changin’ clothes. Dat long-legged Tea Cake ain’t got doodly squat. He ain’t got no business makin’ hissef familiar wid nobody lak you." (11.30-31)
Hezekiah thinks Tea Cake shouldn’t be spending time with Janie, not because Tea Cake is a bad person or a criminal, but simply because he’s poor. To Hezekiah, social status is more important than a person’s character.
Quote #20
[Pheoby]: "Course she kin do as she please, but dat’s uh good chance she got up at Sanford. De man’s wife died and he got u lovely place tuh take her to – already furnished. Better’n her house Joe left her." (12.5)
Pheoby obviously values material wealth and stability, marks of the higher class. Because the Sanford undertaker’s house is "better’n her house Joe left her," Pheoby thinks the decision is a no-brainer: marry the undertaker. But Janie has different values than Pheoby and the other Eatonville citizens; she’s experience material wealth and knows that it’s not what drives her.