Janie vs. The Man

In chapter nine, Janie told us a story. When God made The Man, he made him cheerful and glittered all over. The angels became jealous of this man so they chopped him up into millions of pieces; however, the Man continued to hum and glitter. The angels decided to beat him into nothing but sparks, but even each individual spark continued to shine. The angels then covered the sparks with mud. Because the sparks are lonesome, they hunt for one another because the mud is “deaf and dumb.” Like the mud, Janie tried to shine through but was unable to. At first, she was forced into marriage with Logan, which covered up some of her shine. Then, she found Jody, who completely covered Janie's "shine." He even tried to make her wear her long, beautiful hair up in a rag. She was being weighed down by people like Jody who were telling her what to do and not letting her be herself. The mud that covers Janie is an example of the different criticism that Janie receives from people like Jody.