Janie's Picture-Perfect Love Life - their eyes were watching god

Janie has always viewed love as a natural element in life. She first seems to idealize marriage and love in Chapter 2, imagining the passionate bond between husband and wife as a natural relationship between bee and flower. The natural state of the world mimics common gender roles in her view. The male bee stumbles upon the female tree where there is a reciprocal act of love. The male and female complement each other and create the perfect union that Janie assumes to be marriage. By looking outwards at what marriage must look like, she develops her own fantastical idea of what love must be. She applies this idea to every relationship she will be in, constantly searching for the perfect partner to complement herself. 

Furthermore, Janie not only seems to view love and marriage as a natural element, but she also seems to look at her entire life and future life to live as an extension of the natural world. Hurston states, "Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone. Dawn and doom was in the branches" (Hurston 8). This quote could mean that Janie sees her life more like the pear tree (the female role in her idealistic view of love). As described in the simile, her life (a "great tree") will be filled with ups and downs and endings and new beginnings. Her life is this tree and is thus dictated by the natural flow of everything. Her life is a connection between herself and the world around her, where love and marriage take on this romanticized and naturalistic role. In this role, not one partner is greater than the other and each complements one another, creating the perfect union.

As a result of this awakening in Chapter 2, she does something that gets her grandmother (Nanny) to marry her off. Overcome with desire and almost in a trance-like state, Janie kisses Johnny Taylor, a boy in the neighborhood. By doing this, she convinces Nanny that Janie has matured enough and that she needs to find a husband. Nanny doesn't have the same romanticized view of love and marriage that Janie does. While Janie thinks that love leads to marriage, Nanny believes that love will follow marriage and that marriage is the opportune moment to increase one's social status and wealth. Nanny's view of love may be harsh, but it's far more grounded that Janie's fantasy. Nanny is also influenced by her experiences as a slave and in this way, Nanny has a narrower view of society and is very concerned with the social hierarchy of things. Thus, Nanny believes that the best option for Janie is to marry a man that can provide her with the best social status. Although it may not seem like it, Nanny does genuinely care about Janie and wants the best for her. She's scared for Janie's life and wants that Janie gets the respect she deserves, especially since she has the opportunity to obtain this social status and reputation. Nanny's so scared in fact, that she describes Janie and Johnny Taylor's kiss as a "laceration," implying that the kiss is damaging in some way (Hurston 12). She clearly doesn't want Janie hurt and sees marriage as an escape hatch that can secure her protection. This idea is illustrated when Nanny states, "Ah can't be always guidin' yo' feet from harm and danger. Ah wants to see you married right away" (Hurston 13). Eventually, Janie agrees and she is married off to Logan Killicks. 

Although Nanny is happy since Killicks is wealthy and can provide Janie with the social status and protection she needs, Janie doesn't share the same view. Logan Killicks is cold-hearted, distant, and abusive and doesn't match with any part of Janie's idealistic version of marriage. Janie takes Nanny's advice and waits for the love she imagined to emerge but it never happens. Janie has no feelings for Logan and decides that this marriage doesn't match the natural order that things should run by. Not surprisingly, Nanny doesn't understand why Janie doesn't enjoy all the benefits of this marriage. Nanny was brought up in a different time where these romanticized ideals didn't exist and a marriage like this was highly sought after. As a result, she can never conform to Janie's views of love and in the same way, Janie will never be able to relate with Nanny's ideals.

In this time, Janie meets another man named Jody. Their first interaction is much more natural in comparison to Logan's and Janie's arranged marriage. Unlike Logan Killicks, Jody is stylish, confident, and ambitious. This ambition especially appeals to Janie as she views Jody as full of potential and capable of taking her wherever she needs to go. Janie often refers to Jody as the "horizon," an ever-changing destination, filled with possibilities. In the way that Jody is the horizon, Logan Killicks is the ocean floor, a dark sedentary basin, slowly rotting away. 

Although she is excited by Jody's dreams at first, she realizes that this isn't where she wants to go and that Jody isn't nearly as romantic as she once thought. Janie's constantly driven by these fantastical notions in the novel, but she is always disappointed by reality. She's making love an unattainable goal that she will never really reach. Janie now realizes that she will never come to terms with Nanny's idea of financial stability and social stature. In order to find her true love and her true identity, Janie must stray even further away from Nanny's ideals, forever searching for that feeling she once felt under the pear tree.