While Joe reveled in the attention he was receiving, he did not appreciate his wife thinking she had the authority to receive recognition as well. Hambo remarks, “Yo’ wife is a born orator, Starks. Us never knowed dat befo’. She put jus’ de right words tuh our thoughts” (58). Even though Janie paid full respect to her husband, even equating his power to that of kings, Joe was uncomfortable with that temporary moment of attention Janie had received. She gave people a new reason to appreciate her because they now knew that she was an educated woman who delivered eloquent speeches.
In an article by Keiko Dilbeck, she states: “Hurston inserts this subplot as a metaphor of Janie and Jody’s marriage. Janie expresses empathy for the animal and this is often seen as Janie’s ‘own sense of gender entrapment’. It is interesting to note that once Jody dies and Janie is free to do as she pleases, there are no further references to mules; Janie is free of her ‘load,’ no longer required to bear the expectations of men or others” (Dilbeck, 102).
Dilbeck, Keiko. “Symbolic Representation of Identity in Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God.” The Explicator. 66.2: p102(3) 2008.
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