Patriarchal Domination

The belief was that the only way an African-American woman could be wholly stable was if she were dependent on a man that provided her the means.

In both marriages, Janie resists being dominated; she ultimately refuses submission to her husbands. To Logan, "Mah mamma didn't tell me Ah wuz born in no hurry. So whut business Ah got rushin' now? Anyhow, dat ain't whut youse mad about. Youse mad 'cause Ah don't fall down and wash-up dese sixty acres uh ground yuh got. You ain't done me no favor by marryin' me. And if dat's what you call yo'self doin', Ah don't thank yuh for it. Youse made 'cause Ah'm tellin' yuh whut you already knowed" (31)

The power was unevenly distributed between Janie and Joe; Joe maintained all authority and beat Janie when she disappointed him: “Janie was a good cook, and Joe had looked forward to his dinner as a refuge from other things. So when the bread didn’t rise, and the fish wasn’t quite as done at the bone, and the rice was scorched, he slapped Janie until she had a ringing sound in her ears and told her about her brains before he stalked on back to the store” (72).

Janie challenges him up to his death and even engages in a public fight where she humiliates his man-hood after he insults her age and appearance, “Naw, Ah ain’t not young gal no mo’ but den Ah ain’t no old woman neither. Ah reckon Ah looks mah age too. But Ah’m uh woman every inch of me, and Ah know it. Dat’s uh whole lot more’n you kin say. You big-bellies round here and put out a lot of brag, but t’ain’t nothin’ to it but yo’ big voice. Humph! Talkin’ bout me lookin’ old! When you pull down yo’ britches, you look lak de change uh life” (79).