Motif

In this novel, Janie's hair is a motif. It symbolizes her individuality and sexual power. Janie has very beautiful, long, straight, black hair that is envied by all. It is described as a "great rope of black hair swinging to her waist and unraveling in the wind like a plume." Janie unintentionally uses her hair to make Joe feel insecure and thrive to be better than her. "Her hair was NOT going to show in the store. It didnt seem sensible at all. That was because Joe had never told Janie how jealous he was. He never told her how often he had seen other men figuratively wallowing in it. "(page 55) Here we can see Joe's insecurities and feeling of inferiority towards Janie. When Joe has Janie cover her hair, she is stifled and more docile to his control. She no longer has power over him with her womanhood because he takes it away and controls it. Because of the appeal to her hair, Janie had often had a lot of power over men. Even her first husband Logan loved to finger it and was attracted to it, willing to do anything for her at first. The hair initially attracted Joe also, the first time she saw him while pumping water, heavy hair falling down.
The hair is also empowering because also adds to the feeling of Janie's whiteness, since it is long straight and different, like white skin is different. Janie has white surrounding her because she was raised with white people, is "above" everyone in the town with her status as Mayor's wife, and lives in a house painted stark white by Joe, because of his wishes to be white and act white which were in turn, cast upon her. The whiteness of her hair and the envy of the people make her hair empowering to Janie, and individualizing.