In Chapter 19, Janie faces her ordeal. In the Hero Journey, the Ordeal is defined as "the central life-or-death crisis." Janie certainly experiences this after Tea Cake falls victim to rabies. After the disease sets in, Tea Cake begins to lose his mind. In his final moments, he asks Janie why she's not sleeping in the same bed with him, "How come you ruther sleep on uh pallet than tuh sleep in the bed wid me?" (183). Janie is only following doctor's orders, and tries to explains this, but Tea Cake is too far gone. He fires his pistol, but no bullet comes out (thanks to Janie's quick thinking in the
previous pages). This moment is Janie's literal ordeal. In a few more shots, she will be dead. However, her instincts kick in and she makes a quick decision at the last possible moment: she shoots Tea Cake herself, in a moment of self-defense.Actually shooting Tea Cake is the literal "life-or-death crisis." However, the ordeal is also defined as when "the Hero faces his greatest fear; experiences death." Janie too, has this experience. Janie has waited her whole life to be in love. She thought love would come when she married Logan, but there was nothing there. She thought love would come when she married Joe, and perhaps it did in the beginning, but if it had existed, it faded long before his death. Love finally arrived with Tea Cake, who allowed her to live as her own person. Sure, he was jealous of Mr. Turner, and acted possessive of Janie in those moments, but hey, the guy's only human. The bottom line is he made Janie happy, and she truly loved him. After Tea Cake's diagnosis, Janie faces her greatest fear: losing love. She even states, "Well...that big old dawg with the hatred in his eyes had killed her after all" (178). She feels as though she too is dying with Tea Cake, so she experiences death herself.
Due to Janie's literal life-or-death experience, and more figurative experience with death, she experiences the Ordeal in Chapter 19.
I thought putting up a picture of an actual rabid dog would be a little disturbing. I went for the cartoon "mean dog" instead... :)
Carolyn, I agree with everything you said, except maybe this stage is more the Resurrection than the Ordeal?
ReplyDeleteCarolyn...I love you!
ReplyDelete"...but hey, the guy's only human." =) so true
I totally agree that her ordeal occurs in chapter 19 when she has to either kill T.C. or die herself. And I really liked that you added, "After Tea Cake's diagnosis, Janie faces her greatest fear: losing love. She even states, "Well...that big old dawg with the heared in his eyes had killed her after all" (178). She feels as though she too is dying with Tea Cake, so she experiences death herself."
It's a cool spin on the Ordeal, that she lives but at the same time dies.
Yayyy!! Awesome job love <3
UH OH
ReplyDeletei totally forgot that i disagree
i totally meant that
because i think the ordeal is the hurricane
and her ressurection is chp 19
Cindy, I would agree with you that this is the resurrection stage. Janie's ordeal is the hurricane versus shooting Tea Cake because the hurricane forces her to face her inner conflict with God and allows her to express her feelings to Tea Cake.
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