Black and White

Throughout the novel the character Janie is special in many ways, and most of these attributes return to her "whiteness." Janie is physically more "white" than the other characters because of her mother was half white and her father may or may not have been white, this is unknown. She was also raised with white children as a white child might be raised, and was not even aware she was black until she saw a photograph of herself. One of her most projected white qualities is her long straight hair, which is also a source of power for her. Another white quality is her milky complexion, so to say she has very fair brown skin rather than dark black skin. Several times in the novel Janie's whiteness was accentuated. Such events as this include her marriage to Joe, her marriage to Tea Cake, and her association with Mrs. Turner.

While being married to Joe, several things made Janie appear more white. First to the town, because her house was nicer and larger than the rest of the towns and also it was painted stark white to add to it's superiority even more. Then to Joe, because most of his hostility towards her led back to her "white" qualities, such as her hair.

While Joe envied her whiteness, Tea Cake almost felt inferior it, as many whites would intend towards black people, but not Janie. Tea Cake had dark dark skin, and in contrast would have made Janie appear very white. He was always apologizing for his rough ways and making sure she didn't mind doing things he did, as though she was superior and higher in society than her. This accentuates her whiteness because it was close to how a black person would be expected to treat a white person, although in such a case they wouldn't have been married. Of course part of this was because he doted upon his wife, the extent to which he kept her class in mind suggests that it was partially due to her skin color.

Mrs. Turner was perhaps the greatest highlighter of Janie's white features. Mrs. Turner preferred white people and generally disliked the black race. Because of this, when Mrs. Turner took a great liking to Janie, one could infer that Janie was one of the most white blacks she had ever encountered. Mrs. Turner also introduced a bold negative perspective on blacks, one that had been alluded to but never stated quite as frankly as Mrs. Turner did. What was puzzling to me was that this negative opinion of black people was presented by a black author. Not only did Mrs. Turner make blunt comments that were strangely backed up behavior but often portrayed the white man in a positive light. Mrs. Turner's main argument was that black people were ugly and loud. This was backed up because the most white character, Janie, was also the most beautiful and because of the court scene towards the end. In this scene the black people in the court are portrayed as generally loud, obnoxious, and rude. Also they are against Janie, when it is clear to the reader that she is innocent, which would obviously make the reader angry with the blacks. The whites on the other hand, side with Janie. The white women are placed there as a complete opposite to the blacks; they are quiet, respectful, and this for some reason gave me the impression they were delicate, making the blacks seem even more unsatisfactory. In regards to the actual white people in the novel, some were portrayed as bad but most were good. The boss in the Glades for example, was seen as sort of a protector. The workers looked up to and respected him, not leaving the farm because they trusted him. Of course in the end this fell through but the blame was not given to the bosses and they were not seen negatively for this. Another white character was the doctor, and he was seen as very kind and caring, and did his best to help Tea Cake although her could not. Last was Miss Washburn, who was the woman whose yard Janie grew up in, and Janie was treated like an equal by her. Surprisingly, the characters who were portrayed as the worst were the black people who were trying to be white, such as Joe Starks and Mrs. Turner.