Hero Journey - The Return... Or Maybe Not

The criteria for the return are:

1. The hero must have returned with a reward.
2. The Hero has been resurrected and purified and has earned the right to be accepted back into the ordinary world
3. The hero shares the elixir of the journey with others or heals a wounded land
4. All celebrate the journey's end with revelry or marriage
5. Harmony and balance are restored to the ordinary world.

Janie's journey is her search for a mutual love like the one she envisions when she discovers her womanhood under the blooming pear tree. It begins with Johnny Taylor, moves on to logan Killicks, then to Joe Starks, and finishes with Tea Cake. The return occurs after the journey ends, so clearly, Janie's return is her return to Eatonville. But, for this to be correct, Janie's return must meet five criteria.

The first requirement is that she has returned with a reward. This is a problem because her reward was Tea Cake, and unfortunately, he has died. However, Janie does return with an important lesson: be true to yourself, and you will lead a happy and fulfilling life. (thats right. coincidentally, its my group's thesis from the transcendentalism project.) So she has returned, and she has brought a reward back with her. A check mark next to criterion number one then.

On to criterion number two: Janie must have been ressurected, purified, and accepted back into the ordinary world as a result of her ressurection and purification. I think her ressurection is meeting Tea Cake and her purification is falling in love with him. He reanimates her from her death of submitting to society's expecations, and when she falls in love with him and leaves the abominable memory of Joe Starks behind, she has been purified. But there is a problem. The inhabitants of Eatonville are far from accepting when she returns, which means no check mark for criterion number two. Although Janie has been ressurected and purified, she is supposed to be accepted as a result of undergoing those processes, and she is not.

Number Three: Janie must have shared the elixir (her reward) with others, or healed a wounded land. In the case of Their Eyes Were Watching God, the land's wound would be the unrealistic and oppressive expectations of society. Janie certainly does not ameliorate them. However she does share the elixir with Pheoby. After Janie has finished telling Pheoby her story, Pheoby says: " Lawd! Ah done growed ten feet higher from jus' listenin' tuh you, Janie. Ah ain't satisfied wid mahself no mo'. Ah means tuh make Same take me fishin' wid him after this. Nobody better not criticize yuh in my hearin'." (192) Clearly, Pheoby has embraced the lessons Janie learned about love. Janie shared her elixir. This means that Janie's return to Eatonville has passed requirement number three.

Number Four: All celebrate the journey's end with revelry or marriage. There is neither revelry nor marriage when Janie returns to Eatonville. But perhaps after "the people" are told of Janie's journey, they will celebrate her accomplishment?

Number Five: Harmony and balance are restored to the ordinary world. It would certainly make sense if the citizens of Eatonville began being more true to themselves after they hear about Janie's journey. As a result of their new way of life, harmony and balance would reign in Eatonville.

So the only requirement Janie's return to Eatonville did not pass was number two. Although criteria four and five each got a speculative pass, my speculations were not huge stretches. That means four out of five requirements were met, which means the return stage in Their Eyes Were Watching God is when Janie returns to Eatonville.

The picture is of Pinturicchio 's "The Return of Ulysses".