Major Turning Point

The turning points in the story is when Mrs. Tony goes to the store and “makes a fool” out of her husband, and when Janie’s second husband, Joe Starks, dies.

Throughout Janie’s marriage with Joe, Janie is faced with hardships consisting of a general consensus that a woman’s place is in the household and that a woman should stay in her place. She finally becomes independent.

Just before Joe Starks dies, Janie listens to a conversation between Coker, Joe Lindsay, and Jim Stone after Mrs. Tony goes into Starks’ store and makes a scene about her husband not getting enough food for her and her children. Coker says, “Ah could break her if she wuz mine. Ah’d break her or kill her. Makin’ uh fool outa me in front of everybody” (Hurston 76). This event serves as a turning point because this makes Janie think about how Joe beats her when she says or does something out of place, like cooking incorrectly when the bread doesn’t rise (Hurston 72), which in turn makes Janie speak up and tell them what she thinks about the subject, that they don’t know half as much about women as they think they do (Hurston 75).

When Joe dies, Janie says, “Come heah people! Jody is dead. Mah husband is gone from me” with almost no sorrow in her tone(Hurston 87). This serves as a major turning point because at this point in the story, Janie has been through two, (for the most part) unhappy, marriages and finally begins to do what she wants with her life instead of having a husband tell her what to do. The story so far has been like Janie’s journey trying to find independence for herself and now she has finally found it.