rained. She passes on her passive attitude onto her granddaughter Janie. Janie works for her first husband, doing what he demands of her. Like a mule she sits when told, stands where she is told, and does exactly what she is told to do. She does not think for herself, pondering “maybe if somebody was to tell me how” (23). When a charming young man convinces her she needs a better life she follows, as a mule would. She slowly holds a better title, Mrs. Mayor, but still follows her husband. She spends endless days in her new husbands store, thankless days, following Jody’s specific direction. Janie and her grandmother represent a culture of women that were stereotyped into a specific gender role, putting them as the last class in society. They received no compensation or respect for their services. Their work specifically benefited only those they worked for, and supported. Through compromising themselves in this way these women were subjected to even more maltreatment.African-American women, like mules, are property of men. They are treated without the proper human rights that should be placed on a woman doing so much for their men to survive. Janie represents black women’s struggles, as her own struggle progresses in Jody’s store. He buys her, through and similar to, his purchases of “new clothes of silk and wool” (33). When the two are locked in the vows of marriage Janie becomes known only as Jody’s wife, not as an individual with rights. The black patriarchal system undercuts any attempts a black woman can make to raise her status. Janie continues to work day and night for Jody, as his property, until the day that he dies. Jody cared more for his material property than he did for his wife. He took time every day to sort the mail, to count the inventory and money, and to amuse the customers and the citizens of his town. However, it is barely mentioned his concern for h...
