or Matt Bonners dead mule (Peters 139). Janies free spirit and youth threaten Jody. Jody employs the dozens to ridicule Janies physical appearance as she ages. He hopes to draw attention from his own aging and sagging body because Janie still holds her youth in spite of her age (Peters 141). After Jodys death, the reader sees Hurstons true portrayal of the caged bird receiving its freedom. Not until Jodys death does Janie really begin to live her life: A new Janie emerges after Jody is laid to rest. Spiritually, she returns to her old adolescent self again, loving her freedom and desiring to undergo the springtime existence of life she observed as a girl under a blossoming pear tree. Removal of the headrag which Jody had forced her to wear to cover her beautiful hair symbolically represents her passage away from life as Mrs. Jody Starks to a new experience as a free woman (Peters 143).Shortly after the discovery of this freedom, Janie meets Tea Cake, the ultimate savior of her free spirit. With Tea Cake, Janie experiences a life that she never knew with her grandmother, Killicks, her first husband, or with Jody. For once in her life, Janie receives Villareal 7encouragement to express herself as a person and has a reason to live. Janie goes from a life of wealth and prosperity in Eatonville to working on her hands and knees in the muck of the Everglades, the significant difference being of course that now, she exudes happiness and purpose. Janie is free spirited and unconcerned about what others think of her. When she returns to Eatonville after Tea Cakes death, she shows no shame for what she has done or where she has been because she is finally able to live the life she always wanted to lead. Hurstons own struggles in life for individuality and an outlet for her suppressed spirit clearly contribute to the development of Janies character. Just as Hurston struggled for recognition, equality, and purpose in the literary ...
