To everything there is a season; Turn Turn Turn

As cliche as a seasonal reading of the plot and character developments may be, it seems relevant enough to mention briefly. There is almost a 1:1 relationship between the nature imagery used to illustrate Janie's romantic/sexual development and her current relationship status. Mapped to the seasons, one finds several complete revolutions, happily ending where it began.

The first instance of this thread of metaphors comes as Janie sits under her favorite pear tree, ruminating on the bees and open flowers; an obvious metaphor for her budding teenage sexuality. Almost immediately Johnny Taylor walks by the fence and is met at the gate by a kiss which sets the involuntary betrothal to Logan Killicks into motion. The tree behind her as she kisses Johnny is sexual as well is being shod in virginal white flowers, accurately mirroring Janie's sexual status. After this transgression, Granny forces her to take Logan Killicks as her husband, and any subsequent mention of nature is either longingly in the past, or subterranean.

Logan Killicks is a farmer, and the only crop mentioned in any detail is his potato harvest. Potatoes, while not an autumn crop, are grown underground, with little overtly sexualized imagery associated with their sprouting. This could be construed as a move from open sexuality and romance to something which is to be hidden and possibly (literally) dirty. Sex is present in their marriage, but is always tainted by Janie's description of his stench, or his disgusting feet.

When Joe Starks walks into her life and takes her away from Logan, Janie's sexuality seemingly enters a second spring. She mentions his physical prowess and sexual relations are insinuated. The honeymoon, however, is quite short, as the further she is objectified and controlled, she makes comments about their bed not being a field of flowers in which they play, but a place to sleep. This is when the longest sexual winter of her narrative occurs. Over the duration of their marriage, sex and self expression become more and more marginalized to the point of dormancy.

That is, of course, until Tea Cake arrives in her life. He is someone with which Janie has more in common, and he is obviously physically attractive to her. This represents a spring and long summer of her sexual development. The image of summer is omnipresent in this phase, especially in the frame tale. It is also very important as she is reaching the summer of her life as well, in her fourties, she isn't getting any younger.

It is no coincidence that Hurston paired a very explicit natural image with each relationship which drives the plot forward. These images correspond with the seasonal cycle and allow the reader a much richer interpretation of the protagonist's motives and what exactly is at stake to her.