Journal #9

An important theme supported by the last two chapters of the book is always running away from bad things in life ultimately leads a person right back to what they were trying to escape.

One passage in which this theme is highlighted is found in chapter 19, back in the 'Glades. Tea Cake finds Ole Motor after the storm, alive and well, when Janie had figured that the hurricane must have drowned him in the house he was hiding in. " 'Heah we nelly kill our fool selves runnin' way from danger and him lay up dere and sleep and float on off!' " (Hurston 173). While Janie and Tea Cake could have stayed in the same house as Ole Motor and been just fine, they thought it necessary to run from the hurricane. In running from the hurricane, the two did not end up escaping it at all, but rather being more trapped in it than they were before.

A second part of chapter 19 that demonstrates this theme is Janie and Tea Cake's decision to move from Palm Beach back to the 'Glades. Mainly, they leave Palm Beach to escape the destruction and dead bodies all around them (that Tea Cake has been forced to help bury). " 'Janie, us got tuh git outa dis house and outa dis man's town. Ah don't mean tuh work lak dat no mo' " (Hurston 171). In trying to escape the death around them, the two are led to the 'Glades where there are still many dead bodies around. Furthermore, although they think they are leaving death behind them in Palm Beach, Tea Cake and Janie have more death and tragedy awaiting them when Tea Cake gets very sick, very fast. This event, like the previous example and many other circumstances in Janie's life, suggests that running from bad or dangerous things does not end up helping a person escape at all.

Plot Diagram:
Ava is a single woman living in a small town where everyone knows everyone. She has done some things in her past that now cause the people of the community to look down on her. Since nobody will associate with her, Ava has become very lonely and introverted. In hopes of leaving her loneliness behind, Ava moves to a new city for a fresh start, where nobody knows about her or her past. Ideally, this new location will help her make friends or even find love. However, since Ava has become so introverted, she has difficulty socializing and does not make any friends in this new town. Soon she is hiding out in her own little house feeling the same way she did before she moved. By running away from the loneliness in her old town, Ava has been led once again to the very thing tried so hard to escape.