IB English Journal entry 2

There are many ways as to how the setting in Their Eyes Were Watching God affects different literary elements. It affects the atmosphere of the story in a couple of ways. The telling of the pear tree blossoming gives the reader a bit of happy and giddy atmosphere to the story, almost a little bit of a child's fantasy. Once Janie had to return to Nanny's home though, she was thrown back into reality, and the atmosphere became serious and solemn. The setting of the story also gives contrast between a couple of charecters. For Logan, he was represented in his home as a hard-working man with ties to ethics. As Janie tried to interact with Logan, he always tried to get her out and work on his property, rather than just letting her relax on the porch of the home and loving her for the sake of loving her. This causes Janie to further repel Logan, for she keeps the vision of the blossoming pear tree in her heart, . In other words, she wants someone to love her as the bee loves the pear blossom. Once Joe was introduced, Janie realized that life with Logan would not work, that she would not be able to handle an every-day routine with a man that no longer cared for her. So, she went with the man that sweet-talked her and sounded like he truly loved her. The setting in the story also affected the charecters motivation. Once more going to the pear tree, as Janie stared at the relationship between the bee and the pear tree blossoms, her motivation changed. From that point, she wanted to be truly loved, and didn't want to marry someone just for protection or because she would have a great life with someone whom she didn't love. No matter how bad it got, Janie became motivated to find the one person that she could love, the "bee" to her flower".