Their Eyes are Watching God Chapters 1-2

When Janie returns home from her mysterious journey, she was greeted with gossip and side comments. The people who see her returning ask each other rhetorical questions about where she was, and why she came back. Was it because her younger boyfriend dumped her? Did he take all of her money? The townspeople make up their own stories for where Janie had been and why she went there, and no-one, except for Phoeby, went to talk to her to set all of the rumors that were being started straight.  In both Janie's returning from her journey and the story about her childhood, gossiping appears. The townspeople have nothing better to do but make up Janie's past inorder to either make them feel better about themselves, or to just pass the time. The children from Janie's childhood gossiped about her also. They would rub the fact that Janie's father was chased away by dogs to make her feel bad and they would make fun of the fact that she was staying in someone's backyard. Jealousy fueled all of these outbreaks of gossip and teasing. The school children were jealous that Janie was able to come in day after day in nice clothing and with ribbons in her hair, and they teased and made fun of her to make them feel better about their rags they were wearing. The townspeople could have been jealous about where Janie was or the fact that she had a younger boyfriend. Janie's reaction to the teasing and gossiping about her was different in both situations. In her childhood, she got really upset about the teasing and how the children made her father and her living conditions seem, even though they did not know the truth behind it. When she returned from her journey, and was greeted by rumors, she just walked right by and did not pay attention to it one bit.