Theme sharing Essay

As far as the actual narratives of Janie and Williams’s journeys, each of the stages of their stories

have parallel elements. Starting from the very beginning, each establish a sacred space that they

are cautious about letting anyone into. Janie’s is the pear tree, which she physically stays under

but mentally it also “follow[s] her through all her waking moments and…connect[s] itself with

other vaguely felt matters that had struck her outside observation” (Hurston 43). Williams’s

sacred space, as she sings on the third track “Cinnamon,” is her home: “Home is where I’m

feminine/Smells like citrus and cinnamon” (“Cinnamon” 1:18) In this song, the scent of

cinnamon represents the same carefree femininity that the pear tree does to Janie, and like Janie’s

mental standards of “desecrating” the pear tree, Williams expresses that anyone she decides to

trust intimately will have to take the space as it is without changing. The fifth track of the album,

“Sudden Desire” in which she realizes she is falling for someone but might not be ready to admit

it, also parallels Janie’s end of her marriage with Logan Killicks. Janie begins to have sudden

and uneasy feelings for Joe Starks, and eventually leaves and runs away with him. Both these

events close the first “acts” of their stories.

In the second “act” of Janie’s story, she stays married to Joe for years before he turns

emotionally abusive and begins to stifle her by forcing her to cover her hair and attempting to

humiliate her in public, among other things. When he dies, Janie feels little sadness; in fact “she

like[s] being lonesome for a change” (Hurston 110). Williams expresses similar feelings in

“Dead Horse,” a track aimed directly at her ex husband and how toxic and stifling their

relationship was: “Every morning I wake up from a dream of you holding me underwater/Was

that a dream or a memory?” (“Dead Horse” 0:40) The energy of freedom continues into another

appearance of the flower motif in “Roses/Lotus/Violet/Iris,” a song about rising from the ashes
of generational and personal abuse, “about being a woman and relating to other women” (Pelly).

These themes resonate deeply with Janie’s arc and her healing from the abuses of Logan and Joe,

after which she finds Tea Cake and gets her feminine charm and love of life back.

The results of Janie’s growth culminate in her third “act” in which she falls in love with

Tea Cake and finally gets to experience a healthy relationship. While things are not always

perfect between them, Tea Cake is reassuring and both parties are committed to making their

relationship work. On the eleventh track of Petals, “Pure Love,” Williams outlines the things she

needs to work on to thrive, acknowledging that she is still easing into new love and embracing

her imperfections. She praises gentleness and communication as her top priorities: “If I want

pure love/Must stop acting so tough/If I want your love/Got to open up” (“Pure Love” 0:40). As

the album closes out, she also reaches the final major appearance of the flower motif in “Watch

Me While I Bloom” with the most explicit mentions of growth on the album: “If you feel like

you're never gonna reach the sky/Til you pull up your roots, leave your dirt behind/You’ve got a

lot to learn” (“Watch” 1:28) She realizes she no longer has to compromise herself for those she

loves, as does Janie, and both have bloomed into fuller versions of themselves as a result. Both

have found their purest form of love as they imagined in their minds. The pear tree has finally

blossomed, and Williams’ flowering body has bloomed.