incorporate Eatonville as the first all-black town in America. Joe symbolizes to Janie a broader horizon and expanded dreams. She cannot wait to start a life with him and escape the confines of Logan's farm.

Once in Eatonville, however, Joe begins to control Janie and isolate her from her friends. And although Joe promised Janie an easier working life, she works tirelessly for the general store that Joe built in Eatonville. Their marriage wears away in misery for almost twenty years. The horizon that Joe represented was not as expansive and far-reaching as Janie originally thought.

The reasons for Janie’s separation from her first husband Logan and running with Joe Stark would help in the description of the symbolism portrayed by Joe.

Janie left Logan because of the passive lifestyle and although Logan was successful he was portrayed as a highly disciplined person whose life was a routine. Joe however was the opposite of Logan (at least when he is introduced to the reader) and he represented romance and thrill according to Janie. As the relationship between Janie and Joe progressed, Janie got to see the other side of Joe who was focused on living like the whites. His aspirations were predominantly superficial and materialistic, he was also selfish as portrayed through his relationship with Janie. He derived his happiness from showing off to the community and dominating his peers including his own wife.

Joe is the symbol of materialism and superficiality.

In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Jody (Joe) Starks is Janie's second husband.  When Janie meets Joe, she is still married to Logan Killicks, the man whom Janie's grandmother chose for her to marry.  Janie feels stifled in her marriage to Logan, so when Joe comes along, Janie sees him as a symbol for freedom and carefree living.  She runs off with Joe in hopes of finding a better life, one in which she would be able to explore her individuality.  However, once Janie and Joe set up their home and open the store, Joe becomes incredibly controlling and expects Janie to behave in particular ways.  He does not want her to be the object of desire for other men, so he has her hide her hair while in public.  Janie falls into depression under the rule of Joe, and her hopes and dreams of freedom are dashed away.  At this point in the story, Joe is no longer a symbol of freedom, but one of the dangerous pitfalls of hasty, impulsive action.  In the broader context of the novel, Joe may also be a symbol for male oppression of women.

In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Joe Starks—or Jody, as he’s commonly called—dies while continuing to harangue Janie for her supposed faults.

Jody and Janie do not have a healthy marriage. Their problems seem to stem from Jody’s sexism and jealousy, and Jody tends to treat Janie like an object or a servant. He doesn’t let her speak at his store opening because he doesn’t want men gazing at her. There’s also a scene in which he hits her for not making a meal to his liking.

The acrimony between the two continues as Jody is clearly about to die. Janie tells Jody, “Ah meant tuh be awful nice.” However, Jody continues to lambast her for her supposed lack of feeling and sympathy.

As the two go back and forth, Jody keeps trying to get Janie to leave him alone. Of course, Janie stays. After Jody dies, she studies his dead face and restates her sympathy for him. “Life had mishandled him too,” she acknowledges.

Jody appears to have hastened his own death by refusing to seek professional treatment. As the doctor tells Janie, “He needed medical attention two years ago. Too late now.”

To be specific, Jody died of kidney failure: his kidneys stopped working. More precisely, Jody died because his old age caused his kidneys to stop functioning like they’re supposed to.

Joe is from Georgia, and he is a man with high ambitions.  He heads out to Eatonville, Florida, because he has heard that the city will be run by Blacks, and he intends to become a big influence there.  Janie meets Joe as he passes through her town on the road to Eatonville.  A stylish man, Joe charms Janie, and the two strike up a relationship, even though Janie is married to Logan.  After only a week, Joe proposes to Janie and offers to take her to Eatonville with him.

In Janie's life, Joe is representative of "change and chance".  The life he offers her is appealing because it appears to have so many more possiblities than the drab life she lives.  Also, to Janey, the option of going with Joe is tantilizing because if she chooses him, she will be doing so out of her own free will.  Janey longs for romance in her life, but is stuck in her small town with Logan, whom she does not love and was forced to marry against her will.

Although life with Joe appears to be alluring, once Janie is married to him she discovers that her situation might be even worse than it was before.  Joe is controlling, and completely stifles Janie's development.  As he rises in the world, he begins to measure his own worth by his possessions, the most valuable of which is his wife.