Another element to consider...

When reading "Janus" the reader should consider the theme of lies. Beattie displays Andrea's character as one who lies throughout the entire story and in fact makes her profession one of lies versus being something innocent or caring like a nurse or school teacher. Andrea is deceptive when it comes to her relationship to her husband because of the affair and the fact that she feels like she cannot talk to him about it. She also uses techniques and tricks to fool her clients. A specific example is when Andrea lies to the woman when she forgot the bowl at her house. She could have just told the lady it was her bowl and that she had used it in the home to help decorate it. Instead, Andrea's obsession comes across through her lies and she tells the woman that she was a potential buyer herself and was also looking at the home. She could not risk losing the bowl. Andrea's identity is a complete lie in who she is and how she portrays herself to others. She even pretends in the beginning of the story that she does not know where the bowl came from and that it is not hers when people from the show home call her and ask about it and at that point in the story, she does not seem as attached to it as she does in the end of the story when Beattie has already revealed some background information on where the bowl really came from. Lies, deciet, trickery, pretend, things not seeming as they are, are all evident in Beattie's, "Janus" and it leads to the overall theme of the story that there is something wrong with Andrea.

Discussion and Questions

1) Why do you think Ann Beattie chose a bowl as the object that Andrea was obsessed with?


2) Do you think the story would be different if Andrea chose to stay with her lover or would he be just like her husband?


3) Do you think the meaning of the story would change if the events were told from Andrea's point of view?


4) Do you think Andrea's husband knew who her lover was because they met in "half secret"?


5) Would the story change if the readers had more information on Andrea's history, maybe her family life?

Works Cited

Websites:


1) Info on Janus:


http://www.novareinna.com/festive/janus.html
Janus: Roman God of Beginnings
Site Meter 2009


2) Info on Jonquils:


http://www.todayshomeowner.com/whats-the-difference-between-daffodils-jonquils-and-buttercups/
What's the Difference Between Daffodils, Jonquils, and Buttercups?
Danny Lipford Media 2014


Textbook:


3) Beaty, Jerome. The Norton Introduction to Fiction. Sixth Ed. New York, London: W.W. Norton
           & Company, 1996.

Essay: Symbolism in "Janus"

The important theme of loneliness and wanting change in Ann Beattie’s, “Janus” is evident from the beginning of the short story. Beattie introduces the bowl as perfect, which is a direct hint that something else in the story must be the opposite of perfect – Andrea’s life. The bowl acts as a symbol of freedom and excitement that she is trying to hold onto and in fact does not want her husband to interfere with. The loneliness theme throughout the story is present in her own home and the fact that she tries to fake a home-like feel in many of her show homes. The fact that Andrea feels empty and alone in her home reflects the conflict in her life and that she is unhappy. Andrea is struggling in her life and becomes obsessed with a bowl that is a material object. Another way that Beattie portrays the theme of Andrea’s lonely life is by the way she describes Andrea’s public life versus her private life and always contemplating the past over the present. Therefore, Ann Beattie portrays the theme of loneliness in Andrea’s life, showing that she needs change in her life but that she is unwilling to accept any change and is left loving a material object like she has in her two relationships.

                The fact that the bowl is introduced first in Beattie’s story shows the significance of order. The bowl is perfect, Andrea is not. The bowl is mentioned first, Andrea is not. The bowl is more important than Andrea and it is a symbol of worship for Andrea. The reason that Beattie’s first sentence is “The bowl was perfect” shows the exact importance of it. It was perfect and Andrea is far from perfect as the readers find out later in the story, (Beattie 206). Andrea’s lonely life is first described in the second paragraph when she is described as a real estate agent. Anybody who has ever looked at a home knows that real estate agents, similar to car salesmen and other people who try to sell things based off of commission are pushy and almost always insincere. They are fake people who will say anything just to make a sale and Andrea is no exception to this stereotype. Beattie uses this stereotype in the beginning of her story so that the readers can understand what kind of person she is because she is a real estate agent. Within a few sentences her character is shown by the fact that she has no shame in using her dog to try and make a sale. Her public life is based on lies and tricks and she is not a genuine person.

                Andrea’s character has a difficult time separating her fake public life from her private life. She is obsessed with material objects and that is all her marriage is about. Her husband is in fact no different and he is described in comparison to Andrea, showing his importance in the story. The dog, Mondo is mentioned before him in the story and he also is not given a name, showing even less importance, “They were a lot alike, really – they had agreed on that. They were both quiet people – reflective, slow to make value judgements, but almost intractable once they had come to a conclusion. They both liked details,” and are both obsessed with material objects, (Beattie 208). Their relationship is described as very dull and boring, nothing interesting is going on in their lives, and the readers are more interested in the bowl than their bland marriage. The fact that she does not want her husband to put his keys in the bowl is also significant and that she cannot tell him about the bowl while she’s lying in bed shows that Andrea likes to keep that information private from her husband, or that she feels she cannot talk to him about it. Either way, she lacks emotion and trust for her husband and values the bowl more and what it represents to her.

                Andrea’s home is not described in much detail in the story, resembling that she is not grounded and does not fit in anywhere. She spends most of her life in show homes living in a fantasy land with her bowl, which represents her freedom that she will never achieve. The show homes that she spends a lot of time in are decorated by her, but not by many personal items. She uses strategic items such as famous paintings, flowers, and vases to try and sell the home, but eventually gets rid of all of them as the bowl is progressively taking over her lonely dull life. Andrea is looking for excitement in her life and that is exactly what the bowl offers her. She is able to carry it around, making her affair a physical object that she can keep with her and still be with her husband. She likes to flash it around and is “sure that the bowl [brings] her luck,” (Beattie 207). The reason that Andrea’s home is not described as much as the show homes is because Andrea does not spend much time there. She is constantly working and sitting in staged homes and when she does get to go home, she is either in her bedroom lying in bed contemplating about the bowl, or sitting in her living room looking at the bowl on the coffee table. Her house has no significance to her as long as the bowl is there. Beattie even mentions fairy tales when Andrea is described thinking about the bowl having good fortune. She is constantly looking for a perfect fairy tale life just as perfect as the bowl is.  

                Another important aspect that Beattie uses in, “Janus” is to portray Andrea’s loneliness from switching between the past and the present. Time and setting is not very clear in the story and it does not need to be specific. The importance of time in the story is that Andrea is obsessed with the past. The bowl represents the past for her and the guilt from her affair that she carries around. She chooses not to be with her lover but wishes that she was in the past, reliving that moment. She starts having anxiety about the bowl being broken and gets worried about what her life would be like without her guilt or the symbol of her lover. Andrea had always liked material objects, maybe even more than real people and that is why she cannot make a real connection with any real person, and so she is forced to be with the bowl, having feelings for it and wishing she could talk to it as if it were a living thing. In the end of the story, she is left alone with the bowl in her living room at night. The significance of night is relevant because she often thinks of the bowl at night and this is when she realizes her life is lonely and that her life is “shattered,” (Beattie 210). Because Andrea turned away from her lover she had to face the fact that she couldn’t have both her husband and her lover and she did not like how he was making her choose. Her “decision [was] meant to break her will, to shatter her intransigent ideas about honoring previous commitments,” (Beattie 210). She could not handle the affair anymore and could not keep up her fake appearances, playing both men. Her decision shattered her world and she could no longer function anymore, becoming even more obsessed with the bowl. Beattie uses descriptive words like alone, empty, and vanishing to portray the state of mind that Andrea is left in.

                Ultimately, Ann Beattie’s character, Andrea in the short story, “Janus” is left to wallow in her lonely life. The idea of the bowl, the past and the present , the symbols of her past and present life all show that she is doomed to be alone and cannot embrace change. She could not commit to her lover and she will continue to be obsessed with the bowl and not completely devoted to her husband. Andrea will always love the bowl more because it represents the freedom that she could not physically handle. She likes the idea of it more, rather than actually following through and being happy with her lover.

 

Point of View

The point of view in Ann Beattie's, "Janus" is an objective narrator who reports the actions of Andrea's life and obsession with the bowl. The narrator works well in this story because it does not intrude or intervene giving any opinions or telling the reader what to think about a character. The narrator leaves the audience with enough information about Andrea's relationship with the bowl and her husband so that they can come to the conclusion that Andrea is not happy with her life without literally writing it.

Plot Curve

The exposition begins with the bowl. Beattie catches her readers attention from this mysterious bowl and why it is so important because most people are not obsessed with bowls like Andrea is. There are subtle hints to trickery, lying, and deceiving from the detail of the "tricks used to convince a buyer that the house is quite special," Beaty 206.


The rising action occurs when the husband is introduced. The readers receive more information on Andrea's life and wonder how he fits in the picture. The part when Beattie describes the relationship of Andrea and her husband could also be considered part of the rising action just by the way it is described. It is very dull and gives the reader a sense that there is a division between Andrea and her husband and foreshadows that something is wrong with their relationship. When Beattie writes, "Could it be that she had some deeper connection with the bowl - a relationship of some kind" it shows that Andrea is confused about her relationship with the bowl (an inanimate object) and her husband. Beaty 208.


The climax is evidently when the lover is introduced and the readers learn about Andrea's affair and
when Andrea first saw the bowl. The audience understands more background information about the bowl and why it might be so important to her, which is what they are looking for since the beginning of the story.


The falling action occurs when Beattie leaves her readers wondering why Andrea chose
her husband over the lover, who is portrayed as a similar man to her husband because he buys her material objects as well, "[Andrea] would not choose in his favor, would not change her life and come to him," Beaty 209.


The denouement is the final paragraph in Beattie's story when Andrea is left alone in her living room most nights, looking at the bowl.

Interesting Facts

Jonquils are a specific kind of daffodil called, Narcissus jonquilla. They are yellow in colour and very similar to daffodils. They have dark green tube-shaped leaves compared to other daffodils, which have flatter leaves. Jonquils usually have clusters of flowers instead of just one big flower and they have a strong scent, which is probably why Beattie described Andrea brining them into a show home. Most real estate agents burn candles, bake cookies, or  bring in strong-smelling flowers to make a home smell fresh or home-y.

The title, Janus refers to the Roman God of beginnings. He is an old Italian God who is often depicted with two faces and associated with new beginnings. There have also been some tales of Janus using his eyes to catch a nymph named Carna who liked to tease her suitors with sexual advances before suddenly leaving. He is also considered the guardian of Exits and Entrances and the belief was based off of that one must go through a door or gate to enter into a new place. The fact that it is two faced also means that it could see forward and back. All of this information directly relates to Beattie's character, Andrea because there are several times in the story where Beattie jumps from the past to the present and then the future, she also has the lover call Andrea two-faced and mentions lies, trickery, and deceit several times in the story. It's noticeable that Andrea needs to enter a new doorway in her life to become happy and have a new beginning. She sells new beginnings to new homebuyers and her lover offered her a new beginning, which she ultimately passed up.

Setting

The setting is difficult to determine because the story is more of a recollection and not set in one time or place. However, Beattie makes reference to time in ways like, "in recent years" and "she had a very profitable year selling real estate," Beaty, 207-208. Beattie switches back and forth from talking in recent times that Andrea and her husband are in, and also in the past when Andrea had an affair and previous homes she had taken the bowl to. The vague time and place in Beattie's story is efficient and works well because the main focus is on the bowl and what it symbolizes for Andrea, her relationship, and how she views her life. Beattie does provide details of homes that she has been in, but mostly based off of the area that Andrea places the bowl, "jonquils in a pitcher," "from coffee table to mahogany corner table," "chest," etc. Also, at the end of the story, the readers are aware that some "time [has] passed," showing that Andrea is ultimately left feeling alone with her bowl in the living room.

Characters

Andrea:
She is the main character, she is a real estate agent who has been married to her husband for several years: "In recent years, both of them had acquired many things to make up for all the lean years when they were graduate students, but now that they had been comfortable for quite a while, the pleasure of new possessions dwindled," Beaty, 207

Andrea's husband:
He is similar to Andrea, bored with his life, also likes possessions, also obsessed with a particular object: his camera. He is a stockbroker and "sometimes told people he was fortunate to be married to a woman who had such a fine esthetic sense and yet could also function in the real world," Beaty 208.


Mondo:
Andrea's dog who she sometimes brings to show homes if she thinks the buyers are dog lovers. He is also subtly compared to Andrea in the beginning of the story when he is happy and obsessed with his toy, similar to the excitement and happiness the bowl brings Andrea.


Lover:
He bought her material objects just as Andrea's husband did, except these things are listed as dainty objects, " the child's ebony-and-turquoise ring that fitted her little finger; the wooden box, long and thin, beautifully dovetailed, that she used to hold paperclips; the soft gray sweater with a pouch pocket..." Beaty, 209. He bought Andrea the bowl, and had asked her why she lived a "two-faced" life. Andrea chose not to be with him even though he made the first move toward her.

Plot Summary

Ann Beattie's short story, "Janus" begins by describing a bowl that the main character, Andrea uses when she sells homes. She is a real estate agent who is clearly obsessed with this bowl and she brings it to every show home and she thinks it's the main reason why she sells so many homes. As the story progresses, she becomes more obsessed with the bowl, and the readers find out that there are some clear issues between her and her husband. Their marriage seems long and dull and Andrea is obviously bored with their relationship. Beattie describes Andrea's anxiety about the bowl and explains a story about her forgetting it at one show home, and then reveals the information that Andrea had an affair with a "half-secret lover." The lover bought her the bowl and several other material objects, similar to her husband, but she ultimately chose her husband and the lover stopped talking to her. The story ends with time passing and Andrea spending nights alone in the living room staring at the bowl.