Janice Areno Character Analysis in Strangers in Their Own Land

Harold and Annette Areno’s niece, an accountant who Hochschild profiles in Chapter 10. Janice is so loyal to the Republican Party that she collects elephant statues—she exemplifies the Team Loyalist subtype of the endurance self. She is deeply religious, will sacrifice anything for her family, and even “dresses Pentecostal” without makeup or jewelry. Hard work is her cardinal virtue, and she is proud of her ability to endure difficult conditions without needing government assistance. In fact, she has little sympathy for people who refuse to work and thinks the government should “let them starve.” She sees government spending as wasteful and “personal morality” as increasingly eroding in the liberal parts of America. She spent years building her dream retirement home by hand and comes to resolutely support Donald Trump.

Janice Areno Quotes in Strangers in Their Own Land

The Strangers in Their Own Land quotes below are all either spoken by Janice Areno or refer to Janice Areno. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Trust, Empathy, and Political Progress Theme Icon

“I don't mind somebody being gay if they want to be gay. Just be a regular person, go to work, mow the lawn, fish. You don't have to be shouting it from the mountaintops. Don't make me change and don't call me a bigot if I don't.”

Related Characters: Janice Areno (speaker), Arlie Russell Hochschild

Page Number and Citation: 162

Explanation and Analysis:

Janice Areno explains her feeling that the line cutters are not merely finding a place in American society but rather actively forcing hardworking conservatives to change their own values in order to accommodate diversity and lashing out at them if they refuse to change. However, Janice’s concept of a “regular person”—as one who works, takes care of their property, and perhaps goes fishing for fun—also reflects her specific Southern conservative concept of honor. Whereas LGBT Americans like Chaz Bono (to whom Janice is specifically referring here) probably see themselves as asking for acceptance, Janice sees them as “shouting it from Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam

Sometimes Team Players had to suck it up and just cope.

Related Characters: Arlie Russell Hochschild (speaker), Janice Areno

Page Number and Citation: 163

Explanation and Analysis:

Here, Hochschild explains that Janice Areno feels a deep loyalty to the oil industry, even though she knows that it dumps chemicals in her community. Hochschild offers this pithy statement to explain how and why “Team Players” like Janice value endurance. The Team Player exemplifies the endurance self because they are willing to accommodate problems like pollution for the sake of a higher loyalty to their team. Team Players “just cope” with the emotions that such problems bring by managing their anxiety and constantly reminding themselves of their loyalty to their team. Just as Janice feels proud to take on Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum volup

Janice Areno Character Timeline in Strangers in Their Own Land

The timeline below shows where the character Janice Areno appears in Strangers in Their Own Land. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Personal Identity and Emotional Self-Interest Theme Icon

Hochschild visits Janice Areno, who is clearly a Republican, as her office is filled with elephant statues of... (full context)

Janice drives Hochschild from her office to her old school in Sulphur, Louisiana. She talks about... (full context)

...Republican Party; a Worshipper “sacrifices a strong wish”; and a Cowboy “affirms a fearless self.” Janice exemplifies the Team Loyalist. (full context)

Capitalism, Media, and Class Conflict Theme Icon

Janice and Hochschild go to Janice’s church, where they drop off plates and cups for a... (full context)

Next, they go to Janice’s childhood church, and she explains that this is where she learned about the “honor of... (full context)

Government Regulation and Individual Freedom Theme Icon

Janice thinks that people should take risky work in stride and she complains that her brothers’... (full context)

Janice sees even hard but meaningless work as honorable because it disciplines people—if there are no... (full context)

...“driving up in Lexus cars” to bring their kids to a government-funded Head Start program. Janice acknowledges that “some people think I’m too hard-nosed,” but she declares that, “if people refuse... (full context)

Hochschild asks whether she thinks there should be welfare for children in poverty, but Janice proposes that it’s the children’s responsibility to get themselves educated, “churched,” and out of poverty.... (full context)

Janice feels that the government also “does too much and owns too much.” She thinks it... (full context)

Janice also thinks there are too many federal workers—many of the people Hochschild interviewed estimated that... (full context)

Janice is concerned not only about “the moral laxity of the Democrats,” but more crucially about... (full context)

The Environment and the Economy Theme Icon

Hochschild asks about industrial pollution; Janice mentions the devastated Bayou d’Inde and how it saddens her. But she thinks the petrochemical... (full context)

...who came face-to-face with pollution, and Hochschild insists on meeting him. When they meet at Janice’s aunt’s house, Dicky tells Hochschild about one day he was riding his horse, Ted, in... (full context)

Janice drives Hochschild to her “barn,” the dream retirement home she has been building from scratch. ... (full context)

Hochschild notices “how the deep story makes sense” for Janice, as someone who has “made it out of the structural squeeze” and reached economic security... (full context)

After a couple of years, Janice’s sister—who started suffering “a debilitating autoimmune disease” as the result of toxic exposure at the... (full context)

Jackie told Hochschild about her love for nature—unlike Janice, who “quickly moved on” when Hochschild mentioned environmental pollution, Jackie brings it up herself: she... (full context)

...“developed a worshipful attitude and a capacity for meaningful renunciation.” Just as “Team Loyalists like Janice Areno,” Jackie is able to “do without what [she] wanted” by accommodating pollution for the... (full context)

...an hour—in reverse.” Donny has worked a series of dangerous jobs and “hates environmentalists.” If Janice is a Team Loyalist and Jackie is a Worshipper, Hochschild explains, then Donny is a... (full context)

On her last visit, about half of Hochschild’s friends in Louisiana backed Trump. Janice Areno and Donny McCorquodale were ardent supporters; Mike Schaff preferred Ted Cruz. Jackie Tabor, Harold... (full context)

...walks around Berkeley, wondering what her Louisiana friends would think of her liberal enclave. Would Janice Areno see a vegan restaurant with a monthly pay-what-you-want day as “hippy-dippy or as a... (full context)

...to Israel and opened a stationary bicycle gym in Lake Charles. On Hochschild’s last visit, Janice Areno joked that she was “a green person” when her air conditioner clicked off. The... (full context)

Janice Areno wears a jersey reading “ADORABLE DEPLORABLES” to a dinner Hochschild hosts in Lake Charles... (full context)

...with Hochschild that a statue of Frederick Douglass should be erected alongside it, and others—like Janice Areno—worry that taking down one statue would cause a slippery slope whereby liberals can “go... (full context)

Janice Areno Character Analysis

Janice Areno Quotes in Strangers in Their Own Land

Chapter 10 Quotes

Janice Areno Character Timeline in Strangers in Their Own Land