I see Eben as a lost soul in the world; he doesn’t really seem to belong. He paints landscapes that no one wants and tries to get by on nothing. Eben seemed very close to giving up on life, but suddenly he met Jennie. Soon after their first meeting Eben sketches a picture of Jennie, and that is the piece of art Mr. Mathews loves and buys. He goes on to tell him that this is the art that he should be making.
Jennie did inspire Eben to sketch/paint her, but more even than that she gave him a reason to live. He had someone or something to belong to, which is Jennie. She gave him a cause and reason to stay alive. Jennie kept telling Eben to wait, and that is exactly what he did. Eben worked on pieces of art that people would actually buy (flower pieces and more works with Jennie in them). And he survived in the world because of what Jennie made him feel and simply because she came into Eben’s life.
If you look at the novel and movie in this way, the reason Jennie is literally ripped away at the end, even though she had made it to the desired age to be with Eben, is because he had figured out how to survive in the world. Think back to Errol Morris with the way he made his films and received hardly any recognition. We said in class that if he would just “play the game,” then he might have been more widely appreciated. I must be honest though, I don’t really know what Errol Morris would have had to do to “play the game;” he’s sort of a special case. But now read the book and film in this way. If Eben would only “play the game” then he would be able to sell more art. People don’t want landscapes of things that will always be around or that anyone can find anywhere. They want art that presents life right now, portraits of people; especially women in the case of Mr. Mathews and the restaurant owner. Because of Jennie, Eben began to create pieces of art that people wanted; he also held to his own landscape preferences as well. Jennie allows Eben to realize what he must do in life, and her time and purpose in the world is up at that point.