Janie Speaks Her Ideas in Their Eyes Were Watching God
In life to discover our self-identity a person must show others
what one thinks or feels and speak his or her mind. Sometimes their
opinions may be silenced or even ignored. In the novel Their Eyes Were
Watching God, the main character Janie would sometimes speak her ideas and
they would often make a difference. The author, Zora Neale Hurston, gives
Janie many chances to speak and she shows the reader outcomes. When
dealing with all of the different people Jaine faced, she would find a way
to speak her ideas, receive a response, and through this exchange she
developed her sense of self-worth.
When Janie found a way to speak her ideas, they would have an impact
on everyone. Though, Janie did not always speak her ideas. She would
often do something that made an impression on someone. The first real
action Janie took was to leave her husband, Logan Killicks. By doing this,
she has shown the community that a person can not always be happy with
material things when she or he is not in love. Janie says, "Ah want
things sweet wid mah marriage lak when you sit under a pear tree and
think." She shows her grandma that she is not happy with her
Janie's next husband, Joe Starks was very nice to her and gave her
everything she wanted. When it came to Janie wanting to talk or speak her
mind, he would not let her, and that made her feel like she was less of a
person than he. Until one day, towards the end of their long marriage,
when Jody made a very mean comment about Janie's body. She came back with,
"When you pull down yo' britches, you look lak de change uh life." After
these words came out, Jody hit her. These harsh words could never be
forgiven. At the end of their marriage, before Jody died she finally told
him her feelings. "....And now you got tuh die tuh find out dat you got
tuh pacify somebody besides yo'self if you wants any love and any sympathy
in dis world. You ain't tired to pacify nobody but yo'self. Too busy
listening tuh yo'own big voice," said Janie.
Her final and most loved husband was Vergible "Tea Cake" Woods. She
could talk most openly with him. Once, she accused Tea Cake of having a
liking for Nukie. He quickly reassured her that he didn't, and there was
nothing to be worried about. After Tea Cake's death, Janie was too upset
In Their Eyes Were Watching God Janie goes through several marriages in her journey to seek love. As Janie's husbands change so does her wardrobe. Janie's different marriages are symbolized by her very different wardrobes.
Woods Tea Cake comes to rescue Janie from her misery after the death.
understand what was going on. Janie did not feel love for this man or any man
By the end of the story, Janie has accomplished finding and conquering self-actualization, she has reached her enlightenment through the her marriages to Logan, Jody, and Tea Cake. It is apparant when she tells Pheoby, “You got tuh go there tuh know there.. Two things everybody's got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin' fuh theyselves" (Hurtson 183).
After Janie and Tea Cake first meet, he offers to walk her home saying, "Jes lak uh lil girl wid her Easter dress on. Even nice!" He locked the door and shook it to be sure and handed her the key. "Come on now, Ah’ll see yuh inside yo’ door and git on down de Dixie" (98). TeaCake is a true gentleman and wants Janie to be protected the best way he knows how. NEED
Janie were pretty well off and had the privilege to live in the yard of white
I believe Janie depended on her past husbands for financial security, and protection from the outside world that she could not make a mends with. Janie's dependence on Tea Cake was a dependence on love, Tea Cake treats her the way she has always wanted to be treated, like the blossom to the bee. When Joe died, he left Janie with money and the store, but she had no one to love nor anyone to keep her company. She needed Tea Cake to fill this void in her life, I believe Janie realizes this when she says, "Tea Cake ain't no Jody Starks...but de minute Ah marries `im gointuh be makin' comparison. Dis ain't no business proposition...
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie Crawford confronts social and emotional hardships that shape who she is from the beginning to the end of the novel. Living in Florida during the 1900s, it was very common for an African American woman to face discrimination on a daily basis. Janie faces gender inequality, racial discrimination, and social class prejudice that she is able to overcome and use to help her develop as a person.
In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie Crawford the main character goes through some big changes. Throughout this book Janie struggles to find her inner voice and purpose of love. She looks high and low for a sign of what love really is and she finds it as being the pear tree. The pear tree is very symbolic and ultimately shows Janie what love is and how it should be in a healthy relationship. This tree, with the bees pollinating the blossoms, helps Janie realize that love should be very mutual and each person needs to provide for the other equally. Janie tries to find this special kind of love through her three husbands, but she comes to realize it is going to be much harder then she expected. Each one of Janie’s husbands are a stepping stone for her finding her voice.
"Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone. Dawn and doom was in the branches" (8). When Janie was a teenager, she used to sit under the pear tree and dream about being a tree in bloom. She longs for something more. When she is 16, she kisses Johnny Taylor to see if this is what she looks for. Nanny sees her kiss him, and says that Janie is now a woman. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie, the main character, is involved in three very different relationships. Zora Neale Hurston, the author, explains how Janie learns some valuable lessons about marriage, integrity, and love and happiness from her relationships with Logan Killicks, Joe Starks, and Tea Cake.
Janie Crawford, the main character of Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, strives to find her own voice throughout the novel and, in my opinion, she succeeds even though it takes her over thirty years to do it. Each one of her husband’s has a different effect on her ability to find that voice.
Though Janie had three marriages in total, each one drew her in for a different reason. She was married off to Logan Killicks by her Grandmother who wanted her to have protection and security. “Tain’t Logan Killicks Ah wants you to have baby, its protection.” (Hurston 15) says Janie’s grandmother when Janie said she did not want to marry Logan. Though Janie did not agree with her grandmother, she knew that she just wanted what’s best for her. Next, she married Joe Starks, Janie was unsatisfied with her marriage to Logan so Joe came in and swept her off her feet. Janie did not like the fact that Logan was trying to make her work, so Joe’s proposition, “You ain’t never knowed what it was to be treated like a lady and ah want to be de one tuh show yuh.” (Hurston 29) was too good to pass up, so she left Logan and married Joe. Janie’s last marriage was to Tea Cake. Fed up after having been treated poorly by Joe, Janie finally found someone who liked her for who she was. “Naw, ...
In the beginning of the story, Janie is stifled and does not truly reveal her identity. When caught kissing Johnny Taylor, a local boy, her nanny marries her off to Logan Killicks. While with Killicks, the reader never learns who the real Janie is. Janie does not make any decisions for herself and displays no personality. Janie takes a brave leap by leaving Killicks for Jody Starks. Starks is a smooth talking power hungry man who never allows Janie express her real self. The Eatonville community views Janie as the typical woman who tends to her husband and their house. Janie does not want to be accepted into the society as the average wife. Before Jody dies, Janie is able to let her suppressed anger out.
Jody believes that Janie has poisoned him, illustrating the magnitude of both of their unhappiness. Almost immediately after Jody dies, Janie “starches” and “irons” her face, which could also imply how the headrags represent a facade that she unwillingly dons in public. Janie goes to the funeral inundated in loneliness and grief. However, after she emerges from the funeral Janie burns all of her head rags. Hurston states: “Before she slept that night she burnt up everyone of her head rags and went about the house the next morning..her hair in one thick braid”(pg 89). Fire represents the destruction of something; by burning the very tool that was facilitating the suppression of her identity, Janie is making a vow to never sacrifice herself to others. The long, nimble braid the reader is introduced to in the first chapter reemerges. It is important to note that as she lets her hair down, her circumstances change for the better. Janie meets Tea Cake, her playful new husband. Hurston describes Janie as the curious, vibrant child she was under the pear tree similar to how she is presently with Tea Cake. Therefore, Hurston reveals the overarching theme that when one unwillingly enshrouds their identity, their circumstances become unpalatable. This theme is conveyed through JAnie: As she sacrifices herself to tie her hair up, her happiness devolved into loneliness. However, once she crosses the threshold to her true self, she fully exuded the vivacious Janie that she truly is. All of this is manifested through her
not have loved her at all. To him, Janie was just another working set of