Nanny is Janie’s grandmother who took care of her since her mother abandoned her as a baby. Nanny uses her power as an authority over Janie to make her marry Logan Killicks. Logan Killicks is Janie’s first husband and he is a man she does not want to marry. But Nanny forces her and tells Janie that a marriage for a black woman is about being stable (money and land) and marriage is not about falling in love. She says that love will come later in the marriage and so Janie listens and does as she is told. Instead Logan uses his power (him having money and land) over Janie by telling her she should be working in the field but she is too spoiled. Although he says this he still forces her to do labor around the house when he leaves to buy a new …show more content…
Society plays a huge part in how gender roles still exist today because people are still stuck on the notion that women should always respect someone else.Now for Janie’s third husband, Teacake, he had the power to make Janie go wherever he wanted to go and make her believe he was a sweet and loyal man. He convinced Janie to leave town with him and go to a new city. Later on during the time they were living in the new city the reader can tell how Janie still played a part in these gender roles. In one particular incident Tea Cake had beaten Janie because he wanted to remind her that she is his possession. “ Tea Cake had a brainstorm. Before the week was over he had whipped Janie. Not because her behavior justified his jealousy, but it relieved that awful fear inside him. Being able to whip her reassured him in possession” (qtd. in Their Eyes Were Watching God). He even bragged to his friend, Sop-de-Bottom, about beating his wife. Sop-de-Bottom told Teacake how lucky of a man he was for having a wife who does not fight back and how he wished he had a wife like her. “Lawed! wouldn’t Ah love tuh whip uh tender woman lak Janie! Ah bet she don’t even holler. She jus’ cries, eh Tea Cake”. They thought that when a man beats his wife it shows who is boss and lets their society know as well. It was seen as a good sign back …show more content…
Most individuals overlook or basically don 't recognize these sexual orientation contrasts. Women were constantly delegated being weak in their relational unions, legislative issues, and the workforce. Likewise being seen as subordinate to their spouses and are not deserving of deciding. Seen as simply a "mother" to stay at home and go to her kids throughout the day, while the spouse attempts to bring home the bread. Gender stereotyping, gender roles, and power is seen all through everything, for example, relationships, workplaces, or at home. The way she represented herself and her spouse accurately and deferentially then she was seen as dutiful and a decent wife. Despite the fact that there were ladies developments to change these sex ideas and generalizations, it has not disposed of the thought. This thought is still inserted into numerous men 's heads. Society still advances the thought of women being short of what a man is through motion pictures, media, workforce, advertisements, and games. Movies delineate men as being effective and ladies as frail. This all ties into Zora Neale Hurston 's novel and how men and ladies were pushed off due to their sex. This is the reason why Zora sets up her female characters as being frail and feeble and men as predominant and influential. Zora Neale Hurston uses the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God to
The relationship between Janie and her grandmother is full of love and compassion. Nanny was born directly into slavery, and lived a very depressing life. The daughter of nanny, Leafy, also lived a gruesome life, at the age of seventeen she was raped by her schoolteacher, then after giving birth to Janie, she became an alcoholic and quickly abandoned her family. Janie and Nanny then proceed to live with the Washburn family, along with four other white kids, and did not realize she was black until she sports a photograph of herself, and out of shock she says " Aw,aw! Ah'm colored"(9). Because of the families past, all Nanny wants is for Janie to feel treasured and secure. Nanny wants Janie to immediately get married, and she tells her that by saying " Yeah, Janie, youse got yo' womanhood on yuh. So ah mout ez well tell yuh whut Ah been savin' up for uh spell. Ah wants to see you married right away" (12). Janie immediately responds by saying " Me, married? Naw, Nanny, no ma'am "(12).
Nanny has many regrets about the way her daughter’s life turned out after Janie was born. She resorted to alcoholism and did not lead a stable life—this is not the path that Nanny wants for her granddaughter, so when she sees Janie kissing a boy, she fears that the same thing could happen again: “‘She was only seventeen, and somethin’ lak dat to happen! He expresses anger at Bobby Jorgenson and frustration that he cannot be on the move with the rest of his platoon while he recovers from his injury. Jorgenson’s terrible job of treating O’Brien’s wound leaves a lasting effect on him, because he cannot rest until he gets his revenge on the young medic.
Identity is something every human quests for. Individuals tend to manipulate views, ideas, and prerogative. Janie's identity became clay in her family and friends hands. Most noteworthy was Janie's grandmother, Nanny. Janie blossomed into a young woman with an open mind and embryonic perspective on life. Being a young, willing, and full of life, Janie made the "fatal mistake" of becoming involved in the follies of an infatuation with the opposite sex. With this phase in Janie's life Nanny's first strong hold on Janie's neck flexed its grip. Preoccupation with romantic love took the backseat to Nanny's stern view on settling down with someone with financial stability. Hence, Janie's identity went through its first of many transformations. She fought within her self, torn between her adolescent sanction and Nanny's harsh limitations, but final gave way and became a cast of Nanny's reformation.
The first man that Janie is dependent on is Logan Killicks. Her marriage to Logan was partially arranged by her grandmother, Nanny. Nanny felt the need to find someone for Janie to depend on before she died, knowing that Janie would no longer be able to depend on her. This is the only time that Janie is relying on herself to get by, she cannot rely on nanny because nanny had no idea what she was going through as a young girl. Janie doesn't want to marry Logan then is coaxed into it by Nanny, who felt God was allowing her to live only enough time to find someone to protect her. "Tain't Logan Killicks Ah wants you to have, baby, it's protection. ...He done spared me...a few days longer till Ah see you safe in life."(p.15) After Nanny passes away, Janie depends on Logan, and despite her dislike for him, continues to stay with him. Logan only sees her as a servant to him, and doesn't want her anywhere other than the house, ."..mah wife don't know nothin' `bout speech makin'. Ah never married her for nothin' lak dat. She's a woman and her place is in de home."(McGowan) Janie would have left him immediately if it wasn't for her dependence on him, and the need to find someone on whom she could depend before moving on.
signifies to evade the realities of her life and the life of Janie. When Nanny
...gh he gave her wealth and respectibility. So it seems that Nanny's worst fears and her highest hopes were realized in Janie's second marriage.
Janie who continually finds her being defined by other people rather than by herself never feels loved, either by her parents or by anybody else. Her mother abandoned her shortly after giving birth to her. All she had was her grandmother, Nanny, who protected and looked after her when she was a child. But that was it. She was even unaware that she is black until, at age six, she saw a photograph of herself. Her Nanny who was enslaved most of her lifetime only told her that a woman can only be happy when she marries someone who can provide wealth, property, and security to his wife. Nanny knew nothing about love since she never experienced it. She regarded that matter as unnecessary for her as well as for Janie. And for that reason, when Janie was about to enter her womanhood in searching for that love, Nanny forced her to marry Mr. Logan Killicks, a much older man that can offer Janie the protection and security, plus a sixty-acre potato farm. Although Janie in her heart never approves what her Nanny forced her to do, she did it anyway. She convinced herself that by the time she became Mrs. Killick, she would get that love, which turned out to be wrong.
Of least significance to Janie is her first husband, Logan Killicks. Hurston uses pathos to show that Janie and her first husband are not meant to be even though society thinks otherwise. Nanny thinks that Logan is really made for Janie, but Janie doesn’t love Logan. Janie tells Nanny, “Cause you told me Ah
Nanny was determined that Janie would break the cycle of oppression of black women, who were "mules for the world". (Both of Janie's first two husbands owned mules and the way they treated their mules paralleled to the way they treated Janie. Logan Killicks worked his mule demandingly and Joe Starks bought Matt Bonner's mule and put it out to pasture as a status symbol.) After joyfully discovering an archetype for sensuality, love, and marriage under a pear tree at sixteen, Janie quickly comes to understand the reality of marriage in her first two marriages. Both Logan Killicks and Joe Starks attempt to coerce her into submission by treating her like a possession (Killicks worked her like a mule and Starks used her like a medal around his neck). Also Janie learned that passion and love are tied to violence, as Killicks threaten to kill her and Starks beat her to assert his dominance. She continually struggled to keep her inner self-intact and strong in spite ...
During the Victorian Age, 1830-1901, society had firm opinions on how they believed women should behave. The opinions, however, changed and varied a great deal over the span of the 71 years that made up the Victorian period. Towards the beginning of that era women were seen as the fairer sex, and the majority of their early lives were spent preparing for marriage. Over the course of the Victorian era, however, society made many different social, political, and economic changes, as well as witnessed the creation of many new gadgets. As society evolved throughout the Victorian era to be more advanced, it also became more aware of the need to treat women as equals in regards to rights, jobs, pastimes, and opinions. An example of inequality that women faced during that time was when men would keep up the appearance of being in a loving family, meanwhile they would be cheating on their wives and betraying their families (Frost 196). As Horrible as husbands cheating on their wives was, that was not what was seen as the issue at that time. The part of cheating during that era that bugged society was that if a woman committed the same trespass and was unfaithful in a marriage she would be publicly shamed (Frost 196). It is because of this injustice to women, and the many other examples of inequality that they faced that during the Victorian era, that the English wished to reform marriage. They felt that the structure of marriage was unfair to the females involved. By the end of the era, there had been a significant amount of ground laid towards female equality. The literary works The Lady of Shalott and The Goblin Market address and respond to the conflicts and roles of women as they changed over the course of the Victorian era. Both p...
From Janie’s first relationship with Logan Killicks, she learns about marriage. Janie is forced to marry Logan by Nanny, Janie’s grandmother. Janie was really young and she did not have any plans on getting married, but Nanny wants Janie to marry someone soon: “Tain’t Logan Killicks Ah wants you to have, baby, it’s protection. Ah ain’t gittin’ ole, honey, Ah’m done ole. One mornin’ soon, now, de angel wid de sword is gointuh stop by here. De day and de hour is hid from me, but it won’t be long. Ah as de Lawd when you was uh infant in mah arms to let me stay here till you got grown.
Nanny let Janie believe that she would find love after she is married by saying, “‘ Yes, she would love Logan after they were married’”(21). Which in the long run distorted her view on finding love. Also, Nanny doesn’t let Janie go for someone who doesn’t have it together. She say, “‘Whut Ah seen just now is plenty for me, honey, Ah don’t want no trashy nigger, no breath-and-britches, lak Johnny Taylor usin’ yo’ body to wipe his foots on’”(27). Ever since then, Janie had the mindset of Nanny. Nanny doesn’t want Janie to settle for less than what she is worth. Nanny isn’t all to blame for giving Janie this false perception. Nanny knows what it’s like to try to make a good living in this time while being black and a woman. So she wants Janie to live in a protective
The first two people Janie depended on were her Grandmother, whom she called Nanny, and Logan Killicks. Janie’s marriage to Logan Killicks was partially arranged by Nanny. Nanny had felt the need to find someone for Janie to depend on before she died and Janie could no longer depend on her. At first, Janie was very opposed to the marriage. Nanny responded with, “’Tain’t Logan Killicks Ah wants you to have, baby, it’s protection. ...He (God) done spared me...a few days longer till Ah see you safe in life.”(p.14) Nanny instilled the sense of needing a man for safety on Janie that Janie keeps with her throughout her life. After Nanny’s death, Janie continued to stay with Logan despite her dislike for him. She would have left immediately, however, if she did not need to depend on him.
On Janie's journey towards self discovery and expression, progress is suddenly halted when she encounters controlling men. In respect for Nanny, Janie attempts to live her life through her nanny's expectations and desires. Nanny has taken the hard road in life, and tries her best to help Janie avoid life's unnecessary turmoils: “Yo' Nanny wouldn't harm a hair uh yo' head. She don't want nobody else to do it neither if she kin help it” (Hurston 14). Nanny has all the best intentions by setting Janie up with Logan Killicks, an older man who owns sixty acres of land. The man of Nanny's dreams does not match up with Janie's expectations, for Janie wants to be in a blossoming relationship that she is comfortable being a part of. Logan turns out to be a man of labor and “refuses to hear the real meaning behind [Janie'...
Nanny Janie’s grandmother disapprove the kiss between Janie and Johnny Taylor under the pear tree (11). Janie was only sixteen years old and naïve to think that was love. Nanny knew Johnny Taylor did not mean to cause no harm, but she felt Johnny was trying to mislead Janie to hurt and humiliate her by being sexual that can be dangerous (Hurston 12-15). Likewise, Janie was forced into marrying Logan an older man, Nanny approved of because Janie will have a husband that will love her. Same as, Hurston describe Janie emotions of unhappiness within the marriage not having affection and desire for Logan, Hurston implies, “Ah ain’t got nothin’ tuh live for.” (118) Hurston also describes Janie as confident that caught men attention as well as her physique, the women were jealous of Janie implying “Janie will never fit in the upper class of white men because of her appearance.” (Hurston 41) The women try to make Janie feel worthless and unattractive of not having enough sexually appeal. . Hurston writing engage the character from love to lust in a unhappy marriage that lead to a prolonged period of difficulty