Their Eyes Were Watching God Gender Analysis

Their Eyes Were Watching God is a story that very much so revolves around gender and the roles that are created by society in order to fulfill the stereotypical relationship. Zora Neale Hurston understood how hard it was for a woman to be independent in her decisions and role in the world. Janie Crawford comes to exemplify this ideal, whether it be through the three marriages she has or the conversations with her Nanny. The author chooses the have the gender roles in the book kept intact and broken at other times to separate the characters into two categories, and to keep race and gender both clear cut and split. Men and women are clearly divided in how they are supposed to act in the community. The characterization of each gender that is set in the very beginning of the book, designates men to be the workers and providers in the family and women are supposed to cook and help around the house; A belief that is still existent today in certain places. The aforementioned point that each marriage is

The discussion evolves from just white versus black to the more germane men versus women which creates a divide between both in the story for this present time period. Although white characters aren’t prominent in the book, besides the majority white female jury for Janie’s case, race separation and beliefs still remain. When Nanny told Janie that “He pick it up because he have to, but he don't tote it. He hand it to his womenfolks.”(14) it is simply the man transferring his burden onto his womenfolk. Once Jody dies, Janie is set free from his burden and can be called by her own name compared to “Mrs. Mayor”(56). By the end of Jody’s character arc he somewhat exhibits the traits of the white man because of his confidence and power in certain situations, but Janie finds that he is more pretentious. The gender roles must be broken in order to advance forward in accepting men and women also black and whites together in