Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men.” Some men never find their ships. The works Their Eyes Were Watching God and Les Miserables can be compared due to the many similarities they share. It can be said that there is complete lack of happiness throughout the both of them. First there is the comparison of Teacake and Marius, then Janie and Eponine, and finally the entire town of Eatonville and the innkeepers.
First there is Teacake who had unhappy life even before meeting Janie. When he and Janie first meet, she thinks that she shouldn't associate with him. Janie thinks, “Maybe he was hanging around to get in with her and strip her of all she had.” (page 100) From the start Teacake had to try hard to win Janie over. Because he was trying so hard to get Janie to love him back it took some of the romance out of their relationship. Even toward the end of the book when Teacake is finally been happy for about two years, he gets killed. Janies says. “The pistol and rifle rang out almost together...Teacake crumpled...as he crashed forward into her arms.” (page 184) Even when the characters find their small and simple happiness it came crashing down the moment the triggers were pulled.
Secondly there is Marius, who much like Teacake has problems with achieving and keeping happiness. Marius thinks he has it all figured out when he meets the girl of his dreams, Casette. This is very similar to when Teacake and Janie fall in love and move away. Unknown to him he is breaking the heart of his chil...
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...y had. They had a beautiful daughter who they paid no attention to because they couldn't get anything from her, much like Eatonville and Janie’s relationship. They robbed everybody that walked into the door of their rundown inn, but could still never happy. Out of all the characters in both works, they are the only ones that actually deserve their unhappiness.
As one can see, there is a general lack of lasting happiness in both of these works. It can be said that there is complete lack of happiness throughout the both of them. First there is the comparison of Teacake and Marius, then Janie and Eponine, and finally the entire town of Eatonville and the innkeepers. As said in the previous paragraph only one set of characters deserved their eternal unhappiness, the innkeepers. As for the rest that is just what was meant to be. Maybe one day they will find their ships.
The somber and effusive tone of the selected passage from Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, is shown through its general diction and imagery. Hurston uses skillfully chosen words to enhance the imagery, and both devices contribute to the tone of this scene.
Hurston uses ethos to show that Tea Cake was Janie’s best husband even though society thinks other wise. Tea Cake thinks that he will treat and show Janie a better time in life than any man has ever did. “Ah tell you lak you told me--you’se mighty hard tuh satisfy. Ah betcha dem lips don't satisfy yuh neither(page.103).” Tea Cake was telling Janie that she put on the show that she is hard to please but truly it only takes the right things to make her pleased. He felt that most of the things that Janie was doing was a show. Society felt that Tea Cake was playing Janie and Janie was taking chances falling in love with Tea Cake. “You doin right not tuh talk it, but Janie, you’se takin’ uuh mighty big chance(page.115).” Janie was having a discussion and they were telling her that she was taking a chance running off with Tea Cake. Phoebe feels as if Tea Cake is just a bomb ready to explode in Janie face. Janie felt that Tea Cake was the true love that she was always looking for in her life. “He done showed me where it’s de thought dat makes de difference in age(page.115).” Tea Cake changes janie’s whole train of thought around , so there had to be some love somewhere to make someone change their mind. Janie was really in love with Tea Cake.
Janie’s character undergoes a major change after Joe’s death. She has freedom. While the town goes to watch a ball game Janie meets Tea Cake. Tea Cake teaches Janie how to play checkers, hunt, and fish. That made Janie happy. “Somebody wanted her to play. Somebody thought it natural for her to play. That was even nice. She looked him over and got little thrills from every one of his good points” (Hurston 96). Tea Cake gave her the comfort of feeling wanted. Janie realizes Tea Cake’s difference from her prior relationships because he wants her to become happy and cares about what she likes to do. Janie tells Pheoby about moving away with Tea Cake and Pheoby tells her that people disapprove of the way she behaves right after the death of her husband. Janie says she controls her life and it has become time for her to live it her way. “Dis ain’t no business proposition, and no race after property and titles. Dis is uh love game. Ah done lived Grandma’s way, now Ah means tuh live mine” (Hurston 114). Janie becomes stronger as she dates Tea Cake because she no longer does for everyone else. Janie and Tea Cake decided to move to the Everglades, the muck. One afternoon, a hurricane came. The hurricane symbolizes disaster and another change in Janie’s life. “Capricious but impersonal, it is a concrete example of the destructive power found in nature. Janie, Tea Cake, and their friends can only look on in terror as the hurricane destroys the
Truly life was hard for many people in the early 20th century but the amount of tragedies that happened to Janie and some of her decisions were a bit outlandish. Janie is depicted as an extreme free spirit in a time where women empowerment was not on the rise, Janie made many independent choices without any repercussions like leaving her first husband. Janie left her first husband for Joe Starks abruptly and almost without any warning or punishment, her husband seemed to be okay with her decision and the grandmother that forced Janie into the marriage in the first place is nowhere to be seen. Another aspect of the story that was slightly unbelievable was Tea Cakes death. Tea Cake dies after getting bit by a rabid dog in the middle of a raging hurricane just seconds after the house that he and Janie share is overcome by waves. It seems as if too many things of epic proportions happened at nearly the same time. The question here is how was the dog even able to survive when Tea Cake and Janie were almost drowned by the storm? This question is never answered.
In Zora Neale Hurston’s romantic novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, two settings are contrasted to reinforce the author’s theme of a search for true love. The setting of Eatonville, Florida, where main character Janie experiences life as the mayor’s wife, is contrasted with the Florida Everglades, where Janie lives with Tea Cake in a much more relaxed atmosphere.
In the movie, Oprah Winfrey changes the audience’s perception of Janie’s relationship with Tea Cake by excluding the abuse and jealousy that takes place in the novel. "Janie learned what it felt like to be jealous. A little chunky girl took to picking a play out of Tea Cake in the fields and in the quarters. If he said anything at all, she’d take the opposite side and hit him or shove him and run away to make him chase her. Janie knew what she was up to – luring him away from the crowd. It kept up for two or three weeks with Nunkie getting bolder all the time. She’d hit Tea Cake playfully and the minute he so much as tapped her with his finger she’d fall against him or fall on the ground and have to be picked up. She’d be almost helpless. It took a good deal of handling to set her on her feet again. And another thing, Tea Cake didn’t seem to be able to fend her of...
...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.
Unlike The Odyssey or any other epic tales, Their Eyes Were Watching God has a different perspective of what a hero is. In this novel, Hurston writes a story about an African-American woman named Janie Crawford whose quest is to find her identity and desire as a human being to be loved and appreciated for who she is. Her quest to fulfill those desires is not easy since she has to overcome so many obstacles and challenges in her life. A superiority that her Nanny posses over her to determine Janie's own life when she was a teenager and being a beautiful accessory to the glory of Joe Starks' are some of the experience that she encounters. She also has to make some sacrifices. And yet, just like any other heroes, at the end, she returns to her home with a victory on her hands.
Janie found what she was looking for. She searched all her life to find what was within herself, and one special person was all that was needed to bring it out in her. Even though her and Tea Cake’s relationship ended in a tragedy, she knew that he really loved her for who she was. She didn’t need to be with him for protection, or she didn’t need to be the leading lady of a town or a mayor’s wife, she just needed the right kind of love and affection to bring out what was best in her.
not have loved her at all. To him, Janie was just another working set of
“Their eyes were watching god” was written by Zora Neale Hurston,and this book is talking about the story of a black woman—Janie, Hurston narrates from the marriage with Logan to the death of Tea Cake. Janie had experienced different kinds of love throughout her life,and we can see the changes of Janie from these three relationships,and as a result of her quest of love, Janie gained her own independence and personal freedom.
The book, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is about Janie Crawford and her quest for self-independence and real love. She finds herself in three marriages, one she escapes from, and the other two end tragically. And throughout her journey, she learns a lot about love, and herself. Janie’s three marriages were all different, each one brought her in for a different reason, and each one had something different to teach her, she was forced into marrying Logan Killicks and hated it. So, she left him for Joe Starks who promised to treat her the way a lady should be treated, but he also made her the way he thought a lady should be. After Joe died she found Tea Cake, a romantic man who loved Janie the way she was, and worked hard to provide for her.
In Zora Neale Hurston’s, “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” she expresses Janie’s home in many different ways. The saying, “You can leave home all you want, but home will never leave you,” simply suggests that home is a certain feeling or state of being. When it comes to Janie, home for her would be anytime she felt free, loved, or accepted which ties into the novel as a whole; anything the characters worried about or hoped for they looked unto God.
It is sad that three of the marriages in the novel ended up as unhappy
Dryden uses this exchange to drive the attention on the very idea that there is no true satisfaction in their marriages. The characters can eat their main concourse, but they still long for something tasteful, filling, and satisfactory.