An Analysis Of Janie In Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Hurston

Everyone has a life journey that is meant just for them and them alone. It is up to that one person to find themselves and to make their own destiny. Throughout the novel in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Hurston, Janie makes different decisions in her life that make up her life journey. The novel takes place in the early 1900’s where women faced more extreme challenges than most women today. In Their Eyes Were Watching God Janie goes on a quest to find herself, only to be mistreated, judged, and viewed as a second rate citizen, but she ultimately finds her horizon.

Mistreatment can come in all different forms. Janie experiences mistreatment through her relationships with other people. In her marriage with Jody she was treated poorly.

Jody tore her down repeatedly and hit her. Janie described Joe hitting her, “Janie stood where he left her for unmeasured time and thought. She stood there until something fell off the shelf inside her”(72). That kind of treatment is something that nobody deserves. She pushed through it though, simply hiding a part of herself away. In a way Janie did herself an injustice by staying in a bad relationship. It's understandable why she did because at that time no one had a problem with women being regarded with in that manner. Janie was stuck “She was a rut in the road. Plenty of life beneath the surface, but it was beaten down by the wheels”(76). Every journey is not going to be smooth, Jody was simply a part of Janie’s journey that she was going to have to move past and overcome.
Judgement is a complicated part of growing up and Janie experiences judgement first hand. Janie is ridiculed by the townspeople for the way she looks, Jody judges her on her intellectual ability, and she is condemned for her relationship with Tea Cake. Janie took it all in stride and for the most part, let it roll off her back. As soon as Janie steps into town she can immediately hear the gossip, “They passed nations through their mouths. They sat in judgement”(1). Janie being evaluated the way she was only making her tough. Instead of causing a scene and letting it show that the comments affected her on the outside, she held in her thoughts and walked right past all of the people that were talking bad about her. The judgement that she received helped her become a strong, fierce, woman because she learned to accept that other people may not agree with her or her choices. Janie realized that they would judge her, but she didn’t care what the townspeople thought of her. In the novel Janie tells Phoebe to let the townspeople think whatever they can come up with. As Janie is looking back on her life she says, “Ah don’t mean to bother wid tellin’ ‘em nothin’(6). People who badmouth and look down on others need to reflect on themselves. Janie did not judge other people, but I believe that it gave her some insight on life. Janie knows how other people deserve to be treated and how she deserves to be treated.
Women in the 1900’s and even long before then were viewed as second place.

Their opinion didn’t matter and some men couldn’t care less about their feelings. Janie like any other woman had to experience this inequality. Some of the women knew it was wrong other women chose to ignore it, but not Janie. Janie knew it was wrong and anytime Jody stopped her from talking or sent her in to do work she knew why. He never intended to treat her as an equal partner. In a way he even told her that from the beginning of her relationship. Jody wanted her to sit on a porch like a trophy wife. Even though that wasn't what happened, Jody still wanted to keep her locked away and kept alone to himself. Even though Janie tried to tell him that wasn’t what she wanted he did not care. Janie knew this idea of man and women was wrong, that's why when Jody was on his deathbed she let all of her feelings out. Before Jody died Janie stated, “You done lived wid me for twenty years and you don’t know half of me atall”(86). She got everything off her chest to free herself of everything that he had done. She wanted him to know that it was unfair and not right the way he treated her. Janie expresses her feelings to Jody only brought her one step closer to almost finding her horizon. Just as Jody diminished her critics who have read the novel may not believe that all Janie’s journey made her who she is. Some critics do not give Jane the credit she is due,”Very few critics, however, recognize in Janie the

independence and strength of the archetypal quester. Rather, they diminish her, denying her an independent sphere of action and being”(Kubitschek). Jody never gave Janie the independence she needed to truly discover herself. Once the men in Janie’s life are gone she can.
Janie’s final last trek on her journey before she finds her horizon is her relationship with Tea Cake. She loved Tea Cake and when he died she was truly grieving. When she was younger it was Nanny who forced her to give up her horizon when she married Logan. From when Janie married Logan after that she had never really been out of a relationship. She went from living with Logan to running away with Jody and when he died months later she met Tea Cake. Throughout her relationships Janie was judged, mistreated, and seen as an invalid person whose opinions didn’t matter. Until Tea Cake, Janie loved Tea Cake and when he died, she was in pain, but it was also what set her free. She became independent and for the first time since she lost her childhood, she got to explore and experience life on her own. She got her wish because deep down that was what she wanted all along. A chance to live life and find out who she was and her relationships helped shape her life journey. In the end, Janie found her horizon and she had made her own destiny. Whats extraordinary about life is that one way or another there is an end and people will either find their horizon or they won’t. If they do, though it's like magic and everything seems right and they found who they were meant to be all along. The trek won’t be easy, but it is up to every individual to decide whether they will stand tall or become beaten down by others success. Life may only give each of us one chance and it is up to us if we find our horizon.