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

Janie represents all of the independent women of her time because she never gave up her happiness. The one moment that brought the whole story together and the one moment that really showed Janie as one strong woman, was the moment she let down her hair. After many years and multiple men burdening her of societal expectations she finally became a woman that she wanted to be. The moment quoted when she became herself was, “She went over to the dresser and looked hard at her skin and features. The young girl was gone, but a handsome woman had taken her place. She tore off the kerchief from her head and let down her plentiful hair. The weight, the length, the glory was there”(Hurston 86), was the climax of the story, and the beginning to Janie’s

life. All her life she was brought down by the men in her life.

She was first brought down by her first husband that her nanny liked for her. He hid her true ambition by being a non-sanitized human being, who did not really care for her as a woman, and tried to get her to work on his land. The next man is the man she thought would give her youth, happiness, and joy to her life. The man Joe seemed to care for her inhibitions at first but as soon as she ran away with him to Eatonville, he became more self centered and only worried about being the mayor of the town. He is the one person who sustained her from the being the actual woman she wanted to be. He made her work in his store that he opened and made her tie up her hair. The moment where she lets her hair go is the moment her and Joe have an argument, and the moment he dies, the first thing she does is to look in the mirror to make sure she knows she is there. She realizes that she is still that woman. A woman’s hair represents her beauty and youthness. Making a woman tie up or hide her hair is impeccable. When Janie looked in the mirror and saw her beauty through the wrinkles. she knew that it was time for her to shake off the past from her shoulders, and find a life suited just for

her.
After she shook off her past and started focusing on being alone and independent.

She would let her hair roam about on her back with no cares. Then something predictably amazing happened to her. She found a man who loved her and her hair very much. His name was Tea Cakes. He’s the guy she was searching for to let her be the woman she wants. He let her have her independence but still let her know that he loves her and wants to be let into her life. The first task of him showing her independence was when he taught her to play checkers. Women in that time were not known to play games played by men, but nevertheless Tea Cake was a wondrous and unique man who didn;t suppress her. When Tea Cake said, “ Ah ain’t been sleepin’ so good for more’n uh week cause Ah been wishin’ so bad tuh git mah hands in yo’ hair. It’s so pretty. It feels ju’ lak underneath uh dove’s wing next to mah face” (Hurston 102), it showed that he was sure of himself as a man to love her long hair and that nobody would touch it but him. After this quote, Janie seemed to fall in love with him in a whole new way. She realized that this man is what she didn;t give up for. The happiness she felt at that time is what her heart told her to not give up

on.
The single moment of her letting down her hair opened her up to many different possibilities in her life. This moment portrays the big idea of never giving up on yourself. Janie was suppresses all her life from her Nanny’s teaching to her long dull marriage with Joe. Even though her journey at times seemed endless and impossible, she reached a high that was worth waiting for. The biggest message a reader would receive from this book, from Janie’s hard work, and patience, is that happiness will come. Happiness and true love always wins at the end. Every person is meant to find that one person they want to spend the rest of their lives with. Every woman deserves to be brought up the way she is. EVery woman’s dream and capability should be nurtured and fed in order to get the whole beautiful woman to show. Patience is always considered a virtue, and the moment that Janie ripped of her headpiece and let her long hair sway represented the change, and beauty she had in her.