Analysis Of Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston

Personal growth is the key to growing up and maturing. Personal development covers activities that improve awareness and identity, develop talents and potential, build human capital and facilitate employability, enhance the quality of life and contribute to the realization of dreams and aspirations. In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie Crawford face her challenges and becomes a woman after finding what love is. She finds her identity and love after three marriages with three different men. Logan Killicks, Joe Starks, and Tea Cake, each impact Janie on developing to become a woman. In each marriage she learn lessons and realize how she’s really supposed to live her life. Janie learns a lot about herself and

how the real world works.

Janie’s first marriage with Logan Killick was forced by Janie’s grandma.

Her grandma believed Logan could protect Janie and take care of her. Logan Killick was a rich man with sixty acres and a farm. He believes that women should work just like men. After being married, Janie assumed she would feel love or love him right then, but she didn’t. This becomes clear when Janie says “Cause you told me Ah mus gointer love him, and, and Ah don’t. Maybe if somebody was to tell me how, Ah could do it.” (Hurston 23). Janie is confused on why she doesn’t feel the love with Logan after two months and two weeks of being married, she questioning to be teach on how to love. She then realize that marriage did not make love. Janie’s first marriage was a complete failure, but she did complete her first stage development as a women and did not give up on

herself.

Joe Starks, Janie’s second husband is a well dress man that was heading to town to buy land.

Joe was more of a man that feel women shouldn’t have to work, he believes women should sit pretty and watch men do the work. This becomes clear when Joe says “You behind a plow! You ain’t got no mo’ business wid uh plow than uh hog is got wid uh holiday! You ain’t got no business cuttin’ up no seed p’taters neither. A pretty doll-baby lak you is made to sit on de front porch and rock and fan yo’self and eat p’taters dat other folks plant just special for you”. (Hurston 29). He said Janie was too pretty to be picking food to eat, it should come to her. He was able to convince Janie to leave Logan farm and come along with him to Eatonville, where he was going to help built the town. Their marriage was going well until Joe became Mayor which gave Janie a title. “The Mayor Wife’ Janie then realize Joe wasn’t paying her as much of attention and he also started to treat her different from others. After twenty years of being married, Joe Starks dies of kidney failure then Janie realizes it was time to be herself.

When Tea Cake met Janie, it was on his way to a game in town. He walk in to by cigarette and they started to talk. Tea cake had show her how to play checkers for the first time. He shown her how to fish, hunt, to the movies, a dance, gardening, and how to shoot. For the first time in her life, Janie is enjoying life. This becomes clear when Janie says “we ain’t got nothin’ tuh do but

do our work and come home to love” (Hurston). Tea Cake wasn’t like Logan and Joe, Tea Cake didn’t force Janie to work, they work together to be with each more.

Each marriage with the three men develop Janie in different ways, because it teaches herself beauty, real love, and how a marriage supposed to make her feel. When Janie was married to Logan Killicks, she learned she was missing love. Her second husband, Joe Starks, showed her what she was missing which was who she really is. After Joe Starks death Janie realized she had another chance to find herself and love. Tea Cake, Janie’s last marriage was when she find what love was. He did not only tell her how to love, he prove it by showing her how it feels to be love. Janie became a woman when she develop through each stage of her marriage and her growth completed when she learned about love.