Analysis Of Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston

Just about everyone has had a relationship. Sometimes these relationships can help a person grow and feel whole, and sometimes they can hurt and make a person question himself. In Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, a woman named Janie Woods goes through life trying to find love. This search gives Janie heartache, self-doubt, and at times joy. Throughout her search for love, she meets and marries three men: Logan Killicks, Joe Starks, and Tea Cake. These three men have an effect on Janie’s emotional, spiritual, and physical growth.

The first man Janie marries that affects her is Logan Killicks. He is an older man who Janie marries because her nanny wants her to be protected. The narrator mentions, “She knew now that marriage

did not make love” (25). This means that her relationship with Logan makes her realize that she will never find real love in her marriage. Another effect that Logan has on Janie is on her spiritual growth. The narrator states that Janie’s “first dream was dead, so she became a woman” (25). In her loveless relationship with Logan, she has realized that marriage does not equal love, but she is unable to be free Lastly, Logan affects Janie’s physical growth by making her work out in the in the field because he thinks she is too pampered. She says, “ Mah husband is gone tuh buy a mule fuh me tuh plow. He left me cuttin’ up seed p’taters” (29). This is a way of Logan showing his control over her into making her in to the woman he wants. This leads her to meeting another man.
Joe Starks is the second man who has an impact on Janie’s life.

He is a man with a lot of ambitions who also runs away with Janie to Eatonville where he fixes up the place and becomes mayor. He causes one of the major changes in Janie’s emotional growth. In their marriage, she is constantly kept from having a voice which makes her sick and keeps her silent. Joe, during the opening of the store in Eatonville, says, “but mah wife don’t know nothin’ ’bout no speech-makin’. Ah never married her for nothin’ lak dat. She’s uh woman and her place is in de home”(43). This shows the beginning of his control over Janie making her more submissive. Another effect he has on her is physical. The narrator states that Janie must wear a head rag in the store(55). This is a symbol that she is Joe’s possession and that he has her under his control as well as another way of showing that she is submissive. In turn, she began to feel that she has no freedom and no voice. Lastly, about her spiritual growth, the narrator mentions, “Janie grows cold….” (43-44).This means with Joe’s constant belittling of her and her lack of love in their relationship causes her more loss of spiritual growth. In the end, Joe dies and she feels relief and after a while meets a new younger

man.
Tea Cake is the final man that impacts Janie’s life. Tea Cake is a man who is twenty years younger than Janie. He first affects her emotional growth. The narrator says, “She felt like a child breaking the rules”(102). This shows that being with him it makes her feel young, vibrant and loved. The next area of growth is her physical growth. When dating him, she starts dressing as if she is younger. The porch sitters mention that she starts wearing pink linen, and blue clothes as well as wearing her hair in different styles(110).This shows a change in how she showing love for Tea Cake. Last is spiritual growth.The narrator states, “Janie…lit up like a transfiguration”(105). This shows Janie is moving into the next stage of the rites of passage. As she battles thoughts of love with her mind, heart and soul, she is trying to determine whether Tea Cake is love.
Their Eyes Were Watching God is a story about a woman and her emotional, spiritual, and physical growth through the three men that she marries Logan Killicks causes Janie to realize marriage and love don’t always mix. joe starks makes Janie feel submissive and weak. Tea Cake give Janie the feeling of being young vibrant and loved. Her story is a roller-coaster of heartache, pain and joy. Throughout this journey she is trying to find love.