Imagine living in the life of a girl who would try to look for what she wants in life and seems to can’t find what she’s looking for. In the book “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie is a strong woman who has been through a lot and some things didn’t turn out to be what she wants it to be. This book usually tells how Janie has been searching for love throughout her whole life and she would be involved with sexuality. Sometimes she doesn’t think before she makes her decisions. Also, this book consists of morality which deaths seem to occur one after another. The author used some themes to help us understand more about what Janie is going through and what she’s looking for in life. The themes that the author used are love, …show more content…
sex, and mortality. First of all, the author uses the idea of love in order to help us readers understand how Janie went searching for love throughout her lifetime. She believes that love is an essential part of life. Without love, she won’t have faith in herself and she will slowly start to lose confidence in herself. Love makes Janie feel like she has finally live the life she had always wanted. At first, Janie’s grandmother forced her to marry Logan but then Janie wasn’t interested in it. When her grandmother told Janie that “husbands and wives always loved each other, and that was what marriage was meant. It was just so. Janie felt glad of the thought, for then it wouldn’t seem so destructive and mouldy. She wouldn’t be lonely anymore” (20). At first Janie didn’t love Logan but she somehow feels lonely at that time. She suddenly felt that Logan might be able to love and take care of her for the rest of her life, so she decided to give him a chance. However, Logan treated her badly and he couldn’t give her the love she was looking for. Another example would be when she met up with Jody. Janie fell in love with his sweet talks and later on they got married. Before they were married, the author said that “Janie pulled back a long time because he did not represent sun-up and pollen and blooming trees, but he spoke for far horizon. He spoke for change and chance” (28). Janie might’ve known that Jody might not be the one who might make her happy and provide the kind of love she was looking for but then she still gave him a chance due to the fact that she was desperate for love and tried to find the right person to love. Second of all, another idea that the author displays in this book is sex.
In the beginning, many men were attracted to Janie’s look. The author said “The men noticed her firm buttocks like she had grape fruits in her hip pockets; the great rope of black hair swinging to her waist and unraveling in the wind like a plume; then her pugnacious breasts trying to bore holes in her shirt (2). This indicates a sexual idea of how the men would try to go after her and tries to remember her appearance to give them pleasure later. The author wants us to know that her look is what made her attracted to guys; when it comes to her looks, it often leaves the guys to have sexual thoughts about her. Another example would be when she was by the blossom tree. It was said that “She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight. So this was a marriage! She had been summoned to behold a revelation. Then Janie felt a pain remorseless sweet that left her limp and languid.” This describes how Janie suddenly felt gratitude and it relates to how people would feel after sex. It somehow leaves her feeling satisfied or overwhelmed. Sex is what makes her interest in love. She gets fascinated by the body pleasure that is being caused by sex. She sees sex as something that expresses love and it can help her become strongly attached to love. The author said “Where were the singing bees for her? Nothing on the place nor in her grandma’s house answered her. She searched as much of the world as she could form the top of the front steps and then went on down to the front gate and leaned over to gaze up and down the road. Looking, waiting, breathing short with impatience. Waiting for the world to be made.” The author wants us to understand that Janie has always been trying to find her true love. She usually let herself
into the sexual world and experience what it’s like. She tends to sit under the pear tree and make her think about finding her true love. As for Janie, she thinks that love and sexuality should come as one. Third of all, another idea the author uses is mortality. Janie had experience many deaths in her lifetime. Death usually occurs one after another. It kind of resembles an ending of something and that something new is happening. Which means it’s the start of a new beginning. An example that Janie had experience death in her lifetime was probably when her grandmother passed away. Nanny would always force Janie to do stuff she didn’t want to do. Before Nanny dies, she said to Janie "Lawd, you know mah heart. Ah done de best Ah could do." De rest is left to you." Nanny must’ve felt bad for forcing Janie to marry Logan. Soon after Nanny died, Janie felt like it’s time to move on and do what she wants. She decided to leave Logan due to the fact that he didn’t love her and didn’t want to marry him in the first place. This often means that it’s time for her to start a new beginning and search for a new lover. Another example was when Janie’s second husband Jody passed away. It has been said that “He had seen Death coming and had stood his ground and fought it like a natural man. He had fought it to the last breath. Naturally he didn’t have time to straighten himself out. Death had to take him like it found him.” Jody had always treated Janie bad and she wasn’t satisfied with what she has been through with him. Janie was actually relieved after Jody died because she felt like she was free again. She moved on in life and started a new journey. The author wants us to understand that sometimes when deaths occur, it can either be good or bad. It’s a meaning that something is ending and it’s time to move on in life to start fresh. Overall, Janie has been through a lot in her life to find out what she wants to do and what needs in life. Janie has been through a lot in her life and she slowly learns from her past mistakes. The author uses the idea of love to let us understand that Janie would search for love no matter what. Love is what keeps her life going. The author also used sex to explain that Janie has an interest in sexuality and she usually thinks about sexuality as a way to make her become more attached to love. Also, the author uses mortality to explain how deaths tend to occur in her life and it usually means that something new is about to begin. Therefore, the authors uses the themes love, sex, and mortality to let us readers understand more about Janie wants in life and what she’s actually going through.
What is one’s idea of the perfect marriage? In Zora Neal Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie has a total of three marriages and her best marriage was to Tea Cake. Janie’s worst and longest marriage was to Joe Starks where she lost her dream and was never happy. The key to a strong marriage is equality between each other because in Janie’s marriage to Joe she was not treated equally, lost apart of herself and was emotionally abused, but her and Tea Cake's marriage was based on equality and she was able to fully be herself.
Zora Neale Hurston’s, Their Eyes Were Watching God tells about the life of Janie Crawford. Janie’s mother, who suffers a tragic moment in her life, resulting in a mental breakdown, is left for her grandmother to take care of her. Throughout Janie’s life, she comes across several different men, all of which end in a horrible way. All the men that Janie married had a different perception of marriage. After the third husband, Janie finally returns to her home. It is at a belief that Janie is seeking someone who she can truly love, and not someone her grandmother chooses for her. Although Janie eventually lives a humble life, Janie’s quest is questionable.
Zora Hurston’s novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God” depicts the journey of a young woman named Janie Crawford’s journey to finding real love. Her life begins with a romantic and ideal view on love. After Janie’s grandmother, Nanny, soon grows fearful of Janie’s newfound sexuality and quickly marries Janie off to Logan Killicks, an older land owner with his own farm. Janie quickly grows tired of Logan and how he works her like a slave instead of treating her as a wife and runs away with Joe Starks. Joe is older than Janie but younger than Logan and sweet talks Janie into marring him and soon Joe becomes the mayor of an all African American town called Eatonville. Soon Joe begins to force Janie to hide not only her
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.
Their Eyes Were Watching God is written by Zora Neale Hurston in the year of 1937. In the novel, the main character is Janie Crawford. Janie has been treated differently by others during her life because of how she was raised and the choices she has made throughout her life. The community is quick to judge her actions and listen to any gossip about Janie in the town. Janie is known to be “classed off” from other members in her community in various ways. “Classed off” means to be separate or isolated from other people.
In, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the author takes you on the journey of a woman, Janie, and her search for love, independence, and the pursuit of happiness. This pursuit seems to constantly be disregarded, yet Janie continues to hold on to the potential of grasping all that she desires. In, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the author, Zora Hurston illustrates the ambiguity of Janie’s voice; the submissiveness of her silence and the independence she reclaims when regaining her voice. The reclaiming of Janie's independence, in the novel, correlates with the development and maturation Janie undergoes during her self discovery.
In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie Crawford, the protagonist, constantly faces the inner conflicts she has against herself. Throughout a lot of her life, Janie is controlled, whether it be by her Nanny or by her husbands, Logan Killicks and Joe Starks. Her outspoken attitude is quickly silenced and soon she becomes nothing more than a trophy, only meant to help her second husband, Joe Starks, achieve power. With time, she no longer attempts to stand up to Joe and make her own decisions. Janie changes a lot from the young girl laying underneath a cotton tree at the beginning of her story. Not only is she not herself, she finds herself aging and unhappy with her life. Joe’s death become the turning point it takes to lead to the resolution of her story which illustrates that others cannot determine who you are, it takes finding your own voice and gaining independence to become yourself and find those who accept you.
... Janie is a strong independent woman, who lives in a society that does not encourage that kind of behavior in women. During the novel she is told what to do, how to do it and at one point who to marry. She struggles with her growing unhappiness until she finally meets her true love. Bibliography Shmoop Editorial Team.
Through her use of southern black language Zora Neale Hurston illustrates how to live and learn from life’s experiences. Janie, the main character in Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, is a woman who defies what people expect of her and lives her life searching to become a better person. Not easily satisfied with material gain, Janie quickly jumps into a search to find true happiness and love in life. She finally achieves what she has searched for with her third marriage.
The Harlem Renaissance was all about freedom of expression and the search for one's identity. Zora Neale Hurston’s, Their Eyes Were Watching God, shows these goals through the main character Janie and her neighbors. Janie freely expressed what she wanted and searched for her identity with her different husbands. Even though Janie was criticized by everyone except her friends, she continued to pursue. She lost everything, but ultimately found her identity. Hurston's writing is both a reflection and a departure from the idea of the Harlem Renaissance.
In Zora Hurston’s, Their Eyes Were Watching God Janie Crawford was an attractive, confident, middle-aged black woman. Janie defied gender stereotypes and realized others cruelty toward her throughout the novel. Behind her defiance was curiosity and confidence that drove her to experience the world and become conscious of her relation to it. Janie’s idealized definition of love stemmed from her experience under a pear tree, an experience that was highly romanticized and glamorized in her sixteen year old eyes. Janie’s ability to free herself from the confining, understood, stereotypical roles enforced upon her allowed her to not only find true love but define true love as well.
Zora Neale Hurston once said, “Happiness is nothing but everyday living seen through a veil.” In post-slavery African American society, this statement was unusual, as society was focused on materialistic values. The “veil” Hurston mentions is a lens used to sift through one’s beliefs; to help one understand that what they have is more important than what they don’t. Hurston alludes the veil in her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, in the form of a fish-net, saying “She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it in from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulders" (193). Just like the veil, the “fish-net” allows one to sift through one’s beliefs, deciding what is important and what is not. Essentially, Hurston
In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, the author utilizes an interesting structure by directing the presentation of the story through the use of symbolism and literary narrative, venting Janie Mae Crawford’s adventure in coming of age and loss of Innocence. Hurston illustrates Janie’s journey through the nature of coming to age by making the main characters suffer intense conditions which interact as key conflicts in expressing the novel’s purpose.
Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, revolves around the evolution of a woman by the name of Janie Crawford. Throughout the book, the reader is able to watch her grow up and mature into who she is as a person. The setting of this story takes place during the 1930s. This was a time where racism and social classes were prevalent.
In Zora Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, the centralized character, Janie Mae Crawford, embarks on a long quest to find the meaning of true love. Like many people, she begins her journey not knowing what love is. Janie encounters many obstacles in her quest for love. But what is true love and how does one know when they have found it? Thesis: Janie’s blind quest for love. It seems that Janie’s destiny is decided for her despite her idealistic and naïve view of love and marriage. Even though it appears that “her dream was dead”, she accepts her fate and “became a woman”, Hurston shows us that though suppressed at times Janie never gives up her dream (25). The symbolic use of the pear tree not only sets the bar high for Janie’s expectation of marriage and love as a partnership like the “bee [sinking] into the sanctum of a bloom” leading to the “ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to the tiniest branch” but also a need for personal fulfillment (11). Her journey to find herself begins under the pear tree but she had to travel through her marriage to the respectable, dependable Logan Killick, wind through her marriage to the showy Joe “Jody” Starks and end up with the love of her life Vergile “Tea Cake” Woods.