Analysis Of Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston

Gloria Steinem remarks an incredibly important social issue by saying, “We'll never solve the feminization of power until we solve the masculinity of wealth.” Her analyzation of the feminism and masculinity problem is right on point, as it is true that the society associates man as the person with power, and the money; By doing so, women automatically becomes the weak one, who has to depend on men. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston leads the readers through a journey of Janie, from her youth to the end of her mid-ages, which usually revolves around her marriages. Hurston, through Janie’s three failed marriages, portray the society's lack of effort to notice the impact of woman in a man achieving his dreams; Society’s connection

of masculinity with wealth causes men to act more dominant over women, which causes women to be naturally weaker and dependent on men.
Since the only reason Logan and Janie are married is Logan’s wealth and Janie’s grandmother’s pressure, Logan feels that he is too weak to be Janie's husband when he fails to express enough masculinity. When Janie complains about the marriage with her and Logan, her grandmother remarks, “Heah you is wid de onliest organ in town, amongst colored folks, in yo’ parlor. Got a house bought and paid for and sixty acres uh land right on de big road” (Hurston 23). Her point shows that the only reason her grandmother forces Janie to marry Logan is because of his wealth. As the marriage progresses negatively, Logan starts to become frustrated about Janie’s lack of love and effort for him and yells at Janie, “‘Ah’m too honest and hard-workin’ for anybody in yo’ family, dat’s de reason you don’t want me!’” (Hurston 32). His frustration shows that he does not enforce domination over Janie, as he does not force Janie or abuse her to work for him, which ultimately shows his lack of masculinity even though he has the money. As Logan’s frustration towards Janie comes out as “half a sob and half a cry”, the author realistically describes Logan as a pathetic old man who does not achieve the respect from his wife just because he does not express enough masculinity (Hurston 32). This marriage proves to the readers that wealth is not always connected to masculinity, as a man like Logan can be wealthy but still not respected by woman; this marriage also causes Janie to be unhappy as she feels suppressed.
Janie feels like she is limited to achieve her dreams and express her freedom as a woman in this marriage and through the failure of the marriage, she finds out that the reality is harsh on women than her ideal teenage dreams. Even though Logan did not physically oppress Janie, the marriage itself suppresses Janie, since it was forced and not her choice. When Janie’s grandmother mentions Logan, Janie describes that “the vision of Logan Killicks was desecrating the pear tree, but Janie didn’t know how to tell Nanny that” (Hurston 14). In this quote, the pear tree symbolizes Janie’s love and innocence; since the marriage is forced by her grandmother, with a man that she absolutely does not want to be married to, Janie’s love life dies and she is not able to achieve her dreams and let her innocence and love blossom. Through this failed marriage, Janie realizes “now that marriage did not make love[;]Janie’s first dream was dead, so she became a woman” (Hurston 25). By Janie’s idealization about love being destroyed, she goes through a character development and realizes how women are often restricted to achieve their own dreams. The society constructs a limitation that women have to be dependent on men, and thus have to marry a rich man; However, this does not limit Janie, as she starts a new dream and still believes that she will find a man with the perfect “spark”. When she escapes Logan with another man, Joe Starks, Hurston describes: “the morning road air was like a new dress. That made her feel the apron tied around her waist. She untied it and flung it on a low bush beside the road and walked on” (Hurston 32). Her untying her apron symbolizes her wish for a new love and romance and her independence. Even though Janie’s first marriage turned out as a failure because it was forced and because of the conception that she has to depend on a men with wealth, Janie becomes a stronger woman, with a better sense of reality.
In Janie’s second marriage, the strong need for Joe to prove his masculinity, especially through wealth, drives him to completely control Janie. As a result, Janie is unable to live her own life even after Joe dies. When Janie starts to complain about Joe being too busy and neglecting her, Joe says: “Ah told you in de very first beginnin’ dat Ah aimed tuh be uh big voice. You oughta be glad, ‘cause dat makes uh big woman outa you” (Hurston 46). This quote shows how women have to be dependent on men, and if a husband is powerful, that is what makes the wife powerful, not herself. Joe expects Janie to be happy about him being a “big voice” because the believes, like the society, that wealth is what makes a man more powerful, and makes a marriage successful. However, as Joe plans and carries out his big dreams, Janie feels “coldness and fear [taking] hold of her” and feels “far away from things and lonely” (Hurston 46). Her unhappiness shows that Joe’s expression of masculinity, through wealth, is oppressing Janie, which is better proven by this quote: “She got nothing from Jody except what money could buy, and she was giving away what she didn’t value” (Hurston 76). Jody’s abuse towards Janie and his desire of Janie’s submission cause her to feel disrespected and thus through this marriage, Janie’s dream once again dies. At last, when Joe dies and Janie finally speaks up for herself, Joe yells at Janie, “Much as Ah done fuh yuh. Holdin’ me up tuh scorn. No sympathy!” (Hurston 85). This quote proves that Joe’s definition of a successful marriage and treatment of a wife is wrong, since wealth is not what provides a person happiness in a marriage, but whether unhappiness and mistreatment. After Joe’s death, Janie tears “off the kerchief from her head and [lets] down her plentiful hair”, describing her independence from an abusive man and her character development into a stronger woman (Hurston 87). However, Janie ties her hair back up again and irons her face, “forming it into just what people [wants] to see”, which shows how even after her husband’s death, she is not completely free and is bound by the society to her husband since she is “weak” without a man (Hurston 87). Janie’s failed second marriage helps the author get closer to her thematic message, that wealth, when associated with men’s masculinity, causes women to be weaker and limits them from achieving their own dreams.
Even though Tea Cake believes in a mutual relationship compared to the other two men in Janie's life, Tea Cake’s insecurity to prove himself good enough for Janie because of his lack of money causes Janie to fail in gaining full control of her life.

As Tea Cake teaches Janie how to play checkers and fish, Janie feels the “moon rise” and “[beams] out with light” when she sees Tea Cake (Hurston 99,101). These symbols of light portrays the spark Janie has been missing in a husband, which proves that Tea Cake is different, and he is so to speak, the right man for Janie. However, as Tea Cake treats Janie greatly and maintain a mutual and beautiful relationship, he often feels the need to express his masculinity through wealth because of the society’s comments that Tea Cake is after Janie’s money, “throwin’ away whut Joe Starks worked hard tuh git tuhgether” (Hurston 111). Therefore, Tea Cake feels the need to use every method he can, such as gambling through violence, in order to earn money for Janie and prove the society that he is worth a husband of Janie; Even though Janie has money in her back, Tea Cake remarks that he does not “need no assistance tuh help [him] feed [his] woman” (Hurston 128). His declaration shows that the society pressures Tea Cake to associate masculinity with wealth once again, and often use means that are unneccessary in order to achieve the money. Because of Tea Cake’s insecurity that he is not wealthy enough to be a qualified husband, he expresses his masculinity through abuse and whips Janie, since “[whipping] her reassured him in possession”, even though the author’s descriptions make it clear that Tea Cake is not a kind of a man who will beat his wife (Hurston 147). As Tea Cake maintains a relationship with Janie, by treating her well sometimes and beating her the other times to prove his dominance, he at last dies after saving Janie’s life by getting bitten by a mad dog. After Tea Cake’s death, Janie feels peace as she “[pulls] in her

horizon like a great fish net... from around the waist of the world...over her shoulder”; the horizon over her shoulders symbolize the experience and the power Janie contains, and her final independence (Hurston 193). Janie finally finds how to love herself and realizes that she does not need a husband to be a strong woman. By Janie’s last marriage, the readers are finally able to understand that the association of wealth with masculinity and dominance pressures a man to act unlike himself and ultimately cause the wife to lose her identity and freedom.
Zora Neale Hurston, through her novel, successfully proves that the reason the world often views women as weak and dependent on men is because men are always associated with the power, the wealth, and the dominance. The author convinces her overarching message, through the three marriages, that without a woman, men are unable to achieve their ships with their “wish on board” to come “in with the tide” (Hurston 1). Marriage with Logan Killicks ended as a failure because Janie did not help Logan with anything. Joe Starks was able to achieve all his dreams and become a “big voice” because Janie kept the store for him, and people respected Joe more because of Janie. However, he ended up dying unhappily because he refused to receive help from Janie at the end. In the marriage of Tea Cake and Janie, Tea Cake's position in the society rises because of Janie’s reputation as Mrs. Mayor and her wealth. Furthermore at the end, Tea Cake was able to die peacefully and quickly, instead of dying a painful death with his mad disease, because Janie shot him. In the last chapter of the book, Janie remains to wear her overalls and work at the muck, which shows how she is continuing Tea Cake's dreams or perhaps that has become Janie's dream. In conclusion, this shows that women are even stronger than men since they are the ones who are almost letting the men achieve their dreams and without the women’s help, a men’s dreams become a failure, such as Logan’s. However, the society fails to see the "behind the scenes" and only praises men for their achievements since they are the ones who actually get their names recognized, even though women are always the ones behind them helping and guiding them through their dreams. This failure of recognition of women’s power and ability causes the current social issues, such as wage gaps, sexism, and stereotypes of masculinity and femininity.