In this world, everyone aspires to be someone and everyone sets out on the ultimate journey of trying to find themselves within the chaos. Hurston beings the novel by says one’s dreams are ‘ships in the distance” and she goes on to say how for some, their dreams will forever sail in the distance and for some the swim is worth the work to reach their dreams. In “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, Zora Neale Hurston uses this symbolic image of dreams along with several others to convey the abrupt truth that achieving our dreams is not always going to be easy and she uses Janie Stark’s several marriages to convey the truth that one's identity comes from inside oneself and the difficulty that comes with deciding who is here to hinder the discovery …show more content…
of true identity and who is here to help. In Janie’s early life, she lives with her grandmother whom she calls Nanny. They had it pretty good as Nanny worked for a privileged white family which gave Janie the opportunity to build innocent friendships with the children who lived in the house. For the first 6 years of her life, Janie is a stranger to herself and it is not until after she finds a photograph that she realizes she is ‘different’ from all the others. When first looking at the picture, Janie says she “couldn't recognize dat dark child…” as herself and when she asked “where is me? Ah don’t see me ( Hurston 8)” everyone laughed at her. Realizing she is colored comes as such a shock to Janie because she has lived with the other white children for the first 6 years of her life and she knew no different. It is here that the reader begins to see that Janie does not necessarily find her identity by the color of her skin but rather the community in which she lives and grows in. Seeing Janie’s sense of identity being chipped away at so early in the novel helps the reader to begin to develop the idea that she is in fact very different from all the other young girls of her time in more ways than one. As a young girl, Janie often admires the blossoming of the pear tree in her front yard.
As the novel progresses, the reader begins to see just exactly what the tree means to Janie and how she connects to it. The tree represents the true sense of possibility for her life and the connection she can make between herself and the nature of the world and the feelings of desire and love. Janie first experienced this feeling of awakening under the pear tree right before her kiss with Johnny Taylor. While laying under the tree ‘soaking in the alto chant of the visiting bees, the gold of the sun and the panting breath of the breeze” (Hurston 10) she experiences her first encounter with this “inaudible voice” (Hurston 10). While Janie is processing this sexualized image of the pear tree blossoms she announces “So this was a marriage!” (Hurston 11). This idea that Janie has of marriage and sexual desires is eventually proven wrong with her marriage to Jody but is brought back to life threw her marriage with Tea Cake. Through Janie's marriage to Tea Cake, she discovers that it is indeed possible to have both sexual fulfillment and love in the same relationship and it is here that Janie feels she has finally reached that ship out on the horizon; she has found her true …show more content…
self. Janie’s grandmother also plays a big role in Janie finding her true self. When Janie was just 16, Nanny caught her kissing a young man over the fence one day in the yard and decides right then and there it is time to marry her off to a ‘well off’ local man. Nanny quickly arranged a marriage between Janie and a local man by the name of Logan Killicks, though Janie is not fond of the idea of being married off, she complies knowing that Nanny only as good intentions in mind. Logan Killicks is a controlling man that makes Janie long for freedom and true love. In chapter 4, Logan orders Janie to come from the house and help him move some manure before it gets too hot (Hurston 30). Janie’s replies with a bold “You don’t need mah help out dere, Logan. Youse in yo’ place and Ah’m in mine”. Logan is quick to respond that neither him nor Janie has a “particular place” and that “It’s whenever ah need yuh” (Hurston 30). Janie dneys Logan’s request for her presence in the field and continues with her duties in what she thinks to be ‘her place’; her comfort zone. Her definition of her place differs greatly from Logans as his is wherever he needs her, when and if he does. By putting her in her place, he is ultimatly stripiing her of her identity and freedom and she will not stand for it. Janie reflects upon her marriage with Logan as if “The familiar people and things had failed her o she hung over the gate and looked up the road towards way off.” All of her expectations of love and marriage had been failed as well as her search for her own identity within a loving marriage. “She knew now that marriage did not make love” (Hurston 24). Her embroiled relationship with Logan, Janie has an unquenchable thirst for freedom, away from her trapping husband and his land. She dreams of the horizon where the ship awaits with her dreams of true identity and pure love. (Hurston 1). While still married to Logan, Janie meets a man by the name of Joe Starks who promises her a better life far away from the one she has now.
Janie decides that she has had enough of Logans entrapment and runs off with Joe who soon becomes her second husband. Soon after marrying Joe, Jaine quickly sees that this marriage is no less ensnaring then her last. Joe owns a local store in their town and puts Janie in charge of running it. Early on in the novel the reader learns that Janie is by no means unattractive and one of her most defining qualities is her hair. Her hair is part of her identity and Joe is quick to pick up on this as he notices all the townspeople talking of her long beautiful hair. Filled with jealousy, Joe demands that Janie keep her hair tied up and hidden from the public. The town starts to notice her head-rags and they ask “Whut make her keep her head tied up lak some ole’oman round de store” (Hurston 47)? People already know of her gorgeous hair and all of its identifying glory. It later becomes evident to the reader that the head-rags come from Joes need to control Janie and all that she does. It is a way for him to further control Janie and it is another jealous attempt to keep Janie under control and keep him all for himself. By Janie not being able to showcase her hair, it pushes that idea of true identity and pure love within a marriage even farther into the
horizon. Janie’s final and most rewarding marriage comes when Joe passes and a young man, ten years younger than Janie, comes into town and eventually wins her heart. His name being Vergible Woods, he is quick to earn the nickname Tea Cake. Tea cake is everything Janie has yet to see in a man. He is carefree with a sense of humor and his disregard for social class pull Janie even closer to him. Eventually, after a slow start, Janie sells the store and leaves for Jacksonville to marry Tea Cake. This bold move and marriage to Tea Cake show Janie’s desire for adventure and her ability to keep her hopes held high for love. Through her marriage to Tea Cake, Janie is truly able to fulfill her pear tree dream. “He looked like the love thoughts of women. He could be a bee to a blossom-- a pear tree blossom in the spring. He seem to be crushing scent out of the world with his footsteps” (Hurston 101). The time they spent together helps Janie to eventually realize she is capable of enjoying herself again. After Tea Cake dies, Janie is truly on her own and must become independent and instead of still longing for more she realizes that her happiness and fulfillment must come from within herself. At the beginning of the novel Hurston sets the opening frame with the comparison of dreams being on the horizon and it being a matter of watching them sail farther away or jumping in head first and swimming after them. The very last page, after Janie’s tribute to Tea Cake, Hurston says “Here was peace. She pulled her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder” (Hurston 184). This closing scene not only acts as the closing frame but it demonstrates that Janie is finally at peace. All conflicts have been solved and her pear tree dream has been fulfilled because she was willing to swim for it. Through the many symbols that Hurston incorporates into the tale of Janie’s life and the lessons learned in her several marriages, Hurston conveys the importance of chasing after your dreams and finding yourself within them along the way no matter whom or what tries to stand in your way.
After a year of pampering, Logan becomes demanding and rude, he went as far to try to force Janie to do farm work. It was when this happened that Janie decided to take a stand and run away with Joe. At this time, Janie appears to have found a part of her voice and strong will. In a way, she gains a sense of independence and realizes she has the power to walk away from an unhealthy situation and does not have to be a slave to her own husband. After moving to Eatonville and marrying Joe, Janie discovers that people are not always who they seem to be.
Janie, lead character of the novel, is a somewhat lonely, mixed-race woman. She has a strong desire to find love and get married, partially driven by her family’s history of unmarried woman having children. Despite her family’s dark history, Janie is somewhat naive about the world.
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.
In the beginning years of Janie’s life, there were two people who she is dependent on. Her grandmother is Nanny, and her first husband is named Logan Killicks. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, “Janie, an attractive woman with long hair, born without benefit of clergy, is her heroine” (Forrest). Janie’s grandmother felt that Janie needs someone to depend on before she dies and Janie could no longer depend on her. In the beginning, Janie is very against the marriage. Nanny replied with, “’Tain’t Logan Killicks Ah wants you to have, baby, its protection. ...He done spared me...a few days longer till Ah see you safe in life” (Hurston 18). Nanny is sure to remind Janie that she needs a man in her life for safety, thus making Janie go through life with that thought process.
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
Janie does so by choosing her new found love with Joe of the security that Logan provides. Hurston demonstrates Janie's new found ‘independence’ by the immediate marriage of Joe and Janie. Janie mistakenly chooses the pursuit of love over her pursuit of happiness and by doing so gave her independence to Joe, a man who believes a woman is a mere object; a doll. By choosing love over her own happiness Janie silences her voice. The realization of Janie's new reality is first realized when Joe states, “...nah 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()" Joe is undermining Janie, cutting short any chance for Janie to make herself heard. Joe continues to hide Janie away from society keeping her dependent and voiceless. As Janie matures, she continues to be submissive to her husband, “He wanted her submission and he’d keep on fighting until he felt he had it. So gradually, she pressed her teeth together and learned to hush (71).” Though Janie ‘learned to hush’, and suppress herself, Janie still urges for her voice. When the opportunity came for Janie to reclaim her voice, "But Ah ain’t goin’ outa here and Ah ain’t gointuh hush. Naw, you gointuh listen tuh me one time befo’ you die. Have yo’ way all yo’ life, trample and mash down and then die ruther than tuh let yo’self heah ‘bout
Janie’s character undergoes a major change after Joe’s death. She has freedom. While the town goes to watch a ball game Janie meets Tea Cake. Tea Cake teaches Janie how to play checkers, hunt, and fish. That made Janie happy. “Somebody wanted her to play. Somebody thought it natural for her to play. That was even nice. She looked him over and got little thrills from every one of his good points” (Hurston 96). Tea Cake gave her the comfort of feeling wanted. Janie realizes Tea Cake’s difference from her prior relationships because he wants her to become happy and cares about what she likes to do. Janie tells Pheoby about moving away with Tea Cake and Pheoby tells her that people disapprove of the way she behaves right after the death of her husband. Janie says she controls her life and it has become time for her to live it her way. “Dis ain’t no business proposition, and no race after property and titles. Dis is uh love game. Ah done lived Grandma’s way, now Ah means tuh live mine” (Hurston 114). Janie becomes stronger as she dates Tea Cake because she no longer does for everyone else. Janie and Tea Cake decided to move to the Everglades, the muck. One afternoon, a hurricane came. The hurricane symbolizes disaster and another change in Janie’s life. “Capricious but impersonal, it is a concrete example of the destructive power found in nature. Janie, Tea Cake, and their friends can only look on in terror as the hurricane destroys the
... 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.
Janie’s first attempt at love does not turn out quite like she hopes. Her grandmother forces her into marrying Logan Killicks. As the year passes, Janie grows unhappy and miserable. By pure fate, Janie meets Joe Starks and immediately lusts after him. With the knowledge of being wrong and expecting to be ridiculed, she leaves Logan and runs off with Joe to start a new marriage. This is the first time that Janie does what she wants in her search of happiness: “Even if Joe was not waiting for her, the change was bound to do her good…From now on until death she was going to have flower dust and springtime sprinkled over everything” (32). Janie’s new outlook on life, although somewhat shadowed by blind love, will keep her satisfied momentarily, but soon she will return to the loneliness she is running from.
When Janie was a young girl, she allowed her grandmother’s opinions and beliefs on happiness dictate how she lived her life, which ultimately led to her misery. When Janie was caught kissing Johnny Taylor under the pear tree at the age of sixteen, Nanny told Janie how she wanted her to live her life: “Ah wanted yuh to school out and pick from a higher bush and a sweeter berry. But dat ain’t yo’ idea, Ah see” (Hurston 13). Since she was young, Janie had been mesmerized with the pear tree, the emblem of natural harmony and contentment. She had come to the realization that her dream was to wrestle with life, and just as she was experiencing this freedom, Nanny, the only family she was in contact with, challenged her plans. Nanny took her own experiences as a malnourished slave and condemned Janie to the life in which she was never able to have; Nanny wanted her granddaughter to marry a man with money so that he could support her; she believed that whatever Janie’s assertion of happiness was, was wrong and pointless. When Nanny told Janie that she wanted her to marry a rich man, she spoke with a superior tone that revealed her belittlement towards Janie. She claimed that Janie didn’t know what was best for herself,...
In Hurston's story, Janie symbolically represents the position of a woman in the South who is seen to be confused due to her nature as a woman. She is also married to three husbands at different stages, this represents her development from a dependent person who could not make her own choices and in her last marriage to the Tea Cake she makes her choice independently hence and indication that she has finally developed and gained independence. Also, when her last husband dies she shave her hair and goes backs home (Hurston, 2000), by shaving her hair she symbolized her rebirth from dependent to an independent woman and also it was a symbol of change and a new
& nbsp;   ; Second, Janie sees Logan Killicks' perception of marriage. In the beginning it appears to Janie that Logan is a very nice gentleman, who is. constantly treating her well. However, as time goes on, Janie sees Logan's the "true colors" of the.
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 order to show the changed nature of Janie and Jody, Hurston used descriptive diction to explain how Janie feels about the relationship she is in. She explicates Janie’s character as she describes how “she had no more blossomy openings dusting pollen over her man” (Hurston 72).This image shows how Janie does not care about Jody anymore because of the way he treats her. She uses imagery to symbolize
The novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by, Zora Neale Hurston is a book stretching extensively through the life of a woman named Janie. She is a black women living in the early 1900’s. Of course, this is a time where women are not as respected, especially those of color. This causes a lot of problems for Janie, as well as some of the people in her life because she is such a free spirit. During this period or the Harlem Renaissance the book Their Eyes Were Watching God by, Zora Neal Hurston reflects many similar patterns of the time, as well as many things that strayed from what was considered the norm for the time.