In the novels, Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, there are similar conflicts between the parental figure of a main character and the main character. Both conflicts in the novels stem from the parental figure not having control and authority over their family and forcing their beliefs onto those they are raising.
In Their Eyes Were Watching God the conflict between Janie and her grandmother, Nanny, is one for power; power over Janie’s life. To understand why Nanny has a great desire to control Janie it must also be understood what power Nanny has given up. She had lived through slavery and she “didn’t want to be used for a work-ok and a brood-sow” (Hurston 16). She was tired of not having the personal freedom that she had been wishing for. After her daughter was raped and had given birth, Nanny “Couldn’t git her to
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stay here and nowhere else” (Hurston 19). She had relinquished the hold over her daughter and transferred it to Janie. Nanny, who had no authority over herself for years and no authority over her daughter, in her old age, finally had someone that was bound to listen to her and she put that into practice. To keep her domination over Janie she began to spin the world so it was as small as her thumb, to make it so that Janie wouldn’t yearn for the world that Nanny knew was out there. Janie’s grandmother shaped her personality. To Janie, her grandmother had “pinched it (the horizon) in to such a little bit of a thing that she could tie it around her granddaughter’s neck” (Hurston 89) and made the world seem small so Janie wouldn’t seek it. The strife between grandmother and granddaughter starts by Nanny smothering the sparks before they had a chance to start a fire and the sparks fighting back. Nanny wanted Janie to conform to her standards and when she didn’t, Nanny forced her into a marriage that she didn’t want and subsequently, into a life that she didn’t want. In Bless Me, Ultima a similar thing happens with Maria Marez and her son Antonio but with different outcome.
Maria had no authority over her restless family. The source of the conflict between Antonio and Maria originates from her oldest sons taking to going where they please and not caring about their parent’s wishes. The burden of pleasing their parents passes from the eldest sons to the youngest one. With the sole duty of pleasing his parents, Tony internally rebels against their wishes instead seeking to set to rest his churning mind by seeking his own beliefs. His brothers console themselves about abandoning their family by saying that “Tony will be her priest” (Anaya 36) and not knowing that the “dreams of their father and mother [haunt] them” (Anaya 36) also haunted Antonio. Having the responsibilities of his brothers and his family shape the way he grows and thinks. He isn’t just thinking about himself he also has the problems of redeeming his family on his head. Through the story and through Ultima Tony realizes that he is not bound by obligations and can instead shape his own
beliefs. Tony decides to not forsake either the family of his mother or of his father. His mother forcing him to believe in the things she believes guides him to do the opposite. Instead of agreeing with the beliefs he grew up with he changed them. In both Bless Me, Ultima and Their Eyes Were Watching God the main character ends up fighting the fate that had been chosen for them. Rather than conforming to her grandmother’s wishes and staying married, Janie ran off with another man. And rather than becoming a Luna or a Marez, Tony embraces both. They do not let their parents beliefs shape them. The source of conflict between mother and son and grandmother and granddaughter originates from the parental figures forcing their beliefs on the ones they are supposed to be guiding and then having the beliefs denounced by the ones they raised.
In the book, Bless Me Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya, Antonio Maréz has Ultima come into his life and shape who he grows to be. She watches over him and teaches him many things about life. In this story there are many literary elements and symbols, which help Antonio along the way.
In “Their Eyes Were Watching God” Hurston tells the story of Janie, a black woman who because of her grandmother experiences and beliefs was forced to marry into a loveless marriage with Logan Killicks. Logan Killicks was a hard-working farmer who had 60 acres of land and could financially provide for Janie.
In Zora Neale Hurston's novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God the character of Nanny dies in the beginning of Janie's adventures, but her influence is felt throughout the book. In this way, she is a minor character with effects on the major character. This makes Nanny important. The reader learns a lot about Nanny in last paragraph of chapter two, mainly from her dialogue, including unique syntax and diction, and imagery.
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
"Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone. Dawn and doom was in the branches" (8). When Janie was a teenager, she used to sit under the pear tree and dream about being a tree in bloom. She longs for something more. When she is 16, she kisses Johnny Taylor to see if this is what she looks for. Nanny sees her kiss him, and says that Janie is now a woman. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie, the main character, is involved in three very different relationships. Zora Neale Hurston, the author, explains how Janie learns some valuable lessons about marriage, integrity, and love and happiness from her relationships with Logan Killicks, Joe Starks, and Tea Cake.
Another example of the evolution of Tony's sense of good and evil through the utilisation of setting is Tony's own home. To him, his home provided him with warmth and safety. This was due to the people who lived in the house. Antonio's father creates a sense of protection in the home. When Tenorio and his men come to he house to take Ultima away, Tony's father "would let no man invade his home" (pg 123). This gave Tony faith that as long as his father was around, he would be protected. Antonio's mother made home a loving and caring place to be. She would always baby Antonio and give him the affection he needed whenever he needed it. The morning after Tony had seen Lupito killed, Ultima tells Tony's mother not to be too hard on Antonio; he had a hard night last night. His mother puts her arms around Tony and holds him saying he "is only a boy, a baby yet" (Pg.28). The Virgin also makes the atmosphere of Antonio's home peaceful and protected. Tony loves the Virgin Mary because "she always forgave" (Pg. 42). Tony thought she was "full of a quiet, peaceful love" (Pg.42) which she filled the home with. The most important person who contributed to the goodness of Antonio's home was Ultima. She made Antonio feel as though her presence filled the home with safety, love, and a sense of security. When Tony saw Lupito get killed, it was Ultima who calmed him. Whenever he had a nightmare, Ultima was there to comfort Antonio and "[he] could sleep again" (Pg.
Characters: Ultima- An old Curandera who comes to spend her last days with Antonio and his family. She is Tony’s mentor and helps him to find the right path for his life.
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie Crawford confronts social and emotional hardships that shape who she is from the beginning to the end of the novel. Living in Florida during the 1900s, it was very common for an African American woman to face discrimination on a daily basis. Janie faces gender inequality, racial discrimination, and social class prejudice that she is able to overcome and use to help her develop as a person.
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.
His mother, Maria, introduces him to Catholicism by sending him to catechism and church. Maria dreams that he will assume a role in her family and become a farmer and even a priest to lead her people. However, his father, Gabriel, expects him to become a vaquero and hopes this free spirited persona will travel with him to California. Ultima is Antonio’s most influential role model. She is a medicine woman who guides and teaches him tolerance and the importance of making his own decisions.
Their Eyes Were Watching God is a story about identity and reality to say the least. Each stage in Janie's life was a shaping moment. Her exact metamorphosis, while ambiguous was quite significant. Janie's psychological identification was molded by many people, foremost, Nanny, her grandmother and her established companions. Reality, identity, and experience go hand in hand in philosophy, identity is shaped by experience and with experience you accept reality. Life is irrefutably the search for identity and the shaping of it through the acceptance of reality and the experiences in life.
Throughout the novel Bless Me,Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, Antonio’s Parents had an adamant ideal of how they wanted their children to live their lives. Maria, his mother, wanted her children to follow the way of her Luna family. Gabriel, his father, wanted his children to travel to California with him. Maria wanted Antonio to become a priest. “Her own dream was that I should grow up and become a priest” (Anaya 5). His father had a dream to move to California. “My father’s dream was to gather his sons around him and move westward to the land of the the setting sun, to the vineyards of California”(Anaya 14). His parents had two different ideas on what they wanted their children to do which stirred up the pot in the house because of it. As a young child growing up he was very conflicted on how he wanted to live his life especially because he didn't want to disappoint his parents. This made a confliction within Antonio’s Identity. Another dream of his mother is that Antonio gets
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.
He takes a necklace for his Gina, who is now grown into a beautiful young women and one thousand dollars’ cash for his mother. His sister is very excited to see him, but his mother not so much. His mother knows how he is making his money and is disgusted. She refuses the money he tries to give her and throws him out. This part of the movie shows a small glimpse into Tony’s past. A conversation between him and his sister, reveals that he was in the army with the communists and that is father abandoned them. It shows his deep love and protection for his sister as well as hers for him. He is able to sneak the money to her. Manny makes small comment about how beautiful Tony’s sister has become and Tony’s rage surfaces, instructed Manny to keep his mouth shut and to stay away from his