Equality and Inequality in Their Eyes Were Watching God
In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, the author, Zora Neale Hurston, attempts to bring into light problems caused by prejudice. However, as she tries to show examples of inequality through various character relationships, examples of equality are revealed through other relationships. Janie, the novel's main character, encounters both inequality and equality through the treatment she receives during her three marriages.
Janie's first marriage is to Logan Killicks. Logan enters the marriage with a large portion of land. However, Janie enters the marriage with practically nothing. This ends up becoming a relationship based on inequality because Logan starts to use his ownership of the land to control Janie. He tries to make her feel that she owes him for part of the land, which he is sharing with her. What begins as a relationship in which Logan struggles to make Janie happy, turns into a relationship in which Janie is expected to make Logan happy. She is often reprimanded for not doing enough work or for not working in certain areas such as the fields.
It is during that unhappy marriage that Janie meets Jody Stark, who comes along with dreams of power, wealth, and happiness. " De day you puts yo' hand in mine, Ah wouldn't let de sun go down on us single. Ah'm a man wid principles. You ain't never knowed what it was like to be treated lak a lady and Ah wants to be de one tuh show yuh." (Pg.28) Janie is promised that she will be treated quite well. So naturally, she leaves Logan and sets out for a new town with Jody. This relationship can be classified as equal in some aspects. However, for the most part, this too becomes a marriage based on inequali...
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...g which is totally hers. Either her husband already owns it or he earns it. In the marriage to Tea Cake, Janie plays an active role in acquiring the money they use. It belongs as much to her as it does to him.
Overall, these are the main forms of equality shared by Tea Cake and Janie. It is through these equalities, encouraged by Tea Cake, that they are enabled to live happy and fulfilling lives. Never once is Janie made to feel inadequate to Tea Cake, like she is to Logan and Joe. The happiness this has caused in their marriage is best summed up in a quote by Janie describing Tea Cake, " He kin take most any lil thing and make summertime out of it when times is dull. Then we lives offa dat happiness he made till some mo' happiness come along." (Pg.135)
Works Cited:
Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York: HarperPerennial, 1998.
terms of love, he only saw it in terms of free labor. & nbsp; After leaving Logan in search of love, Janie finds Jody Starks. Jody Starks is a thriving politician with a hard work ethic. He says he loves Janie and even treats her the way a queen should be treated. Jody keeps Janie looking prim and proper in the house and store. Jody truly. believes that women should be seen and not heard. Jody believes that in a marriage that the man is boss and the wife should listen to him. He is a true politician; on the outside he appears kind and gentle but from within. he is corrupt. Janie still can't find love and continues her search. & nbsp; The final person that Janie attempts to find love in is Tea Cake.
All three husbands are similar in the way that they all have expectations of Janie as a wife. Logan Killicks, Janies first husband, has expectations of Janie. His motives for his expectations though, are because he wants her to help out on the farm. Logan shows this expectation by saying, “ Naw Ah needs two mules dis yeah. Taters is goin’ tuh be taters in de fall. Bringin’ big prices. Ah aims tuh run two plows, and dis man Ah’m talkin’ ‘bout is got uh mule all gentled up so even uh woman kin handle ‘im” (21). He has the idea that Janie can work with him, Logan makes her carry wood to the house, cut seeds from potatoes, and even move piles of manure. In the same way, Joe Starks expects much from Janie as well. He is motivated by improving his image however, by making Janie Mrs. Mayor Starks she is now Joe’s eye candy. His vision for being a big voice is mainly in Janie’s perfect looks, like in this quote that states, “ Everybody was coming sort of fixed up, and he didn’t mean for nobody else’s wife to rank with her” (34). He expected Janie to be his trophy wife and just look better than everyone else. Tea Cake Woods’ expectations of Janie as a wife is the same as well. He had a different approach on it though, all Tea Cake wanted is for Janie to be his equal and nothing more. His motivation, is love. Tea Cake loves Janie and the way he expresses this is when he says, “Put dat two hundred back wid de rest, Janie. Mah dice. Ah...
Turner fails to realize the extent to which Native Americans existed in the ‘Wilderness’ of the Americas before the frontier began to advance. Turner’s thesis relies on the idea that “easterners … in moving to the wild unsettled lands of the frontier, shed the trappings of civilization … and by reinfused themselves with a vigor, an independence, and a creativity that the source of American democracy and national character.” (Cronon) While this idea seems like a satisfying theory of why Americans are unique, it relies on the notion that the Frontier was “an area of free land,” which is not the case, undermining the the...
" (Ch.18). Tea Cake wants Janie to know that he is nothing like her other husbands, but is perfect for her. Tea Cake is essentially perfect for Janie because he helped her accomplish her her ultimate dream of love. Janie and Tea Cake’s marriage is the key to a good marriage because they treat each other with equality and
When Janie marries Logan, her life is changed completely. She was not only forced into a loveless marriage but she was also forced into a slave like position. Logan sees nothing wrong with the marriage and when Janie complains he responds with, “Ah thought you would ‘preciate good treatement. Thought Ah’d take and make somethin’ outa yuh. You think youse white folks by de way you act” (Hurston, 42). Logan sees marriage much the same way that Nanny does; he believes that because he does not abuse her and provides the necessities that Janie should be happy. According to Tracy L. Bealer’s article “The Kiss of Memory: The Problem of Love in Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God,” “Though Logan does not abuse or violate Janie, even his money proves no protection from unsatisfying labor, as his ominous purchase of a mule ‘all gentled up so even uh woman kin handle ‘im’’ (26) implies the treat of compulsive labor” (316). The physical labor was only one of the problems that Janie had in her marriage with Logan; Logan looked down on Janie for having grown up with and around white people. He would insult Janie by saying, “Considerin’ youse born in a carriage ‘thout no top to it, and yo’ mama and you bein’ born and raised in de white folks back-yard” (Hurston, 40). Logan resented that Janie did not identify with other blacks as a child and saw Janie as his lesser because of this.
To begin with, a husband needs to be honest with his wife. Out of all of Janie’s husbands Tea Cake is the least honest one, but one of the times he does lie to her, but he makes it better. Tea Cake is going everyday and working then spending some nights till late with his friends. Janie wakes up one day finding out that her
By doing this, she has shown the community that a person can not always be happy with material things when she or he is not in love. Janie says, "Ah want things sweet wid mah marriage lak when you sit under a pear tree and think." She shows her grandma that she is not happy with her Janie's next husband, Joe Starks was very nice to her and gave her everything she wanted. When it came to Janie wanting to talk or speak her mind, he would not let her, and that made her feel like she was less of a person than he.
Her marriage to Logan was partially arranged by her grandmother, Nanny. Nanny felt the need to find someone for Janie to depend on before she died, knowing that Janie would no longer be able to depend on her. This is the only time that Janie is relying
Logan sticks to the masculine stereotype roll. He believes that women are in the relationship to cater to any need of their husband. Being the male and the superior one in the relationship, he should be able to live an easy life without much worry. In the beginning of chapter 4, Janie has a flashback of what Logan told her about his last wife a couple months prior. “..."If Ah kin haul de wood heah and chop it fuh yuh, look lak you oughta be able tuh tote it inside. Mah fust wife never bothered me ‘bout choppin’ no wood nohow. She’d grab dat ax and sling chips lak uh man. You done been spoilt rotten." So Janie had told him, "Ah’m just as stiff as you is stout. If you can stand not to chop and tote wood Ah reckon you can stand not to git no dinner. ‘Scuse mah freezolity, Mist’ Killicks, but Ah don’t mean to chop de first chip." “(Hurston 25). Janie believes that marriage consists of both husband and wife doing a little of everything to get the work done. Later in chapter four, Logan calls Janie outside to help her out in the barn. “..."You don’t need mah help out dere, Logan. Youse in yo’ place and Ah’m in mine." "You ain’t got no particular ...
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As a husband, He treated her with respect and love, unlike Joe Sparks. Also, he did not see her as one of his possessions to be seen and never heard, instead he saw her a person capable to learning and understanding. He taught her how to play checkers, handle guns and listened to her opinions. Tea Cakes also had a much different personality from Joe Starks. He was just as hardworking as Joe Starks, but his ambition is not channeled to acquiring more possessions and power. He was content with what he has and strove to provide for him and his wife. While married to Tea Cakes, Janie was able to express herself be free and independent. She was treated with respect and not inferiority hence she is able to make her own decisions for herself and grow as an
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