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“Their Eyes Were Watching God” follows the life of Janie Crawford from a young teenage girl to a old woman who is searching to find true love. Janie story is told through her three marriages. Janie faced many struggles in her marriage like abuse, disrespect and belittlement but doesn't let that stop her. In the end after everything Janie had faced she finally found her self-worth and true independence. This story could be considered a feminist novel through the way their is a big emphasis on gender roles, male dominancy and the way Janie chooses to be happy with her life.
In the book men and women have different roles to adhere to. The women are looked at as weak and is characterized by their relationship to whomever they're with. Women get their power through marriage to rich or powerful men. Like how Janie nanny wanted her to marry Logan because he had land and she would be secure before she dies. Also how when Janie was married to Jody the people in the town respected her and called her “Mrs.Mayor” because of the status Jody had. The men are expected to be
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dominant and in control of the relationship. When Tea Cake became jealous of Mrs.Turner brother he had to hit Janie. The author states “ being able to whip her reassured him in possession” (p.145). That statement introduces the new idea of men deeming women as property like something they own. The men in the story feel as though they have to control everything woman say or do. In Janie second marriage to Jody he is mean and abusive towards her. Jody holds all the power in the relationship. He make sures Janie covers her hair and doesn't let her conversate with the people who sits outside their store. Janie doesn't even try to stick up for herself. The author says “no matter what Jody did, she said nothing. She learned how to talk some and be some” (p.76). Janie had to hold her feelings back a lot to because back then you were supposed to obey your husband because they are seen as “superior”. After Jody dies Janie is finally free to do what she wants. Even though the townspeople did not approve of it Janie still went after Tea cake. The author states “It was after the picnic the town began to notice things and got mad”(p.110). Janie is now doing what makes her happy and doesn't care who isn't happy about it which represents something a feminist would do. Tea cake let's Janie be free and do things she has never done before. Hurston stated Janie says “Tea cake ain't draggin me off nowhere ah don't want tuh go. Ah always did want tuh git round uh whole, but Jody wouldn't low me” (p.112). Tea Cake does`not restrict Janie from anything letting her prosper and be happy for once.The way Tea Cake treats Janie helps her discover what true love feels like. Some may say this isn't a feminist novel because of the way Janie never stood up for herself as a feminist would.
Janie didn't allow herself to have a voice. While Joe, Matt and Janie were riding the mule Joe didn't allow Janie to speak to Matt. The text says “Janie loved the conversation and sometimes thought up good stories but Joe had forbidden her to indulge” (p.63). If Janie were a true feminist she wouldn't have allowed Joe to stop her from speaking to whomever she wanted. When Joe then asks Janie to get him another pair of shoes Janie's wants to resist but states “but ah hates disagreement and confusion, so ah better not talk” (p.67). Here Janie was scared to disobey Jody and still does what he asked of her putting back how she felt because she didn't want to argue with him. Feminist are women who are strong and confident and says what's on their mind here Janie still does not demonstrate
that. This could be considered a feminist novel because of the strong gender roles men and women were to uphold. The women in this story of supposed to be weak and respectful to their husbands basically not having a mind of their own. The men are looked at as superior and powerful. The way male dominance plays a big role throughout the story and how the women are treated as something men own like property and not actual human beings. All these factors that played out in the story can make the readers see this as a feminist novel.
When Janie became the mayor’s wife things have change for her. In the beginning of chapter 7 Hurston describes Janie as being a ‘rut in the road’ ever since she has gotten that title of being the mayor’s wife. “ For a while she thought it was gone from her soul. No matter what Jody did, she said nothing. She had learned how to talk some and leave some. She was a rut in the road. Plenty of life beneath the surface but it was kept beaten down by the wheels. Somethings she stuck out into the future, imaging her life different from what is was, But mostly she lives between her hat and her heels , with her emotional disturbances like shade patterns in the woods-come and gone with the sun. She got nothing from Jody except what money could buy, and she was giving away what she didn’t value” (pg 76). This metaphor shows how the relationship between
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.
In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie is a beautiful African-American woman who wants to explore and find love with a real man. She goes through a few men trying to do this, but at the same time she is unwillingly forced with these men who don’t affiliate with the love she desires. However, when Tea Cake marries Janie she gains self-determination when he expresses his love and affection to her that is qualifying factors of her love expectations. Therefore, Janie learns the value of true love and proves herself as a brave woman.
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.
Like Jay Gatsby, many elements of the paragraph in that opens the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God plays into Janie Crawford and how she fits into the gender roles that Zora Neal Hurston describes and in ways, twists, into the narrative of her novel and in the paragraphs mentioned. With these two different characters in two different stories, the narrator of the paragraph conveys a message and draws the distinctions between men, women and how they attain their dreams and the differences between them in doing so.
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston uses colloquial language to show readers exactly why Nanny raised her granddaughter, Janie Crawford, the way she did. When Janie is sixteen years old, her grandmother wants to marry her. The teen pleads to her grandmother for claims of not knowing anything about having a husband. Nanny explains the reason she wants to see Janie married off is because she is getting old and fears once she dies, Janie will be lost and will lack protection. Janie’s mother was raped by a school teacher at the young age of seventeen, which is how Janie was brought into the world.
In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Lora Neale Hurston, the main character engages in three marriages that lead her towards a development of self. Through each endeavor, Janie learns the truths of life, love, and the path to finding her identity. Though suppressed because of her race and gender, Janie has a strong will to live her life the way she wills. But throughout her life, she encounters many people who attempt to change the way that she is and her beliefs. Each marriage that she undertakes, she finds a new realization and is on a never-ending quest to find her identity and true love. Logan Killicks, Joe Starks, and Tea Cake each help Janie progress to womanhood and find her identity.
In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the main character, Janie, struggles to find herself and her identity. Throughout the course of the novel she has many different people tell her who she should be and how she should behave, but none of these ideas quite fit Janie. The main people telling Janie who she should be is her grandmother and Janie’s 3 husbands. The people in Janie's life influence her search for identity by teaching her about marriage, hard work, class, society, love and happiness. Janie's outlook on life stems from the system of beliefs that her grandmother, Nanny, instils in her during her life.
The marriage with Jody consisted of nothing but oppression towards Janie both physically and mentally and throughout it Janie seemed to take in all the words and pain from Jody in a way to build up to her character at the end. As previously stated, the scene in which Janie realized that Jody was not her answer to the years of confusion she spent with Logan was when Jody humiliated her in front of the townsmen, this behavior however did not change. When it came to simple tasks that anyone may forget to do Jody would immediately point it out to Janie and publically yell at her, “Somebody got to think for women and chillun and chickens and cows. I god, they sho don’t think none theirselves.” (71) In this scene it is most prevalent on how Jody views Janie, like an animal that is owned and has to be guided in order to survive. At this turning point, Janie is almost near erupting to being on her own without any man by her side, however the moment which pushed her to it was the moment the abused turned physical, “He struck Janie with all his might and drove her from the store” (80) At this moment staying with Jody and putting up with Jody’s abuse was no longer an option for Janie, sitting back and allowing the abuse to continue without putting her say in no longer existed and the Janie that would no longer allow this took over the old dependable
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is about a young woman that is lost in her own world. She longs to be a part of something and to have “a great journey to the horizons in search of people” (85). Janie Crawford’s journey to the horizon is told as a story to her best friend Phoebe. She experiences three marriages and three communities that “represent increasingly wide circles of experience and opportunities for expression of personal choice” (Crabtree). Their Eyes Were Watching God is an important fiction piece that explores relations throughout black communities and families. It also examines different issues such as, gender and class and these issues bring forth the theme of voice. In Janie’s attempt to find herself, she grows into a stronger woman through three marriages.
From the beginning of society, men and women have always been looked at as having different positions in life. Even in the modern advanced world we live in today, there are still many people who believe men and women should be looked at differently. In the work field, on average women are paid amounts lower than men who may be doing the exact same thing. Throughout the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston brings about controversy on a mans roles. Janie Crawford relationships with Logan, Joe and Tea Cake each bring out the mens feelings on masculine roles in marital life.
Despite the criticism I may face for this, the novel 'Their eyes were watching God ' in my personal opinion was a cliché story though in its time I 'm sure the novel was a original. Though in today’s time the story and plot are not very initiative. Its works like those film directors such as Tyler Perry based their ideas on, which is a romance gone bad with a strong female character, though this is my opinion of the story. To summarize the story we have a woman named Janie who tells her friend and neighbor Pheoby about all her past romances and how they risen and felled. Due to this novel being more of a romance tragedy most of its ideas and themes tie in with romance. One such idea is that love make people do stupid things other ideas from
The beginning of Janie’s journey is with her marriage to Logan Killicks, a man with tons acres of land to his name, but to Janie’s knowledge, is just an ugly old bag that has a huge lack of any love or companionship for her. For example, when Janie talks to Logan one night about their relationship he only says “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” (30). Logan is emotionally destitute towards Janie in the beginning of the marriage. She cannot relate to him in any way what so ever and they both know it as well. In addition, at a point later on in the marriage Logan asks Janie to help him with chores outside, she replies “you don’t need mah help out dere, Logan. Youse in yo’ place and ah’m in mine,” (31). Not only does Logan have an absence of emotion, he also has an absence of love and he expresses the exact opposite of it through his bitterness and anger for Janie. She can now understand that Logan sees himself as supposedly “higher” than her and she loathes it even more. The marriage between Logan and Janie isn’t equal...
Different social classes come with different perspectives and challenges, usually the belief is that higher society is much happier than those in the lower rank, but not including race into the education does not give all sides of that story. By evaluating parts in Cane by Jean Toomer, Quicksand and Passing by Nella Larsen, and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston story of class and race is being told. Color and classism have gone hand in hand for many years and evaluating the lives of characters that are considered the lowest of the low and yet made it up the totem pole brings up an important discussion. The conflicting ideas of race and class actually encourage racism and ruin the lives of characters in the black bourgeoisie.
...ng it through Grace’s mother and Mrs. Humphrey. The novel depicts this construct of gender identity through society by molding Grace to believe women are subordinate and need to get married and be good housewives to be successful. This construct is seen through emotion as women who are emotional are seen as “abnormal” and sent to asylums, while men had to power to do so. The societal construct of gender identity was seen as men were to bask in their sexuality and be assertive, while women were to be passive and suppress their sexuality. Mrs. Humphrey challenged this construct as she was assertive and the instigator. Lastly, the societal construct of gender identity was challenged through Grace’s mother as she took over the males position of being the provider. Overall, women were looked at as subordinate to men in the Victorian age and Atwood challenged this belief.