In “Their Eyes Are Watching God”, Janie finds her voice solely because of her experiences of mutual and natural love.
In the book, Janie fails at finding her voice when she is suppressed with unequal and unnatural love by her first two husbands. Ever since Janie’s incident with the pear tree, Janie has desired to venture out to find mutual and natural love; however, due to her Grandmothers consistent persistence for her to marry a man who would offer her “protection” (15), and protect her from “harm and danger” (13), she marries Logan, a man she describes as “some ole skullhead in the graveyard” (13). Thus, Janie can already feel the mere image of Logan Killicks “desecrating the pear tree” (14). As her marriage progresses, Logan begins to
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objectify and suppress Janie, even forcing her to work in the fields; therefore, Janie never even comes close to the self-revelation she desperately wanted.
Finally, when Joe threatens to “take holt uh dat ax … and kill [her]” (31), Janie leaves and in desperation marries Joe, a man whom “new words would have to be made and said to fit him” (32). Immediately after Joe is pronounced the mayor of the new town, Janie is offered to make a speech; however, Joe claims that Janie “don’t know nothin’ ’bout no speech-makin’” (43), thus further suppressing Janie and indicating that their future relationship will definitely not be based on equal love. Moreover, Joe continues to suppress Janie especially after the mule incident, where Janie makes such a profound speech that she is described as “uh born orator” (58). Thus, every time Janie begins to develop her voice, Joe, out of fear of it, immediately tries to suppress and hide it, leading up to where he forbids Janie to even leave the store. Finally, Janie after now being …show more content…
criticized as looking old, eventually manages to break free of the oppression and begins to slowly start to develop her voice. The magnitude of her undeveloped voice is shown to be tremendous, as she destroys Joe with just one sentence insulting his virility. Overall, Janie is mostly unable to develop her voice and achieve self-revelation under the burden of unequal and unnatural love. In the novel, Janie discovers her voice during her experience of mutual and natural love with Teacake.
From Teacake’s first appearance in the novel, it is evident that their relationship would be equal. Teacake, unlike any other man, offers to play chess with Janie, as he uniquely sees that Janie has “good meat on [her] head” (96). In addition, Teacake encourages the development of Janie’s voice, even telling her that she has “got de world in uh jug” (104) and claiming that “[He is] glad tuh be de one tuh tell yuh” (104). Teacake’s further emphasis on teaching and showing Janie new things further builds her identity. Therefore, Janie’s development of her voice dramatically progresses, evident by the increase of her dialogue and the personalization of the remaining narration. The development of her voice reaches another milestone when she says “Ah done lived Grandma’s way, now Ah means tuh live mine” (114). Janie frees herself from the lifestyle of protection that her Grandmother has desired; instead, she creates her own sense of self, based on mutual and natural love. This love is further manifested by the muck, a place where both of they can just live in the moment and love each other; thus, Janie gets to a point where she can comfortably express her voice, “listen[ing], laugh[ing], and even talk[ing] some herself” (134). However, when Teacake “slap[s] her around a bit” (147) to show others of his dominance, the mutual love goes away; thus, Janie starts to lose her voice,
evident by her lack of dialogue after. Therefore, Janie’s voice is shown to be severely dependent on mutual and natural love. Moreover, after Teacake’s rescue of Janie, she realizes that all men cannot be perfect, consequently forgiving Harry; thus, Janie quickly starts to regain her voice and return in the dialogue. Finally, after the death of Teacake, she feels as if the love has gone, consequently rapidly losing her voice. Her voice has so little impact that none of the court listened; thus, there was “some time before the judge and the lawyer and the rest” (188) noticed that she was finished. However, once she realizes that the love “could never be dead until she herself had finished feeling” (193), she forever finds her voice and embraces it by “drape[ing] it over her shoulder” (193).
Tea Cake is more fun and relaxed than the previous husbands. What’s more important however, is that he views Janie as more of an equal than either of the previous husbands. Both of Janie’s first two husbands viewed Janie almost on the same level as an object, or a piece of property. Tea Cake sees Janie more as an equal and a companion.
If Ah ever gits tuh messin’ round another woman it won’t be on account of her age. It’ll be because she got me in de same way you got me—so Ah can’t help mahself." Tea Cake professes his love to Janie by saying that she is the only woman he thought of marrying. Tea Cake knows that he will be loyal to Janie, but can not control other women's urges to flirt with him. When Tea Cake tells Janie that he is the man in her life he says:"You don’t have tuh say, if it wuzn’t fuh me, baby, cause Ah’m heah, and then Ah want yuh tuh know it’s uh man heah." (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
Janie Crawford’s Quest in Their Eyes Were Watching God Janie Crawford, the main character of Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, strives to find her own voice throughout the novel and, in my opinion, she succeeds even though it takes her over thirty years to do it. Each one of her husbands has a different effect on her ability to find that voice. Janie discovers her will to find her voice when she is living with Logan. Since she did not marry him for love, tensions arise as time moves on and Logan begins to order her around.
In, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the author takes you on the journey of a woman, Janie, and her search for love, independence, and the pursuit of happiness. This pursuit seems to constantly be disregarded, yet Janie continues to hold on to the potential of grasping all that she desires. In, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the author, Zora Hurston illustrates the ambiguity of Janie’s voice; the submissiveness of her silence and the independence she reclaims when regaining her voice. The reclaiming of Janie's independence, in the novel, correlates with the development and maturation Janie undergoes during her self discovery.
Janie’s first relationship was with Logan Killicks. She married him only because she wanted to appease her grandmother. Logan did not truly love Janie, but saw her as an asset to increase his own power. Logan expressed this through several actions. He first tries to use her to "increase his profits" rather than treating her as a wife when he travels to Lake City to buy a second mule so Janie can use it to plow in the potato field because potatoes were "bringin' big prices”. When Janie later refused to work at his command, stating that it was not her place to do so, Logan told her, "You ain't got no particular place. It's wherever Ah need yuh". After Logan told her this, Janie decided she had to either escape or face becoming her husband's mule for life. Janie stood up to her husband. This is a feminist action because Janie is willing to leave a husband who makes her unhappy, which was rare act of independence and defiance for women living in the 1930’s. To free herself from her marriage with Logan Killicks, she only needed to invalidate the elements of his symbolic vision. She recognized that for Killicks marriage was primarily a financial arrangement, and his sixty acres acted both as a sign and guarantee of matrimonial un...
Jody requires that Janie hold her hair in a head rag because it didn’t make sense for her to have it down. In reality, Jody was jealous about how the other men looked at Janie when she had her hair down. In fact, “one night he had caught Walter standing behind and brushing the back of his hand back and forth across the loose end of her braid ever so lightly so as to enjoy the feel of it without Janie knowing what he was doing” (Hurston 55). This infuriated Jody and he ordered Janie to always have her hair tied up when she was in the store because, “she was there in the store for him to look at, not those others” (Hurston 55). Janie’s hair can be seen as a symbol of her independence, but with Jody’s demands, her independence is lost. This inequality only exists for Janie, because she is a woman. She could not make similar demands from Jody, or else she would be punished. However, in her relationship with Tea Cake, Janie is allowed to be somewhat free of gender bias. Tea Cake was the only person that treated her as an equal. It begins with the game of checkers, which Tea Cake sets up himself, a sign that he wanted to play with her and saw her as an
Janie Speaks Her Ideas in Their Eyes Were Watching God In life to discover our self-identity a person must show others what one thinks or feels and speak his or her mind. Sometimes their opinions may be silenced or even ignored. In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, the main character Janie would sometimes speak her ideas and they would often make a difference. The author, Zora Neale Hurston, gives Janie many chances to speak and she shows the reader outcomes.
Janie Crawford, the main character of Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, strives to find her own voice throughout the novel and, in my opinion, she succeeds even though it takes her over thirty years to do it. Each one of her husband’s has a different effect on her ability to find that voice.
When Janie is with Tea Cake she feels complete in all aspects of life, and feels no need to depend on anyone else but him. When Tea Cake passes away we see Janie almost dependent soley upon herself, but she still confides in her best friend Pheoby when she returns
When Tea Cake enters Janie's life, Janie really starts to come out of her shell. She lets down her hair that was kept up the entire time with Starks. This symbolizes Janie letting all her inhibitions out. In finding Tea Cake, Janie has "completed her voyage" of self-discovery. Tea Cake allows her to feel exhilarated and young again. She makes more friends and becomes more social. During this time in her life Janie is an excellent role model for other black women. She does not give a second look at what other people think about her, which is very admirable. This is shown when Hezekiah Potts tells Janie that Tea Cake is too low of a man for Janie yet, she stills persists on seeing him. Many people also think that Tea Cake is courting Janie for her money only. Janie pays no regard to these onlookers though.
At age sixteen, Janie is a beautiful young girl who is about to enter womanhood and experience the real world. Being joyous and unconcerned, she is thrown into an arranged marriage with Logan Killicks. He is apparently unromantic and unattractive. Logan is a widower and a successful farmer who desires a wife who would not have her own opinions. He is set on his own ways and is troubled by Janie, who forms her own opinions and refuses to work. He is unable to sexually appeal or satisfy Janie and therefore does not truly connect with her as husband and wife should. Janie's wild and young spirit is trapped within her and she plays the role of a silent and obeying wife. But her true identity cannot withhold itself for she has ambitions and she wills to see the world and find love. There was a lack of trust and communication between Logan and Janie. Because of the negative feelings Janie has towards Logan, she deems that this marriage is not what she desires it to be. The pear tree and the bees had a natural att...
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.
& 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.
As the novel begins, Janie walks into her former hometown quietly and bravely. She is not the same woman who left; she is not afraid of judgment or envy. Full of “self-revelation”, she begins telling her tale to her best friend, Phoeby, by looking back at her former self with the kind of wistfulness everyone expresses when they remember a time of childlike naïveté. She tries to express her wonderment and innocence by describing a blossoming peach tree that she loved, and in doing so also reveals her blossoming sexuality. To deter Janie from any trouble she might find herself in, she was made to marry an older man named Logan Killicks at the age of 16. In her naïveté, she expected to feel love eventually for this man. Instead, however, his love for her fades and she beco...
Janie steps down from her pedestal to enter a relationship with Tea Cake, but she steps into one built on reciprocity rather than hierarchy. In teaching Janie to play checkers, to shoot, and to drive, and in inviting her to work alongside of him, Tea Cake breaks down the rigid gender definitions that Joe sought to impose. Janie continues to use her voice and her relationship with Tea Cake progresses. Because she is in a give-and-take relationship and she has joined a community on the muck, Janie experiences the freedom of speaking her mind. Hurston emphasizes the joy of this ability to communicate by writing: "Only here, she could listen and laugh and even talk some herself if she wanted to" (Hurson,