Self-knowledge. The one thing that cannot be taught; the one thing that many adults cannot seem to grasp. In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie, a middle-aged African American woman, recounts her quest of love. As the quest progresses, Janie, through her relationships, begins to find her definition of love, while Hurston establishes that it is up to the individual to find out what love truly is. Through her first husband, Logan Killicks, the quest’s stated task of finding love within a relationship disappears. In the beginning, Nanny, Janie’s grandma, wants Janie to marry Logan. After talking to Nanny, Janie concludes “that she would love Logan after they were married…Nanny and the old folks had said it, so it must be so” (Hurston 21). Janie believes that her mentors can determine whom she loves. She lacks self-knowledge, which in this case, is her own definition of love. Soon, Janie finds out that she does not love Logan. She understands that “the familiar people and things had failed her… marriage did not …show more content…
When Tea Cake and Janie meet, he shows Janie how to play checkers. When he does this, Janie “found herself glowing inside… [she] got little thrills from every one of his good points” (Hurston 96). Janie feels equal to Tea Cake, as a result, she got “little thrills” from his “good points”, an early indication of love. After marrying Tea Cake, Janie understands that she found true love. She tells Tea Cake that “you come ’long and made somethin’ outa me.” (Hurston 167). Janie has found self-knowledge, that for her, love is when she feels that something is made out of her, when she feels improved and equal. Janie finally experiences true love; she was the individual who found out what love is for themselves and gained that self-knowledge. Afterwards, she is truly happy and enlightened, which suggests that those who find their true definition of love will be like
After this incident he continually puts Janie back in her place and allows her no authority, which causes her to relinquish her love for him. After his death, Janie is once again longing for power, which she finds in her love for Tea Cake. Tea Cake is younger than her, which automatically gives her more authority. He also loves her, an older woman, and that also gives her a sense of more power. She follows her power, and consequently her love, to the Everglades.
Scene: Janie’s loneliness, desire for marriage and naive nature leads her to an ill-advised, and as a result brief, marriage to an older man named Logan Killicks. This demonstrates both her love longing and her lack of experience with love. Still, terrible as the marriage is, it is a learning experience.
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
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
Though Janie had three marriages in total, each one drew her in for a different reason. She was married off to Logan Killicks by her Grandmother who wanted her to have protection and security. “Tain’t Logan Killicks Ah wants you to have baby, its protection.” (Hurston 15) says Janie’s grandmother when Janie said she did not want to marry Logan. Though Janie did not agree with her grandmother, she knew that she just wanted what’s best for her. Next, she married Joe Starks, Janie was unsatisfied with her marriage to Logan so Joe came in and swept her off her feet. Janie did not like the fact that Logan was trying to make her work, so Joe’s proposition, “You ain’t never knowed what it was to be treated like a lady and ah want to be de one tuh show yuh.” (Hurston 29) was too good to pass up, so she left Logan and married Joe. Janie’s last marriage was to Tea Cake. Fed up after having been treated poorly by Joe, Janie finally found someone who liked her for who she was. “Naw, ...
Of least significance to Janie is her first husband, Logan Killicks. Hurston uses pathos to show that Janie and her first husband are not meant to be even though society thinks otherwise. Nanny thinks that Logan is really made for Janie, but Janie doesn’t love Logan. Janie tells Nanny, “Cause you told me Ah
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
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.
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.
First, Janie’s failing love endeavors with her first two husbands. The first ideas about love that Janie was exposed to was those of her grandmother, Nanny. Her grandmother saw that Janie was entering womanhood and she didn't want Janie to experience what her mother went through (getting pregnant without being married). So Nanny went out to marry her as soon as she can. When Janie asked about love, Nanny told her that marriage makes love and she will find love after she marries Logan which was the old man that has been interested in Janie for a long time. Nanny believed that love was second to security and stability.
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.
Hurston’s Their Eyes were Watching God follows a black woman trying to find true love while hindered by a variety of factors: nature, class differences and men, who oppress her the most. In fact, the main character, Janie, had two husbands which mistreated her. As an exception, Tea Cake, her third husband, helps Janie to accomplish inner peace and allows her to flourish into her own character. However, Janie would not have found Tea Cake had she not realized her life’s intent under her Grandmother’s pear tree and chased that dream. It is when Janie realizes her dream under the pear tree where Hurston establishes that self-revelation is reached only by chasing dreams.
Zora Neale Hurston, through her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, was trying to teach her readers that in every relationship there is a dominant person, and a submissive one. Whether the relationship is romantic, or with a friend or acquaintance, there is always a person who is more dominant, and feels more powerful. Power in a relationship is distinguished often between genders, race, and popularity or likeability of people. In these relationships, there is an unbalanced distribution of power because for a long time men were believed to be superior to women, some races are considered inferior to others, and people who are more attractive and well liked will often have the adoration, attention, and support of peers, which provides them with more power in society.
had for Janie was more of a lust than a love. He was very protective of