Their Eyes Were Watching God is a novel written by Zora Neale Hurston originally published in 1937. Janie Crawford is the focus of the story, which follows her across post-Civil War Florida on her journey for womanhood. In the opening Janie comes back home a middle-aged woman, greeted by her friend Phoeby. Janie never knew her parents and instead was raised by her grandmother, referred to as “Nanny”. As Janie launches herself into the real world, she goes through 3 marriages with Logan Killicks, Joe Starks, and finally Tea Cake. Logan treats Janie like a mule, working her on his farm. Joe pampers Janie and restricts her lifestyle on account of her gender. But with Tea Cake, it seems that Janie finds a perfect soul mate who can lead her to freedom. …show more content…
Janie and Tea Cake travel to a place called the Everglades where Janie has the best time of her life. At the climax a Hurricane ravages the town and Janie is forced to kill Tea Cake after he is bit by a rabid dog. In the Resolution Janie finds peace and independence as the memory of Tea Cake fills her with joy and strength. Psychological theory involves delving into the minds of the characters in a story, attempting to identify behaviors and their causes.
Through observations and analysis a diagnosis can be formed about the character being studied. For this particular case, I use the Freudian method of psychological theory, which is centered on relationships between the parent and the child. These relationships are concentrated into a concept called the Oedipus-complex: A conflict which results from children of the male gender wishing to have the mother, and female children wanting to have the father. For females specifically, the conflict is referred to as the "Electra complex". The main issue is the other parent. The father already has the mother, and the mother already has the father, giving unwanted obstacles for the children. This roadblock manifests itself in the child as hostility towards the parent of the other gender (Mahony …show more content…
6). The characteristics of Janie’s journey can be fashioned into an Electra-Complex style framework where parental relationships influence her. However, in sewing Janie’s tale Hurston strays from the traditional direct confrontation between the child and the parent. Instead a unique dynamic is created where the influence comes from the absence of parental figures, rather than their presence. Janie’s conflict with her Grandma is a twist to the Electra-complex. Normally Janie would be competing with her mother for affection, but Nanny has taken her place. The conflict is not even immediate as Janie does not compete with Nanny for anybody. Instead the dispute is formed from the different approaches that Janie and Nanny take in handling romantic relationships: “Janie’s romantic vision, and her grandmother’s pragmatic grounding in reality” (Hubbard 171). Nanny’s harsh experiences with slavery, as well as the rape of Janie’s mother, have led her to become apprehensive when dealing with men. Nanny is cynical about the world and how women are treated. In Nanny’s eyes, the best hope is to encourage Janie to marry someone powerful so that she will be protected from abuse and neglect. However, Janie has little experience with love affairs and is willing to happily jump into marriage with poor Logan, thinking that if she had it, “She wouldn’t be lonely anymore” (Hurston 21). It is clear that Janie and Nanny are at opposite ends of the spectrum here; there is no room for compromise. Thus these two women are at an impasse all story long, with a majority of the clash being philosophical rather than sexual. A void gradually formed in Janie’s heart as she grew up without a father.
Over the years Janie tried to find a man to fill this fatherly gap. Her attachment to Logan was short lived, since he treated her as nothing more than a farmhand without showing much affection. Things start getting interesting when Janie meets Joe Starks. After Janie dumps Logan, she skips over to Joe’s carriage where she expects to have “flower dust and springtime sprinkled over everything” (Hurston 33). Unfortunately Joe Starks turns out to be nothing more than an overprotective father who is trying to silence Janie's rebellious spirit. For a while Joe maintains control, but eventually Janie breaks free and is off to find another father figure. The marriage with Joe is a landmark because the Electra-complex has a symptom that Janie displays frequently. The Electra-complex is not limited to birth parents, but is a behavior that can be “repeat[ed] variously with others in...later life” (Mahony 6). Janie fails to find a husband that can truly satisfy her fatherly needs, so she keeps looking for more. Then she meets Tea
Cake. Tea Cake is everything that Nanny wanted Janie to avoid. His nonchalance and obnoxious lifestyle would make Nanny turn over in her grave, but Janie chose him because he was different than Logan and Joe. Tea Cake showed Janie a good time without the cost of a curfew or unnecessary chores. On top of that he remained loyal to Janie from start to finish. Despite all this Janie still harbored jealousy towards her new husband when he was seen with a girl named Nunkie. The moment Janie saw these two together, “A little seed of fear [grew] into a tree’’ (Hurston 136). Although the superficial root of this jealousy is marital, the situation can be seen as a competition between children for the favor of the father, Tea Cake. Janie wins the battle and has Tea Cake all to herself, but not for long. Janie’s beloved husband suffers from a fatal dog bite and Janie is forced to kill him. (Hurston 184). Janie returns home and has visions of Tea Cake returning to her. In these visions, Janie looks over Tea Cake’s “unwarranted mistrust” (Bealer 324). This mental behavior resembles a faithful child’s perspective of their father: strong, brave, and flawless. Though the journey was hard, Janie finally found the right father figure to fill the socket in her soul. Through Tea Cake Janie found peace within herself and healed her heart; despite not following her grandmother's advice. It is reasonable to assume that Janie's psychological insecurities are cured at the end of the novel, even if she had to go through three husband-fathers to do it. Although Janie lost Tea Cake physically, his presence made a permanent impact on her: penetrating her mind and purging the guilt, jealousy and loneliness from her soul.
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
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, ...
Janie does so by choosing her new found love with Joe of the security that Logan provides. Hurston demonstrates Janie's new found ‘independence’ by the immediate marriage of Joe and Janie. Janie mistakenly chooses the pursuit of love over her pursuit of happiness and by doing so gave her independence to Joe, a man who believes a woman is a mere object; a doll. By choosing love over her own happiness Janie silences her voice. The realization of Janie's new reality is first realized when Joe states, “...nah wife don’t know nothin’ ‘bout no speech-makin’. Ah never married her for nothin’ lak dat. She’s uh woman and her place is in de home()" Joe is undermining Janie, cutting short any chance for Janie to make herself heard. Joe continues to hide Janie away from society keeping her dependent and voiceless. As Janie matures, she continues to be submissive to her husband, “He wanted her submission and he’d keep on fighting until he felt he had it. So gradually, she pressed her teeth together and learned to hush (71).” Though Janie ‘learned to hush’, and suppress herself, Janie still urges for her voice. When the opportunity came for Janie to reclaim her voice, "But Ah ain’t goin’ outa here and Ah ain’t gointuh hush. Naw, you gointuh listen tuh me one time befo’ you die. Have yo’ way all yo’ life, trample and mash down and then die ruther than tuh let yo’self heah ‘bout
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.
...d feels that she is lucky to have him. Joe Starks, Janie's second husband, seems to be her singing bee when they first meet but she realizes that he is not. When Joe becomes what he strived to be, he tried to control Janie and change her into what he expected and thought for her to be. Only Tea Cake, Janie's final husband, truly cared for the person that she really was and treated her as his equal. He encouraged her to speak her mind and tell him her opinion so that they can gain a better understanding of each other. In the course of these marriages, Janie is lead toward a development of self and when she arrives back in her hometown she has grown into a mature, independent woman who was still left with the warm memories of love and laughter with Tea Cake.
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.
Their Eyes Were Watching God is a story centered on the idea of life cycles. The experiences that Janie faces and struggles through in her life represent the many cycles that she has been present for. Each cycle seem to take place with the start of each new relation ship that she faces. Each relationship that Janie is involved in not just marriages, blooms and withers away like the symbol of Janie's life the pear tree from her childhood.
The movie and the book of Their Eyes Were Watching God both tell the story of a young woman’s journey to finding love; however, the movie lacks the depth and meaning behind the importance of Janie’s desire for self-fulfillment. Oprah Winfrey’s version alters the idea from the book Zora Neale Hurston wrote, into a despairing love story for the movie. Winfrey changes Hurston’s story in various ways by omitting significant events and characters, which leads to a different theme than what the novel portrays. The symbolisms and metaphors emphasized throughout the book are almost non-existent in the movie, changing the overall essence of the story. While Zora Neale Hurston’s portrayal gives a more in depth view of Janie’s journey of self-discovery and need for fulfilling love, Oprah Winfrey’s version focuses mainly on a passionate love story between Janie and Tea Cake.
So many people in modern society have lost their voices. Laryngitis is not the cause of this sad situation-- they silence themselves, and have been doing so for decades. For many, not having a voice is acceptable socially and internally, because it frees them from the responsibility of having to maintain opinions. For Janie Crawford, it was not: she finds her voice among those lost within the pages of Zora Neale Hurston’s famed novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. This dynamic character’s natural intelligence, talent for speaking, and uncommon insights made her the perfect candidate to develop into the outspoken, individual woman she has wanted to be all along.
Lee Coker - Lee Coker lives in Eatonville. He was one of the first people to meet Jody and Janie.
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.
Throughout the movie of Their Eyes Were Watching God, Oprah Winfrey alternates Zora Neale Hurston’s story of a woman’s journey to the point where nobody even recognizes it. The change in the theme, the characters, and their relationships form a series of major differences between the book and the movie. Instead of teaching people the important lessons one needs to know to succeed in this precious thing called life, Oprah tells a meaningless love story for the gratification of her viewers. Her inaccurate interpretation of the story caused a dramatic affect in the atmosphere and a whole new attitude for the audience.
Their Eyes Were Watching God provides an enlightening look at the journey of a "complete, complex, undiminished human being", Janie Crawford. Her story, based on self-exploration, self-empowerment, and self-liberation, details her loss and attainment of her innocence and freedom as she constantly learns and grows from her experiences with gender issues, racism, and life. The story centers around an important theme; that personal discoveries and life experiences help a person find themselves.
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston portrays the journey of Janie Crawford as an African American woman who grows and matures through the hardships and struggles of three different marriages. Although Janie is an African American, the main themes of the novel discusses the oppression of women by men, disregarding race. Janie gets married to three different men, aging from a young and naive girl to a mature and hardened women near the age of 40. Throughout the novel, Janie suffers through these relationships and learns to cope with life by blaming others and escaping her past by running away from it. These relationships are a result of Janie chasing her dreams of finding and experiencing true love, which she ultimately does in the end. Even through the suffering and happiness, Janie’s journey is a mixture of ups and downs, and at the end, she is ultimately content. Zora Neale Hurston utilizes Janie’s metaphorical thoughts and responses of blame and escape, as well as her actions towards success and fulfillment with her relationship with Tea Cake, to suggest that her journey