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How women are portrayed in american literature
Representation Of Women In Literature
Representation Of Women In Literature
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If it is wrong to judge people on the color of their skin, then it should be equally wrong to judge people on their sex. Feminism is described as the movement to end sexist exploitation, sexism and oppression. The feminism in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God (TEWWG) is obvious and is presented through Janie. Janie represents aspects of feminism when she takes the initiative to liberate herself from each of her three relationships.
Through her marriage with Logan Killicks (Janie's first husband), Janie starts to deviate from the patriarchal tradition when he tries to use her to "increase his profits" rather than treating her as a companion. An example of this deviation occurs when Logan travels to Lake City to buy a second mule that Janie can plow behind in the potato field because potatoes are "bringin' big prices" (Hurston 27). When Janie refuses to work at his command, saying it isn't her "place" to do so, he tells her, "You ain't got no particular place. It's wherever Ah need yuh" (Hurston 31). After this statement is made Janie feels like she most escape from this marriage or suffer from being treated like the mule she is not. To free herself from her marriage with Killicks she had to first strip away the symbolic representation of the marriage. Janie proceeds to do just that with Logan and lets him know “he ain't done her no favor by marryin' her" (Hurston 31). By refusing to conform to Logan’s rule and deviating from the patriarchal tradition Janie finds herself as woman, but it is not until she accepts her responsibilities and duties that she becomes a woman. This is a feminist action because Janie is willing to leave a husband who makes her unhappy, which was very rare for women in the 1930's. While ma...
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...e relationship by entering an alternate, she remains autonomous.
While there are numerous diverse hypotheses in respect to what message Zora Neale Hurston expected to pass on in TEWWG, a standout amongst the most significant messages in the novel is the part of woman's rights and finding toward oneself of ladies. Hurston exhibits this sensation all around her novel through the courageous woman, Janie. I accept that Janie takes in an extraordinary arrangement through her relational unions and it is through these three men that she can create feminist propensities. With every marriage she progressively practices her entitlement to settle on choices for herself. Notwithstanding beginning with a marriage that she is constrained into, before the end of the novel Janie rises as a character that remembers she had " the rest of her life to do as she pleased" (Hurston 89).
Logan, her first husband, treated Janie like a helper. He wanted her beside him working on the farm and the inside house working in the kitchen. Logan believed he did a great deed by marrying Janie and felt like she didn’t appreciate him enough. One day after an argument where Janie threatens to leave him, Logan asked her to help move manure on the farm, but Janie refused to help. This started a small argument where Janie told Logan that he's only angry because she doesn’t help take care of his 60 acres of ground,’ and that he didn’t do her a favor by marrying her. "Mah mamma didn't tell me Ah was born in no hurry. So whut business Ah got rushin' now? Anyhow dat ain't whut youse mad about. Youse mad 'cause Ah don't fall down and wash-up dese sixty acres uh ground yuh got. You ain't done me no favor by marryin' me. And if dat's what you call yo'self doin', Ah don't thank yuh for it. Youse mad 'cause Ah'm tellin' yuh whut you already knowed." These words hurted Logan, she attacked his ego and his manhood. He saw this as Janie demeaning his farm and implying that she was not happy that they got married. Logan responded by threatening to kill Janie with an ax and saying he’s too hard working for anyone in her family. "Don’t you change too many words wid me dis mawnin’, Janie, do Ah’ll take and change ends wid yuh. Heah, Ah just as good as take you out de white folks’ kitchen and set you down on yo’ royal
All over the world, marriage is one of the main things that define a woman’s life. In fact, for women, marriage goes a long way to determine much in their lives including happiness, overall quality of life whether or not they are able to set and achieve their life goals. Some women go into marriages that allow them to follow the paths they have chosen and achieve their goals while for other women, marriage could mean the end of their life goals. For Janie, the lead character in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, who was married twice first to Joe sparks, and to Vergile Tea Cake, her two marriages to these men greatly affected her happiness, quality of life and pursuit of her life goals in various ways, based on the personality of each of the men. Although both men were very different from each other, they were also similar in some ways.
Janie’s first marriage was to Logan Killicks, an accomplished middle aged farmer. Her grandmother wanted Janie to be financially set and be protected, so she pretty much forced Janie into marrying Logan. With her grandmothers rough past of being a slave and all she did not wa...
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, ...
One of the underlying themes Zora Neale Hurston put in her book, Their Eyes Were Watching God was feminism. Hurston used each of Janie’s three marriages to represent Janie moving closer to her liberation and freedom from male dominance. She finally found her liberation and became truly independent after graduating from her final relationship with Tea Cake by killing him.
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.
The contrast of these two places reinforces the theme of a search for love and fulfillment. To see what an ideal situation for an independent woman like would be, Hurston must first show the reader what Janie cannot deal with. Hurston has her character Janie go on a quest, one that was begun the day she was forced to marry Logan Killucks. The contrast in the setting is similar to one between good and evil.
Janie in her first marriage is her far from mesmerized with her husband's 60 acre land. The incompatibility between her and Logan ultimately cause the marriage to fail. Logan being described as old and ugly is in contrast to the beautiful young Janie. With the age difference comes the difference in perspectives. Logan's first wife obviously held her own weight: "Mah fust wife never bothered me 'bout choppin' no wood nohow. She'd grab dat ax and sling chaps lak uh man" (Hurston 26). He implies that Janie should be more like his first wife and that she needs to be more helpful around the house. Janie thinks otherwise: "You don't need mah help out dere, Logan. Youse in yo' place and Ah'm in mine" (Hurston 31). Janie thinks this way because that is the way she was taught. At this point, she starts realizing that he is seeing her more as an object rather than a person. Granny really took care of her and so Logan implying that she needs to work harder is something that bothers her. Janie fails to experience the love that she expects comes with marriage especially when Logan stops "talking in rhymes" (Hurston, 26 ) to her not far into the relationship. As a young woman, feeling...
Marriage is a concept that society takes extremely inaccurately. It is not something one can fall back from. Once someone enter it there is no way back. In Zora Neale Hurston’s short story “Sweat” she tells the story of Delia, a washerwoman whom Sykes, her husband, mistreats while he ventures around with other women and later attempts to kill Delia to open a way for a second marriage with one of his mistresses. By looking at “Sweat” through the feminist and historical lens Hurston illustrates the idea of a sexist society full of men exploiting and breaking down women until men dispose of them.
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...
In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, the character of Janie Crawford experiences severe ideological conflicts with her grandmother, and the effects of these conflicts are far-reaching indeed. Hurston’s novel of manners, noted for its exploration of the black female experience, fully shows how a conflict with one’s elders can alter one’s self image. In the case of Janie and Nanny, it is Janie’s perception of men that is altered, as well as her perception of self. The conflict between the two women is largely generational in nature, and appears heart-breakingly inevitable.
Hurston portrays women as independent and capable of infinite possibilities. Many aspects contribute to how an author, male or female, portrays his or her female characters. Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Wharton, and Hurston all illustrate their own perception of women based upon personal experience and social acuity of their particular era. The portrayal of women in American Literature is based solely upon an author’s personal opinion and interpretation and does not necessarily symbolize the true spirit and quintessence of women as one. Bibliography:..
Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, fictional or philosophical dissertation. It helps to explain the main nature of gender inequality. It further explains the social roles of women in the society such as education, communication, philosophy, sociology and so on (Chodrow, Nancy 1991).
Misandrists. Extremists. Radical Feminists. These are all forms of extreme feminists, associating themselves with the movement when they are the ones responsible for creating a negative and unfair image of ‘Feminism’. The mere word attracts raised eyebrows and queer looks - the only reason being that its true definition has been buried by women who take it too far. Many people are ignorant of the movement, but they aren’t aware that gender inequality is an on-going issue. Without a doubt, this movement needs to be given more significance as women’s oppression exists to this day.
In the 19th century, there was an up rise in feminism for their social role in life. Women were expected to be an average house wife, to take orders from their husbands without questioning them. The woman did not have privileges such as right to vote, to be educated, be free spirited and hold jobs. They lived in patriarchal society where man made all the decision in the household and his wife followed them. The inequality between the genders created frustration amongst females, of which after a prolonged mental impact they revolted. It can be said that the ambition for women to fight for their rights sparked the feminist movement. This movement was based on set of viewpoints, political ideologies, cultural and moral beliefs where women felt compelled to obtain their given rights. The feminist movement was a multi-facet of waves, each of which left an impression to the issues in relation to social status, legal inequalities, and liberation.