“‘Dis sittin’ in de rulin’ chair is been hard on Jody’ she muttered out loud. She was full of pity for the first time in years. Jody had been hard on her and others, but life had mishandled him too” though it was the desire of power that played a huge role in his failure. Joe Starks struggles in many ways to seek power over others by having a vision and taking it into action in order to get his way. This parallels with the life of Zora Neale Hurston in which she lived through the Harlem Renaissance where it has an effect on people due to gender and political views. Joe’s future is envisioned because of how it should be shaped, trying to act the way people think he is like and lures others by his ideas of how it should be done. This shows how …show more content…
In the novel, Joe shapes Janie as if she was a prized possession that he should protect. He orders Janie to do what he thinks it needs to be done to make her look like the “mayor’s wife.” This makes Janie feel like it is keeping them from being “‘natural wid one ‘nother’” (pg.38). His actions show how he is dominating over Janie making her feel “far away from things and lonely” and that a “fear took hold of her”(pg.38). He also has her to have her hair tied up in a rag while working at the store. This makes the other townspeople in Eatonville to wonder if “‘maybe he skeered some de rest of us mens might touch it round dat store’” (pg.41). This show on how Joe puts a constraint on Janie due to the power of the men and the jealousy that is built after he saw Walter touching her hair, making him just want him, only, to see her hair. Joe action also has an effect on the townspeople due to his actions. It was not that he looked very buffed but that “he had a bow-down command on his face” (pg.38). This is shaping the townspeople into what they are when he is mayor, scared and obedient. While he does take his vision into action, he shapes it which then turns against itself like Janie removing her rag after Joe’s funeral to express her …show more content…
He buys things that are necessary to which expresses his wealth. When he arrives at Eatonville with Janie, he immediately buys 200 acres for the town which make Amos Hicks not believe that he actually bought it. This action that he did “irritated Hicks and he didn’t know why” (pg.32) and expresses a powerful position that he's trying to get making him desire more to achieve the power that he wanted. His wealth is part of the vision of his future which makes his achievement of power over others even harder because not everyone agrees with his decisions for the town. His intelligence also plays a role in his “acting” of power. During the celebration of the opening of the store, Tony Taylor decides to make a speech, which he is told that he does not know how to make a speech and it ends with laughter. He then asks Joe to make a speech which is approved by the townspeople and is soon elected to be mayor. This shows how smart and efficient Joe is by bringing his wife, store, and land (pg.34). Joe is prepared to bring and buy everything he can to impress the town to get the position he desired for. Lastly, he acts very superior to others which bothers the townspeople. His superior parallels with a slave master by his orders to Janie and the other townspeople. With Janie, he doesn't let her make a speech when she asked by Taylor, saying that “mah wife don't know nothin’
Many characters throughout the book, the most prevalent being the cynical narrator, Jack Burden, allude to the massive struggle for power that ensues, as well as the inevitable decay thereof among the political giants in All the King’s Men. While Jack gives the pretense of imperviousness, he is sensitive to the signals even as he excuses them. “Doesn’t it all boil down to this? If the government of this state for quite a long time had been doing anything for the folks in it, would Stark…be making so many short cuts to get something done to make up for the time lost all these years in not getting something done?” (125). Jack recognizes that men are corruptible by power, but he justifies this because of the results corruption seems to produce. By the end, however, he comes to better realize that the results are not really auspicious. Power can be used to strive toward worthy goals, and often those goals are achieved to much acclaim, but the end result seldom comes to a positive effect.
The next man Janie has to lean on is Joe Starks. He was a kind of salvation for Janie. He was a well-dressed black man who had worked for “white folks” all his life and had earned enough to travel to a place where black people ran the town. Janie met Joe while she was still married to Logan. She wanted to leave Logan, but I do not think she would have if Joe had not come along. Joe convinced her that He would be better for her to depend on by telling her, “Janie, if you think Ah aims to tole you off and make a dog outa you, youse wrong. Ah wants to make a wife outa you.”(p.28) Janie took this invitation as a way to leave Logan without losing the dependency she needed.
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.
The first time Janie had noticed this was when he was appointed mayor by the town’s people and she was asked to give a few words on his behalf, but she did not answer, because before she could even accept or decline he had promptly cut her off, “ ‘Thank yuh fuh yo’ compliments, but mah wife don’t know nothin’ ’bout no speech-makin’/Janie made her face laugh after a short pause, but it wasn’t too easy/…the way Joe spoke out without giving her a chance to say anything on way or another that took the bloom off things” (43). This would happen many times during the course of their marriage. He told her that a woman of her class and caliber was not to hang around the low class citizens of Eatonville. In such cases when he would usher her off the front porch of the store when the men sat around talking and laughing, or when Matt Boner’s mule had died and he told her she could not attend its dragging-out, and when he demanded that she tie up her hair in head rags while working in the store, “This business of the head-rag irked her endlessly. But Jody was set on it. Her hair was NOT to show in the store” (55). He had cast Janie off from the rest of the community and put her on a pedestal, which made Janie feel as though she was trapped in an emotional prison. Over course of their marriage, he had silenced her so much that she found it better to not talk back when got this way. His voice continuously oppresses Janie and her voice. She retreats within herself, where still dreams of her bloom time, which had ended with Joe, “This moment lead Janie to ‘grows out of her identity, but out of her division into inside and outside. Knowing not mix them is knowing that articulate language requires the co-presence of two distinct poles, not their collapse into oneness’ ” (Clarke 608). The marriage carries on like this until; Joe lies sick and dying in his death bed.
The next man that Janie confides in is Joe Starks. Joe in a sense is Janie's savior in her relationship with Logan Killicks. Joe was a well kept man who worked for "white-folks" all his life and had earned enough money to move himself to a town called Eatonville that was run completely by black people. Janie meets Joe while she is still married to Logan and she begins to lean on him ever so slightly. She has wanted to leave Logan, and she wouldn't have if Joe had not come along. Joe convinced Janie that he would be better off for her by telling her, "Janie, if you think Ah aims to tole you off and make a dog outa you, youse wrong.
After the marriage with Logan she met Joe a man she ran off with after an argument with Logan. Joe was the charisma type when you over with talk and charm that's how he won Janie, but little did she know Joe wasn’t who she thought he was. Joe was a controlling man who thought Janie place should be by his side when she is needed or working in the store. “This business of the head-rag irked her endlessly. But Jody was set on it. Her hair was NOT going to show in the store. It didn’t seem sensible at all”. That was because Joe never told Janie how jealous he was.Joe loved Janie’s hair so much that he hated when other men would look at it, Joe was very controlling to the point he made Janie wear rags on her head to cover up her magnificent hair so other men couldn’t enjoy its beauty. Another instances were Joe took Janie individuality was when she had the chance to speak in public because of Joe becoming mayor “Janie had never thought of making a speech, and didn’t know if she cared to make one at all. It must have been the way Joe spoke out without giving her a chance to say anything one way or another that took the bloom off of things. She had the chance to speak to the people of the town, but Joe didn’t give her the chance to speak because he felt like it wasn’t a woman's place to speak in public. Each of those time Joe took a piece of who Janie was.
Society is constructed of people living together, were many ideas and stereotypical ideas are laid out. Based on the norms that were created, men and women try to act and perform the duties, where others who don’t seem different from that society. People’s ideas and concepts allow work and other activities to be placed into categories based on whether it is feminine or if it is masculine and only men can perform that task. Similarly, in the short story “Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston the protagonist Delia Jones, is both masculine and feminine because of the roles she has taken as a worker and a wife in her marriage relationship explaining how a women can possess both qualities that traditional men and women have.
When handling a controversial subject, it is important to recognize the opinion of everyone, not just of oneself. If an author does not recognize, at least to some degree, the opinion of everyone in their audience, they risk losing the interest of readers whose opinions are different. African American writers must consider how it feels to be an African American to their audience; they must understand that there is no such thing as one identity for an entire race.
Personal motive is visible in two specific situations as a cause of oppression, involving Abigail as well as the Putnams. Abigail Williams, a young woman, is one of the oppressors
"Zora Neale Hurston is Born." history.com. A&E Television Networks, 7 Jan. 2016. Web. 12 Jan.
When first introduced to Joe, Janie falls madly in love with his suave attitude, overflowing charisma and drive for ambition. For these same reasons Janie is driven to hate Joe. This is due to the fact that everything that advantageous activity, comes with an even worse disadvantage. In chapters 6-10 of Their Eyes Were Watching God, his true colors are revealed as a dominating misogynist and it is obvious that he doesn't even consider Janie as a human but rather, a puppet to be controlled and gains energy from others submission.
In the beginning, Joe seems like the perfect man for Janie, he is ambitious and talks as though he can help her find what she is looking for in life. It is not until later in the marriage that Janie realizes that he will only trample out her ability to search for her dreams. The few things that Joe values are power and control, he only married Janie because she was pretty, and completed his image of importance. Being insecure and jealous, Joe wants Janie to just sit in the store and not talk or flirt to anyone. “‘You’se Mrs. Mayor Starks, Janie. I god, Ah can’t see what uh woman uh yo’ stability would want tuh be treasurin’ all dat gum-grease from folks dat don’t even own de house dey sleep in. ‘Tain’t no earthly use. They’s jus’ some puny humans playin’ round de toes uh Time’” (54). Much like Nanny, Joe wants Janie to see herself as better than others. From the outside, it would see that Janie has the “perfect” life with Joe, financial stability, the mayor’s wife, good home, but it does not satisfy her. This only proves further to Janie that wealth and status is not what she is looking for. Joe also helps Janie to find her voice. As Joe gets older he begins to verbally abuse Janie in order to take the attention off of his aging body. “‘Naw, Ah ain’t no young gal no mo’ but den Ah ain’t no old woman neither. Ah reckon Ah looks mah age too. But Ah’m uh woman every inch of me, and Ah know it.
Success is determined by somebody’s dedication to strive for their goals and overcome any obstacles preventing them from reaching their full potential and these themes are present in Battle Royal, Dust Tracks on a Track, and If We Must Die. This theme is shown in the short story, Battle Royal by Ralph Ellison. In Battle Royal, the protagonist has to endure through a battle royal in order to deliver his speech. The speech symbolizes the dreams or goals that people may have and the battle royal symbolizes hardships and adversity. This parallels to the real-world where dreams cannot be achieved easily, one must work hard to achieve it. Dust Tracks on a Road by Zora Neale Hurston also displays these themes. In the story, Hurston lives in a time
Hurston expresses the feeling of restriction through the use of Janie’s hair. When a group of men were talking about the daily gossips surrounding Joe (Jody) Starks, Janie’s jealous second husband someone points out the question to Janie on why she has her hair tied up, hidden away behind a rag. The reasoning
I agree with you where you said that Zora is very optimistic. She is looking for a fun and positive aspect in everything she was doing as “Colored”. Hurston was not bitter by her circumstances unlike other black people, Zora did not mind being colored: In addition, to her the slavery problem ended sixty years before, thus she did not let the racism problems and prejudices enter her being. I like Zora’s views because I think if you give too much importance to a negative issue, you are rather promoting it instead of discouraging it. In my opinion, people should at first focus on what they want such as peace, justice, and equality. Therefore,