Their Eyes Are Watching God Identity Analysis

In Their Eyes Are Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, symbols, themes, and motifs can be found everywhere from the entirety of the book. through the main protagonist, Janie, who is not sure in what she what she wants within a man, she begins embrace her love life to help her find her own self. Through the use of Janie’s hair, Hurston helps express the motif of restriction, opposition, and freedom to convey the symbolism of power and identity.
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

is Starks had witnessed another man playing with Janie’s hair, to which Starks “felt like rushing forth with the meat knife and chopping off the offending hand.” having his jealousy uncontrollable is infuriated by his lack of communication with Janie, demanding her to cover up her hair. Janie’s most distinct mark of beauty is her hair, and now that Stark’s senses that her beauty is a cause of concern, Starks restricts Janie’s ability to express her beautiful hair leading to the public to curiously think why Janie would keep such a great feature out of sight, later do they find out what a controlling manipulative man Starks really is.
Janie is shown to be a strong spirited girl, who has a rebellious tendency of opposing to such formalities that a socially accepted.

Janie opposes to the gender roles that given at the time the setting takes place in a very masculine driven world. Janie is said to “Even wid dem overhalls on, [her] shows [her] womanhood." Stating even with men clothes on, Janie still shows off an extreme level of femininity to what she wears, catching the attention of not only her best friend, Pheoby, but of the daily gossipers who stare every time Janie seems to be around. Though Janie does take a very masculine role when it comes to working out in the fields, but is judged for being a woman, Starks believes "[She] ain’t got no mo’ business wid uh plow than uh hog is got wid uh holiday... A pretty doll-baby lak [her] is made to sit on de front porch and rock and fan [her]self and eat p’taters dat other folks plant just special for [her]”. Janie seemingly is opposed to the idea of what a woman can and cannot do, but is yet flattered by the way Starks calls her a cute little thing, and that no pretty little thing should be working hard out, but that people should be working for her instead, essentially Starks judging Janie for her

appearances.
Starks was a very repressing person towards Janie, hiding away her physical beauty behind a rag, covering her great hair. The tyranny driven by jealousy and lack of communication by Starks suddenly comes to a stop when Starks dies of kidney failure. Before his death, Janie sees Starks for one last time and begins to liberate herself from her restrictions put on by Starks, calling Starks out for having her wear a rag to hide her great hair, never being actually in love with who she really is. After Janie said her last words to Starks, “She tore off the kerchief from her head and let down her plentiful hair. The weight, the length, the glory was there.” Janie, now able to liberate herself from Starks manipulative hand, still has her distinctive mark of feminine beauty, her hair. The “glory was there.” Her strong powerful identity was still with her even at such a mature age to which the state of her liberation reflects the restoration of her confidence within herself.