Audaciter Mulier
The heartwarming novel Their Eyes Were Watching God shares with the reader the life story of a young black woman who wants nothing more than finding herself. Throughout the novel Janie encounters dilemmas that she makes the decision to rise above. Janie overcomes these dilemmas and becomes “’a delegate to de big ‘ssociation of life’” (Hurston 6) through her wisdom, courage, and an unyielding desire to find true love.
Janie is a wise woman. She doesn’t get a chance to share her wisdom until the end of her life. Janie says, “Ah done been tuh de horizon and back and now Ah kin set heah in mah house and live by comparisons” (Hurston 191). She says this to her friend to let her know that people can not just live in the same place and expect to understand everything that goes on in the rest of the world. In the same conversation it takes a turn towards love as Janie says, “Love is lak de sea. It’s uh movin’ thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from de shore it meets, and it’s different with every shore” (Hurston 191). Janie emphasizes on the point that love is different for each person, and that people cant understand the way that others love. The last bit of wisdom she gives to Pheoby is the most profound peace, “It’s uh known fact, Pheoby, you got tuh go there tuh know there” (Hurston 192). Janie tries to stress how important it is to experience things for your personal growth instead of trying to experience things through other people.
In addition to being wise, Janie is a courageous woman who never fears regardless of the situation. Janie displays her first act of courage by telling her husband, “ah’m just as stiff as you is stout. If you can stand to chop and tote wood Ah reckon you can ...
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... her first orgasm and she thinks she might have found her true love. She fears for a while that it would end up like her other relationships: “If only Tea Cake would make her certain!” (Hurston 108). She finally accepts the love when, “After a long time of passive happiness, she got up and opened the window and let Tea Cake mount to the sky on a wind. That was the beginning of things” (Hurston 107). Having finally experienced the love she had always dreamed of, she only enjoyed it for a short while. As she buries the love of her life, “Janie bought him a brand new guitar and put it in his hands” (Hurston 189) she leaves with the satisfaction of knowing true love. Janie is on a quest for love her whole life and when she finds it, it is the best thing to ever happen to her. Living her life to the fullest she is able to be a delegate to the big association of life.
All three husbands are similar in the way that they all have expectations of Janie as a wife. Logan Killicks, Janies first husband, has expectations of Janie. His motives for his expectations though, are because he wants her to help out on the farm. Logan shows this expectation by saying, “ Naw Ah needs two mules dis yeah. Taters is goin’ tuh be taters in de fall. Bringin’ big prices. Ah aims tuh run two plows, and dis man Ah’m talkin’ ‘bout is got uh mule all gentled up so even uh woman kin handle ‘im” (21). He has the idea that Janie can work with him, Logan makes her carry wood to the house, cut seeds from potatoes, and even move piles of manure. In the same way, Joe Starks expects much from Janie as well. He is motivated by improving his image however, by making Janie Mrs. Mayor Starks she is now Joe’s eye candy. His vision for being a big voice is mainly in Janie’s perfect looks, like in this quote that states, “ Everybody was coming sort of fixed up, and he didn’t mean for nobody else’s wife to rank with her” (34). He expected Janie to be his trophy wife and just look better than everyone else. Tea Cake Woods’ expectations of Janie as a wife is the same as well. He had a different approach on it though, all Tea Cake wanted is for Janie to be his equal and nothing more. His motivation, is love. Tea Cake loves Janie and the way he expresses this is when he says, “Put dat two hundred back wid de rest, Janie. Mah dice. Ah...
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.
In the beginning of the novel, Janie attempts to find her voice and identity; the task, of harnessing
Janie gained this experience in love as she discovered that the promises of love are not always true. Janie was promised many things in her life and most of them were the promise of finding love and obtaining it. Janie’s grandmother promised her that even if she did not like Logan Killicks that she would find love in her marriage with him, but Janie discovered that no love was to be found in her marriage and that those more elderly than her would think she was wrong for her values (Hurston 21-25). Then after her marriage with Logan, her luck did not change with her next husband Joe who promised her nothing, but lies. Yet again promises persuaded her into another marriage where she was not happy as Joe went back on the words he promised her
Through her three marriages, the death of her one true love, and proving her innocence in Tea Cake’s death, Janie learns to look within herself to find her hidden voice. Growing as a person from the many obstacles she has overcome during her forty years of life, Janie finally speaks her thoughts, feelings and opinions. From this, she finds what she has been searching for her whole life, happiness.
Hurston uses the power of language and different narrative techniques to show Janie's transition throughout the novel. It is important to notice that in Janie's journey from object to subject, the narration of the novel shifts from third person to a mixture of first and third person; thus, the shift shows the awareness of self within Janie. Language becomes an instrument of injury and salvation and of selfhood and empowerment. The use of powerful language is exemplified well in the text when Janie is asked to say a few words as the new Mrs. Mayor. Joe, her second husband, quickly cuts in and says, "Thank yuh fuh yo' compliments, but mah wife don't know nothin' 'bout no speech-makin'. Ah never married her for not...
As the novel begins, Janie walks into her former hometown quietly and bravely. She is not the same woman who left; she is not afraid of judgment or envy. Full of “self-revelation”, she begins telling her tale to her best friend, Phoeby, by looking back at her former self with the kind of wistfulness everyone expresses when they remember a time of childlike naïveté. She tries to express her wonderment and innocence by describing a blossoming peach tree that she loved, and in doing so also reveals her blossoming sexuality. To deter Janie from any trouble she might find herself in, she was made to marry an older man named Logan Killicks at the age of 16. In her naïveté, she expected to feel love eventually for this man. Instead, however, his love for her fades and she beco...
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.
Zora Neale Hurston was a very prestigious and effective writer who wrote a controversial novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Janie whom is the dynamic character, faces many hardships throughout her life. Janie’s Nanny always told Janie who she should be with. Janie was never truly contented because she felt she was being constricted from her wants and dreams. Janie’s first two marriages were a failure. Throughout the novel, Janie mentions that her dreams have been killed. Janie is saying that men that have been involved and a part of her life have mistreated and underappreciated her doings. The death of her dreams factor Janie’s perception on men and her feelings of the future. Logan and Jody were the men who gave her such a negative attitude towards marriage. Once Tea Cake came along, Janie realized that there are men out there that will appreciate her for who she is. Janie throughout the novel, comes into contact with many obstacles that alter her perspective on men and life overall.
Janie Crawford, the protagonist, a woman who dreams, hopes and imagines for true love and happiness. Aiming to achieve her dreams and hopes she learned about love and happiness from different men she married. Marrying Logan, Janie learned that marriage can’t just be arranged and one must devote a great deal of attention to have a happy marriage. Marrying Joe, she learned that both partners must have equal respect to each other in order to be happy. From Janie’s last husband, Tea Cake, she learned that with him she found true love and happiness, finally getting the equal respect she deserve. In the novel “ Their Eyes Were Watching God, “ Zora Neale Hurston used figurative language to make a statement about love and happiness.
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...
Those living in today’s world are constantly bombarded with the stereotypes and distorted images of a consumerist society. As a result, they often struggle with a loss of identity because mass media try to dictate what they should want to be and do. Zora Neale Hurston tackles this age-old search for self-discovery in her fictional frame story Their Eyes Were Watching God. Janie Crawford tells her best friend, Pheoby, about her quest for her own voice, despite setbacks in the form of relatives, two husbands, and entire towns that attempt to silence her. From a young age, Janie yearns for enlightenment; however, the roles Nanny, Logan Killicks, and Joe Starks force upon her prevent her from reaching selfhood until she meets and falls in love with Tea Cake, her equal.
For Hurston's heroine, Janie, self-discovery and self-definition consist of learning to recognize and trust her inner voice, while rejecting the formulations others try to impose upon her. Increasin...
“She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight,” (11). The novel, Their Eyes Were Watching, God by Zora Neale Hurston, tells a story of a woman, Janie Crawford’s quest to find her true identity that takes her on a journey and back in which she finally comes to learn who she is. These lessons of love and life that Janie comes to attain about herself are endowed from the relationships she has with Logan Killicks, Joe Starks, and Tea Cake.
Hurston masterfully utilizes four basic Southern literary elements to illustrate the plight of a woman that achieved self-expression and independence in the 1930’s: narrative language, allegory, and symbolism. The combination of the three elements utilized by Hurston in her novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God” bring about a much greater theme of the story—self-expression and independence. Throughout the book, Janie is faced with many trials and tribulations on the road to achieve her ideal life. But everything throughout her journey happened for a reason for her to learn from and keep pushing. She finally got her ideal relationship with Tea Cake.