Analysis Of Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston, through her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, was trying to teach her readers that in every relationship there is a dominant person, and a submissive one. Whether the relationship is romantic, or with a friend or acquaintance, there is always a person who is more dominant, and feels more powerful. Power in a relationship is distinguished often between genders, race, and popularity or likeability of people. In these relationships, there is an unbalanced distribution of power because for a long time men were believed to be superior to women, some races are considered inferior to others, and people who are more attractive and well liked will often have the adoration, attention, and support of peers, which provides them

For a long time, men were considered superior to women and many believed that women were meant to serve men. The book was written in 1937, which is a time when this notion was strongly supported. However, this belief is still influencing society today and it is demonstrated quite often. This imbalance of power among the relationships between men and women is shown a lot throughout the book. One of these instances was when Janie was talking to her husband Joe, who was with his friend, and he said, “‘You gettin’ too moufy, Janie,’ Starks told her. ‘Go fetch me de checker-board and de checkers’” (p. 71). Janie was simply saying something to Joe, but he had no interest in what she was saying. He told her she was talking too much and then gave her an order. The fact that he expects her to be submissive and obey him shows how he is asserting his dominance over her. She obeys his order which proves that his power over her is in fact there. Not only is he ordering her around, but he is dismissing her words and instead giving

A prominent example of this in the book is Mrs. Turners’ and Janie’s friendship. Mrs. Turner has strong beliefs about race. Her thoughts on skin color are so intense that they lead her to beleive that Janie is better than her because Mrs. Turner looks “blacker” than she does. Mrs. Turner shows how beliefs in superiority among races leads to an imbalance in power when she is talking to Janie and says, “‘Insensate cruelty to those you can whip, and groveling submission to those you can’t’” (p. 138). Through this, Mrs. Turner is showing that when you beleive you are superior to others, you have power over them and you should show that dominance you have. And if one is perceived to be inferior to someone else, they are powerless and should completely obey those above them. So In a relationship between a black person and a white person, Mrs.Turner thinks that because many people beleive that whites are superior, they should use their power over people of a darker complexion. Her beliefs are a little stronger than those we see today, but that social stigma is still there. So relationships and friendships between people of a different race can create an uneven distribution of