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“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.
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...
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... finally found her other half and her journey ends here.
In the end, Janie found herself being defined by other people, so to say Logan, Joe, and Tea Cake. During her marriage to Logan, Janie is viewed as a spoiled and non-hard working girl that needs to learn what it means to make a living. In her marriage to Joe, Janie is only needed for her outward appearance for him to define as his possession; never did he consult her about what she wanted. In both of these relationships she was forced to be something that she was not. Once Tea Cake came along everything had changed; going from following another man’s orders to being able to live a fun-loving life. Throughout the time she spends with him, finally free from being defined by someone else, Janie Crawford discovers who she is and what love is.
Works Cited
Their Eyes Were Watching God book by Zora Neale Hurston
After a year of pampering, Logan becomes demanding and rude, he went as far to try to force Janie to do farm work. It was when this happened that Janie decided to take a stand and run away with Joe. At this time, Janie appears to have found a part of her voice and strong will. In a way, she gains a sense of independence and realizes she has the power to walk away from an unhealthy situation and does not have to be a slave to her own husband. After moving to Eatonville and marrying Joe, Janie discovers that people are not always who they seem to be.
Zora Hurston’s novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God” depicts the journey of a young woman named Janie Crawford’s journey to finding real love. Her life begins with a romantic and ideal view on love. After Janie’s grandmother, Nanny, soon grows fearful of Janie’s newfound sexuality and quickly marries Janie off to Logan Killicks, an older land owner with his own farm. Janie quickly grows tired of Logan and how he works her like a slave instead of treating her as a wife and runs away with Joe Starks. Joe is older than Janie but younger than Logan and sweet talks Janie into marring him and soon Joe becomes the mayor of an all African American town called Eatonville. Soon Joe begins to force Janie to hide not only her
The book, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is about Janie Crawford and her quest for self-independence and real love. She finds herself in three marriages, one she escapes from, and the other two end tragically. And throughout her journey, she learns a lot about love, and herself. Janie’s three marriages were all different, each one brought her in for a different reason, and each one had something different to teach her, she was forced into marrying Logan Killicks and hated it. So, she left him for Joe Starks who promised to treat her the way a lady should be treated, but he also made her the way he thought a lady should be. After Joe died she found Tea Cake, a romantic man who loved Janie the way she was, and worked hard to provide for her.
Janie’s first relationship was with Logan Killicks. She married him only because she wanted to appease her grandmother. Logan did not truly love Janie, but saw her as an asset to increase his own power. Logan expressed this through several actions. He first tries to use her to "increase his profits" rather than treating her as a wife when he travels to Lake City to buy a second mule so Janie can use it to plow in the potato field because potatoes were "bringin' big prices”. When Janie later refused to work at his command, stating that it was not her place to do so, Logan told her, "You ain't got no particular place. It's wherever Ah need yuh". After Logan told her this, Janie decided she had to either escape or face becoming her husband's mule for life. Janie stood up to her husband. This is a feminist action because Janie is willing to leave a husband who makes her unhappy, which was rare act of independence and defiance for women living in the 1930’s. To free herself from her marriage with Logan Killicks, she only needed to invalidate the elements of his symbolic vision. She recognized that for Killicks marriage was primarily a financial arrangement, and his sixty acres acted both as a sign and guarantee of matrimonial un...
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.
& nbsp;   ; Second, Janie sees Logan Killicks' perception of marriage. In the beginning it appears to Janie that Logan is a very nice gentleman, who is. constantly treating her well. However, as time goes on, Janie sees Logan's the "true colors" of the.
My re-covering of “Their Eyes Were Watching God” is not your usual cover of a book. I was trying to incorporate a school math book type of cover onto a regular book cover, what I mean by that is that I used important details from the book and scattered them across the cover. The important details were four symbols that I found throughout the book; Janie’s hair, the mule, checkers, and the hurricane. These symbols give an interesting look at the book.
Janie was a woman who was idealistic and young at heart. Her nanny married her off to Logan, an older man. Finding life tedious and unfullfilling with Logan she left him for another guy named Joe. Janie thought Joe loved her, he didn't. Janie was a nieve woman, at the time, and she stayed with Joe for twenty years. During their marriage, Joe belittles Janie
Horizons symbolize many different things in literature. They may symbolize goals or dreams. They may also symbolise the physical or imaginative limits a person has. Nonetheless, horizons have made an appearance in many famous works of literature. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is not an exception. The horizon has made many appearances throughout this novel, and like other works, carries meaning with it. Horizons convey the theme of searching for happiness through Janie’s attempts to find it using her three husbands, those being Logan, Jody, and Tea Cake.
In the book, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie has many relationships throughout the years. She lives with two men who did not treat her fairly, and after them, she meets Tea Cake. He is her first love and treats her much better. This essay compares Janie's three marriages with Logan, Joe, and Tea Cake. Some of the things different with each marriage is what initially pulls her to each man, how they differ from one another, and what Janie learns from each experience.
From the moment Janie and Tea Cake met, shortly after Joe’s death, they had an undeniable connection. Janie’s other husbands, Logan and Joe, tried to suppress Janie’s creative and spirited personality, but Tea Cake encourages it. To his credit, Tea Cake shows Janie what it is like to live life to the fullest, they have jobs and make money, but are always up for adventure and a good time. Joe treats Janie with more respect, and does not hold her down and hide her like Joe. When Janie and Tea Cake move to the Everglades they spend a lot of time with their neighbors having fun. “The men held big arguments here like they used to do on the store porch. Only here, she could listen and laugh and even talk some herself if she wanted to. She got so she could tell big stories herself from listening to the rest” (134). With Tea Cake, Janie could be her own person, and join in on the fun. Without Janie being squashed down all the time, her personality flourished and with that came her identity. It is important to point out that Janie’s identity was not dependent on Tea Cake. The very beginning of the book starts with Janie returning to the town that she and Tea Cake left, and Janie is full of confidence that she never had before. “The women took the faded shirt and muddy overalls and laid them away for remembrance. It was a weapon against her strength and if it turned out of
In the beginning of the story, Janie is stifled and does not truly reveal her identity. When caught kissing Johnny Taylor her nanny marries her off to Logan Killicks.While married to Killicks Janie didn’t make any decisions for herself and displays no personality. She always followed Killicks rules to being a good house wife. After getting tired of living life without love Janie took a brave leap and ran away form Killicks for Jody Starks. . When Joe came down the road, She saw things were different than what she had with Killicks. Jody stood for things she found fascinating. “…He spoke for far horizon. He spoke for change and chance.” ;(29). And although Jody did not represent the Pear tree which symbolized Janie’s ideal complementary man, He was more than what Killicks offered. Starks is a smooth talking power hungry man who also never allowed Janie express her real self. He made it sound as if she would have been living the life she always wanted and the love she wanted so badly. Eatonville community looked at Janie as the typical woman who tends to her husband and their house. She tried her best not to be the woman she was in her last marriage but when she started to fight back Killicks would hit her.”Ah thought you would ‘preciate good treatment. Thought Ah’d take and make somethin’ outa yuh. You think youse white folks by de way you act." (4.42) logan thinks that black woman aren’t supposed to demand any respect or good treatment and ought to be happy as her husband’s work and demands anything better. Janie does not want to be accepted into the society as the average wife, but she quietly continued to be who she was not and ok killicks his death bed right before he dies, Janie expressed her suppressed anger. All this an...
Janie finally found herself in her search for identity. Once she is on her own she realizes she doesn’t need a man to have an identity she just has one, because she’s Janie and she’s important too, just like every man she’s ever been with, not being treated like a slave with Logan or being only “the Mayor’s wife” with Joe or even Teacakes cougar. Janie realizes no one can make Janie truly happy except Janie. Of course she misses her soulmate Teacake, but she knows he’s with her every step of the way in her heart and she can’t wait to see what lies ahead. She has found her identity and no one can stop her
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is a profound novel, which shows the journey of what a strong beautiful woman went through to find her happiness. This novel starts off with Janie coming back from burying the dead. Her journey starts of from her grandmother’s house to a huge farm land then Eatonville to the Everglades. It isn’t until the Everglades when Janie found true happiness in the love she had for Tea Cake. The central theme of this novel is love and happiness. This theme is portrayed when Janie shows love to her grandma by doing what would make her happy. The theme is also shown when Janie still comforts Joe in his deathbed even after all the stuff he did to her she still showed him love till the end. Another way this theme is showed is when Janie seeks her happiness with Tea Cake without caring what anyone thought of her.
In this novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie experiences different kinds of love. Throughout the novel, Janie searches for the love that she has always desired. That kind of love she searches for is represented by the marriage between a bee and a blossom. As a result of her quest for this love, Janie gains her own independence and personal freedom, which makes her a true heroine in the novel. She also deals with different types of love with her past life.