Their Eyes Were Watching God Gender Roles Essay

Throughout history and even today, women are undoubtedly perceived as inferior. Women are often associated with passivity and domesticity, while men are associated with robusticity. In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, Hurston explores the theme of gender roles and relations through the audacious protagonist, Janie. Janie unveils the eventful life she endured upon her return to her hometown of Eatonville, Florida as she speaks to her best friend, Pheoby Watson. Through her imparting, Janie describes her past relationships with men, which accentuate the demeaning aspects of gender roles in society. Hurston displays contrasting relationships between Janie and other main characters of the novel to reveal the degradation of women through gender roles.

As soon as the novel begins, Hurston presents the reader with a disparity between the motives of men and women. In identifying the belief that men are realistic whereas women are idealistic, Hurston introduces the reader to the distinctions between men and women that will emerge throughout the novel. Janie’s mother figure, Nanny, draws attention to gender roles early on in the novel as she attempts to bring Janie to her senses about men and relationships. When

Men are always perceived as smarter and stronger than women, when that really may not be the case. In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, Hurston explores the theme of gender roles and relations through the courageous character that is Janie. As Janie recounts the experiences she endured upon her return to Eatonville, readers are introduced to the gender roles of the character’s society through the relationships of Janie and other characters. Through all of those relationships, such as Janie’s relationship with her grandmother and all three of her husbands, Hurston is able to explore the degradation of women through gender