In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie is on her journey of self discovery. Having been through multiple marriages, she would eventually have to kill her husband, who had been infected with rabies. Having been her best husband, he had given Janie much more freedom than she had been given all her life. Tea Cake’s illness and rabid behavior may symbolize the life of control and oppression that Janie was trying very hard to escape. Having the courage to kill the man she truly loved, displayed how strong Janie had become compared to the beginning of the novel and how much more freedom she had earned.After being through a couple of marriages and finally marrying Tea Cake, Janie was experiencing the freedom her grandma wanted for her. In this marriage, he had shown her how to wield a weapon which …show more content…
Changing in behavior, Janie had hidden a pistol under her pillow for her own defense, which she was now capable of eventually having to use to stop the infected Tea Cake from attacking her. Comparing the effects of the hurricane, it brought destruction to Janie, but also renewal and a clean slate.Throughout the novel, Janie was trying to find the life she dreamed of, being free and finding true love. Tea Cake was the only one to give Janie her freedom, but would eventually have to use her new set of skills and strength to kill him. During the funeral, Janie was unable to put on the face of grief and sadness, as she was too sad to fake anything. Tea Cake’s illness was Janie’s ultimate test in displaying her strength and growth into an independent woman who did not need a man to provide or protect her. The time period in which this text takes place, aligns to a time period when women were not as privileged as the men. Additionally, being colored did not help Janie in her journey of true love and
When they are caught in the storm, Janie does not question Tea Cake’s decision to stay, but instead watches attentively as to what he decides to do next. Her love for him rids her of powerlessness, and she regards him as God, because she loves him and is ready to leave at his command. After Tea Cake’s death, Janie still clings to her love for him, which empowers her.
Janie then leaves Joe and doesn’t speak to him again until he is on his death bed. After Joe’s passing Janie meets a young man called Tea Cake. The town’s people feared that Tea Cake was only with Janie to attempt to steal her money. Janie ignored these warnings and runs away with Tea Cake anyway; Tea Cake soon gambles all of Janie’s money away. Not wanting Janie to provide for the two of them, Tea Cake moves the two of them to the everglades to harvest crops. Tea Cake allows Janie to be his equal and even lets her work in the fields with him. A hurricane rolls into Florida and instead of leaving with everyone else Tea Cake and Janie stay. During the storm while trying to protect Janie, Joe is bitten by a rabid dog and contracts rabies which eventually leads Janie to shoot him in self-defense. After buying an extravagant funeral for Tea Cake Janie returns to Eatonville to tell her story. Throughout Janie’s life her care takers/husbands have played four very different roles in molding Janie into the strong woman she becomes: Nanny wan an overbearing parental figure, Logan was her first husband that treated Janie like his slave, Joe was her second husband who held Janie as a trophy, and Tea Cake her third and final husband was Janie’s
Janie Crawford’s Quest in Their Eyes Were Watching God Janie Crawford, the main character of Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, strives to find her own voice throughout the novel and, in my opinion, she succeeds even though it takes her over thirty years to do it. Each one of her husbands has a different effect on her ability to find that voice. Janie discovers her will to find her voice when she is living with Logan. Since she did not marry him for love, tensions arise as time moves on and Logan begins to order her around.
In, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the author takes you on the journey of a woman, Janie, and her search for love, independence, and the pursuit of happiness. This pursuit seems to constantly be disregarded, yet Janie continues to hold on to the potential of grasping all that she desires. In, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the author, Zora Hurston illustrates the ambiguity of Janie’s voice; the submissiveness of her silence and the independence she reclaims when regaining her voice. The reclaiming of Janie's independence, in the novel, correlates with the development and maturation Janie undergoes during her self discovery.
Janie were pretty well off and had the privilege to live in the yard of white
Janie’s character undergoes a major change after Joe’s death. She has freedom. While the town goes to watch a ball game Janie meets Tea Cake. Tea Cake teaches Janie how to play checkers, hunt, and fish. That made Janie happy. “Somebody wanted her to play. Somebody thought it natural for her to play. That was even nice. She looked him over and got little thrills from every one of his good points” (Hurston 96). Tea Cake gave her the comfort of feeling wanted. Janie realizes Tea Cake’s difference from her prior relationships because he wants her to become happy and cares about what she likes to do. Janie tells Pheoby about moving away with Tea Cake and Pheoby tells her that people disapprove of the way she behaves right after the death of her husband. Janie says she controls her life and it has become time for her to live it her way. “Dis ain’t no business proposition, and no race after property and titles. Dis is uh love game. Ah done lived Grandma’s way, now Ah means tuh live mine” (Hurston 114). Janie becomes stronger as she dates Tea Cake because she no longer does for everyone else. Janie and Tea Cake decided to move to the Everglades, the muck. One afternoon, a hurricane came. The hurricane symbolizes disaster and another change in Janie’s life. “Capricious but impersonal, it is a concrete example of the destructive power found in nature. Janie, Tea Cake, and their friends can only look on in terror as the hurricane destroys the
Zora Neal Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God describes the life of a black woman named Janie. Janie is raised by her grandmother and begins a close to life-long quest that can be viewed as a search for many things. Most scholars believe that this quest is for independence; on the contrary I believe that this quest is to find someone that she can be dependent on, the kind of dependency that "singing bees" have for pear blossoms.
When Tea Cake enters Janie's life, Janie really starts to come out of her shell. She lets down her hair that was kept up the entire time with Starks. This symbolizes Janie letting all her inhibitions out. In finding Tea Cake, Janie has "completed her voyage" of self-discovery. Tea Cake allows her to feel exhilarated and young again. She makes more friends and becomes more social. During this time in her life Janie is an excellent role model for other black women. She does not give a second look at what other people think about her, which is very admirable. This is shown when Hezekiah Potts tells Janie that Tea Cake is too low of a man for Janie yet, she stills persists on seeing him. Many people also think that Tea Cake is courting Janie for her money only. Janie pays no regard to these onlookers though.
Through her use of southern black language Zora Neale Hurston illustrates how to live and learn from life’s experiences. Janie, the main character in Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, is a woman who defies what people expect of her and lives her life searching to become a better person. Not easily satisfied with material gain, Janie quickly jumps into a search to find true happiness and love in life. She finally achieves what she has searched for with her third marriage.
In Their Eyes Were Watching God Janie goes through several marriages in her journey to seek love. As Janie's husbands change so does her wardrobe. Janie's different marriages are symbolized by her very different wardrobes.
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston portrays the journey of Janie Crawford as an African American woman who grows and matures through the hardships and struggles of three different marriages. Although Janie is an African American, the main themes of the novel discusses the oppression of women by men, disregarding race. Janie gets married to three different men, aging from a young and naive girl to a mature and hardened women near the age of 40. Throughout the novel, Janie suffers through these relationships and learns to cope with life by blaming others and escaping her past by running away from it. These relationships are a result of Janie chasing her dreams of finding and experiencing true love, which she ultimately does in the end. Even through the suffering and happiness, Janie’s journey is a mixture of ups and downs, and at the end, she is ultimately content. Zora Neale Hurston utilizes Janie’s metaphorical thoughts and responses of blame and escape, as well as her actions towards success and fulfillment with her relationship with Tea Cake, to suggest that her journey
In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, the character of Janie Crawford experiences severe ideological conflicts with her grandmother, and the effects of these conflicts are far-reaching indeed. Hurston’s novel of manners, noted for its exploration of the black female experience, fully shows how a conflict with one’s elders can alter one’s self image. In the case of Janie and Nanny, it is Janie’s perception of men that is altered, as well as her perception of self. The conflict between the two women is largely generational in nature, and appears heart-breakingly inevitable.
Their Eyes were Watching God tells the story of a young adult struggling to find who she is. Janie has had to deal with a lot of struggles. In the novel, it talks about how her family has struggled to get to the point to where they are (pg. 8-20). Later on, in chapter 2, Janie discovers she will be marrying an older man name Logan Killicks, after she was caught kissing Johnny Taylor (pg.15). He is very rich and he has land. Nanny wanted to make sure Janie was set up with the right person. One who would treat her well and one who doesn’t have to struggle for money or land. Janie has to struggle with being controlled. Her feelings are also very suppressed and she can’t be the real Janie she used to be. She also has her own way of defining her freedom. Janie meets a young man they call Tea Cake and she realizes so much in that time of being with him. Death also plays a huge factor in this novel and movie.
The character Janie from Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God showcases the unexpected ways in which a person’s various clashing identities can come to a state of harmony. By taking an active role in her dreams and desires, Janie creates a world where she can be wholly herself. However, two pieces of herself–her strong individualism in her connection with nature and community and her role as a loving wife to a mutually loving husband–only are able to converge at the end of the novel. The novel suggests that attaining harmony between these two seemingly conflicting identities comes to fruition through the uncontrollable force of God and his role in the death of marriage during its peak of love and happiness. From the story’s introduction, Janie expresses a desire for love and dreams of
Janie struggles with her marriages with Logan Killicks and Joe Starks throughout the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, but finds a good man and husband in Tea Cake. Logan goes to marry Janie because Janie’s grandmother forces her to marry him because Nanny wants her to have a good marriage and thinks Logan can give it to her. While Joe comes in and shows Janie he has authority and is loving, but later tries to control her and what she does. Tea Cake on the other hand show Janie love and is willing to let Janie be herself and do the things she likes to do. Janie doesn’t love Logan or Joe because they try to change and control her, while Tea Cake loves her for who she really is.