Their Eyes Were Watching God Literary Analysis

Their Eyes Were Watching God Literature Critic Essay

Although the author, Roger Rosenblatt, was correct in proposing that when Janie and Tea Cake marry and completely avoid the white world that they thrive; however his idea that nothing in Janie’s life is simple or easy is inaccurate because throughout the entirety of the story she never had to try for anything that she received, things just fell directly into her hands and her whole life tumbled into place piece by piece. Throughout the novel, the majority of the characters are dark skinned, and few white characters are introduced. So when Janie and Tea Cake go out on the muck and separate themselves from white society, this is not new or shocking. Although the segregation between blacks

and whites is evident here because of the time period, there is also segregation between different shades of skin color. For example, Janie was a very spoiled and privileged afro-american girl, she grew up surrounded by whites and never felt or endured the discrimination that other women of her color felt at that time. Janie was treated as an equal to whites while growing up. Because of this and because she has white ancestors she is not treated as poorly as darker skinned folks. In some parts of the book Janie is almost perceived as the same as a white woman because or her morals and values and her physical appearance. Whereas Tea Cake, being an African-American man, was discriminated against more harshly because he was darker and had less features resembling those of the typical caucasian male. Because of this segregation within races, Janie was seen as “too good” for Tea Cake. In chapter sixteen of Their Eyes Were Watching God, Mrs. Turner states, “You’se different from me. Ah can’t stand black ni*****. Ah don’t blame de white folks from hatin’ ‘em’ cause Ah can’t stand ‘em mahself. ‘Nother thing, Ah hates tuh see folks like me and you mixed up wid ’em. Us oughta class off” (Hurston ). In this excerpt, Mrs. Turner is discriminatory against black individuals, on a scale of darkness. To Mrs. Turner, this scale represents skin tone and the darker skinned a person is, the more reprehensible they are to her. [Mrs. Turner] She also seems to imply that race is defined by skin color, thinking that since she is fair skinned, she has the right to potentially “class off”. On the contrary, Janie gives little thought to skin color and its’ racial importance. [Janie] She also sheds light on the fact that black individuals can often come from varied backgrounds, and your race is not dependent on your skin tone. Janie looks past skin color and reveals the underlying truth that race is better interpreted as shared culture. This shared culture is exactly what Janie sees in Tea Cake, not his skin color. This proves why Janie and Tea Cake chose to separate themselves from white civilization on the muck; to escape the racial discrimination that had overcome them.
Literary critic, Roger Rosenblatt, was accurate in suggesting that when Janie and Tea Cake marry and keep away from the white society entirely that they truly prosper; Yet his idea that nothing in Janie’s life is simple or easy is flawed because over the course of the story, Janie puts forth limited effort into many of the things she does.

Within the literary critique there was one word in particular that stood out; accomplishments. An accomplishment is an important and significant achievement. Accomplishment also signifies that someone had to work for what they got. Typically, when hearing the word “accomplishments” you think about something being completed or already achieved. You think about things like medals, trophies, items that someone would receive in honor of their accomplishments. These items are also associated with emotions such as relief, comfort and and a high sense of pride. For example, her marriages; Janie was set up to marry Logan from the beginning, therefore she did not have to try and impress him because he was the one going after her. Although, this was not the type of marriage that Janie longed for, she needed Logan Killicks as a form of security in order to protect herself. In chapter four of Their Eyes Were Watching God, the exchange between Logan Killicks and Janie demonstrates her work ethic on their

homestead.
Janie! Come help me move dis manure pile befo’ de sun gits hot. You don’t take a bit of interest in dis place. ‘Tain’t no use in foolin’ round in dat kitchen all day long…
You don’t need mah help out dere, Logan. Youse in yo place and Ah’m in mine.
You ain’t got no particular place. It’s wherever Ah need yuh. Git uh move on yuh, and dat quick.
(Hurston 48).
This specific excerpt shows how, while Janie does do certain things to help Logan out, she doesn’t help with larger projects such as farming and plowing like he wants her to. This quote is a perfect example of Janie's’ lack of effort, for she believes that a woman has her place in the home and a man has his place scooping up the manure. Janie could never see her doing such manly acts, perhaps that is why she is greatly opposed to helping Logan outside of the house. [Logan] He is trying to give and sprout some initiative within Janie but she stands firm and argues with him when he urges. In [Janie’s] her relationships with Joe and Tea Cake this is evident as well. Joe came prancing along and basically begged Janie to leave Logan with him, promising her a better life if she married him. In chapter four, the dialogue between Janie and Joe Starks gives even more proof towards the thought that Janie’s love life is purely simple because she constantly has men falling left and right for her.
Janie, if you think Ah aims to tole you off and make a dog outa you, youse wrong.

Ah wants to make a wife outa you.

You mean dat, Joe?

De day you puts yo’ hand in mine, Ah wouldn’t let de sun go down on us single. Ah’m uh man wid principles. You ain’t never knowed what it was to be treated lak a lady and Ah wants to be de one tuh show yuh

(Hurston

46).
This passage in a clear sign that Joe Starks is trying to allure Janie by telling her that he can give her all of the things she doesn’t have, and that he is trying to win her over even though she is practically a complete stranger. Janie does not have to give any effort into this relationship either, considering Joe is throwing his heart at her in hopes she will catch it. The feelings she felt for Joe, while she may have thought it was love were actually contorted because at the time all she wanted to do was escape her marriage with Logan. This same scenario is apparent in Janie and Tea Cakes marriage and bond as well. Even though in Janie’s relationship with Tea Cake, she felt the type of love that she had been longing for all her life, there was still little to no effort put forth on Janie’s part. All of her marriages, among other things in her life, just fell into place without her trying. This relates to the overall theme of the literary critique because throughout the story there are lots of mentions about Janie and her so called “struggles” to find love and her journey amongst this all. However, Janie never had to try. While she may have found that there was some difficulty in finding the peaceful and beautiful type of love that she always wanted, her journey was less “struggles” and more an expedition to find happiness and a meaning behind it all. Another example within Janie’s relationships is when she meets Tea Cake. At this point, Janie has recently, publicly, moved on since Joe Starks death, and she has become a widow. She is not looking for love at this time because she is at peace with herself after coming out of a rough and verbally abusive relationship with Joe. Although, when Janie and Tea Cake meet it is almost euphoric and destiny, Janie is still on the fence considering her past experiences with love. She is attracted to Tea Cake for several reason, but the underlying reason being that he represents equality and in this time period that is especially hard to come by. Janie respects the fact that he views her as equal to him, unlike her past husbands who would belittle her. However, since Janie was not looking for love at the time she met Tea Cake, she did not put forth much effort towards their relationship. Also, during the course of Janie and Logan Killicks marriage, there too was little effort put forth by Janie. She saw herself as with Logan strictly for security purposes and nothing else, she never tried to work through their difficulties and that was the reason she sprung at the chance the leave with Joe when he came walking down the road. I think that a large reason why Janie puts little work into her marriages is because of her beauty. Throughout the entire novel, men praise and lust about Janie’s incredible beauty. Because of this, men sprawl themselves at Janie left and right, they are always the ones coming for her, never the other way around. Overall,
Janie’s so called “struggles” with love are merely struggles to find the right partner out of all of her options of men to choose from.