Theme Of Freedom In Their Eyes Were Watching God

In some situations, one can be confined, and be free at the same time. In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie is a shining example of that throughout the novel. As a child, she grows up with her grandmother knowing all what freedom is. Her grandmother s sets a marriage up for her, where for the first time in her life she is restricted. However, she meets a man on mission to raise a town from nothing to something, and leaves her first husband for him. Eventually, when the town is up and running, Janie has been so restricted that only her body is there, but her mind is outside of it watching over her. Soon, this beacon of hope comes where freedom finally becomes present when she is with her new man. While previous relationships

were confining, Janie ultimately finds a relationship where she is able to be free in her own way.
Janie’s first marriage leads her down a path of restriction that begins with Logan demanding Janie to help provide for the family. Janie’s grandmother doesn’t want her to end up like her mother did. She wants Janie to be safe and have a secure life, so she arranges marriage between Logan and Janie. For the first part of their marriage, Janie is able to do as she pleases, but she stays inside the house doing house chores. Six months later, Logan starts demanding Janie to help out not only inside the house, but also outside by chopping the wood for the fire. He does this by talking about how his first wife helped out automatically without having to tell her to: “Mah fust wife never bothered me ’bout choppin’ no wood nohow. She’d grab dat ax and sling chips lak uh man. You done been spoilt rotten” (Hurston 63). This is start of her restrictive life because he doesn’t want her to work with him for her company but wants her to work because that is what is expected of her. This goes against what Janie explains earlier about what love is, and that she doesn’t have this feeling of freedom with Logan anymore. The apron symbolizes restriction because she feels it's tying her down in this relationship, and when she relinquishes it onto the bush she no longer feels that restriction but feels free in the company of Joe Starks; however, this feeling soon fades as the relationship with Joe develops.
While freedom is apparent in the beginning, it soon eludes her as Joe holds her to a higher standard than other people.

When Janie and Joe first come to Eatonville, there is little to nothing there at all, so Joe becomes the mayor so he can fix up the town himself. Janie thinks that she has escaped that restriction with Logan by being the person in charge at the store and being able to talk with everyone on the porch. That feeling soon leaves her as Joe tells her to go inside. Joe says, “Why don’t you go on and see whut Mrs. Bogle want? Whut you wanitin’ on?” (Hurston 106). Here Joe takes away the opportunity to hear the rest of the story that had cracked everyone up because he believes the two of them should be classed off. He wants Janie to act like she’s too good for everyone else, and shouldn’t engage in any of these activities. This is one of the ways Joe restricts her because she no longer has that freedom of speech, but has to sit in silence and only observe. Once again, Janie depicts another anchor that holds her back, and reminds her of the restriction: the hair tie. Joe wants to keep Janie’s hair tied up because he becomes jealous when someone starts to sniff her hair, so he needs to feel in control of her. After Joe passes, Janie soon comes across this mysterious man who she sees as a beacon of

hope.
In her third marriage, Janie finally gets into a relationship where the feeling of freedom is there all throughout the relationship through Tea Cake wanting her company in the fields, and being able to be herself.

After Janie finds out about Tea Cake and his gambling, they move to the Everglades where TeaCake wants to prove to Janie that he can provide for her. They buy a house, and Tea Cake acquires a job working in a green bean field. As time goes on, he eventually becomes lonely out there and asks Janie if she would come and work with him: “Ah gits lonesome out dere all day ’thout yuh. After dis, you betta come git uh job uh work out dere lak de rest uh de women—so Ah won’t be losin’ time comin’ home” (Hurston 171). Unlike before with Logan, Tea Cake desires her company in the fields because he doesn’t want to lose spending time with her. Janie also has the choice to decline a job, and it wouldn’t hurt the relationship like it did with Logan. Thus, freedom is present in this relationship. Also, Janie doesn’t have to worry about being too good for people like she did with Joe. She is able to be present in the moment, instead of her body being there, and her mind being

elsewhere.
Throughout Janie’s life, she discovers the restrictions and the pain of relationships and eventually sees the freedom she has with the person she truly loves. Even in a time period where women are seen as the mules of the world, she proves to everyone that they don’t have to be. They just have to find a relationship where freedom is present with the person they truly love. While the ending may seem like Janie ends up right back where she began, she’s actually free through the experience she had with her three husbands.