Zora Neale Hurston's Wife Analysis

Women were already seen as lower than men in the early 1900’s, and black people were already seen as lower than white, so that makes being a black women in this time period the worst.
Background: Women were seen as lower than men. In the story they were seen as individuals who shouldn’t have jobs that should marry for security and take care of their husbands. They were supposed to get their power through their husbands. They were stereotyped to be less than men.Nanny says and I quote “The black women are the mule of the world as far as the eye could see” which means that Nanny believes that black women get the worst lot in life. They are treated like animals. The story is given to the reader through Janie as she is speaking to Pheoby at the

very beginning of the book. Janie talks about her experiences with different men and she was treated. With different men she was treated differently. She was supposed to be silent and obedient while another saw her as an equal. All men however, can be seen as trying to take control of Janie one way or another. Janie separates herself from other women in the book by not accepting that she is supposed to obey her husbands and marry for power. Janie wants to express herself. Her Nanny was a former slave who was raped and believes that women should be obedient and can only get power by marrying it and tries to put that on Janie put Janie refuses to believe it.
Janie's husbands were trying to control Janie and she wasn’t having that.

Janie wanted to be an independant. She goes through three husbands before she finds the one she likes. Janie is telling Pheoby her story and she starts out by telling her about a kiss with Johnny Taylor in which Nanny sees and immediately arranges a marriage with Logan Killicks, a wealthy farmer and landowner with a secure fund. Janie then runs away from Logan to marry a wealthy man named Jody Starks who she sees as a promising man with a secure fund. She leaves Logan for Jody because Logan treated Janie as an animal rather than an individual human and had no respect for her and expected Janie do be obedient. When Jody and Janie get married, Janie realizes that Jody too, expects her to be silent and obedient. He uses Janie to boost his social standing as he attempts to take control of everyone in the town, men and women alike. Tea Cake is twelve years younger and the least financially stable between the three but is Janie’s first true love. After Jody passes, Janie pretends to mourn him and after six months, makes herself available again. Tea Cake walks into her store and begins flirting. Tea Cake does not define him based on his social but rather by his physique and his ability to have fun. Tea Cake treats Janie like an equal but there is still an overlying power in the background that suggests that Tea Cake might see himself as in control of Janie or using her for her money until death, and Janie

can see that.
Janie is the type of women who is independent and does not want bow down to anyone.

She has a mixed heritage between having a poor black mother who was raped by a white teacher. At a young age her mother leaves and Janie is brought up by Nanny, her grandma who was brought up during the civil war and forced into marriage during slavery. Nanny insists that Janie marry for security and money and not love. Janie could care less if she gets a ring on her finger as long as she finds true love. Janie still wants to make her grandma proud and by doing this she is forced to marry a rich man with land and money for security who she does not love. This man often berated her and beat her and expected Janie to bow down to her. Janie’s grandma passes away and Janie realizes that she cannot live this way and hates being told what to do so she abandons her first husband for her next, a man she thinks that she loves. She runs away with him and she thinks she will be happy. Janie is blinded by her dream of love and happiness to really see her next husbands true colors and dreams of money and power. He not only sees Janie as unequal as him but also as an accessory rather than a wife. Janie is ruled under an iron first during this marriage and rarely speaks her mind but she waits under her husband passes to marry again. Janie is a little cautious before getting attached to her new potential husband as he is a lot younger and less reliable. After a little bit of persuasion from her new guys,

she falls head over heels in love with him and he also sees her as an equal and doesn’t suppress her which is how she wants to live. The third time's the charm in book and she is happy and in love.
Nanny is a strict believer in women cannot find true love and should only marry for wealth and security and that love is only a dream. Nanny was raped during slavery and as a result had Janie’s mother, Nanny was then seen as a single mother. Janie’s mother was then raped and had Janie who then ran away after being consumed by alcoholism. Janie is all that Nanny has left in hopes of being a wife and marrying. Nanny is blind to Janie’s needs and all she has left for her dreams is putting Jany in marriage.
The book goes in an order from the present where Janie is speaking to her friend about the past leading up to the events from where she stands at that present moment. This makes the book more interesting to read. Janie states her struggles with different men until she finds true love which she had to end to save her own life.