Character Analysis Of Janie Crawford In Their Eyes Were Watching God

The main character Janie of the book Their eyes were watching God, is facing the conflict of a loveless and abusive marriage. Through the chapters, five and the first part of chapter seven Janie is submissive to her husband’s words and does what he says. However, at the end of chapter seven Janie talks back to Joe while working in the store and humiliates him in front of the townspeople. In result of Janie’s actions Joe makes it clear to Janie and the customers in the store Joe is still the dominant figure in the relationship, to show his dominance Joe smacked Janie in the face. Although Joe hit Janie it was not the first time, and Janie knew the first time Joe had hit her that the love she has longed for is not in this marriage.

https://prezi.com/lskays0kapua/janie-crawfords-journey/ First Clue Location: Classroom Note card: Today you will be retracing the steps of the character Janie Crawford from the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. Throughout the class period you will be traveling to all the places she lived during the book and get a glimpse into her journey of self-discovery. The first place to visit is where Janie grows up, West Florida. To get to West Florida, go out of the classroom, turn left out of the classroom and go through the doors. Once outside turn right and look for a tree that contains the directions to get to the next city.

In the first two chapters of the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the readers are introduced to the main character, Janie Mae Crawford. Janie is a beautiful black woman who plays a major role in the early plot. One of the several categories of character types that Janie falls into is the round character category. In the first two chapter alone, the reader is given an in depth look into Janie’s childhood, “‘Ah was wid dem white chillun so much till Ah didn’t know Ah wuzn’t white till Ah was round six years old’” (Hurston 18).

In Zora Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God” the protagonist Janie Crawford experiences the tension of outward conformity while she questioning inwardly, until she finds herself through love meeting her third husband Tea Cake. In other words, Janie goes through a transformation throughout the novel from what others want her to be, to the person she really is, overcoming the pressures of her husbands, as well as the expectations of society. Throughout the book, she grows from a vibrant, but voiceless, teenage girl into a woman who has control of her own destiny. As a young girl, Janie is sitting under a pear tree and looks up, “She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight.” which is where she realizes what love and sexuality is and this is where her quest for love begins.

In their eyes were watching god just before marrying Logan Janie claims that “husbands and wives always loved each other, and that was what marriage meant. ”(21) however Janie never fell in love with Logan and her false reality of what these titles meant fell apart. This theme stays consistent throughout Both Novels Sing Unburied Sing and Their Eyes Were Watching God which both display that titles such as parent and spouse don’t always determine who is right for the role. Janie's relationships with her first two husbands respectively show that love does not come out of marriage. Before Janie's first marriage, she was naive to what marriage was and how it would work.

Janie Crawford as the character of Their Eyes Were Watching God was a women who was not afraid to be a pundit person. In the beginning of the story, she is presented as an old woman telling a story to Pheoby Watson: she started with her childhood. Janie has an affinity to nature, which implies some natural figures to describe her life, giving another meaning to how she sees things. She uses the representation of her life by natural things to bring the feeling on her memory easily; to have a present memory of what she lived, with the everyday life presence.

It also conveys the unique voice of Janie and the other characters, emphasizing their individuality and helping the reader better understand how the characters and setting might look. Furthermore, Hurston's depiction of Janie's relationships with the men in her life illustrates the importance of freedom and self-definition that she will soon find. Janie's first two marriages, arranged by others, are characterized by a lack of self-realization and self-control. It is only in her relationship with Tea Cake that Janie can enjoy herself and fully embrace her desires and dreams of having a husband that she truly loves. Ultimately, Hurston's writing in "Their Eyes Were Watching God" supports the

Janie learns that money doesn’t make a marriage from her first marriage with a somewhat wealthy farmer named Logan Killicks. Janie got into the marriage because

In The Eyes are Watching God, the author Zora Neale Hurston expresses the struggles of women and black societies of the time period. When Hurston published the book, communities were segregated and black communities were full of stereotypes from the outside world. Janie, who represents the main protagonist and hero, explores these communities on her journey in the novel. Janie shows the ideals of feminism, love, and heroism in her rough life in The Eyes. Janie, as the hero of the novel, shows the heroic qualities of determination, empathy, and bravery.

Her purpose was to sensitize and show the audience the emotional effects of gender inequality. Love, society, freedom, dreams, goals, compassion, gender, and marriage are the main themes in the novel. All these together form the story of an innocent and dreamer woman named Janie Crawford that tries to find love in her three marriages. Throughout the novel, she creates meaning to the dependence of marriage to gender roles, and emphasizes how this can shape relationships in a social way. Therefore, women and men play a role that affects positively and negatively marriages in order to represent a particular social group.

In Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie suffers from hardship in two relationships before she can find her true love. Janie explains to her best friend, Pheoby, how she searches for love. Therefore Pheoby wants to hear the true story, rather than listening to the porch sitters. Throughout the book Janie experiences different types of love with three different men; Logan Killicks, Joe Starks, and Vergible "Tea Cake" Woods. At 16 Janie marries Logan Killicks.

In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston reveals that being silenced results in a loss of power. Janie’s first husband, Logan, tells her to be quiet, limiting her power in the relationship. Janie and Logan discuss their relationship in bed together. When Janie suggests that she could leave him, Logan doesn’t even address the idea.

In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the protagonist Janie, is influenced by others to change her ideals. Hurston vividly portrays Janie’s outward struggle while emphasising her inward struggle by expressing Janie’s thoughts and emotions. In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening the protagonist is concisely characterized as having “that outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions,” as Janie does. Janie conforms outwardly to her life but questions inwardly to her marriages with Logan Killicks, her first husband, and Joe Starks, her second husband; Janie also questions her grandmother's influence on what love and marriage is.

In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston uses speech as a tool to show the progression of the story. Janie Crawford, the main character of the novel, finds her true identity and ability to control her voice through many hardships. When Janie’s grandmother dies she is married off, to be taken care of. In each marriage that follows, she learns what it is to be a woman with a will and a voice. Throughout the book, Janie finds herself struggling against intimidating men who attempt to victimize her into a powerless role.

In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston, depicts how the nature of a relationship can determine the limits that are places on the voice, through Janie’s relations with Nanny, Joe, and Teacake. Janie was raised by her grandmother who she called Nanny. Nanny had raised Janie as a parental figure until she was married off. Nanny encourage Janie to be herself by not distinguishing at an early age the difference between blacks and whites. Janie found out that she was black when a picture was taken and she did not recognize herself.