In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie, the female protagonist, evolves as a woman throughout her marriages with three men– Logan Killicks, Joe/Jody Starks, then Tea Cake Woods. Living up in the South during the Jim Crow period, Janie struggles not only with her racial identity but also with her identity as a woman. During her marriages to Logan and Joe, Janie is dissatisfied because she is constantly dismissed, silenced, belittled, and abused; however, by taking away her power, these men only make Janie stronger. Throughout her marriage to Joe Starks, which was the longest of her three unions, Janie experiences significant growth within two decades as she learns about her own desires and finds her worth. When Joe and …show more content…
It clearly bothers her, but she cannot seem to find the strength to speak up for herself. Early in their marriage, Joe talks about his promises for Janie in the marriage. He says, “Ah told you in the very first beginnin’ dat Ah aimed tuh be uh big voice. You oughta be glad, ‘cause that makes uh big woman outa you.” (46). Joe believes that he is doing Janie a favor by providing her with the life he thinks she wants, and this causes her to feel isolated. Although she is still unsure of herself, she knows that her vague idea of the life she expects does not align with Joe’s vision. Despite their conflicting viewpoints, she chooses to suffer in silence because of her fear and reliance on Joe for financial security. Janie allows him to create an uneven power dynamic in which she becomes simply a part of Joe’s image for the public eye. Later on, Joe emphasizes that Janie is his property by controlling the appearance of her hair. When Janie is working in the store one day, Joe catches Walter gently brushing Janie’s hair. Joe is shocked as anger and jealousy fill his body. Later that night, Joe asserts his authority and control by “order[ing] Janie to tie her hair around the store… She was there in the store for him to look at, not those others” (55). The uneven power dynamic is emphasized through Joe’s control on his wife’s appearance and her continued
She desired appreciation and a reduction in the amount of work that Logan had assigned to her. Joe was Janie's second-longest marriage, but as time passed, nothing about it turned out the way she had hoped. Whenever Joe was elected mayor of the new town they were in, he would speak for her and put her in her place as a woman rather than a person. Joe had a lot of insecurities, and Janie didn't want a partner who exposed his insecurities on Janie. “But looking at it she saw that it never was the flesh and blood figure of her dreams.”
Janie finds she never loves him as a husband, and he
In The Eyes Were Watching God, the author Zora Neale Hurston expresses the main character Janie Crawford as beautiful, young, fair skin, and very attractive. These aspects allow Janie to experience many different kinds of relationships and marriages. Janie’s first relationship and marriage was with Logan Killicks. Logan believed the stereotypical roles in a house were correct and that the woman should cook and clean. The relationship was a financial security blanket forced upon her by her grandmother.
She doesn’t like the idea of not being equal with her partner. If they are partners than shouldn’t they be equal in every way? Further on while the town is flourishing Jody is continuously building his elitist complex believing he is better than the town people. He won’t allow Jody to socialize with the people how she wants because she is apparently above them. When in reality, the only thing separating Jody and the towns people is money.
In “Their eyes were watching god” by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie’s hair is a symbolic expression that holds experience and meaning about her life with her past loved ones. Janie’s hair is a crucial part in demonstrating the influence that Joe and Tea Cake has on her character; Janie’s hair being down represents her freedom, while being tied up shows how restrained she is. Throughout the book, Janie's development from feeling unsure and anxious to becoming confident and self-reliant is demonstrated through the change in her hair. In the beginning, Janie’s hair was down, conveying that she was free at first, but after marrying Joe Starks, he became superior over her, making her put her hair up and ultimately feeling controlled. When Janie meets
Joe thinks that Janies is inculpable of thinking for herself and her role as a women and as a wife is strictly limited to the home. By stating that Janie “don’t know nothin’ ‘bout no speech-makin”, Joe is showing the rest of the village that she isn’t educated enough or
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston has long since been one of the one of the most important works of the twentieth century. The classical novel shows an independent character christened Janie Crawford who causes a major force of social change towards the perspective of woman. This masterpiece exemplifies the hardships of trials and tribulations that Janie must face before and post her marriages. Although Janie's grandmother, or “nanny” as Janie calls her, desires the foremost outcome for Janie even after her passing, she takes into account that her time before her unyielding demise is drawing slightly too close for comfort; so she persuades Janie that she must marry Logan Killicks in order to ensure that she will be safe
Janie goes along with Jody’s requests for a while before she realizes what he is doing to her. Jody needed to have complete dominance of everything in Janie’s life to be content with their relationship, and when Janie had different opinions than his, this caused problems in their relationship. In another instance, Jody insults Janie’s age, which leads to a significant argument between them. When Jody insults Janie, it is accepted in their society, but Janie finally gets fed up when she says, “But Ah’m uh woman every inch of me, and Ah know it. Dat’s uh whole lot
Just something she had grabbed up to drape her dreams over” (Hurston 72). Janie figures out that Joe is not the man she had married when the “image of Jody tumbled down” she begins to understand that Joe was not at all significant to her because he never cared for her and instead he was a bad influence. Janie figures out that he “never was the flesh and blood figure of her dreams” the life she desires of with Joe Starks, is an allusion and Janie’s dreams are once again crushed. Janie is deceived by Joe because he represents empty dreams for Janie, he was a “drape [for] her dreams” Joe took advantage of Janie and manipulates her to do excessive labour for him in the store and constantly silences her. Furthermore, Joe Starks never treats Janie with respect as he views her as an object and spends his time commanding her.
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.
When Joe instructed Janie to wear the head rag she didn't fight back. This reveals to us that Joe wants to confine Janie to
Joe interrupts her by saying,”Ah never married her for nothin’ lak dat. She’s uh woman and her place is in de home,”(43). Although Joe tries to laugh this off, we see how manipulative he is over Janie even about small things like this. This abuse continues until Joe eventually dies and Janie is free to move on and find someone
However, many times in the book, many of the characters have told Joe that Janie is too good for him. That she should leave him and get another man. Which would anger an insecure man, who feels that he needs to have all material things to have a good life. In this quote, “He didn’t really hate Janie, but he wanted her to think so” (81). It shows that he thinks that guilting people into thinking that he’s the victim, that people will start respecting him again.
In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie Crawford experienced power and control in each of her relationships. When Janie was with Logan, their relationship started with very little control over each other but towards the end, Logan acted like he had more control over Janie. In her relationship with Jody, Janie was constantly told what to do and how to act and she was never allowed to make her own decisions. In her last relationship with Tea Cake, Janie was treated with respect and was allowed to do what she wanted. Power and control shows up in various places in the story and in different ways.
Janie’s hair is a major trait to herself and truly made her stand out from the other people. Joe notices this and prompts her to tie it up and causing her to feel as if she has lost her power. Janie’s hair gave her the independence that she desires to be