Not only does she have an unsuccessful marriage with Logan but she has a futile marriage with Jody Starks as well. At first Jody was the guy of Janie’s dreams. He was nice, articulate, intelligent, and said he would treat Janie like a queen and that working on a farm was no place for lady of her caliber. This enchants Janie and convinces her to run away with Jody. However when running away together Janie realizes Jody is not who he seems to be. When he is mayor of Eatonville he exhibits characteristics of a dictator. He is demanding, condescending and controlling. Even though he is critical to all of the people in Eatonville, he is the most harsh on Janie. Jody thinks that Janie and women everywhere are so inferior that "Somebody got to think …show more content…
They just think they’s thinkin’. When Ah see one thing Ah understands ten. You see ten things and don’t understand one" (71). Jody is comparing the intelligence of women to children and animals. He doesn’t feel empathetic to Janie and becomes more hostile when she tries to defend herself. He maintains the position that women are stupid and inferior to men. Even though her first two relationships are unsuccessful her third one with Tea Cake was her best one by far. Tea Cake was everything Janie could ever want. He was nice, caring, considerate and treated her like she was a queen. Tea Cake would even brush her hair until she woke up because he liked the way her hair was and felt. He even taught Janie how to fish, drive, and shoot a …show more content…
One of Janie’s main priorities is to find love, however Nanny has a different plan in mind for her. Nanny wants Janie to find a husband who will give her protection, money, and status. This is a recurring problem between Nanny and Janie; the idea of protection and money versus love. Nanny tells Janie “If you don’t want [Logan], you sho oughta. Heah you is wid de onliest organ in town, amongst colored folks, in yo’ parlor. Got a house bought and paid for and sixty acres uh land right on de big road and…Lawd have mussy! Dat’s de very prong all us black women gits hung on. Dis love! Dat’s just whut’s got us uh pullin’ and haulin’ and sweatin’ and doin’ from can’t see in de mornin’ till can’t see at night” (23). Nanny values material objects that show a person’s wealth and status, in this case an organ, over emotional relations. She wants Janie to have this kind of wealth because she thinks material gain will automatically bring happiness. A big reason she wants Janie to be protected is so she doesn't up like her and her mother. Nanny grew up as a slave and was sexually active with her white master which caused problems with the master’s wife. She even was impregnated by her slave master and gave birth to Janie’s mom who was raped at seventeen. Nanny doesn’t want Janie to deal with the struggles she has faced so, without
Nanny’s portion of the novel shines a light on how Janie really views the world compared to her grandmothers. Ultimately Nanny wants Janie to be happy and well taken care of by any means necessary, regardless of how Janie feels. Nanny grew up while being in slavery and lived a hard, loveless life. She ended up getting pregnant with a white man, which to some degree helped her life and the life of her daughter better than it was before. Nanny believes that having the “ultimate life” is based off of status and what the man can bring to the table and provide for her, not solely from mutual
Nanny’s controlling nature comes from her life experiences of being taken advantage of; she wants Janie to have a different experience. Nanny longs for Janie to have a different experience from her: “She was borned in slavery time when folks, dat is black folks, didn’t sit down anytime dey felt lak it. So sittin’ on porches lak de white madam looked lak uh mighty fine thing tuh her. Dat’s whut she wanted for me—don’t keer whut it cost.” (114).
During the page 16 “ “You know, honey, us colored folks is branches without roots and that makes things come round in queer ways. You in particular. Ah was born back due in slav- ery so it wasn’t for me to fulfill my dreams of whut a woman oughta be and to do.
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.
Janie reacts in different ways to people in her life trying to control her, and this can be seen with Grannie, Jody, and Tea Cake. Grannie forces her to marry Logan, but Janie stands up for herself when she decides to leave him after Grannie dies. Throughout the novel Janie is looking for love, and she
Janie realizes what she deserves in a marriage and runs off with Starks to live a happy life with him. Things do not go as planned for Janie as she starts to realize how manipulative Joe Starks is of her. Starks has full control over Janie with his tyrannical behavior and takes things even further when he establishes complete dominance over Janie. Janie soon realizes that Starks has taken advantage of her “It was her image of Jody tumbled down and shattered. But looking at it she saw that it never was the flesh and blood figure of her dreams.
When tea cake shows up janie 's feels something she has never felt before, she is set free but the townspeople don 't think so. “‘Ain’t you skeered he’s jes after yo’ money him bein’ younger than you?’” (Hurston pg.133)Janie is in love with Tea Cake because he loves her for her youthful young side that was forced into hiding for so long because of her previous husbands. However the rest of the community is discouraging her and trying to keep her in the image as a mayor 's wife. They told Janie that Tea Cake was after her money
Nanny arranges this marriage for protection and not for love. As a result of her past, she forced Janie into being with Logan. In this marriage, Janie shows that she does not love him. She states, "Ah wants things sweet wid mah marriage lak when you sit under a pear tree and think. Ah..."
She needs to learn how to try to find herself more and what she wants that is not materialistic rather than just settling for things that may first appealing, but will only leave her unsatisfied at the end. Their Eyes Were Watching God Study Questions Chapters 10-15 10. Discuss Janie 's relationship with Tea Cake in comparison/contrast approach to Logan and Jody. Janie
Tea Cake asks Janie to work on the field. However, Tea Cake’s intentions differed from Janie’s previous husbands because he wanted Janie to work with him so that he can spend some more time with her. He always missed her when they were apart. 3. “Only here, she could listen and laugh and even talk some herself if she wanted to.
Janie went through multiple marriages with men that are very different from each other, providing problems within. Some of those relationships go better for Janie, providing a safer and more enjoyable route to live her life without enforcing too much. But what stays the same throughout them all is that they all do something that affects how she lives. Seen most through the work she was told to do. While with Joe Starks, Janie was tasked with working the counter at their store.
Janie had two previous marriages with the likes of Logan Killicks and Jody Starks, and neither one of them panned out well. She was forced to leave both of them due to the fact of neither one of them treating the way she was supposed to be leading to her not having love for them. However, Janie would finally find the love of her life in the form of Tea Cake. As soon as Janie locked eyes with Tea Cake, she was instantly attracted to tea Cake and she wanted to spend the rest of her life with
Janie’s grandmother, Nanny, forces Janie to marry a man she is not in love with out of convenience. Nanny does not want Janie to suffer the necessities of life, but Janie cares little about materials and seeks love. Nanny’s ideology haunts Janie for much of her life, influencing decisions she takes later in marriage. Huston says, “The memory of Nanny was still powerful and strong,” which shows how Janie conforms to the ideology her grandmother instilled in her. And although Janie conforms, she continues to question inwardly about love.
Janie allows men to treat her poorly several times throughout the novel. After Janie and her husband Joe Starks argue in the store about their age, Joe Starks, “struck Janie with all his might and drove her from the store” (80). By not retaliating immediately after being beaten, Janie is not portraying a powerful role model for young readers. After Sop-de-Bottom tells Tea Cake how he’s lucky that he gets to beat Janie, Tea Cake responds with, “Ah didn’t whup Janie ‘cause she
One of the universal themes of literature is the idea that children suffer because of the mistakes of an earlier generation. The novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God" follows the story of Janie Mae Crawford through her childhood, her turbulent and passionate relationships, and her rejection of the status quo and through correlation of Nanny 's life and Janie 's problems, Hurston develops the theme of children 's tribulations stemming from the teachings and thoughts of an earlier generation. Nanny made a fatal mistake in forcibly pushing her own conclusions about life, based primarily on her own experiences, onto her granddaughter Janie and the cost of the mistake was negatively affecting her relationship with Janie. Nanny lived a hard life and she made a rough conclusion about how to survive in the world for her granddaughter, provoked by fear. " Ah can’t die easy thinkin’ maybe de menfolks white or black is makin’ a spit cup outa you: Have some sympathy fuh me.