Janie Crawford’s Quest in Their Eyes Were Watching God
Janie Crawford, the main character of Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were
Watching God, strives to find her own voice throughout the novel and, in my
opinion, she succeeds even though it takes her over thirty years to do it. Each
one of her husbands has a different effect on her ability to find that voice.
Janie discovers her will to find her voice when she is living with Logan.
Since she did not marry him for love, tensions arise as time moves on and Logan
begins to order her around. But Janie is young and her will has not yet been
broken. She has enough strength to say "No" and to leave him by running away
with Joe. At this point, Janie has found a part of her voice, which is her not
willing to be like a slave in her husband's hands.
After Janie marries Joe, I think that she discovers that he is not the
person she thought he was. He tells her what to do the same way Logan did, just
a little bit more delicately by saying that it is not a woman's job to do
whatever he does not want her to do. Throughout her twenty years of life with
Joe, Janie loses her self-consciousness because she becomes like a little kid
being told what to do by an adult, Joe. She does it without even questioning
herself, which is why I think that she loses the part of her voice that she has
discovered by running away from Logan. At times, she has enough courage to say
no to Joe, but he always has something to say back that discourages Janie from
continuing her argument. But, in my opinion, Janie does not lose her will to
find herself and it might have even become stronger because the reader can see
that Janie is not happy with the way things are now and that she will probably
want to change them in the future.
When Joe dies and Janie marries Tea Cake, she feels free because even
though Tea Cake asks for her opinion when he does something and cares about her.
Since this is Janie's first marriage where she actually loves her husband, she
feels free and discovers many new things in life that she has not noticed before.
She becomes more sociable, wants to go places with Tea Cake, enjoys working
with other people, and likes shooting game. Although she never shot a rifle
before, she becomes a better shooter that Tea Cake, and he respects her for that,
Logan feels that if they are both going to live together and share their lives then they should do an equal amount of work. Logan soon puts Janie to work and treats her more like a mule than a wife. Logan didn't want a wife out of marriage; he wanted a pack animal. Also, love. doesn't seem to be incorporated in Logan's definition of marriage. As. Janie said, "Ah know ‘tain't nothin' dere. Logan didn't see marriage in.
After a year of pampering, Logan becomes demanding and rude, he went as far to try to force Janie to do farm work. It was when this happened that Janie decided to take a stand and run away with Joe. At this time, Janie appears to have found a part of her voice and strong will. In a way, she gains a sense of independence and realizes she has the power to walk away from an unhealthy situation and does not have to be a slave to her own husband. After moving to Eatonville and marrying Joe, Janie discovers that people are not always who they seem to be.
If Ah ever gits tuh messin’ round another woman it won’t be on account of her age. It’ll be because she got me in de same way you got me—so Ah can’t help mahself." Tea Cake professes his love to Janie by saying that she is the only woman he thought of marrying. Tea Cake knows that he will be loyal to Janie, but can not control other women's urges to flirt with him. When Tea Cake tells Janie that he is the man in her life he says:"You don’t have tuh say, if it wuzn’t fuh me, baby, cause Ah’m heah, and then Ah want yuh tuh know it’s uh man heah." (Ch.18). Tea Cake wants Janie to know that he is nothing like her other husbands, but is perfect for her. Tea Cake is essentially perfect for Janie because he helped her accomplish her her ultimate dream of love. Janie and Tea Cake’s marriage is the key to a good marriage because they treat each other with equality and
Janie and her second husband Joe Starks did not always see eye to eye some things he did for her were really sweet and compassionate. Joe knew exactly what to say to get Janie with him “De day you puts yo’ hand in mine, Ah wouldn’t let de sun go down on us single. Ah’m uh man wid principles. You ain’t never knowed what it was to be treated lak a lady and Ah wants to be de one tuh show you” (Hurston 35). Joe says that and right then Janie has fell for him he was the one she wanted now. Joe and Janie’s relationship in the movie was very different from the book Janie had a lot to say in the movie she never kept her mouth shut. Janie had more power over Joe in the movie seemed like then Joe had over Janie. Joe was not always the best husband to Janie
Tea Cake becomes the center of both her speech and her interior thoughts in fact. Her
Janie does so by choosing her new found love with Joe of the security that Logan provides. Hurston demonstrates Janie's new found ‘independence’ by the immediate marriage of Joe and Janie. Janie mistakenly chooses the pursuit of love over her pursuit of happiness and by doing so gave her independence to Joe, a man who believes a woman is a mere object; a doll. By choosing love over her own happiness Janie silences her voice. The realization of Janie's new reality is first realized when Joe states, “...nah wife don’t know nothin’ ‘bout no speech-makin’. Ah never married her for nothin’ lak dat. She’s uh woman and her place is in de home()" Joe is undermining Janie, cutting short any chance for Janie to make herself heard. Joe continues to hide Janie away from society keeping her dependent and voiceless. As Janie matures, she continues to be submissive to her husband, “He wanted her submission and he’d keep on fighting until he felt he had it. So gradually, she pressed her teeth together and learned to hush (71).” Though Janie ‘learned to hush’, and suppress herself, Janie still urges for her voice. When the opportunity came for Janie to reclaim her voice, "But Ah ain’t goin’ outa here and Ah ain’t gointuh hush. Naw, you gointuh listen tuh me one time befo’ you die. Have yo’ way all yo’ life, trample and mash down and then die ruther than tuh let yo’self heah ‘bout
Her final and most loved husband was Vergible "Tea Cake" Woods. She could talk most openly with him. Once, she accused Tea Cake of having a liking for Nukie.
has stood for all the things she has had to do for Logan," and flung it on a
When Janie is with Tea Cake she feels complete in all aspects of life, and feels no need to depend on anyone else but him. When Tea Cake passes away we see Janie almost dependent soley upon herself, but she still confides in her best friend Pheoby when she returns
...disrespect from Tea Cake. She threatens him, saying if he leaves her again without her permission she will “kill yuh” (124). Within Janie’s past marriages her husbands treat her comparable to a slave and isolate her from the community. Even though her voice is still developing, she will not allow her husband to show her contempt. During the trial, Janie both matures and shows control over her voice, as she faces the horror of retelling the story of Tea Cake’s death to the court room. While giving her testimony, Janie knows when to talk; however, when she is through “she hushed” (187). By expressing and controlling her voice in court, Janie ultimately reveals her new found vocal maturity, but it is only because of her final marriage to Tea Cake that Janie finally develops an understanding of when and how to use her voice.
right to express what she feels, and fights for her right to do what she wants
He believes that women cannot think for themselves and need someone else to do the thinking for them. "Aw naw they don’t. They just think they’s thinkin’. When Ah see one thing Ah understands ten. You see ten things and don’t understand one" (71), He tells Janie, thus preventing her from having much as a say in what she does or says on any matter. Additionally, he objectifies and limits Janie by saying that she should not work and that she should just lie low. He states that, “A pretty doll-baby lak you is made to sit on de front porch and rock and fan yo’self and eat p’taters dat other folks plant just special for you" (29). This proves that he sees Janie as a trophy and not as an
The first time Janie had noticed this was when he was appointed mayor by the town’s people and she was asked to give a few words on his behalf, but she did not answer, because before she could even accept or decline he had promptly cut her off, “ ‘Thank yuh fuh yo’ compliments, but mah wife don’t know nothin’ ’bout no speech-makin’/Janie made her face laugh after a short pause, but it wasn’t too easy/…the way Joe spoke out without giving her a chance to say anything on way or another that took the bloom off things” (43). This would happen many times during the course of their marriage. He told her that a woman of her class and caliber was not to hang around the low class citizens of Eatonville. In such cases when he would usher her off the front porch of the store when the men sat around talking and laughing, or when Matt Boner’s mule had died and he told her she could not attend its dragging-out, and when he demanded that she tie up her hair in head rags while working in the store, “This business of the head-rag irked her endlessly. But Jody was set on it. Her hair was NOT to show in the store” (55). He had cast Janie off from the rest of the community and put her on a pedestal, which made Janie feel as though she was trapped in an emotional prison. Over course of their marriage, he had silenced her so much that she found it better to not talk back when got this way. His voice continuously oppresses Janie and her voice. She retreats within herself, where still dreams of her bloom time, which had ended with Joe, “This moment lead Janie to ‘grows out of her identity, but out of her division into inside and outside. Knowing not mix them is knowing that articulate language requires the co-presence of two distinct poles, not their collapse into oneness’ ” (Clarke 608). The marriage carries on like this until; Joe lies sick and dying in his death bed.
Jody would restrict her freedom from speaking her mind, and would beat her for simple errors. Janie would either stay at the house to clean and cook, or work at the store. Jody even forced Janie to wear hair knits to restrict others from staring at her beautiful hair. One day at the store, Jody began to yell at Janie, and she finally stood up for herself. "But Ah’m uh woman every inch of me, and Ah know it. Dat’s uh whole lot more’n you kin say. You big-bellies round here and put out a lot of brag, but ‘tain’t nothin’ to it but yo’ big voice. Humph! Talkin’ ‘bout me lookin’ old! When you pull down yo’ britches, you look lak de change uh life" (79). After being married for about 20 years, Janie had finally spoken her mind. This was very important for her because it shows that she was no longer afraid to stand up for herself. It also shows that Janie was a powerful being. Jody was appalled by what Janie had said, and the only thing he could do was hit her. Eventually, Jody got very sick and died. This gave Janie time to reflect on her life. She was able to think about her past marriages, and was happy to be
The next man Janie has to lean on is Joe Starks. He was a kind of salvation for Janie. He was a well-dressed black man who had worked for “white folks” all his life and had earned enough to travel to a place where black people ran the town. Janie met Joe while she was still married to Logan. She wanted to leave Logan, but I do not think she would have if Joe had not come along. Joe convinced her that He would be better for her to depend on by telling her, “Janie, if you think Ah aims to tole you off and make a dog outa you, youse wrong. Ah wants to make a wife outa you.”(p.28) Janie took this invitation as a way to leave Logan without losing the dependency she needed.