Opening the Heart “We wander for distraction but we travel for fulfillment,” is a great description for what Janie Crawford is looking for on her journey in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God (10). It is very clear from the text that Janie is searching for something to fill an empty gap she has due to her past experiences. Her problems could have rooted from her early childhood when she was abandoned by both parents. Her identity struggle can be traced from her bad luck with men. No matter what the cause for her inner conflict, Janie struggles to find fulfilment and has many identity issues. However through her journey, she finds clarity about who she is as a woman, person, and what she wants in life. Growing up, young Janie struggled with her own identity and a clear understanding of what love was. There is no way Janie could know who she was if she did not know where she came from. At the beginning of the second chapter Janie said “Ah ain’t never seen mah papa…mah mama neither,” (21) as we find out later on in the book, Janie’s father is a white man who raped her poor mother leaving her to live with her grandmother, Nanny. This only added to Janie’s confusion about who she was in the long run. In fact, she had spent so much time around the white children that she did not know she was black. Also during Janie’s early years, she became curious about what love was. Nanny provided her with love and protection, but that is not the love she wanted. One day in her early teen years Janie thought she finally had found out what love was with Johnny Taylor, a young boy, but her grandmother told her love was about “stability and money, “and had nothing to do with caring about the other person. On Janie’s journey, she... ... middle of paper ... ...at she had to be strong and much more than a house-wife. Moving on with her life, in the next marriage with Joe she was constantly belittled, but she stayed by his side even after the abuse. Janie had develop faithfulness in this relationship, but still she had not found true love. In addition, Joe had left her with a huge sum of money and the store leaving her more stable and independent. From Janie last relationship with Tea Cake she had developed her own identity. Leading Janie to true happiness and love. Through Janie’s long journey she was able to find out who she was and she finally found her true love. Works Cited Hurston, Zora Neale. "Their Eyes were Watching God." New York: Perennial, 1990. 10. Book. Piper, Noel. Faithful Women and Thier Extraordinary God. Crossway, 2005. Book. Williams, Heather Andrea. Freedom's Story. n.d. Document. 11 April 2014.
The Harlem Renaissance was all about freedom of expression and the search for one's identity. Zora Neale Hurston’s, Their Eyes Were Watching God, shows these goals through the main character Janie and her neighbors. Janie freely expressed what she wanted and searched for her identity with her different husbands. Even though Janie was criticized by everyone except her friends, she continued to pursue. She lost everything, but ultimately found her identity. Hurston's writing is both a reflection and a departure from the idea of the Harlem Renaissance.
In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie Crawford, the protagonist, constantly faces the inner conflicts she has against herself. Throughout a lot of her life, Janie is controlled, whether it be by her Nanny or by her husbands, Logan Killicks and Joe Starks. Her outspoken attitude is quickly silenced and soon she becomes nothing more than a trophy, only meant to help her second husband, Joe Starks, achieve power. With time, she no longer attempts to stand up to Joe and make her own decisions. Janie changes a lot from the young girl laying underneath a cotton tree at the beginning of her story. Not only is she not herself, she finds herself aging and unhappy with her life. Joe’s death become the turning point it takes to lead to the resolution of her story which illustrates that others cannot determine who you are, it takes finding your own voice and gaining independence to become yourself and find those who accept you.
She dreams and wonders about her future life with the perfect man. Her journey can be compared to our own personal pursue for self-happiness. This captivating novel begins with a statement that makes the readers contemplate. The author, Zora Neale Hurston, begins the book with “Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. For some they circle with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon… That is the life of men” (1). These “ships” symbolize a person’s goals and wishes in life. The journey to chase and obtain these ambitions is exciting and unpredictable. Likewise to Janie’s journey, there will be struggles along the way. However, one can continue their journey and learn from their experiences. In life, there are many complications and harsh experiences. Some people have more of these memories than others. Janie views her eventful life as “a great tree in leaf with things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone. Dawn and doom was in the branches” (8). Janie has many pleasant and horrible memories and experiences. From the horrific incidents, she learns more about herself and what she truly needs. These memories make her a stronger, independent woman. We, the readers, can learn from Janie and apply her knowledge to our everyday
Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God describes the life of Janie, a black woman at the turn of the century. Janie is raised by her Grandmother and spends her life traveling with different men until she finally returnes home. Robert E. Hemenway has said about the book, “Their Eyes Were Watching God is ... one of the most revealing treatments in modern literature of a woman’s quest for a satisfying life” I partially disagree with Hemenway because, although Janie is on a quest, it is not for a satisfying life. I believe that she is on a quest for someone on whom to lean. Although she achieves a somewhat satisfying life, Janie’s quest is for dependence rather than satisfaction.
Janie stumbled through life trying to decide which path would lead to contentment. She allowed her grandmother and society influence her choices and decisions, which ultimately led to her dejection. It was not until the end of the novel that Janie had finally made the decision to chase her own happiness despite the opinions of others. Life is not a “one size fits all” ordeal; life is complicated and is different for everyone. Happiness, bliss, and contentment cannot be defined by one party or individual, but can be interpreted thousands of ways.
Zora Neale Hurston an early twentieth century Afro-American feminist author, was raised in a predominately black community which gave her an unique perspective on race relations, evident in her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Hurston drew on her on experiences as a feminist Afro-American female to create a story about the magical transformation of Janie, from a young unconfident girl to a thriving woman. Janie experiences many things that make her a compelling character who takes readers along as her companion, on her voyage to discover the mysteries and rewards life has to offer.
Janie who continually finds her being defined by other people rather than by herself never feels loved, either by her parents or by anybody else. Her mother abandoned her shortly after giving birth to her. All she had was her grandmother, Nanny, who protected and looked after her when she was a child. But that was it. She was even unaware that she is black until, at age six, she saw a photograph of herself. Her Nanny who was enslaved most of her lifetime only told her that a woman can only be happy when she marries someone who can provide wealth, property, and security to his wife. Nanny knew nothing about love since she never experienced it. She regarded that matter as unnecessary for her as well as for Janie. And for that reason, when Janie was about to enter her womanhood in searching for that love, Nanny forced her to marry Mr. Logan Killicks, a much older man that can offer Janie the protection and security, plus a sixty-acre potato farm. Although Janie in her heart never approves what her Nanny forced her to do, she did it anyway. She convinced herself that by the time she became Mrs. Killick, she would get that love, which turned out to be wrong.
Janie, the main character in the book, was raised by her grandmother. Ever since Janie’s mother ran away it was just the two of them living together. As a kid Janie lived in the house where her grandmother was a nanny for a white family. She was treated the same as the white children, they ate together, played together, even got punished together. Janie, unlike most of the blacks at that time, did not see any discrimination while she was growing up. That was the building block of her strong personality. There was some teasing in school about her living in a white folks home, but she did not pay much attention to that.
Failing to recognize herself as the one black child in a photograph, Janie begins her story without a name or color (Meese 62). ?Dey all uster call me Alaphabet? cause so many people had done named me different names? (Hurston 9). The revelation doesn?t devastate Janie, rather it stands as both a symbol of Nanny?s unrealistic attempts to shield the girl from life and a metaphor for Janie?s lack of self-knowledge (Williams 100). Nanny raised Janie through her own dreams ?of what a woman oughta be and do? (Hurston 100). Nanny projects a stereotypical identity and a secure future for Janie based on what she knows, which is limited by the historical constraints of what she has seen of the white man?s power over blacks (Meese 62). She tries to control Janie under her own rules and unfair authority. Nanny tells Janie,
...f its hiding place . With Teacke , she finds spiritual sense of love tht had been absent in her first two marriages .” Janie finally finding her self worth and happiness and the love she needed from the beginning not worrying about how much money her last husband has .( pg170)
Janie found what she was looking for. She searched all her life to find what was within herself, and one special person was all that was needed to bring it out in her. Even though her and Tea Cake’s relationship ended in a tragedy, she knew that he really loved her for who she was. She didn’t need to be with him for protection, or she didn’t need to be the leading lady of a town or a mayor’s wife, she just needed the right kind of love and affection to bring out what was best in her.
Explained Styles & Tones Of Their Eyes Were Watching God “Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board.” (pg.1, par.1) and so begins the powerful story of Janie Crawford, along with the author’s menagerie of different styles and tones. These tones and styles set the stage for Zora Neale Hurston’s major themes, all of which were strongly introduced and defended throughout the novel. Hurston’s themes vary from sexism, to dialogue, and to religion; which during her time were extremely prudent issues for the U.S. and even a few other countries. However, her approach to these issues, though strong, is quite different from that of similar novelists of the time period.
Once Janie was of age to have serious relationships, Janie’s grandmother tried to guide Janie in the direction of the upper class and money. The point was so that Janie would never have to work a day in her life and only have to fulfill her normal housewife duties. But once word got
Janie is the novel's hero. The story is told in first person as she narrates the story of her life to her friend Pheoby Watson. This is a story of one woman's search for love in the world. From the beginning of Janie’s story under the pear tree, she tries desperately to “find who she is” and this consist of obtaining three different husbands. Janie has gone through a lot in her life time the fact that she is a product of white rape - causes her to be lighter-skinned than other black women. Because Janie is an “unusual” woman concerning her physical characteristics this is a major factor during her marriage to Joe Starks and interactions with Mrs. Turner.
Though Janie had three marriages in total, each one drew her in for a different reason. She was married off to Logan Killicks by her Grandmother who wanted her to have protection and security. “Tain’t Logan Killicks Ah wants you to have baby, its protection.” (Hurston 15) says Janie’s grandmother when Janie said she did not want to marry Logan. Though Janie did not agree with her grandmother, she knew that she just wanted what’s best for her. Next, she married Joe Starks, Janie was unsatisfied with her marriage to Logan so Joe came in and swept her off her feet. Janie did not like the fact that Logan was trying to make her work, so Joe’s proposition, “You ain’t never knowed what it was to be treated like a lady and ah want to be de one tuh show yuh.” (Hurston 29) was too good to pass up, so she left Logan and married Joe. Janie’s last marriage was to Tea Cake. Fed up after having been treated poorly by Joe, Janie finally found someone who liked her for who she was. “Naw, ...