Analysis Of Janie In Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston

1990 Words4 Pages

By looking at how Janie in Hurson’s novel is searching for her autonomy and self-determination as a black female in Eatonville and how Lutie in Petry’s novel is battling for survival against racism 0and the monstrous attitude of men along the streets of Harlem, I argue that it is harder for African American women to strive for success in urban areas than in rural areas.
Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God is a text richly endowed with meaning and purpose which uses poetic language and folkloric imagery to convey its messages. In this story of a black woman’s search for identity, the main character, Janie, suffers through two unfulfilling marriages to oppressive, materialistic men, who “squinch” her spirit until she meets Tea Cake, …show more content…

Janie steps down from her pedestal to enter a relationship with Tea Cake, but she steps into one built on reciprocity rather than hierarchy. In teaching Janie to play checkers, to shoot, and to drive, and in inviting her to work alongside of him, Tea Cake breaks down the rigid gender definitions that Joe sought to impose. Janie continues to use her voice and her relationship with Tea Cake progresses. Because she is in a give-and-take relationship and she has joined a community on the muck, Janie experiences the freedom of speaking her mind. Hurston emphasizes the joy of this ability to communicate by writing: "Only here, she could listen and laugh and even talk some herself if she wanted to" (Hurson, …show more content…

The author has clearly pictured the fate of single women in the streets of Harlem in this novel. The characterization of Lutie is made very strong by Ann Petry as the protagonist strives hard to maintain sanity despite the threats of racism, sexism and gender inequalities. She feels nobody can live a decent life in the street and somehow they will turn evil at one point in time. “And Lutie thought no one could live on a street like this and stay decent. It would get them sooner or later, for it sucked the humanity out of the people – slowly, surely, inevitably” (Petry, 229). The phrase “sucked the humanity” is used aptly as the roots of decent behavior originates from humanity and when that is at stake, the behavior of people definitely turns monstrous. The streets of Harlem turn her into a murderer in order to maintain her ethics of living and also make her forego her son who is in a children’s

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neal Hurston

    724 Words  | 2 Pages

    What is one’s idea of the perfect marriage? In Zora Neal Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie has a total of three marriages and her best marriage was to Tea Cake. Janie’s worst and longest marriage was to Joe Starks where she lost her dream and was never happy. The key to a strong marriage is equality between each other because in Janie’s marriage to Joe she was not treated equally, lost apart of herself and was emotionally abused, but her and Tea Cake's marriage was based on equality and she was able to fully be herself.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God

    1296 Words  | 3 Pages

    ..., she found her identity. It did not come easy for Janie. It took her years to find out who she really was.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Janie's Role In Their Eyes Were Watching God

    1052 Words  | 3 Pages

    Tea Cake teaching Janie how to shoot a gun shows that he doesn 't limit her from doing anything. The muck was a place full of strangers who were all there for the same reasons;

    Read More

  • Character Analysis Of Janie In Zora Hurston's The Eyes Were Watching God

    1321 Words  | 3 Pages

    He stood out to Janie so much because of his way of making her feel like she was important. When she was with Joe Starks he never really allowed her to speak because she was a woman. For this unfamiliar trait in Tea Cake, Janie leaves Eatonville with him to get married in Jacksonville. The newly married couple eventually moved to the Everglades. Janie loved this place because it was the opposite of Eatonville. “The men held arguments here like they used to do on the store porch.Only, here she could listen and laugh and even talk some herself if she wanted to”(Hurston 134). She felt apart of the conversation and noticed. Even though Tea Cake made Janie happy, she started to grow jealous of a little chunky girl who would always flirt with Tea Cake. This made her realize that true love means feeling jealous. One day the flirting became too much and “She just acted on feelings. She rushed into the cane and about the fifth row down she found Tea Cake and Nunkie struggling. She was on them before either knew”(Hurston 137). Her jealousy made their relationship stronger and made Tea Cake announce his love for her. Over time they grow through many trials and tribulations which causes Janie to find out the true meaning of love. By the end of their relationship, when Tea Cake dies, Janie has grown into a full woman who is satisfied with

    Read More

  • Janie and Contemporary Women in Zora Neale Hurston’s "Their Eyes Were Watching God"

    718 Words  | 2 Pages

    The character Janie in Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God is portrayed as a woman who has a modern mindset that is much too advanced for her thinking. Janie does things that raise much controversy with the community and endures situations that would be deemed inhumane in today’s society. Examining the abuse, oppression and criticism Janie undergoes in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God from both a contemporary woman's viewpoint and an early twentieth century woman's viewpoint reveals differences, as well as similarities in the way people respond to events.

    Read More

  • Janie's Self-Discovery

    1473 Words  | 3 Pages

    Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is about a young woman that is lost in her own world. She longs to be a part of something and to have “a great journey to the horizons in search of people” (85). Janie Crawford’s journey to the horizon is told as a story to her best friend Phoebe. She experiences three marriages and three communities that “represent increasingly wide circles of experience and opportunities for expression of personal choice” (Crabtree). Their Eyes Were Watching God is an important fiction piece that explores relations throughout black communities and families. It also examines different issues such as, gender and class and these issues bring forth the theme of voice. In Janie’s attempt to find herself, she grows into a stronger woman through three marriages.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston

    1397 Words  | 3 Pages

    Zora Neale Hurston once said, “Happiness is nothing but everyday living seen through a veil.” In post-slavery African American society, this statement was unusual, as society was focused on materialistic values. The “veil” Hurston mentions is a lens used to sift through one’s beliefs; to help one understand that what they have is more important than what they don’t. Hurston alludes the veil in her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, in the form of a fish-net, saying “She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it in from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulders" (193). Just like the veil, the “fish-net” allows one to sift through one’s beliefs, deciding what is important and what is not. Essentially, Hurston

    Read More

  • Zora Hrston Symbolism

    1498 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Zora Hurston’s, Their Eyes Were Watching God Janie Crawford was an attractive, confident, middle-aged black woman. Janie defied gender stereotypes and realized others cruelty toward her throughout the novel. Behind her defiance was curiosity and confidence that drove her to experience the world and become conscious of her relation to it. Janie’s idealized definition of love stemmed from her experience under a pear tree, an experience that was highly romanticized and glamorized in her sixteen year old eyes. Janie’s ability to free herself from the confining, understood, stereotypical roles enforced upon her allowed her to not only find true love but define true love as well.

    Read More

  • Their Eyes Were Watching God Reflection

    1815 Words  | 4 Pages

    She respectfully mourns the death of Jody, but after a period of time she finds herself wearing what she wants, and doing whatever she has ever wanted to do. She burns the hair rags she was forced to wear, and it gives her power to feel as if she can do anything she desires. Jody has left her the house, store, and his money. She starts living like she has always wanted to, and unexpectedly she meets someone who completely changes her mind about being alone. Vergible “Tea Cake” Woods is Janie’s true love. Tea Cake is a man who finds Janie intelligent, and allows her to join in on activities she was prohibited from with Jody.. “He set it (the checkers) up and began to show her and she found herself glowing inside. Somebody wanted her to play. Somebody thought it natural for her to play. That was even nice. She looked him over and got little thrills from one of his good points. Those full, lazy eyes with the lashes curling sharply away like drawn scimitars,” (Hurston 95). Janie loves Tea Cake’s easygoing attitude and spontaneous lifestyle, but is still leery about him, and cannot decide if she wants to be with him due to an age gap between the two. Her relationship with Tea Cake was the most beneficial, because he saw her as his equal and never felt as if she was below him. Janie works in the Everglades with Tea Cake in the fields. She enjoys this labor for the fact

    Read More

  • Janie's Marriages and Personal Growth in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God

    662 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie Crawford the main character goes through some big changes. Throughout this book Janie struggles to find her inner voice and purpose of love. She looks high and low for a sign of what love really is and she finds it as being the pear tree. The pear tree is very symbolic and ultimately shows Janie what love is and how it should be in a healthy relationship. This tree, with the bees pollinating the blossoms, helps Janie realize that love should be very mutual and each person needs to provide for the other equally. Janie tries to find this special kind of love through her three husbands, but she comes to realize it is going to be much harder then she expected. Each one of Janie’s husbands are a stepping stone for her finding her voice.

    Read More

  • Summary Of A Society Of One By Zora Neale Hurston

    1774 Words  | 4 Pages

    Tea Cake, in this moment, takes the initiative for Janie allowing her to move forward in her life. Through his actions, Tea Cake breaks these boundaries set by Joe thereby creating a new impression of gender

    Read More

  • Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

    1895 Words  | 4 Pages

    On Janie’s quest for self-fulfillment, she realizes that she must live for hers to find the love that she needs and wants. Security and status do not equal love these unnatural things caused her marriage to Logan and Joe to be unsuccessful. When Janie meets, Teacake it is his natural aura that complements Janie because the novel shows us that nature is her identity.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Janie In Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston

    815 Words  | 2 Pages

    Janie represents all of the independent women of her time because she never gave up her happiness. The one moment that brought the whole story together and the one moment that really showed Janie as one strong woman, was the moment she let down her hair. After many years and multiple men burdening her of societal expectations she finally became a woman that she wanted to be. The moment quoted when she became herself was, “She went over to the dresser and looked hard at her skin and features. The young girl was gone, but a handsome woman had taken her place. She tore off the kerchief from her head and let down her plentiful hair. The weight, the length, the glory was there”(Hurston 86), was the climax of the story, and the beginning to Janie’s

    Read More

  • Ann Petry’s The Street

    1247 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ann Petry’s The Street In our society today, there are many images that are portrayed through media and through personal experience that speak to the issues of black motherhood, marriage and the black family. Wherever one turns, there is the image of the black woman in the projects and very rarely the image of successful black women. Even when these positive images are portrayed, it is almost in a manner that speaks to the supposed inferiority of black women.

    Read More

  • Janie’s Courageous Voice in Their Eyes Were Watching God

    1409 Words  | 3 Pages

    Through her use of southern black language Zora Neale Hurston illustrates how to live and learn from life’s experiences. Janie, the main character in Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, is a woman who defies what people expect of her and lives her life searching to become a better person. Not easily satisfied with material gain, Janie quickly jumps into a search to find true happiness and love in life. She finally achieves what she has searched for with her third marriage.

    Read More

More about Analysis Of Janie In Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston

Open Document