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The life of zora neale hurston
The life of zora neale hurston
The life of zora neale hurston
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Personal growth is the key to growing up and maturing. Personal development covers activities that improve awareness and identity, develop talents and potential, build human capital and facilitate employability, enhance the quality of life and contribute to the realization of dreams and aspirations. In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie Crawford face her challenges and becomes a woman after finding what love is. She finds her identity and love after three marriages with three different men. Logan Killicks, Joe Starks, and Tea Cake, each impact Janie on developing to become a woman. In each marriage she learn lessons and realize how she’s really supposed to live her life. Janie learns a lot about herself and …show more content…
Her grandma believed Logan could protect Janie and take care of her. Logan Killick was a rich man with sixty acres and a farm. He believes that women should work just like men. After being married, Janie assumed she would feel love or love him right then, but she didn’t. This becomes clear when Janie says “Cause you told me Ah mus gointer love him, and, and Ah don’t. Maybe if somebody was to tell me how, Ah could do it.” (Hurston 23). Janie is confused on why she doesn’t feel the love with Logan after two months and two weeks of being married, she questioning to be teach on how to love. She then realize that marriage did not make love. Janie’s first marriage was a complete failure, but she did complete her first stage development as a women and did not give up on …show more content…
Joe was more of a man that feel women shouldn’t have to work, he believes women should sit pretty and watch men do the work. This becomes clear when Joe says “You behind a plow! You ain’t got no mo’ business wid uh plow than uh hog is got wid uh holiday! You ain’t got no business cuttin’ up no seed p’taters neither. 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”. (Hurston 29). He said Janie was too pretty to be picking food to eat, it should come to her. He was able to convince Janie to leave Logan farm and come along with him to Eatonville, where he was going to help built the town. Their marriage was going well until Joe became Mayor which gave Janie a title. “The Mayor Wife’ Janie then realize Joe wasn’t paying her as much of attention and he also started to treat her different from others. After twenty years of being married, Joe Starks dies of kidney failure then Janie realizes it was time to be herself.
When Tea Cake met Janie, it was on his way to a game in town. He walk in to by cigarette and they started to talk. Tea cake had show her how to play checkers for the first time. He shown her how to fish, hunt, to the movies, a dance, gardening, and how to shoot. For the first time in her life, Janie is enjoying life. This becomes clear when Janie says “we ain’t got nothin’ tuh do but
In Janie and Joe’s marriage, Joe tries to force Jaine into submission, abuses her, and makes her lose herself. When Joe constantly brushes off Janie's suggestions to improve his illness he says: "All you got tuh
Janie sees Logan Killicks' perception of marriage. In the beginning, it seems like that Logan is a very nice man, who is always treating her well. “Janie felt glad of the thought, fo...
When Janie marries Logan, her life is changed completely. She was not only forced into a loveless marriage but she was also forced into a slave like position. Logan sees nothing wrong with the marriage and when Janie complains he responds with, “Ah thought you would ‘preciate good treatement. Thought Ah’d take and make somethin’ outa yuh. You think youse white folks by de way you act” (Hurston, 42). Logan sees marriage much the same way that Nanny does; he believes that because he does not abuse her and provides the necessities that Janie should be happy. According to Tracy L. Bealer’s article “The Kiss of Memory: The Problem of Love in Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God,” “Though Logan does not abuse or violate Janie, even his money proves no protection from unsatisfying labor, as his ominous purchase of a mule ‘all gentled up so even uh woman kin handle ‘im’’ (26) implies the treat of compulsive labor” (316). The physical labor was only one of the problems that Janie had in her marriage with Logan; Logan looked down on Janie for having grown up with and around white people. He would insult Janie by saying, “Considerin’ youse born in a carriage ‘thout no top to it, and yo’ mama and you bein’ born and raised in de white folks back-yard” (Hurston, 40). Logan resented that Janie did not identify with other blacks as a child and saw Janie as his lesser because of this.
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.
In conclusion, Janie is an outgoing and caring person who wants to meet and have fun with other people. Most of the people in her life made her avoid being able to fit in with the crowd. Janie could not overcome the control others had over her. People always continued the gossip throughout the community because she was different. After Janie met Tea Cake, she was determined to do as she wanted without anyone’s say so. Janie will always be known as the
She hoped for a better life in this city. The people of the city grew to like them quickly because of Janie’s beauty and the fact that Joe had great leadership skills. They ended up building a store that became the town hangout. Because of their popularity in the city, Joe ends up becoming the mayor of Eatonville. Eventually, Janie starts to feel the effects of being the mayor 's wife and the negatives began to outweigh the positives.”Janie soon began to feel the impacts of awe and envy against her sensibilities. The wife of the Mayor was not just another woman as she had supposed”(Hurston 46). She started to notice that all the townspeople were under the spell of Joe and everyone was afraid to challenge him. Joe and Janie started to clash because of his views on a woman 's place, especially Janie. He keeps her locked up in their shop and doesn’t let her associate with the townspeople.Janie decided to jump in a conversation being held there with Joe and he told her “You gettin’ to moufy, Janie”(Hurston 75). Joe also grows jealous of other men in the shop being around joe so he makes her tie her hair up. As years grow by, their relationship gets worse and Joe hits Janie. He hit her because she didn 't make his dinner right. This makes Janie realize that the love between them is no longer there and that she is too young to give up on love. “Things packed up and put away in parts of her heart
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
The next man that Janie confides in is Joe Starks. Joe in a sense is Janie's savior in her relationship with Logan Killicks. Joe was a well kept man who worked for "white-folks" all his life and had earned enough money to move himself to a town called Eatonville that was run completely by black people. Janie meets Joe while she is still married to Logan and she begins to lean on him ever so slightly. She has wanted to leave Logan, and she wouldn't have if Joe had not come along. Joe convinced Janie that he would be better off for her by telling her, "Janie, if you think Ah aims to tole you off and make a dog outa you, youse wrong.
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
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
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, ...
In the beginning of the story, Janie is stifled and does not truly reveal her identity. When caught kissing Johnny Taylor, a local boy, her nanny marries her off to Logan Killicks. While with Killicks, the reader never learns who the real Janie is. Janie does not make any decisions for herself and displays no personality. Janie takes a brave leap by leaving Killicks for Jody Starks. Starks is a smooth talking power hungry man who never allows Janie express her real self. The Eatonville community views Janie as the typical woman who tends to her husband and their house. Janie does not want to be accepted into the society as the average wife. Before Jody dies, Janie is able to let her suppressed anger out.
Janie's marriage to Logan Killicks was the first stage in her growth as a woman. She hoped that her obligatory marriage with Logan would end her solitude and desire for love. Right from the beginning, the solitude in the marriage shows up when Janie sees that his house is a "lonesome place like a stump in the middle of the woods where nobody had ever been" (20). This description of Logan's house is symbolic of the relationship they have. Janie eventually admits to Nanny that she still...
Through her three marriages, the death of her one true love, and proving her innocence in Tea Cake’s death, Janie learns to look within herself to find her hidden voice. Growing as a person from the many obstacles she has overcome during her forty years of life, Janie finally speaks her thoughts, feelings and opinions. From this, she finds what she has been searching for her whole life, happiness.
Joe Starks was the man who had promised Janie the best if she left Logan Killicks. " Janie, if you think Ah aims to tell you off and make a dog out of you, you're wrong.... ... middle of paper ... ...