If Zora Neale Hurston Were Alive
Oprah Winfrey has twisted the whole book Their Eyes Were Watching God and made a movie which consists of some major changes. Janie’s character changed completely in the book than in the movie, also her relationship with friends and her companions. Oprah reiterates some major parts which also concluded how the hurricane happened which did not last long as it did in the book, symbolism also differed in the movie and some major symbols remained as noticeable as it was in the book. Winfrey changed the whole meaning of the title even though she did not change the title Winfrey made the meaning different when everybody watched God instead of just Janie. Zora Neale Hurston would have been disappointed if she still lived due to the fact that Oprah has remade her book and made it her own version which differed from Zora’s novel.
Janie Crawford in the movie Their Eyes Were Watching God and Janie in the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God differed tremendously in character. While reading the novel everyone would have read that Janie a young mixed female who did not come from much money, she never met her parents and Janie tries really hard to find herself even through some of the obstacles she faces. Janie in the book never like she equaled to the men she married because she already knew she was not above or better in any way . That was really the only time Janie really said something that was disrespectful and out of the way. Watching the movie everyone should see a major change in Janie’s whole character Oprah made Janie a more outspoken, uncouth, and a gallant person who had a different personality. Janie in the book would have never been so rude to Pheoby like she acted towards her in the movie becau...
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...ld have incorporated the horizon somehow in the movie taking it out completely does not make the movie as complete.
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
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
In the book, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the main character, Janie’s past actions affects her development throughout the novel. There are also positive and negative effects that impacted her life. Janie is influenced through the development of her relationships such as her Nanny’s advice to her as a child, Joe tries to control her, and before and after the hurricane causes Tea Cake and Janie’s relationship to become more tense, causing the outcome for her to free herself from the restrictions and make her own personal decisions. She becomes more confident, more self-aware , and discovers her capabilities .
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.
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.
Oprah Winfrey mutilated the classic novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God written by Zora Neale Hurston by turning the movie into a story with no resemblance to the book. Throughout Janie Crawford’s life, love is a dream she wished to achieve. Oprah makes changes to Janie’s character, her marriages, and the differences of symbolism, the change of themes, and the significance of Janie’s childhood which will alter the entire moral of the story. Another difference is the way the townspeople gossip. Oprah changes the point of Janie’s life journey to find herself to a love story.
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.
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.
As we see into Janie life we see that two of the three relationship end in a death both were abusive. During Janie second relationship with Joe, Joe begin to feel insecure about his appearance so he begin to point out Janie flaws out as they were both growing older though he is older. He mentally abuse her by bringing up her age constantly to make Janie feel insecure about herself as he felt insecure by himself. Then the climax happen, Janie stood up for herself and being to display his flaws and age in the store people being to laugh at him, ridicule him so he slap her and Janie ran out of the store. Because of this incident the relationship became stressed and he ignores her, even when he was sick and needed a doctor which Janie recommend this act of rebellion ultimately lead to his
She realized that she married him only because of Nanny’s wishes, and she did not - and was never going to - love him. It was with this realization that her “first dream was dead, so she became a woman” (25) And although the “memory of Nanny was still powerful and strong”, (29) Janie left with Joe Starks. However her marriage to Jody was no better than her marriage to Logan. Jody was powerful and demanding, and although at first he seemed amazing, Jody forced Janie into a domestic lifestyle that was worse than the one that she escaped. Jody abused Janie both emotionally and physically, and belittled her to nothing more than a trophy wife. But Janie never left him. This time Janie stayed in the abusive marriage until he died, because Janie did not then know how to the tools capable of making her a sovereign person. She once again chose caution over nature, because caution was the safest option. And overtime she became less and less Janie, and less and less of her sovereign self, and eventually, “the years took all the fight out of Janie’s face. For a while she thought it was gone from her soul...she had learned how to talk some and leave some. She was a rut in the road. Plenty of life beneath the surface but it was kept beaten down by the wheels” (76). During her marriage to Jody, Janie never got it right. She was trapped under Jodi’s command and because of this she never
One major insult to the book from the movie comes with the fact that the motion picture ultimately changes the title of the entire work and thus changes the focus. In the book, a hurricane draws closer to the muck while Tea Cake and Janie stay illustrated waiting in the dark of the shack they reside. “They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God” (Hurston 187). The title remains unscathed and the original focus on the story stays intact. However, the movie changes the entire meaning of the original name. “Tea Cake: What’cha doin’ Janie? Janie: Ah’m watchin’ God” (Their). Not taken into account by the movie, the other characters become unimportant to the plot as Janie watches God. Important characters such as Tea Cake and Joe Starks transform into minor characters. Even the residents of Eatonville and the muck have a forgotten hope for safety and a future, for they become cast aside. Instead, Janie becomes the center of attention and her hopes become the main focus. By doing this, the focus of the story changes making Janie the only focus and the inclusion of the other characters never reaches closure, making their expectati...
Throughout the movie of Their Eyes Were Watching God, Oprah Winfrey alternates Zora Neale Hurston’s story of a woman’s journey to the point where nobody even recognizes it. The change in the theme, the characters, and their relationships form a series of major differences between the book and the movie. Instead of teaching people the important lessons one needs to know to succeed in this precious thing called life, Oprah tells a meaningless love story for the gratification of her viewers. Her inaccurate interpretation of the story caused a dramatic affect in the atmosphere and a whole new attitude for the audience.
The movie and the book of Their Eyes Were Watching God both tell the story of a young woman’s journey to finding love; however, the movie lacks the depth and meaning behind the importance of Janie’s desire for self-fulfillment. Oprah Winfrey’s version alters the idea from the book Zora Neale Hurston wrote, into a despairing love story for the movie. Winfrey changes Hurston’s story in various ways by omitting significant events and characters, which leads to a different theme than what the novel portrays. The symbolisms and metaphors emphasized throughout the book are almost non-existent in the movie, changing the overall essence of the story. While Zora Neale Hurston’s portrayal gives a more in depth view of Janie’s journey of self-discovery and need for fulfilling love, Oprah Winfrey’s version focuses mainly on a passionate love story between Janie and Tea Cake.
After the marriage with Logan she met Joe a man she ran off with after an argument with Logan. Joe was the charisma type when you over with talk and charm that's how he won Janie, but little did she know Joe wasn’t who she thought he was. Joe was a controlling man who thought Janie place should be by his side when she is needed or working in the store. “This business of the head-rag irked her endlessly. But Jody was set on it. Her hair was NOT going to show in the store. It didn’t seem sensible at all”. That was because Joe never told Janie how jealous he was.Joe loved Janie’s hair so much that he hated when other men would look at it, Joe was very controlling to the point he made Janie wear rags on her head to cover up her magnificent hair so other men couldn’t enjoy its beauty. Another instances were Joe took Janie individuality was when she had the chance to speak in public because of Joe becoming mayor “Janie had never thought of making a speech, and didn’t know if she cared to make one at all. It must have been the way Joe spoke out without giving her a chance to say anything one way or another that took the bloom off of things. She had the chance to speak to the people of the town, but Joe didn’t give her the chance to speak because he felt like it wasn’t a woman's place to speak in public. Each of those time Joe took a piece of who Janie was.
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, ...
...d feels that she is lucky to have him. Joe Starks, Janie's second husband, seems to be her singing bee when they first meet but she realizes that he is not. When Joe becomes what he strived to be, he tried to control Janie and change her into what he expected and thought for her to be. Only Tea Cake, Janie's final husband, truly cared for the person that she really was and treated her as his equal. He encouraged her to speak her mind and tell him her opinion so that they can gain a better understanding of each other. In the course of these marriages, Janie is lead toward a development of self and when she arrives back in her hometown she has grown into a mature, independent woman who was still left with the warm memories of love and laughter with Tea Cake.