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In Zora Neale Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” Janie Crawford’s self-discovery and self-accomplishments make her a role model to Pheoby and especially to the reader. Throughout her journey towards her goals, her “horizons,” Janie lacks guidance through a role model and finds herself struggling through difficult situations. Despite the lack of guidance in her life, she works against the forces that oppose her and overcomes her struggles to reach a point of accomplishment and self-satisfaction. Through her experiences told in her narrative, Janie represents a truly inspirational role model for not only Pheoby, but for the readers of the novel.
Throughout the book, Janie does not have the privilege of looking up to someone as an example
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The struggles that Janie is challenged with, such as her marriages with Logan and Joe, hold her back from reaching closer to her “horizon”, but she finds ways to escape the entrapment of these men. By discovering her voice and recognizing her power, Janie is able to free herself of her struggles. She tells dying Joe that “you gointuh listen tuh me one time befo’ you die” (87). At this point, she begins to fully develop her voice, acknowledge her power, and demand respect and uses this self-discoverment to her benefit. Throughout her journey, Janie’s ultimate goal is to find true love. On the way to her “horizon,” she must face the forces against her. These forces are men like Logan and Joe as well as society’s expectations for a black woman like her. The fact that Janie is able to overcome her challenges against men as wells as reject the societal expectations for her. By the end of the novel, Janie is “satisfied” with herself and has “been tuh de horizon and back” (191). She learns that true love is “lak de sea” (191) and that it is an intangible concept that is different for everyone. She also learns the power of her voice, but also when to use it. She learns that “talkin’” is just as important as “listenin’.” (192). By surviving through her journey and overcoming her struggles against society’s vision for her
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.
Joe would rather put Janie down and belittle her rather than accept her help. During their
Zora Hurston’s novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God” depicts the journey of a young woman named Janie Crawford’s journey to finding real love. Her life begins with a romantic and ideal view on love. After Janie’s grandmother, Nanny, soon grows fearful of Janie’s newfound sexuality and quickly marries Janie off to Logan Killicks, an older land owner with his own farm. Janie quickly grows tired of Logan and how he works her like a slave instead of treating her as a wife and runs away with Joe Starks. Joe is older than Janie but younger than Logan and sweet talks Janie into marring him and soon Joe becomes the mayor of an all African American town called Eatonville. Soon Joe begins to force Janie to hide not only her
Their Eyes Were Watching God is written by Zora Neale Hurston in the year of 1937. In the novel, the main character is Janie Crawford. Janie has been treated differently by others during her life because of how she was raised and the choices she has made throughout her life. The community is quick to judge her actions and listen to any gossip about Janie in the town. Janie is known to be “classed off” from other members in her community in various ways. “Classed off” means to be separate or isolated from other people.
In, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the author takes you on the journey of a woman, Janie, and her search for love, independence, and the pursuit of happiness. This pursuit seems to constantly be disregarded, yet Janie continues to hold on to the potential of grasping all that she desires. In, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the author, Zora Hurston illustrates the ambiguity of Janie’s voice; the submissiveness of her silence and the independence she reclaims when regaining her voice. The reclaiming of Janie's independence, in the novel, correlates with the development and maturation Janie undergoes during her self discovery.
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.
In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the main character Janie struggles to find herself and her identity. Throughout the course of the novel she has many different people tell her who she should be and how she should behave, but none of these ideas quite fit Janie. The main people telling Janie who she should be is her grandmother and Janie’s 3 husbands. The people in Janie's life influence her search for identity by teaching her about marriage, hard work, class, society, love and happiness.
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 sets out on a quest to make sense of inner questions. She does not sit back and
Unlike The Odyssey or any other epic tales, Their Eyes Were Watching God has a different perspective of what a hero is. In this novel, Hurston writes a story about an African-American woman named Janie Crawford whose quest is to find her identity and desire as a human being to be loved and appreciated for who she is. Her quest to fulfill those desires is not easy since she has to overcome so many obstacles and challenges in her life. A superiority that her Nanny posses over her to determine Janie's own life when she was a teenager and being a beautiful accessory to the glory of Joe Starks' are some of the experience that she encounters. She also has to make some sacrifices. And yet, just like any other heroes, at the end, she returns to her home with a victory on her hands.
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.
By gaining the ability to do whatever she wants and ignoring social norms, she experiences true feminism. In the beginning, Janie cannot break away from expectations and her Nanna forces her to marry Logan. Eventually, Janie leaves Logan for treating her poorly and gains the confidence to stand up to the man; breaking the norm that women are inferior to men. Janie realizes that she should find the person who sees her as equal. When Janie meets Jody, she falls in love with him because he gave her affection. Soon, she discovers his animosity against free women when he does not allow her to talk to the townspeople and forces her to wear a rag over her hair. Due to the fact that Janie experiences hardships from her first two husbands, she realizes her worth when she is unhappy with her conditions. She feels the discrimination against her because of her gender and learns that she deserves better. When Janie remarries she shows independence because she does not staying with the man for financial security or because the man has power over her; Janie chooses to marry her third husband because he respects her. By experiencing Janie’s character development, readers learn that they are only able to experience true freedom when they refuse to follow social norms and make decisions based on their own individual
There was evidence of Janie using his process as she thought about love and compared it to a pear tree; however, many of her relationships with men heavily influenced her journey to find her voice. Whether the relationship was healthy for her or not, Janie felt the oppression of men was weighing her down leading her to find Tea Cake and finally her own voice. Writing her most famous novel, Hurston’s use of these relationships, symbols, and personal life experiences are what led to Janie’s journey and also what ultimately helped Janie find that strength. Embarking on this journey, Janie ventures out of her small life to pursue her idea of love and happiness. She goes through many years of her life being oppressed by a number of men, even those who are not her husband. Ultimately, Janie uses that experience of male dominance in her life to breakout on her own and find the strong female voice she always searched
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston created a heroine in Janie Crawford. Janie overcame many obstacles of her time. Acceptance into the community, self-discovery, and courageousness are some of Janie's obstacles.
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.