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Gender roles shaped in literature
Gender issue in literature
Gender roles shaped in literature
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Their Eyes Were Watching God is a story that very much so revolves around gender and the roles that are created by society in order to fulfill the stereotypical relationship. Zora Neale Hurston understood how hard it was for a woman to be independent in her decisions and role in the world. Janie Crawford comes to exemplify this ideal, whether it be through the three marriages she has or the conversations with her Nanny. The author chooses the have the gender roles in the book kept intact and broken at other times to separate the characters into two categories, and to keep race and gender both clear cut and split. Men and women are clearly divided in how they are supposed to act in the community. The characterization of each gender that is set in the very beginning of the book, designates men to be the workers and providers in the family and women are supposed to cook and help around the house; A belief that is still existent today in certain places. The aforementioned point that each marriage is …show more content…
The discussion evolves from just white versus black to the more germane men versus women which creates a divide between both in the story for this present time period. Although white characters aren’t prominent in the book, besides the majority white female jury for Janie’s case, race separation and beliefs still remain. When Nanny told Janie that “He pick it up because he have to, but he don't tote it. He hand it to his womenfolks.”(14) it is simply the man transferring his burden onto his womenfolk. Once Jody dies, Janie is set free from his burden and can be called by her own name compared to “Mrs. Mayor”(56). By the end of Jody’s character arc he somewhat exhibits the traits of the white man because of his confidence and power in certain situations, but Janie finds that he is more pretentious. The gender roles must be broken in order to advance forward in accepting men and women also black and whites together in
Like Jay Gatsby, many elements of the paragraph in that opens the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God plays into Janie Crawford and how she fits into the gender roles that Zora Neal Hurston describes and in ways, twists, into the narrative of her novel and in the paragraphs mentioned. With these two different characters in two different stories, the narrator of the paragraph conveys a message and draws the distinctions between men, women and how they attain their dreams and the differences between them in doing so.
Zora Neale Hurston’s, Their Eyes Were Watching God tells about the life of Janie Crawford. Janie’s mother, who suffers a tragic moment in her life, resulting in a mental breakdown, is left for her grandmother to take care of her. Throughout Janie’s life, she comes across several different men, all of which end in a horrible way. All the men that Janie married had a different perception of marriage. After the third husband, Janie finally returns to her home. It is at a belief that Janie is seeking someone who she can truly love, and not someone her grandmother chooses for her. Although Janie eventually lives a humble life, Janie’s quest is questionable.
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.
As Janie is growing up she has to learn to accept her Nanny’s belief of how a woman is supposed to live in society. Nanny grew up in slavery so she believes that the role of men is to support his wife financially. Nanny thinks Janie should marry a man according to how successful he is and Janie should keep up the household responsibilities. Janie’s grandmother said, “Ah been waitin’ a long time, Janie, but nothin’ Ah I
Janie's Grandmother is the first bud on her tree. She raised Janie since she was a little girl. Her grandmother is in some respects a gardener pruning and shaping the future for her granddaughter. She tries to instill a strong belief in marriage. To her marriage is the only way that Janie will survive in life. What Nanny does not realize is that Janie has the potential to make her own path in the walk of life. This blinds nanny, because she is a victim of the horrible effects of slavery. She really tries to convey to Janie that she has her own voice but she forces her into a position where that voice is silenced and there for condemning all hopes of her Granddaughter become the woman that she is capable of being.
Their Eyes Were Watching God is a good place to start examining the roles of African-American women. It is written by a woman, Zora Neale Hurston, and from a woman's perspective. This book examines the relationship between Janie and...
Their Eyes Were Watching God is a novel that presents a happy ending through the moral development of Janie, the protagonist. The novel divulges Janie’s reflection on her life’s adventures, by narrating the novel in flashback form. Her story is disclosed to Janie’s best friend Phoebe who comes to learn the motive for Janie’s return to Eatonville. By writing the novel in this style they witness Janie’s childhood, marriages, and present life, to observe Janie’s growth into a dynamic character and achievement of her quest to discover identity and spirit.
Their Eyes Are Watching God is written by Zora Neal Hurston. The novel is written during the period known as the Harlem Renaissance. During the Harlem Renaissance African American culture began the flourish. People were beginning to recognize and support African American; however, there were still laws against African Americans and people were still prejudice towards them. Their Eyes Are Watching God is a story about a woman, Janie Crawford, who was divorced two times before she fell madly in love with her third husband, Tea Cake. The story showcases her trials and tribulations to finding true love. When she married her second husband, Joe Starks, he makes her put up her long and beautiful hair in a head wrap so other men will not be attracted to her. Janie puts down her hair for the first time in twenty years when Joe dies, taking off the head rags symbolized the constraints imposed for women by powerful men.
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie Crawford confronts social and emotional hardships that shape who she is from the beginning to the end of the novel. Living in Florida during the 1900s, it was very common for an African American woman to face discrimination on a daily basis. Janie faces gender inequality, racial discrimination, and social class prejudice that she is able to overcome and use to help her develop as a person.
Different social classes come with different perspectives and challenges, usually the belief is that higher society is much happier than those in the lower rank, but not including race into the education does not give all sides of that story. By evaluating parts in Cane by Jean Toomer, Quicksand and Passing by Nella Larsen, and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston story of class and race is being told. Color and classism have gone hand in hand for many years and evaluating the lives of characters that are considered the lowest of the low and yet made it up the totem pole brings up an important discussion. The conflicting ideas of race and class actually encourage racism and ruin the lives of characters in the black bourgeoisie.
While she thought she was able to do things the color of her skin held her back. This made her try harder to accomplish her goals. When her grandmother insisted that she marry Logan she did not want to. Janie married him to fulfill her grandmother’s dreams. Even though Janie did not love him she struggled till she could not stand it and left with Joe.”
In the book ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’ tells about the life of a young girl and the hand she was dealt, and the choices she makes through life. She goes through her life being raised by her grandmother and ending up forced into a marriage that she doesn’t want to be in. As she grows up she struggles to find a way to truly be happy and her autonomy. Feminism plays a big role in blocking her search to be autonomous.
Their Eyes were Watching God is set during a time period in the American history where African Americans were still segregated and suppressed by the white supremacist government. Janie Mae Crawford is shown to be born in a family with no male presence, and the women in her family are not married due to their past experiences with men. Her mother and grandmother have suffered and nursed many grievances caused by the men in their lives, such as the rape of the grandmother and Janie's mother. Thus, in order to prevent and eliminate this seemingly consecutive and bad generational history with men, and to ease her own worry about her granddaughter's future, the grand mother decides to marry Janie off despite her objections. This is shown with this quote:
In her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston introduces the theme of gender roles through the use of characterization. Gender roles were very important in the African American culture during the 1930’s. Hurston highlights the importance males place on feeling superior to their wives and forcing them in a role of subservience. Men in the South viewed women as property. Men were the masters of the household and women were the slaves in the marriage. The novel is the story of Janie’s awakening from this oppression into her own self-awareness and personal identity. Janie’s journey to awakening was filled with oppression before she entered the pear tree garden of her self-actualized dreams of love.
Their Eyes Were Watching God a story about how Janie reaches a strong sense of self and comes to recognize her independence. But her path toward understanding is not tackle alone. The gender differences that Hurston uses require that males and females provide each other with things that they require but don’t have. Janie sees that fulfilling relationships are shared and based on mutual respect, Hurston demonstrates in Janie’s relat...