Their Eyes Were Watching God Literary Analysis

What makes a good marriage? Trust, love, and dedication are all words that one might suggest. Bondage, Oppression, and struggle certainly do not make that list. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, explores the idea of a good marriage by showing exactly what a bad marriage looks like. The novel takes place in Florida during the 1930s. At the time, marriage was seen at in a different light than it is today. Women were seen as almost servants of their husbands. Written in 1937, Hurston challenges this backward view of marriage. The story follows a mixed race woman named Janie. Janie grows up under the care of her ex-slave grandmother, Nanny. As a slave, Nanny was raped on several occasions by her slave owner. Due to these experiences,

In the beginning of their relationship, all is well, but as the couple settles into Eatonville, Janie’s struggle becomes more apparent. Joe controls Janie endlessly. For example, Joe makes Janie work in their shop which she does not like. To illustrate, Hurston writes, “The store itself kept her with a sick headache” (54). Despite that the store makes her literally sick, she is not ready to abandoned Joe. Additionally, he makes her put her hair up while she works in their store so that no other man can look at it but him. Janie hates this policy, but obeys it anyway. The two examples mentioned above connect back to the mule motif because, as a mule is controlled and forced to do work against its will, so is Janie. Soon, the mule comes up again: Matt Bonner’s mule is the source of antagonism from men outside of the shop. They make up stories and poke fun at his old and weak mule. Hurston emphasizes Janie’s suppression by saying, ¨Everybody engaged in mule talk… Janie loved the conversation and sometimes she thought up good stories on the mule, but Joe had forbidden her to indulge” (53). In the same fashion that the mule is imprisoned, Janie is not free to express herself because of her “owner’s” rules. As the story progresses, The mule tries to escape, but is cornered by men from the town. Consequently, Joe feels pity for the mule and decides to purchase it, in order to

Hurston describes the scene, “Lum found him under the big tree on his rawbony back with all four feet up in the air” (59) This death is particularly strange. Generally, when mules die they tend to just fall down on top of their legs. This particular way of dying demonstrates that the mule was standing on its feet until its death; fighting death until the last second. This resonates with Janie because even throughout her difficult marriage with Joe, she still manages hang in there with the hope that one day she will be free. Furthermore, the death of the mule is also symbolic of the “death” of Joe and Janie's marriage. After this point in the book, their relationship declines rapidly. Days later, a funeral is held for the mule. The town runs it exactly like they would for a town member. During the funeral, Hurston describes a town member’s eulogy, “He spoke of die joys of mule-heaven to which the dear brother had departed… and most glorious of all, No Matt Bonner with plow lines and halters to come in and corrupt” (61) Since the mule is dead, it is now free off all oppression from its master. This is foreshadowing how Janie will finally be freed once Joe dies. When Joe dies, ending their relationship, Janie can finally be free. Janie expresses this by burning all of her head coverings the day of Joe funeral. Later in the story, Janie gets into another relationship with a man named Tea Cake. Finally, in this relationship, Janie is