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The relationship between gender identity and power relates
Symbolism in their eyes are watching god
Symbolism in their eyes are watching god
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In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, the imagery of Joe Starks power has an impact on how his community views his position of authority. Joe, although actually being black, is depicted as a white man to portray his power in the community. One of the ways Hurston depicts Joe as being white is through the description of his house. The narrator is describing Joe’s personality according to the townspeople’s view of him when Hurston writes, “The rest of the town looked like servant quarters surrounding the ‘big house’. And different from everybody else's in the town he put off moving in until it had been painted, in and out. And look at the way he painted it-a gloaty sparkly white” (p. 47). By Joe’s house being described …show more content…
Through the comparisons Hurston uses of Joe to God, it portrays the godlike power he has. When people from all over the town come for the lamp lighting ceremony, Joe starts making a speech when Hurston writes, "And when Ah touch de match tuh dat lamp wick let de light penetrate inside of yuh, and let it shine, let it shine. Brother Davis, lead us in a word uh prayer" (p. 45). This quote illustrates how just like God created the world and made light through his words so to Joe creates the first lamp for his town and mimics god's actions. Additionally, it later on says “Jesus the light of the world” which is direct reference to Jesus and light when referring to Joe. As a result of this, the towns people feel they need to react to Joe as if he is a godlike figure by bending over every which way so they can listen to him. The townspeople are all gossiping about Joe when Hurston writes,"He had a bow-down command in his face, and every step he took made the thing more tangible" (p. 47). "Speakin' of winds, he's de wind and we'se de grass. We bend which ever way he blows" (p. 49). Because of the way Joe acts towards his town, subsequently they feel that he is in charge of every move and feel obligated to “bow down” to Joe. When the townspeople listen to Joe, it makes them feel as if he is a godlike figure who has complete power and
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.
Janie were pretty well off and had the privilege to live in the yard of white
Modern Critical Interpretations: Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. Pondrom, Cyrena N. "
Zora Neale Hurston was a very prestigious and effective writer who wrote a controversial novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Janie whom is the dynamic character, faces many hardships throughout her life. Janie’s Nanny always told Janie who she should be with. Janie was never truly contented because she felt she was being constricted from her wants and dreams. Janie’s first two marriages were a failure. Throughout the novel, Janie mentions that her dreams have been killed. Janie is saying that men that have been involved and a part of her life have mistreated and underappreciated her doings. The death of her dreams factor Janie’s perception on men and her feelings of the future. Logan and Jody were the men who gave her such a negative attitude towards marriage. Once Tea Cake came along, Janie realized that there are men out there that will appreciate her for who she is. Janie throughout the novel, comes into contact with many obstacles that alter her perspective on men and life overall.
Joe and Missie May Banks are husband and wife. They live in a black community in Eatonville, Florida. Hurston writes, “It was a Negro yard around a Negro house in a Negro settlement that looked to the
Hurston begins the essay in her birth town: Eatonville, Florida; an exclusively Negro town where whites were a rarity, only occasionally passing by as a tourist. Hurston, sitting on her porch imagines it to be a theatre as she narrates her perspective of the passing white people. She finds a thin line separating the spectator from the viewer. Exchanging stances at will and whim. Her front porch becomes a metaphor for a theater seat and the passers
Zora Neale Hurston uses many rhetorical devices to depict the relationship Janie has with Joe Starks in the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. In chapter 7 Hurston uses devices such as metaphors in three paragraphs to convey how Joe Starks role of a mayor has a tremendous weight on him and Janie. Also how he’s aging physically and mentally is affecting their relationship in a negative way.
In the novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, by Zora Neale Hurston there were many contrasting places that were used to represent opposed forces or ideas that are central to the meaning of this work.
There are numerous examples of how Miller presents and develops the theme of power and authority, but it only unveils itself gradually through the play, due to each character’s hidden physical attitudes. Firstly there is the religious authority, with the work of god that presides over the lives of the villagers. Next we soon come across the court’s legal authority that is run by Danforth who consumes most of the court’s say in every matter, but they still abide and depend on the strict Puritan’s religious authority. Then there is abusive empowerment that Ab...
People who have power use it to manipulate the rules, which in turn may lead to their loss of power. There are times when the rules are not to their liking. They abuse their powers and not follow the rules. This can lead to consequences that are endured by those using and abusing power as shown by characters in The Lord of the Flies and “I Only Came to Use the Phone.” These works demonstrate how people change when given authority for good or evil and suggest that anyone given power can use it to their advantage. People’s use or abuse of power is not only a perfect theme for these two pieces of literature but also in our everyday lives.
Hurston does not concern herself with the actions of whites. Instead, she concerns herself with the self-perceptions and actions of blacks. Whites become almost irrelevant, certainly negative, but in no way absolute influences on her
From this point, “double-consciousness” is obliterated when a man is unexpectedly voiced by a woman in front of society, resulting in his masculinity and pride being destroyed. This is evident in the story when Janie speaks up against Joe Starks when he continues to humiliate and degrade her in public. Janie breaks Joe Stark’s gender identity when she “took the middle of the floor to talk right into Jody’s face, and that was something that hadn’t been done before…‘Hmph! Talkin’ about me lookin’ old! When you pull down yo’ britches, you look lak de change uh life” (Hurston 78-79). Before Janie speaks up against Joe Starks, he is upset with her because she did not cut the tobacco correctly. When he ridicules her in front of the townspeople, she is fed up because anything she does is not perfect for him and he always downgrades her. For the first time, she lashes out at him. Brian Norman agrees when “Hurston turns to nature to compare Janie to the mule of the world in Their Eyes were watching God...In this way, Walker is able to address—ad protest—suffering, injustice, and division while at the same time lay the groundwork for an earthbound collective vision that can analyze and refuse sociological, historical, and political divisions” (Norman 127). From this point, Joe Starks’s gender identity is destroyed because his pride and masculinity are broken by Janie’s voice
In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, she utilizes an array of symbolism such as color, the store, and her husbands to solidify the overall theme of independence and individuality. Their Eyes Were Watching God is considered by many a classic American Feminist piece that emphasizes how life was for African Americans post slave era in the early 1900s. One source summarizes the story as, 1 ”a woman's quest for fulfillment and liberation in a society where women are objects to be used for physical work and pleasure.” Which is why the overall theme is concurrent to independence and self.
Hurston uses the power of language and different narrative techniques to show Janie's transition throughout the novel. It is important to notice that in Janie's journey from object to subject, the narration of the novel shifts from third person to a mixture of first and third person; thus, the shift shows the awareness of self within Janie. Language becomes an instrument of injury and salvation and of selfhood and empowerment. The use of powerful language is exemplified well in the text when Janie is asked to say a few words as the new Mrs. Mayor. Joe, her second husband, quickly cuts in and says, "Thank yuh fuh yo' compliments, but mah wife don't know nothin' 'bout no speech-makin'. Ah never married her for not...
From the displays of power that have been shown through out this essay, we see that this story is a story about power. Power is the story is primarily about peoples need for some small amount of power to survive in life and to feel that hey have a purpose within their society which every society it may be whether its is Gilead or Nazi Germany or modern day Britain.