Analysis Of Janie's Evolution Through Hardship In Their Eyes Were Watching God

Janie’s Evolution Through Hardship 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. Sexual dominance of males in this novel was a prominent view held by most of the main characters. Women are supposed to follow the demands of men and this is especially true for Janie in her relationship with Jody. Jody set very strict regulations for Janie during the time of their

Jody requires that Janie hold her hair in a head rag because it didn’t make sense for her to have it down. In reality, Jody was jealous about how the other men looked at Janie when she had her hair down. In fact, “one night he had caught Walter standing behind and brushing the back of his hand back and forth across the loose end of her braid ever so lightly so as to enjoy the feel of it without Janie knowing what he was doing” (Hurston 55). This infuriated Jody and he ordered Janie to always have her hair tied up when she was in the store because, “she was there in the store for him to look at, not those others” (Hurston 55). Janie’s hair can be seen as a symbol of her independence, but with Jody’s demands, her independence is lost. This inequality only exists for Janie, because she is a woman. She could not make similar demands from Jody, or else she would be punished. However, in her relationship with Tea Cake, Janie is allowed to be somewhat free of gender bias. Tea Cake was the only person that treated her as an equal. It begins with the game of checkers, which Tea Cake sets up himself, a sign that he wanted to play with her and saw her as an

Logan is one of the first characters to make a comment about Janie’s class. He says “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 30). Logan means that he is of a higher social class than Janie because she was a slave for the Whites for a large majority of her life. Once again, Janie holds this idea as true, until she meets Jody. When Jody gets elected as mayor, Janie and his position on the social class stratification gets moved up. However, Jody becomes a changed man and their relationship becomes strained. Janie tells Jody about his position on mayor, “You’se always off talkin’ and fixin’ things, and Ah feels lak Ah’m jus’ markin’ time” (Hurston 46). Janie immediately does not like their new social position. It is taking time away from them being together as Jody is constantly attending to problems of the town. Her ideas on the higher position stay the same even into her relationship with Tea Cake, because he belonged to a lower