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The character development of janie in their eyes were watching god
Their eyes we watching god zory neale hurston
The character development of janie in their eyes were watching god
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In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their eyes were watching God the main character Janie is on a quest for self-fulfillment. Of Janie’s three marriages, Logan and Joe provide her with a sense of security and status. However, only her union with Teacake flourishes into true love. Janie’s first marriage to Logan Killicks was an arranged marriage by her Grandmother Nanny. One day Nanny caught Janie kissing the neighborhood riff raff Johnny Taylor, and Nanny becomes convinced that Janie has entered her womanhood, and needs to marry. Nanny chooses Logan Killicks for her granddaughter simply because he has sixty acres of land on the main road. Nanny believes that this would provide Janie with the added security needed to be a black woman during the time in which the novel is set. Three months into the marriage, Janie realizes that she still does not feel any love for Logan, so she decides to give Nanny a visit. When Janie addresses her concerns to her grandmother, Nanny immediately dismisses them and tells Janie that her mind will change as time passes, and to think about Logan’s sixty acres of land. Janie is unsatisfied with this justification, and goes back home still with doubts about whether or not marriage will “end the cosmic loneliness of the unmarried”. A year into the marriage Janie decides that she is no longer happy in her marriage, she measures these months on terms of the seasons: “So Janie waited a bloom time, and a green time, and orange time . Janie is a sensual woman who grew up in nature and learned about sex and love from sitting underneath a pear tree and watching the bees spread pollen. Land is not enough to satisfy her desires and make her happy in her marriage. The last straw for Janie is when Logan stops spe... ... middle of paper ... ...e’s hair, which was very important to her. The difference between Logan and Teacake is simply that she did not love him and his property made no difference. Janie was very in tune with nature and nature was what educated her regarding intimacy, if you look back Teacake won Janie over by utilizing his surrounding i.e. fishing, lemons for lemonade, and that is how he was able to appeal to her. Throughout the novel, Janie searches for her “bee for her blossom” and becomes convince that Teacake is that bee. On Janie’s quest for self-fulfillment, she realizes that she must live for hers to find the love that she needs and wants. Security and status do not equal love these unnatural things caused her marriage to Logan and Joe to be unsuccessful. When Janie meets, Teacake it is his natural aura that complements Janie because the novel shows us that nature is her identity.
Logan feels that if they are both going to live together and share their lives then they should do an equal amount of work. Logan soon puts Janie to work and treats her more like a mule than a wife. Logan didn't want a wife out of marriage; he wanted a pack animal. Also, love. doesn't seem to be incorporated in Logan's definition of marriage. As. Janie said, "Ah know ‘tain't nothin' dere. Logan didn't see marriage in.
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
For a short time Janie shared her life with her betrothed husband Logan Killicks. She desperately tried to become her new pseudo identity, to conform to the perfect "housewife" persona. Trying to make a marriage work that couldn't survive without love, love that Janie didn't have for Logan. Time and again Janie referred to love and her life in reference to nature, "Ah wants things sweet wid mah marriage lak when you sit under a pear tree and think... She often spoke to falling seeds and said Ah hope you fall on soft grounds... She knew the world was a stallion rolling in the blue pasture of ether"(24 - 25). Logan had blown out the hope in Janie's heart for any real love; she experienced the death of the childish imagery that life isn't a fairytale, her first dose of reality encountered and it tasted sour.
At age sixteen, Janie is a beautiful young girl who is about to enter womanhood and experience the real world. Being joyous and unconcerned, she is thrown into an arranged marriage with Logan Killicks. He is apparently unromantic and unattractive. Logan is a widower and a successful farmer who desires a wife who would not have her own opinions. He is set on his own ways and is troubled by Janie, who forms her own opinions and refuses to work. He is unable to sexually appeal or satisfy Janie and therefore does not truly connect with her as husband and wife should. Janie's wild and young spirit is trapped within her and she plays the role of a silent and obeying wife. But her true identity cannot withhold itself for she has ambitions and she wills to see the world and find love. There was a lack of trust and communication between Logan and Janie. Because of the negative feelings Janie has towards Logan, she deems that this marriage is not what she desires it to be. The pear tree and the bees had a natural att...
Janie is put through many trials through her life. She is only sixteen and confused when she enters her first marriage unknowing the meaning of true love. In her first marriage with Logan Killicks she is not knowing what to expect in marriage, or if it will lead to love, and if it ends a life of loneliness. As Tracy Caldwell mentions in her analysis of the novel, “Logan “Killicks” was responsible for killing Janie’s early hopes for love,” how his name symbolizes his character and how that character affects Janie (Caldwell 2). Janie unhappy, then meets Joe Starks, a man that makes her feel special. In this marriage unlike the first, she thinks she has found love, but is lost to whether if it is love or if she is just an accomplishment for Joe. For example, Joe states at his election speech, “mah wife don’t know not...
The beginning of Janie’s journey is with her marriage to Logan Killicks, a man with tons acres of land to his name, but to Janie’s knowledge, is just an ugly old bag that has a huge lack of any love or companionship for her. For example, when Janie talks to Logan one night about their relationship he only 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” (30). Logan is emotionally destitute towards Janie in the beginning of the marriage. She cannot relate to him in any way what so ever and they both know it as well. In addition, at a point later on in the marriage Logan asks Janie to help him with chores outside, she replies “you don’t need mah help out dere, Logan. Youse in yo’ place and ah’m in mine,” (31). Not only does Logan have an absence of emotion, he also has an absence of love and he expresses the exact opposite of it through his bitterness and anger for Janie. She can now understand that Logan sees himself as supposedly “higher” than her and she loathes it even more. The marriage between Logan and Janie isn’t equal...
Janie's first marriage to Logan Killicks represents the "foolish marriage of an old man and a young girl" (Ferguson 185). Janie views this union as a way for her to be safe and secure from the dangers of the world that Nanny warns her about. Logan looks at Janie as another pair of hands to help work on the land. Logan Killicks maintains the slave mentality of the past about the value of hard work and the ownership of land. He believes that a man's hard work and dedication to his land form his identity. Logan Killicks, a very practical man, does not put any emphasis o...
From Janie’s first relationship with Logan Killicks, she learns about marriage. Janie is forced to marry Logan by Nanny, Janie’s grandmother. Janie was really young and she did not have any plans on getting married, but Nanny wants Janie to marry someone soon: “Tain’t Logan Killicks Ah wants you to have, baby, it’s protection. Ah ain’t gittin’ ole, honey, Ah’m done ole. One mornin’ soon, now, de angel wid de sword is gointuh stop by here. De day and de hour is hid from me, but it won’t be long. Ah as de Lawd when you was uh infant in mah arms to let me stay here till you got grown.
Janie’s three marriages were all different, each one brought her in for a different reason, and each one had something different to teach her. In summary, she married Logan because of her grandmother, Jody because she wanted to escape from Logan, and Tea Cake because they had true love. The marriages were different in that Logan treated Janie like a Slave, Joe was moulding her into what he wanted her to be, and Tea Cake just wanted to be with her. As a result, Janie learned many things from each marriage Tea Cake taught her to be herself and do what she wanted to, her marriage with Logan taught her to make changes in her life, and her marriage with Joe taught her to stand up for herself. In conclusion, her experiences in her marriages shaped her into the person she became, and were an important part of her life.
When Tea Cake enters Janie's life, Janie really starts to come out of her shell. She lets down her hair that was kept up the entire time with Starks. This symbolizes Janie letting all her inhibitions out. In finding Tea Cake, Janie has "completed her voyage" of self-discovery. Tea Cake allows her to feel exhilarated and young again. She makes more friends and becomes more social. During this time in her life Janie is an excellent role model for other black women. She does not give a second look at what other people think about her, which is very admirable. This is shown when Hezekiah Potts tells Janie that Tea Cake is too low of a man for Janie yet, she stills persists on seeing him. Many people also think that Tea Cake is courting Janie for her money only. Janie pays no regard to these onlookers though.
The first two people Janie depended on were her Grandmother, whom she called Nanny, and Logan Killicks. Janie’s marriage to Logan Killicks was partially arranged by Nanny. Nanny had felt the need to find someone for Janie to depend on before she died and Janie could no longer depend on her. At first, Janie was very opposed to the marriage. Nanny responded with, “’Tain’t Logan Killicks Ah wants you to have, baby, it’s protection. ...He (God) done spared me...a few days longer till Ah see you safe in life.”(p.14) Nanny instilled the sense of needing a man for safety on Janie that Janie keeps with her throughout her life. After Nanny’s death, Janie continued to stay with Logan despite her dislike for him. She would have left immediately, however, if she did not need to depend on him.
Through her three marriages, the death of her one true love, and proving her innocence in Tea Cake’s death, Janie learns to look within herself to find her hidden voice. Growing as a person from the many obstacles she has overcome during her forty years of life, Janie finally speaks her thoughts, feelings and opinions. From this, she finds what she has been searching for her whole life, happiness.
Nanny, Janie’s grandmother and caregiver, impressed her beliefs of marriage onto Janie at a young age. Nanny’s beliefs on marriage and love are a result of her past experiences with both rape and slavery. Nanny believes that financial security is the most important aspect of marriage rather than love. Janie, however, believes that marriage is about finding love rather than financial security. The conflicting beliefs within Janie are included within the novel in order to develop the meaning of the work. The meaning of the work is developed through Janie’s internal conflict with Nanny’s beliefs and her own personal beliefs on love and marriage. The conflict within Janie’s mind highlights the the conflicts within Janie’s three marriages. Initially Janie follows her grandmother 's advice and it leads to a loveless marriage. While thinking about her marriage to Logan Killicks, Janie thinks “finally out of Nanny’s talk and her own conjectures she made a sort of comfort for herself. Yes, she would love Logan after they were married” (Hurston 23). Janie allows her grandmother to place into a marriage with a man that she has to learn to love after the fact. The conflict within Janie’s mind forces Janie into marriages which are destructive but also give Janie the opportunity to learn from her mistakes. Janie learns and grows throughout her three
When Janie gets married the first time, it is because her grandma wants her to, not for love. She married Logan Killicks because her grandmother was dying and she wanted to see Janie taken care of. When Janie goes to live with him, at first Logan gives her anything she wants and treats her like a princess. Then as time goes on he starts telling her that she is spoiled and that she needs to do work.
She leaves Logan behind for a young man, Joe Starks, who she thinks is her answer to the pear tree. In some ways her marriage with Joe Starks is more of a hardship on Janie than her marriage to Logan. Although she stays married to Joe until he dies, she soon begins to understand that she has exchanged the physical and emotional bondage of her marriage to Logan for intellectual and social bondage by Joe. The scene where Joe Starks is elected mayor illustrates this point, as the crowd wants to here from Mrs. Mayor Starks (she no longer has her own identity). Mah wife dont know nothin bout no speech-makin. Ah never married her for nuthin lak dat. Shes uh woman and her place is in de home Hurston (69). It soon becomes apperant that Joe was only interested in having a wife to use as a show piece. Janie wanted to feel a part of the community, but Joe kept her isolated so that she would continue to be his prize and not become just another woman in the town. After years of marriage Janie began to realize that her husband started to change. He reminded her more and more of Logan. There was a fear in Joe. A fear of loosing Janie because, he thought, of his age. He was much older than Janie and that ate him from the inside. He stopped giving Janie complements, instead he would tell her that she was an old and unattractive woman, that no man wants her. He did all that just to feel better about himself. But nothing could break Janies spirit, not even his death. Joe died when Janie was thirty-five. She was still a young woman full of hopes and dreams. She was also very rich. Nanny was right It wasnt love that gave Janie all the material possessions that she now had. But having all this Janie never experienced one thing she treasured the most, she never experienced true happiness.