Zora Neale Hurston was an African American writer during the Harlem Renaissance who wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God. She was a very ambitious woman and did many things in her lifetime. In one article an author wrote, “Hurston realized many of her dreams during her lifetime and wrote prolifically, publishing short stories, essays, plays, historical narratives, ethnographies, an autobiography, and several novels” (“Zora”). Not only was she an author she was also an anthropologist. However Hurston’s life wasn’t all perfect at times. At a young age she lost her mother, which ended her childhood abruptly, much like the main character Janie in Their Eyes Were Watching God. After her mother’s death, she also began working odd jobs and traveling, …show more content…
Nanny ends up choosing a life for Janie that she believes Janie needs to have in order to live a content life. Janie’s childhood is cut short and is forced to marry a man she barely knows and her image of what her life should look like is completely different to what it actually is. As a result of this she is very unhappy with Logan and she blames a lot of this on her Nanny forcing her into this life. In the book Their Eyes Were Watching God Hurston wrote, “Here nanny had taken the biggest thing God ever made, the horizon-for no matter how far a person can go to the horizon is still way behind you-and pinched into such a little bit of a thing that she could tie it about her granddaughter's neck tight enough to choke her” (Hurston 89). Janie believes that her Nanny took away her vision of the horizon, which is this image that Janie has always longed to go to. However all Nanny wants for Janie before she dies is for her to be secure. Although Janie is married to Logan, she is still thinking of her original dream and the image of the horizon. To Janie no matter what, she will follow her dream even if it’s against her Nanny’s dying wish. In an article an author wrote, “Joe Starks seems initially to represent escape for Janie from the limitations of her grandmother's dream for her” (Crabtree). When Janie meets Joe she realizes that this may be her only …show more content…
Janie feels free after Joe dies and she starts putting herself first and not caring what other people think of her. She is beginning to learn many things about herself and is on her way to achieving her dreams. In an article by Nancy Chinn she writes, “Joe’s death liberates Janie but is also the occasion for much reflection and self-analysis. Despite his restrictions on her, Joe has shown Janie how to reach for the horizon. She has ‘been getting ready for her great journey to the horizons in search of people’ instead of ‘things,’”(Chinn). Janie is going to be able to start her journey to the horizon and make her own choices for her life. She no longer has to conform to what Joe expects of her. She starts interacting with the townspeople, which she wasn’t allowed to do when Joe was alive and is starting to act like the women she always longed to be. This is just the first step in Janie’s journey in finding her own path and being able to reach her dreams. But the essential part is that she is no longer playing the role of the perfect wife that Joe demanded her to be, she is living the life she wants to. In another article an author states, “It affirms Nanny's advice that Janie have a dream and follow it. Janie says, ‘Ah done lived Grandma's way, now Ah means tuh live mine’” (Hattenhauer). This is exactly what Janie did; she has
Joe doesn't like this so he criticizes Janie daily about how she looks he makes her put her hair up. In the store Janie cuts tobacco for Steve Mixon but she cuts it wrong and Joe gets angry, and he yells at her “I god amighty! A woman stay round uh store till she get old as Methusalem and still can’t cut a little thing like a plug of tobacco! Don’t stand dere rollin’ yo’ pop eyes at me wid yo’ rump hangin’ nearly to yo’ knees!” (Hurston 92-93). Janie gets mad also and replies, “Stop mixin’ up mah doings wid mah looks, Jody. When you git through tellin’ me how tuh cut uh plug uh tobacco, then you kin tell me whether mah behind is on straight or not”(Hurston 86). Janie sticks up for herself after years of Joe controlling her and beating her. Janie waxes stronger and learns that the way she feels is just as important as the way Joe feels or anyone else. While Joe is dying Janie goes into his room and tells him that he isn't the same person that she ran away with that he changed for worse. After he dies she does something for herself, Hurston writes “The young girl was gone, but a handsome woman had taken her place. She tore off the kerchief from her head and let down her plentiful hair. The weight, the length, the glory was there. She took careful stock of herself, then combed her hair and tied it back up again”(103-104). Janie letting her hair down is symbolic of her freedom and independence she is done with Joe
Janie is beginning to realize who she truly is and has been awakened through the scenic vision of the nature around her, presenting her womanhood in front of her eyes.
Nanny believes that this is what is best for Janie as she would ‘marry decent’ and marrying Logan Killicks would serve as ‘protection’ for her. She pushes for this marriage because it provides Janie with financial security and respectability over love, something that Janie craves.
Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God tells the story of Janie’s journey towards spiritual enlightenment and her development of individuality, largely through Janie’s relationships with others. Hurston uses the themes of power, control, abuse, and respect, in Janie’s relationships with Nanny, Killicks, Starks, and Tea Cake, to effectively illustrate how relationships impact identity and self-growth.
Throughout the Novel Janie struggles with handling the opinions of others and allowing them to affect how she sees herself. For instance Hurston writes “some people could look at a mud puddle and see an ocean with ships. Here Nanny had taken the biggest thing God ever made, the horizon- for no matter how far a person can go the horizon is still way beyond you- and pinched it into such a little bit of a thing that she could tie it about her granddaughter’s neck tight enough to choke her” (Hurston 89). Here Hurston demonstrates that others will always see things differently from one's perspective and Janie’s ongoing internal conflict with doing what would make her happy or doing what will satisfy those around her. However at the end of the novel Janie ultimately departs from the beliefs of others and displays self empowerment by disregarding the opinions of others over her actions. Similarly Hurston states “so she was free and the judge and everybody up there smiled with her and shook her hand. And the white women cried and stood around her like a protecting wall”(Hurston 188). This quote from the novel indicates that Janie displays self empowerment throughout the course of the novel and individual progress. This quote also shows the ideal of equality because although Janie is mixed she has always made her African
At the beginning of Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie is not knowledgeable about the world because her ambitions are determined by others. This causes her to be stuck with paltry horizons although, she still
All through the novel Janie travels through valuable life experiences allowing her to grow as a woman. Janie at first has a difficult time understanding her needs rather than wants, but as she continues to experience new situations she realizes she values respect. Janie’s first two marriages turned out to be tragic mistakes, but with each marriage Janie gained something valuable. When Janie is disrespected in her second marriage with Joe Starks, he publicly humiliates her, disrespecting her as a wife and woman. This experience forced Janie to come out of her comfort zone and stand up for herself.
This experience makes her grow into a real woman. She grows up and starts to think for herself. Janie’s marriage to Joe is also a growing experience for her because it let her know that a man’s sweet words are not always true.
Joe is power hungry and seeks to dominate Janie, who cannot be held back and craves the freedom to manage her own life. With such caustic tension, it seems odd that Janie would stay with Joe until his death. Clearly, she was not afraid to walk out on a husband, so why did she choose to stay? Though Joe was frequently an oppressive dictatorial husband, he still offered more love to her than the cold, quasi-emotionless Logan Killicks. Only after finding love with Tea Cake, however, would Janie realize one of the major themes of the novel: in order to gain true happiness, you cannot sacrifice one desire for another, in her case freedom from oppression for love.
Nanny’s idea of a marriage is “a haven from indiscriminate sexual exploitation and as a shelter from financial instability” (Jordan). Janie’s marriage to her first husband, Logan Killicks, is an unexpected grief and he disgusts her sexually. She tries to love him but their relationship lacks intimacy, romance, and fun. Throughout the novel, Janie is on a mission and she soon finds out “that marriage did not make love. Janie’s first dream was dead, so she became a woman” (24). Killicks think Janie is spoiled and “counts Janie among the livestock on his farm, estimating her value by her ability to produce greater surplus value” (Ha 33). It is when Janie realizes Killicks plans to put her to work on a mule because she does not bore him any heir that she runs off with Joe Starks.
The passage begins with immediately separating Janie from the outside world and follows that up with a strong repetition. “Finish. End. Nevermore,” and so on are used to firmly put the past behind her and lay it to rest as she did with Joe’s body. The author makes it clear she did not care for Joe in the way the rest of the town did because she does not stay at the funeral any longer than necessary and instead retires away from the celebration. The mood is seemingly somber
The plan for Janie’s future begins with her lack of having real parents. Hurston builds up a foundation for Janie that is bound to fall like a Roman Empire. Janie’s grandmother, whom she refers to as “Nanny” takes the position as Janie’s guardian. The problem begins here for Janie because her Nanny not only spoils her, but also makes life choices for her. Nanny is old, and she only wants the best for her grandchild, for she knows that the world is a cruel place. Nanny makes the mistake of not allowing Janie to learn anything on her own. When Janie was sixteen years old, Nanny wanted to see her get married. Although Janie argued at first, Nanny insisted that Janie get married. “’Yeah, Janie, youse got yo’ womanhood on yuh… Ah wants to see you married right away.’” (Page 12). Janie was not given a choice in this decision. Her Nanny even had a suitor picked out for her. Janie told herself that she would try to make the best of the situation and attempt to find love in her marriage to Logan Killicks. But, as time went by, Janie realized that she still did not have any feelings of what she had considered to be love in her husband.
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston portrays the religion of black people as a form of identity. Each individual in the black society Hurston has created worships a different God. But all members of her society find their identities by being able to believe in a God, spiritual or other. Grandma’s worship of Jesus and the “Good Lawd,” Joe Starks’ worship of himself, Mrs. Turner’s worship of white characteristics, and Janie’s worship of love, all stem from a lack of jurisdiction in the society they inhabit. All these Gods represent a need for something to believe in and work for: an ideal, which they wish to achieve, to aspire to. Each individual character is thus
Nanny was the first one to influence Janie and her quest for personal identity. Nanny is Janie’s grandmother, and she raised Janie as if she were her own daughter. Nanny was born into slavery and
Brutal beatings that resulted in bruises, broken bones, and even death. Rape that haunted women until their last breath. Being caged and unable to go “tuh de horizon and back”. These are all things that Zora Neale Hurston tried to combat when composing Their Eyes Were Watching God. Through her novel, she tries to show the American people that women can choose the roles that they long for. In all, women have the right to pursue their desires.