Character Analysis Of Janie In Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale

The story of her life begins to unfold as she sits with Phoebe Watson, her friend for decades that brought her some mullato rice. I think Phoebe shows signs of hypocrisy because although she defended Janie when the other women spoke badly about her, prior to Janie’s arrival she accompanied these women daily as they gossiped about other people. Sheep don’t stay in the presence of wolves for too long. “Well, nobody

“Two things everybody's got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin' fuh theyselves.” (Hurston 226) The book Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is told from Janie’s point of view and she is telling her story to her friend Pheoby. She grows throughout three marriages and the hardships she faces. She learns what she wants from life and how to become an independent individual. Throughout the story of Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie is on a quest for self-fulfillment and individuality. This is shown through the changes she endures in her relationships and can cause the readers to take control of their own lives.

In Janie’s marriage with Jody Starks, her hair is representative of her power when Jody represses it and when he indirectly liberates it by dying. At first, Jody draws Janie in with his own authority, self-confidence, and good looks. Janie seems infatuated with these characteristics; yet, ironically, she comes to loathe them, since she realizes that authority creates an air of condescension, self-confidence causes arrogance, and good looks eventually become mundane. Jody, in addition, seems to be extremely misogynistic and treats women like property. He accordingly believes that oppressing them as he sees fit is an acceptable manner of treatment, which is shown when he forces Janie to constantly wear a head-rag in

Janie, like Esperanza of House on Mango Street, matures through her journey through the novel. However, unlike Esperanza, matured more mentally and emotionally than she did physically. Janie’s most important lessons that she learned was the ones involved with love. When she was on the brink of feeling sexual desires, she started kissing a young man at the end of her gate, but her Grandmother (who raised her) resented the idea of her granddaughter would marry a statusless man with no wealth. Consequently, she demanded that Janie would marry a wealthy farm/land owner named Logan Killucks. Janie was repulsed when confronted with this idea because Logan was an older man and was simply unattractive, but she eventually bought the myth that marriage would lead to love between the two of them. This couldn’t be farther from the truth, and she ended up resenting him even more once they were married due to his unhygienic nature, his desire of her working on his land with him, and lack of affection. Her experience taught the first lesson on her life journey and “She knew now that marriage did not make love. Janie’s first dream was dead, so she became a woman” (Hurston Ch. 3). In addition, her marriage to Mr. Killucks influenced her to run of with a charming man named

After realizing how unhappy she is with Logan, Janie suddenly decides to take off with Joe who she has just met. She is happy to get away from Logan and is expecting the best by making this decision; however after a while things start going downhill from when she first married Joe. Throughout the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neal Hurston, Janie’s growth is greatly impeded on by Joe and she struggles to discover herself.

The oppression Janie faces under both the patriarchy and the institution of marriage is depicted through her objectification and physical abuse at the hands of Joe Starks. Joe Starks physically abuses Janie to maintain the power dynamic between husband and wife. Rather than allow Janie the freedom of self-expression, Starks pushes Janie into her place within gender norms, stripping away her individuality by placing her on a pedestal in an attempt to elevate her to the status of a white woman. Placing Janie on a pedestal is a form of objectification, which is achieved by controlling her actions and choices, such as confining her to domestic tasks. It’s through this physical abuse and ill-treatment that Janie is able to recognize that her marriage to Joe Starks failed to fulfill her dream of self-fulfillment, as she once believed it would: “...her image of Jody tumbled down and shattered.

In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie has allowed us to better understand the restraints that women in society had to deal with in a male dominated society. Her marriage with Logan Killicks consisted of dull, daily routines.  Wedding herself to Joe Starks brought her closer to others, than to herself.  In her final marriage to Vergible Woods, also known as Tea Cake, she finally learned how to live her life on her own.  In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie suffered through many difficult situations that eventually enabled her to grow into an independent person.

Often in literature, the author sets the main character on a physical journey to divert attention away from the main character’s spiritual journey. In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the main character, Janie, goes on a physical journey that not only challenges her sense of self, but also is vital in her life-long spiritual journey to personal liberation and self-empowerment. Janie’s relationships mark Janie’s migration toward fulfilling Hurston’s purpose of the piece: Janie becoming empowered and finds personal liberation. Hurston proves Janie’s physical journey plays a central role as Janie completes her spiritual quest to personal liberation and self-empowerment.

Symbolism the main rhetorical device mentioned throughout the novel the most. The gate and pear tree stand out the most in the book and film. The gate signifies a change coming Janie’s way in the first couple of chapters in the book but in the movie water symbolizes a change in her life. “A feeling of sudden newness and change came over her” (Hurston 32). The pear tree in the book symbolized love, but the tree that Oprah showed in the film did not look like a pear tree, but it symbolized love as well. “Hurston mentions this symbol repeatedly throughout the novel… Janie bases her whole idea of love off the pear tree and the perfect harmony the tree has with nature” (Symbolism). Janie uses that idea because she thought marriage equaled love when it really did not. Hurston added the pear tree and gate to show how it connect with the main character of the

Janie, again, finds herself in a loveless marriage. Unlike her first, however, the lack of affection is reciprocal. “Again with Jody [as with Logan], Janie has money and respectability, but Jody's objectification - of her and his demand for her submission stifles any desire

Lastly, Janie is a sexual women who grew up in quality of her nature and studied about sex and love from remaining underneath a pear tree and watching the bees spreading pollen. In this novel, it talks about how the land is not suitable to fulfill her wishes and make Janie pleasant in her marriage. The reader finds out further more of information of how Janie is intimately associated with humor in the way that she tends to counts the time. Janie's awareness is mostly described in ordinary terms. While, She waits a year before she determines that she is no longer happy women in her marriage, but she counts these months in phrase of the seasons: "So Janie waited a bloom time, and a green time and an orange time. But when a the pollen again gilded

Janie’s first marriage is a stepping stone to finding her own role because it shows her what her life shouldn’t be like and it encourages her to find a new path while she still can. She lives as a homemaker who cooks and cleans, but that role doesn’t suit her. Janie’s goal is not to be a homemaker, a wife, or a mother no matter how much she believes it at the beginning of the novel. Her dream is to be free from the submission that she has lived with her entire life. Janie wants to be free more than she wants love, which can easily be seen when she shoots Tea Cake, her true love, to protect

Throughout the book Janie struggles to find the true definition of love and how to make herself happy with her relationships. She goes through several different ideas of love before finding that it is mutual compassion, understanding, and respect that makes her the most happy.

Janie's quest is for self-discovery and self-definition, but she encounters many obstacles while trying to win this quest.

What caused the people to like and respect Janie in Zora Neale Hurston; novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. In the novel, Janie was always getting complements from many people, in Eatonville and other places. Many people worship Janie and respected her for a reason. According to the book, Janie was very beautiful and did not seem to age as she was getting older. Janie’s unique Caucasian looks made other men attractive to her. Janie Even though she was mistreated by her husbands, she did not let that be a factor to her life.