Mino Tupou
Mrs. Picetti
English 1, Period B
6 May 2016
What is expected: The Role of Women in Hurston's Their Eyes are Watching God
A model is a person with a role either to promote, display, or advertise commercial products or to serve as a visual aide for people who are creating works of art or to pose for photography (dictionary.com).Models are often recognized for their beauty and ability to transform themselves to please their audience. The models are on display, objectified and secondary to the products they are selling. Similarly, in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes are Watching God Janie, a capable, determined woman, is silenced by her husband and is forced to be on display. Through Janie’s roles in her two marriages,
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In Janie’s relationship with Jody she struggles with having a voice and never getting to make decisions in her marriage. When Jody makes a speech at the lighting of the lamp Tony and the town ask if Janie wants to say something but Jody speaks for Janie and insisted that “ [his] wife don't know nothin’ ‘bout no speech-makin. [And] [that] he never married her for nothin’ lak dat. She’s uh woman and her place is in de home” (Hurston, 43). Janie is silenced in her marriage with Jody and Jody feels that men are supposed to be the dominant spouse. In this scene Janie doesn't even get to say a few words about the town her and Jody have created and is also embarrassed by the whole town that the reason she can't say a speech is simply because women don't know anything about speech making. When Janie thinks about her place in her relationship with Jody, Janie notices that she “the wife of the mayor was not just another woman as she had supposed. She slept with authority and so she was part of it in the town” (46). Janie doesn't have a voice and she notices in this scene that she has to act a certain way because the role her husband plays. However even though Janie has to play a role and has authority she will always be silenced by Jody. After Janie realizes that she has no voice in her relationship with Jodie she starts to connect the things Jody does that ultimately says he is more important …show more content…
When the town Eatonville was built Jodie makes Janie work in the local store but when Jodie sees that other men are flirting with her because of her hair Jody “[o]rders Janie to tie up her hair around the store. That was all. She was there in the store for him to look at, not those others” (55). This scene emphasizes how Jody wants Janie to be in his life for him to look at and only needs her for her beauty. Janie is also described to be forced into putting her hair up which allows no freedom. Ultimately this scene shows how Jodie's needs come first in his relationship with Jody. When Jody and Janie’s mule dies the whole town gathers together to have a funeral for the mule but Janie can not go. Jody explains to Janie that “de mayors wife is somethin’ different [and] that the town is liable tuh need me tuh say uh few words over de carcass” (60). This scene explains the role of being the mayor's wife is to stay home when it comes to a man's job. Also that since Janie didn't go she played the role of the “wife” and doing whatever makes her husband happy. After Jody dies Janie meets a new guy named Tea Cake who she marries. Janie knows that Tea cake is her true love but also knows that nobody is perfect. When Sop-De-Bottom and Tea Cake talk about Janie Tea Cake explains how “ Janie is uh high time woman and useter things. Ah didn't get her outa de middle uh de road. Ah got
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
Instead of treating Janie like the beautiful woman that she is, he uses her as an object. Joe was a man who “treasured [Janie] as a posession” (Berridge). Joe’s demanding nature suppresses Janie’s urge to grow and develop, thus causing her journey to self-realization to take steps backward rather than forward. In Janie’s opinion, “he needs to “have [his] way all [his] life, trample and mash down and then die ruther than tuh let [him]self heah 'bout it” (Hurston 122). It is almost as if Janie loses sense of her own self-consciousness due to the fact that she becomes like a puppy being told what to do by her master. The death of Jody is actually a positive thing. Joe’s controlling nature stifles Janie’s inner voice. While married to Jody, Janie became closer to others, however, she did not become closer to herself. Being on her own again gave her another chance to embark on her journey and realize who Janie Crawford really is.
She marries Jody quickly, and Janie is full of excitement as they head off to a new town for blacks in Florida. Just as quickly her joy is diminished as Jody evolves into a domineering, power-hungry male, whose disregard for his wife is reminiscent of Mr. Pontellier's treatment of Edna. When Jody and Janie first arrive in Eatonville, Janie is mistaken as Jody's daughter, and while Jody corrects the locals, his behavior towards Janie does begin to resemble that of an overly-controlling father. The first indicator of Jody's true values comes when he actively silences Janie's voice, her ability to express herself with word. " 'Mah wife don't know nothin' 'bout no speech-making'.
It isn’t long in their relationship before he becomes controlling and dictates what she can and cannot do. He forces her to wear her hair up because he doesn’t want any of the men staring at her. He forbids her from leaving the inside of the store to hang out on the porch or play checkers or even to make speeches. As their relationship progresses, Jody begins to insult Janie by commenting on his appearance. Whenever there were more people on the porch, “the more ridicule he poured over her body to permit attention away from his own” because he still wanted to keep up the appearance that he was this powerful rich man that had no faults (78).
While many problems that Janie doesn’t deserve manage to find their way to her anyway, the outcomes are partially her fault since she never attempts to resolve them, instead opting to place the blame on someone else. "Naw, Jody, it wasn't because Ah didn't have no sympathy. Ah had uh lavish uh dat. Ah just didn't never git no chance tuh use none of it. You wouldn't let me." (85) Jody may not be the type of man who deserves any sympathy, but the last sentence of this quote from Janie goes to show where she believes the root of the problem lies. Instead of confronting her husband about the issues in their marriage to foster more understanding and therefore bring sympathy into 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
In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, a young woman travels through difficult life experiences in order to find herself. Hurston portrays the protagonist as an adventurous soul trapped in the binds of suppressing marriages. Janie experiences three different types of marriage learning from each one what she values most. From these marriages she learned she values love and respect, finally achieving them in her last marriage. Each new marriage brought something new to the table for Janie and no matter the situation or the outcome of the relationship Janie grew into her own independent individual because of it.
Janie) in a sexual manner. It also shows how jealous Joe was of Janie and her youthfulness, as Jody was 10 years her senior. The head rag “irked her endlessly” (55), however she submits to Jody’s control. With Joe Janie must hide her real self, being what her husband wishes her to be, presenting a façade to the outside world of whom they think she should be, not who she really wants to be.
She’s uh woman and her place is in de home” (43), shows that diction had an effect with Janie and Jody relationship. It lead Jody controlling Janie by restricting her freedom an example is movement, as in going anywhere, another example her identity, Janie is being force against her will to do the thing she wanted. On top of that, intentional and external emotion is portraying the brutal reality on woman, due to man most of the time men cannot hold their jealousy or other emotion like anger. For example, Tea Cake had an idea “Before the week was over he had whipped Janie. Not because of her behavior, but it relieved that awful fear inside him” (147).
"Jody told her to dress up and stand in the store all that evening" (Hurston 58). That must've been Jody Starks' most said command to Janie throughout her marriage. He only used her because she was so pretty, and didn't want much more. Being proud of Janie as his wife, the mayor's pretty wife, he himself built the image for Janie as 'trophy wife'.
When Joe “Jody” Starks appears out of nowhere, Janie feels like her dreams have finally come true. But after a while, the marriage turns out to be little more than the stint with Killicks. Starks, like Killicks, treats her as property and not as someone he actually loves. One example is how Jody makes Janie put her hair up in a wrap while working in the store, rather than leave it down. Another is when he publicly criticizes her appearance, saying she is starting to show her age, when he is clearly at least ten years older: “’ You ain’t no young courtin’ gal. You’se uh old woman, nearly fourty’” (Hurston 79). Joe feels the need to tear down Janie, in order to make himself feel more important, which was an important part of being a man during this time.
Another example, where Janie struggles to find her voice is with her second husband Jody Starts, a man who starves for power and the mayor of Eatonville. Jody rarely allows Janie to speak her mind, participate in social
Then, Janie finally stands up for herself and tells him that he was always trying to change her and control her. She yells at him until she dies. When Jody dies, Janie lets her hair down, symbolizing her newfound freedom.
Joe constantly felt the need to make Janie feel horrible about herself. He would take control of everything she would do and Janie couldn’t do anything but feel sad. Hurston says, “The years took all the fight out of Janie’s face. For a while she thought it was gone from her soul. No matter what Jody did she said nothing” Saying nothing showed her husband that she let this mistreatment happen to her without speaking up for her rights. Being gone from her sole shows that Janie didn’t even know who she was anymore because she couldn’t even make simple choices for herself. This becomes a problem because Janie couldn’t even find happiness in her relationship, which is far from self-actualizing. These two quotes both show Janie’s passivity through silence and the feeling of worthlessness. This may be an example from Janie’s life, but this became a problem for many women whose husbands follow gender hierarchies to feel like they have more power over their wife. Society always views men to have more power and to be a more powerful figure than women which causes uncomfort in relationships. This strive of power stops people from reaching self-actualization because they are always looking for others to be better than instead of looking to reach their fullest potential. Reaching self-actualization is a big goal for many people because you
Therefore, both Joe and Janie are looked up to by the townspeople. To some extent, this could be considered a form of equality. Unfortunately, this is about where the equality stops. While Joe gains prominence through his own actions and words, Janie gains some prominence by doing what she is told to do. She is not permitted to voice her own opinions or join in the lighthearted gossiping which occurs outside of their store. Janie is expected to be the dutiful wife. If she makes a mistake, then she should have known better and therefore should accept her punishment quietly. Joe holds the obvious upper hand in the relationship until his death whereupon Janie inherits a large amount of money and learns to enjoy the freedom of living as her own person.