Their Eyes Were Watching God Language Analysis

Is Janie or Tea Cake a Christ figure? Choose one and argue for or against this, providing details from the novel to support your answer.

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.

Richard Wright and Alain Locke’s critique on Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God reveal the common notion held by many of the time, and still today, that there is a right and wrong way for a black person to talk and to act. Wright’s point of view of clearly racially charged and coming from a place of ignorance and intolerance. While, Locke’s point is simply due to a lack of an ability to think out of the box and observe deeper meaning, perhaps due to internalized oppression and a fearful desire to talk and act just like a white man in order to be taken seriously. Wright’s argument that the novel has no central theme and is parallel to minstrel shows, and Locke’s belief that Hurston uses relatable language to avoid diving into mature writing, are inherently wrong and fueled by the very issues Hurston was trying to combat: racism and sexism.

Published in 1937 by author Zora Neale Hurston, the novel ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’ chronicles an African American woman's journey to find true love in the Deep South. On one hand, an equal balance of power in a relationship leads to equality, fulfilment, and happiness for both partners - as observed in Janie’s relationship with Vergible Woods (Tea Cake). On the other hand, an unequal distribution of power in a marriage with a dominant partner leads to an overall sense of discontent and unhappiness in the relationship, as observed in Janie’s first two marriages to Logan Killicks and Joe Starks respectively. Thus, an equal balance of power in a relationship built on mutual respect and desire is a vital to a stable and healthy relationship.

In many novels, authors have implemented social constructs in order to shape the mood of the books. In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Hurston alludes to social class, especially race, subtly. Hurston’s background of anthropology and growing up as an African-American woman clearly plays a role in the social makeup of the novel. The main character of the novel, Janie, has various experiences in which readers can discover the social structures in her life. Through Janie’s story of self-discovery, Hurston reveals social constructs of the time, especially race and wealth, by including anecdotes, complex characters, and thought-provoking scenes that highlight controversial issues.

Tea Cake loved Janie so much that he would rather himself get hurt than her, which is something Janie had never experienced: true love. Without Tea Cake’s role in Janie’s life she would have never experienced true love and actual happiness. Tea Cake is a mysterious man from the

Susan B. Anthony once said there is not a women born who desires to eat the bread of dependence. In the novel Their eyes were watching god by Zora Neal Hurston, Janie Crawford depicts the life of a young African women who struggles with male dominance. As well for Mrs. Mallard in The story of an hour by Kate Chopin. Both of these women become independent, share experiences with male dominance and share an appealing perspective toward nature. They also have distinctive outcomes in their lives. Janie and Mrs. Mallard share similarities in their lives and distinctions as well.

“Beans running fine and prices good, so the Indians could be, must be, wrong. You couldn’t have a hurricane when you’re making seven and eight dollars a day picking beans. Indians are dumb anyhow, always were. Another night of Stew Beef making dynamic subtleties with his drum and living, sculptural, grotesques in the dance”(155).

Battles and fights are some examples of conflict in most fictional stories. They can be many different fights, like the epic battle between good and evil, or a kingdom defending their land from enemies. When people think of the word ‘battle’, they may think of climatic sword fights and war. But sometimes, battles can take place inside of a person. Perhaps a character may have conflicting aspirations and desires that may cause an internal battle and maybe result in something catastrophic. Or perhaps a character has opposing personalities that might clash and cause something important to happen. In many works of literature, the writer

Janie’s relationship with Logan, her first husband, is seen as unacceptable to her due to his old age and the fact that Janie did not have any say in the marriage. Due to Janie’s opposition to being with Logan, he “seem(s) violent without actually committing violence”. Hurston uses Tea Cake’s youth and the fact that Janie was not forced into a relationship with him to make Tea Cake appear to be a ‘better’ person than Logan. However, Tea Cake is the one who actually whipped Janie. Tea Cake commits many violent acts, but because of his attractiveness, Tea Cake is excused “even when he executes violence” (Harris, 92). Tea Cake had shown signs of abuse and had a gambling addiction, whereas Logan was verbally cruel to Janie, but never physically hurt her. Hurston emphasizes the faults of society through Tea Cake and his effect on Janie. Tea Cake is the cruelest of Janie’s husbands, but the way he is presented makes it seem as if he is the best of them. Tea Cake, representing society, initially encourages Janie to be strong, then molds her into an object of his pleasing. In Janie’s mind, Tea Cake is perfect and cannot make mistakes, even after he whipped her. Mrs. Turner, who lives in the Everglades, believes that Tea Cake is too colored for Janie and that she needs to be with a lighter skinned man, like her brother. She pushes her brother

“There are two tragedies in life. One is not to get your heart’s desire; the other is to get it.” In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie Crawford struggles to find true love. Throughout the novel, she marries and estranges from three different husbands. The first husband, Logan Killicks, seems to be Janie's first true love, but he turns out to be weak and lazy. Janie’s second “love” Joe- Jody- Starks beats Janie both physically and mentally, and Jody overrules her with his obsessive need for power. Lastly, she marries and moves away with Tea Cake after Jody dies. Tea Cake was Janie's final and only genuine love. Throughout the novel, the author validates the critical lens of

Hurston's “Their Eyes Were Watching God” presents several themes such as speech and silence, love and marriage, and finally gender roles. Zora Neale Hurston does an outstanding job of instituting what men such as Joe Starks believed were the standard roles for the African American female. Hurston pertinently described Janie through her relationship with Joe, the metaphoric value of the mule, and her dialogue as a woman of strength, not concerned with the ideals of her white female counterparts, sitting up on a high chair and overlooking the world. Janie desired a greater purpose.

Janie initially sees Joe Starks as an enticing option to better her life; however, his frequent use of the phrase "I god" emphasizes his commitment to living under the white hierarchy (Hurston 34). Joe's dialect reveals that he sees himself as a god-like figure, but never able to fully able to achieve the power of a white man, shown by the lack of capitalization of "god." However, this pursuit leads him to dominate Janie's life, most notably her appearance in public. Contrasting with the relative physical inactivity of Joe Starks, the sight of another man touching Janie's hair spurs him to "[feel] like rushing forth with the meat knife and chopping off the offending hand" (Hurston 55). Hurston's dialect here, not in the typical spoken dialogue, but the biblical allusion of cutting off an offending body part to maintain the safety of the whole suggests that Joe considers Janie's beauty a foil to his greatness. Julie Newman argues, "He clearly represents an aggressive, white-identified capitalism, consuming Janie" (821). In ridding himself of his African American heritage and dialect in favor of white culture, Joe elevates himself above the other citizens of Eatonville, including Janie. After nearly twenty years of oppression, Janie rebukes Joe's control on her life: "When you pull down yo' britches, you look lak de change uh life" (Hurston 79). Hurston's use of "you" amidst other more familiar dialect suggests Janie noticed Joe's infatuation with white hierarchy, yet still used traditional African American speech to break publicly with Joe's rule. However, Janie already criticized a male representative of the white culture, Logan Killicks. While in bed, representative of the most intimate part of marriage, Janie wonders

In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston explains a transition from adolescence to adulthood. This novel tells the story of Janie Crawford a beautiful, black woman with white physical features, such as her hair, and a desire to obtain love. Dating back to when Janie was 16, she began her quest for love when she kissed Johnny Taylor causing her grandmother, Nanny to make her marry a man by the name of Logan Killicks for Janie's security. Later, Janie left Logan and married Joe (Jody) Starks then after his death, again she married for the third time to Vergible (Tea Cake) Woods. Throughout the novel, Janie's story of challenging the status quo and her

I read Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, copyright in 1937 and has a total of 193 pages.