Their Eyes Were Watching God Relationships

At the same time, however, Janie begins to confuse this desire with romance. Despite the fact that nature’s “love embrace” leaves her feeling “limp and languid,” she pursues the first thing she sees that appears to satisfy her desire: a young man named Johnny Taylor (Hurston 11). Leaning over the gate’s threshold to kiss Johnny, Janie takes the first step toward her newfound horizon. Nanny sees this kiss and declares Janie’s womanhood. She wants Janie to marry Logan Killicks, a financially secure and well-respected farmer who can protect her from corruption. The marriage of convenience that Nanny suggests is “desecrating … [Janie’s] pear tree” because it contradicts her ideal vision of love (Hurston 14). Because she did not have the strength to fight people in her youth, Janie’s grandmother believes that Janie needs to rely on a husband in order to stay safe and reach liberation. Ironically, Janie’s adherence to Nanny’s last request suppresses her even more because it causes her to leave behind her own horizon.

This relationship with Logan became something that was no longer making Janie grow as a person, but became a relationship that began to destroy Janie as a person because Logan was no longer interested in her and began to belittle her (Hurtson 26). Everyone will have relationships that the individual benefits from, and some that the individual does not benefit from. After Janie moves on she finds a man named Jody and marries him. The relationship again tore down Janie as an individual because power took over the relationship, and Jody became demeaning and belittling to Janie. After this relationship ended, Janie was extremely hesitant to jump into another relationship because of her past relationships “ Janie talked and laughed in the store but never seemed to want to go any further”

Hurston’s description of Janie’s vision under the pear tree conveys the ideals of love and intimacy. As shown by the follow description: “She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight. So this was a marriage! She had been summoned to behold a revelation. Then Janie felt a pain remorseless sweet that left her limp and languid.” From this description, one can see that Janie sees the pear tree and bee is very intimate and this starts representing love to her. This vision is an awakening for Janie and she starts wanting to be intimate and loved. Her future ideals

So this was a marriage! She had been summoned to behold a revelation...Oh to be a pear tree—any tree in bloom! With kissing bees singing of the beginning of the world! She was sixteen. She had glossy leaves and bursting buds and she wanted to struggle with life but it seemed to elude her.” (Hurston 10) Janie experiences many different types of love throughout the novel, her Nanny’s love in a sense as well, she wanted Janie to have a better life than she did because she grew up while slavery was still around so she is very protective of Janie, and this ends up leading to her forcing Janie to marry Logan Killicks, a much older man who is rich but ugly. Janie was clearly dissatisfied with this as we can see with multiple examples from the text, "His belly is too big too, now, and his toe-nails look lak mule foots. And ‘tain’t nothin’ in de way of him washin’ his feet every evenin’ before he comes tuh bed. ‘Tain’t nothin’ tuh hinder him ‘cause Ah places de water for him. Ah’d ruther be shot wid tacks tan tuh turn over in de bed and stir up de air whilst he is in dere. He don’t even never mention nothin’ pretty. She began to

In Janie’s fantasy, she naively thought her marriage would lead to a love and happiness, but the dream shattered when relationship with her first husband, Logan cared for her with only a protective love. Janie experienced her ignorance fading she had “the vision of Logan Killicks… desecrating the pear tree”(14). The pear tree represents her impractical concept of love, consisting only passionate interaction and blissful harmony. Hurst chooses young Janie experience marriage, where the women depended on their men to provide food and a roof over their heads, making them feel like they are nothing without them. Janie Crawford left Logan to find another chance at complete contentment as "Janie hurried out of the front gate and turned south. Even if Joe was not there waiting for her, the change was bound to do her good" (32). She would not have known that marriage does not make love. Jains starts a spark of independence when she leaves her loveless marriage to Logan. Without this marriage, Janie would have been stuck that there is one type a love, based on perfect partnership with the honeymoon stage

A relationship will not work out if the couple is not compatible. Janie wants a pear tree,

Janie met someone new named, Joe Starks, when Logan was out and about. After Janie met Joe she was thinking about leaving Logan. She might of been thinking this because she seemed unhappy and probably thought that Joe would be better for her. Janie started

Janie’s first husband is Logan Killicks, an old, unattractive man whom Janie marries while trying to appease her grandmother. Logan is a farmer with 60 acres of land and a comfortable house. Nanny believes in marrying for financial stability, not for love: “Tain’t Logan Killicks Ah wants you to have, baby, it’s protection” (Hurston 15). Instead of following her heart and insisting on not marrying someone she doesn’t love, Janie consents due to the pressure and marries Logan. He wants to keep her firmly under his control so he forces her to work in the field with him and clean the house. In addition to physically oppressing Janie, Logan also mentally oppresses her by showing Janie no affection during their marriage. Due to

The tension between male and female figures is further used to promote Janie’s emotional growth and maturity. Janie’s inner confidence and reassurance did not develop overnight, as it took three painful marriages for Janie to find her inner strength. After her mesmerizing moment under the pear tree, she was persuaded into marrying Logan Kilicks thinking marriage always formed true love. Janie’s assumption of finally having the embrace she longed for in marriage however, was destroyed when she married him. Logan did not live up to the beauty that she saw in the tree, “she knew now that marriage did not make love. Janie’s first dream was dead, so she became a woman” (25). After marrying Logan, Janie realizes the reality of marriage and love.

Each marriage reflects Janie’s development based on her different expectations associated with Logan, Jody, and Tea Cake. Janie first, though, lives a life without dealing with expectations until her grandmother Nanny shares with her the perspective of a former slave by telling her that women are the “mule[s] uh de world as Ah can see” (Hurston 14), while establishing the burden of Janie’s journey to break through such stereotype. While her marriage to Logan is arranged only because he owns land, Janie compares the relationship in terms of the “dust-bearing bee [sinking] into the sanctum of a bloom” (Hurston 10), which reflects her romantic idealism. Not satisfied to remain in a loveless marriage, Janie continues her path with Jody, who exposes her to the significance while also denying her the opportunity to gain her “voice” that represents his power and her evolution. Janie sees for herself how it is possible to influence others the way Jody commands the attention and respect of his fellow townspeople from his porch.

Janie was being compared to a mull for being a hard worker, and always being up and around. The narrator states ¨she knew now that marriage did not make love. Janie's first dream was dead,so she became a woman¨ (chapter 3 pg-25) Showing that she is no longer seeing love as how she pictured it growing up as a young lady. Janie has faced the reality of life getting older in the time period of 1930.

Whether you are male or female, you remember watching a Disney princess movie some time in your life. Every movie has a prince/hero that saves the day and wins the princess over and “they live happily ever after”, this is the idea of what love was to Janie. Janie started thinking of what love really meant when she was only a teen so it was normal for her to believe in

In Janie’s first marriage, Logan attempts to force her to be more like his first wife, who would “grab dat axe and sling chips lak a man” (Hurston, 26). He believes that he has been spoiling her because she spends all day in the house doing the housework and cooking. He takes Janie’s agency away from her by forcing her to do a “man’s” work against her will. Her Nanny raised her with very traditional gender roles, and to break these so suddenly and in this specific manner is very disconcerting for her at this moment. In this part of the novel, she empowers herself through the gender roles that are being used to oppress her: the paradoxical nature of this is an undertone through the rest of the novel also.

Logan describes to Janie his view on women in their

However, she quickly learns that Logan, finds her useless, “spoilt rotten” and compares her to his old wife, who did manual labor for him without many complaints (26). Not only does Janie find Logan unattractive, but she does not even find him intellectually or emotionally stimulating, as he never shows her affection (24). Attempting to gain some perspective on how to liven up her marriage, Janie seeks out the advice of her Nanny, an unmarried former slave. Janie claims that she “wants to want him sometimes” (23), but her efforts are in vain. Due to the conditions Nanny was raised in, Nanny told her granddaughter that love was bound to happen eventually because Logan was financially stable. Nanny did not understand Janie’s wishes of love; she was on a basic level of understanding. While Janie obeyed Nanny’s wish of her to stay with Logan for almost a year, when Janie knew the marriage was headed nowhere except disaster, she runs off with a man named Joe Sparks who she had correspondence with for almost a year. Janie concluded from her time with Logan “that marriage did not make love” (25). Janie’s view on love did not change with her relationship with Logan. In fact, it was because of the horrendous outcomes of the marriage that Janie decided to chase after her ideal relationship with