Their Eyes Were Watching God Rhetorical Analysis

Throughout the novel, Janie waits for men to rescue her from her life rather than her taking action to have a better life and claiming her independence. Janie’s reliance on men is shown following Jody's death when she realizes "that she had a host of thoughts she had never expressed to him, and numerous emotions she had never let Jody know about. ”() Due to the fact that Janie allowed Jody's oppression suppress these "thoughts" and "emotions", and the fact that she only accepted them after his passing, Janie's passivity while in her relationship is exemplified. Janie relies upon death to give her the courage to "find" her suppressed emotions. Janie’s reliance on death is shown here because she is only able to find these emotions inside of herself

Janie’s voice had silenced itself when she was with joe but now that she has been spending time with tea cake she was becoming more conscious of her own necessities. Zora Neale Hurston uses an array of rhetorical devices in her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God to convey the positive outlook that is happening in Janie’s life since joe’s death and meeting tea cake. As the chapter begins, Hurston uses visual imagery and an anaphora for the reader to see the style she was now adopting with her blooming relationship.

This immersive storytelling approach imbues the reader with a profound sense of emotional involvement in Janie's journey and underscores the potency of Hurston's language in guiding the perspective of readers through the text. Hurston delves further into Janie's battle with internal conflict, a key step in the reader's identification with her. Throughout the text, Janie feels complex emotional responses: love, longing, and self-discovery. All the while, she searches for herself in a world full of societal expectations and

This desire reflects her longing for passion, meaning, and a deep sense of connection. Hurston's vivid descriptions powerfully capture Janie's conflicted emotions as she tries to navigate her growing desires within the limitations of her life circumstances. Janie's evolving perspective on the meaning of marriage is deeply influenced by this profound experience. As Janie thinks about the nature of marriage and reflects on how new life and growth can profoundly change

7 Hurston uses the connection between inner and outer self to show the changes in Janie and Jody. As a result of her marriage to Jody, Janie has become emotioanlly withdrawn. Hurston says, “But mostly she lived between her hat and her heels, with her emotional disturbances like shade patterns in the woods—come and gone with the sun.” Janie’s emotional state is being reflected by her husband’s physical state. An aging Jody is described as “wasn’t so young as he used to be.”

Nanny plays a significant role in Janie's first relationship as she enforces her granddaughter's marriage to Logan Killicks, an unattractive older man around his 40s. Although his profile is not very deceiving, Killicks is a successful farmer with 60 acres of land and lives in a comfortable setting with great security. It is evident leading towards the marriage that Janie seeks a desire for independence; Janie is disillusioned with the idea of indulging herself in a loveless marriage, where she discerns more of a possession rather than a spouse. Janie ultimately “knew that marriage did not make love”. Janie’s first dream was dead, so she became a “woman”, signifying that marriage alone doesn’t provide fulfillment but also calls attention to Janie's growth as an independent woman with a voice to be carefully heard of (Hurston 25).

These strong female characters are able to portray their independence. Hurston’s fictional Character, Janie, sets a standard for women and proves that she does not need to rely on anybody. Janie is in an abusive and controlling relationship with her second husband, Jody. He would never let Janie do what she wanted, made her wear a cloth on her head so other men would not admire her, and always spoke for her. When Jody gives a speech at his welcome party for his new store,

In her late teens, Janie’s grandmother forced her into a marrying a poor farmer named Logan Hillicks, a man she did not love or want to marry. She convinced herself to be devoted to her husband, and tried to form some attachment to him. After 3 months in her lonely and isolated marriage, Janie confronts her Grandmother, Nanny, about her decision to force Janie into marrying Logan. Nanny berates Janie for not appreciating her husband’s generosity and protectiveness, persuading her to stay in the marriage, stating, “ ‘Tai’n’t no use in you cryin’, Janie...Better leave things de way de is. Youse young yet...Wait awhile,baby. Yo’ mind will change,” (Hurston 24). Soon after Janie’s conversation with Nanny, she dies, leaving Janie alone in her marriage. A year after her grandmother’s death, Janie still did not love Logan. And neither did her husband, “Long before the year was up, Janie noticed that her husband had stopped talking in rhymes to her,” (Hurston 26). To Janie, love is

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

Janine finally finds herself in a marriage of substance. It was not until Janine married Teacake (Virgil) and started a life with him did she see the beauty of who she was as a woman. Teacake taught her real

From the beginning, Janie’s goal was to feel real love. When she is sixteen, she “[beholds] a revelation” (Hurston 11) as she witnesses bees interact. After this realization, Jane comes to terms with her sexuality and kisses Johnny Taylor. This is the start of Janie’s internal growth because she acknowledges her attraction to boys and realizes what it is like to feel amorous. Nanny watches through the window and decides that Janie is now a woman and wants to see her married right away. Janie is then forced to marry “some old skullhead in the graveyard”(13) - Logan Killicks. Janie and Logan have marriage that lacks love. Janie

Here Hurston directly highlights the conflicts between male and female figures to show that Janie’s abusive relationship with Jody is used to build up strength and independence within herself. When she finally found this hidden strength within her, she no longer struggled to find her own voice. Janie’s assertion of her control and power marks the beginning of her awakened reassurance. When Jody loses his ability to exert his dominance and she takes control of their relationship, she starts heading towards the directions of her dreams. The conflicts between Janie and her marriages are ultimately used to demonstrate the growth of Janie’s emotional maturity and strength, as she finds the voice that was suppressed for so long by Jody and Logan. The strong sentiment that Hurston establishes in her relationship with Logan and Jody serves as the fuel for Janie to decide that personal growth and development as a woman will only occur when she breaks free from the mold that her marriages has put her in. The tension between male and female figures that Hurston highlights provide defining obstacles in Janie’s life that prompted her inner independence and

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.

It is clear that every form of fondness is dependent on the connection between the people. If simply marrying to please, as is the case with Logan Killicks and Janie, there will seemingly be a lack of love, something that is not compelled by marriage, unlike “the sun the day” (Hurston 21). This relationship is one of her firsts, so she has not yet created specific, conditional expectations. She is left to swoon over even the most basic: “He ain’t even talked ‘bout hittin’ me... he chops all de wood he think Ah wants and… keeps both water buckets full” (Hurston 22). Janie is left to form not so much an expectation, but a preference, a desire with the continuation of this correspondence. A hunger for something more pushes her out of the relationship, and into a wagon, on the road to becoming Mrs. Mayor with Joe

Through the ‘death’ of Janie’s dream, Hurston argues that one cannot move forward until she has accepted the truth. Janie’s Nanny had constantly reminded her that she needed a husband to one day rely on when Nanny was not around anymore. Nanny claimed that if Janie were to get married to a financially stable husband, she would be prosperous. Therefore, Janie believed marriage automatically results in love. Correspondingly, Hurston writes,