Theme Of Patriarchy In Their Eyes Are Watching God

Zora Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God follows protagonist Janie Mae Crawford’s journey into womanhood and her ultimate quest for self-discovery. Having to abruptly transition from childhood to adulthood at the age of sixteen, the story demonstrates Janie’s eternal struggle to find her own voice and realize her dreams through three marriages and a lifetime of hardships that come about from being a black woman in America in the early 20th century. Throughout the novel, Hurston uses powerful metaphors helping to “unify” (as Henry Louis Gates Jr. puts it) the novel’s themes and narrative; thus providing a greater understanding of Janie’s quest for selfhood. There are three significant metaphors in the novel that achieve this unity: the

This is not because she did anything wrong, but rather because a neighbor’s brother showed interest in her. Tea Cake was not, truly, free of the misogynistic stereotypes of women, and the event showed deep down the possessiveness he felt for her. “Before the week was over he had whipped Janie. Not because her behavior justified his jealousy, but it relieved that awful fear inside him. Being able to whip her reassured him in possession” (147). Again, Janie is in a marriage where her husband thinks of her as a property. Tea Cake’s character brought much hope for a lifestyle in which Janie could be independent and powerful, participate in conversation and checkers, and be respected on an equal level. Ultimately, Tea Cake was still possessive, and in many ways was not in fact free of the suppressing beliefs of society as a whole. His character is evident of how deep rooted the beliefs were. Tea Cake passed away, but Janie carried on, returned to Eatonville, once again showcasing her

Mrs. Turner believes Tea Cake’s complexion is too dark, and so she introduces her lighter-skinned brother to Janie. Tea Cake is threatened by this; his jealousy and insecurity manifest in hitting Janie. Hitting Janie “relieved that awful feeling inside of him” (Hurston, 147). Tea Cake attempted to garner Janie’s attention and re-affirm his status within the relationship. He believes Janie's bruises will show Janie, Mrs. Turner, and her brother that he holds control over his wife.

“About four-in-ten women (43%) say they have personally experienced discrimination or been treated unfairly because of their gender.” In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, readers are introduced to a woman named Janie Mae Crawford, an African American woman living her life during the early 20th century. The novel follows Janie through her three marriages with Logan, Joe, and Tea Cake, depicting how she is treated within those different relationships and her personal growth. Janie’s journey to self discovery is limited by societal expectations within a relationship, highlighting the unrealistic standards placed upon women. In the early 1900s, men exerted control over women, especially their wives.

He had the good qualities of Jody, but did not view her as a trophy, instead treating her with respect and pure admiration. Although Tea Cake is much better than her last two husbands, he still has a flaw that appears to be a common issue in this book: he is abusive. Tea Cake even admits that he doesn’t abuse Janie because she did something wrong, but he did it to “show them Turners who is boss.” (Hurston 148). Janie has experienced all kinds of abuse by the time she married Tea Cake, and we see a difference in her demeanor and in the handling of his abuse.

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.

The classic notion of the male protagonist seeking a sense of identity is common in most novels. However, Zora Neale Hurston disputes that in her Their Eyes were Watching God. Readers follow Janie, a female protagonist, who encounters three men, each either supported or hampered her in her lifelong desire to seek independence. The first of three men is Logan Killicks who wanted Janie to be a traditional, submissive housewife that obeys the husband's commands. Janie left Killicks after meeting Jody Starks who charms Janie with his ambition. After twenty years of marriage to Starks, Janie met Tea Cake, a rather young man who is exciting and respects Janie. In Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie is restricted in reaching her goal

Feminism and gender equality is one of the most important issues of society today, and the debate dates back much farther than Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. To analyze Janie’s existence as a feminist or anti-feminist character requires a potential critic to look at her relationships and her reactions to those relationships throughout the novel. Trudier Harris claims that Janie is “questing after a kind of worship.” This statement is accurate only up until a certain point in her life, until Janie’s “quest” becomes her seeking equality with her partner. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie’s main goal pertaining to her romantic relationships undergoes multiple changes from her original goal of a type of worship to a goal to maintain an equal relationship with her husband.

Their Eyes Were Watching God was a book that presented the world with a new look on writing novels. Zora Neale Hurston’s experience in what she has seen through research was embodies in this novel. She demonstrates what data she has collected and intertwined it into the culture within the novel. While being a folklorist/anthropologist, and inspired by her life experiences, she developed a character who dealt with the issues that were not yet uncovered, female empowerment was one of them. Zora Neale Hurston defined this topic of female empowerment throughout the character Janie in Their Eyes Were Watching God.

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

This paper is discusses on the novel Zora Neale Hurston in the light of Patriarchy. The protagonist of the novel, Janie is taken for analysis. This paper also involves in delineating characteristics traits of the male characters in the novels. Further, the paper studies the treatment that is meted out to the protagonist at the hands of men in the selected novel. The paper studies the novel in terms of the violence, subjugation and oppression that the male characters pose to the protagonist in the novel. The paper discusses on the various levels of suppression that Janie undergoes at the hands of the people who are highly patriarchal in mind set. Further, this paper details on how the protagonist stands as a model to shun suppression at the

Zora Neale Hurston had an intriguing life, from surviving a hurricane in the Bahamas to having an affair with a man twenty years her junior. She used these experiences to write a bildungsroman novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, about the colorful life of Janie Mae Crawford. Though the book is guised as a quest for love, the dialogues between the characters demonstrate that it is actually about Janie’s journey to learn how to not adhere to societal expectation.

Modest, obedient, and pretty are traits of what a woman should have in the past, specifically, in the early 1900’s. However, Janie shows another side to being a woman. She signifies a strong-willed and free woman; she shows a feminist. Janie reveals herself. In the novel, Their Eyes were Watching God, Hurston uncovers what type of woman Janie truly is, in which Hurston also reflects the advocacy of feminism. After years of portraying a stereotypical wife in the 1900’s, Janie provokes the hidden woman inside her as she finally stands up to her husband and wears her hair down with no rules to follow, evoking the feminist inside her.

Zora Neale Hurston is considered one of the most unsurpassed writers of twentieth-century African-American literature. Published in 1937, Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God depicts the life of Janie Crawford, an African-American woman, who is in search of true love and ultimately her true self. In the novel, Janie shows us that love comes in all shapes and forms, and love is different with each person you choose to love. In the opening of the novel, Hurston uses a metaphor to say that, while men can never reach for their dreams, women can direct their wills and chase their dreams. Hurston uses this metaphor to make a distinction of men and women gender roles, and Janie went against the norms that were expected of her.

     Then Janie meets Tea Cake. Their courtship and marriage involve many different forms of equality which are not seen in Janie's past relationships. The equalities exhibited include Tea Cake and Janie's equality to one another as persons, and equality in "age," love, and money.