Janie Crawford Killiks Starks Woods is the main character in the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, where she learns what's it's like to go from marriage to marriage looking for love. In the novel, Hurston utilizes the pivotal moment when Janie realizes that marriage doesn’t always mean love to show Janie's coming of age and psychological development which is used to show that love doesn't always come first. Logan Killicks was Janie's first marriage, which was brought about after Nanny (her grandmother) decided that she need to be married after she caught Janie and a young boy kissing when she was 16. After that Janie finds herself being thrown into some random marriage with some man she barely knew, and for a reason …show more content…
After leaving Logan and marrying Joe, she was very happy and seemed to be in love but soon after becomes a “trophy wife” and was just going through the motions of marriage. “No matter what Jody did, she said nothing. She had learned how to talk some and leave some… She got nothing from Jody except what money could buy, and she was giving away what she didn’t value”(Huston, 76). At this point Janie had fully accepted the fact that she wasn’t going to have love in her marriage, and didn’t really care. At this point Janie’s character starts to develope into a more independent woman who cared less about what he husband wanted and more about what she wanted. “Janie took the easy way away from a fuss. She didn’t change her mind but she agreed with her mouth”(Hurston 63). Janie only verbally agreed with Joe because it kept the tension down in their relationship, and made them look like they were still happy and in love. Hurston uses moments like this to show how Janie started to mature and grow, to realize that's a loveless marriage is just useless fights day after day, and when in higher power putting on a show for the
SHe enters and seems depressed and lonely. Everyone is mocking her and talking about her. However Janie does not talk back. She just sulks back to her house. The people on the porch just, “...sat with judgement,”(Hurston 17).
Within the two marriages she has had within her life, she still hasn't experienced the happiness that true love leads to. Because of this, she is left to be unhappy and having her dream diminished in front of her. Janie's first marriage was with a man named Logan Killicks. Janie was not attached to Logan.
Janie's knows that they will have a stronger connection then her first marriage. Janie fails to understand the reality of marriage because she is enamored with her sweet idea. Janie's marriage to her first husband,Logan Killicks was a arranged marriage by her Granny. She wants her marriage to be sweet ,"Ah wants things sweet wid mah marriage lak when you sit under a pear tree and thinks Ah...".
She was twenty-four and seven years married when she knew. She found that out one day when he slapped her face in the kitchen” (Hurston 91). As Jody reaches his ambitions he begins to beat and neglect his wife. Beating his wife is clearly not a good thing for him to do in his personal life. Clearly, Jody neglected his personal life and his wife by focusing singularly on his ambitions and
In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie a girl who develops into a woman during her problematic life; with love and the people around her. Illustrates that the struggle through obstacles and conflicts in life, shapes you to be who you are. A conflict that Janie experienced that helped her shape who she is, was when Nanny speaks to Janie about marriage, and how Janie should marry Logan Killicks even though she isn’t interested. Nanny informs Janie begs Nanny “Ah ain’t gointuh do it no mo’, Nanny.
“She simply made men conscious of the highest degree of her physical loveliness. Dexter had no desire to change her. Her deficiencies were knit up with a passionate energy that transcended and justified them.” (P. 5). Even though Judy had these attributes, Dexter didn’t want her any other
Janie shows determination as she persists and struggles to define love on her own terms through her marriages. First, her determination shows when Janie runs away with Jody. She becomes aware that her marriage with Logan does not satisfy her goals and dreams for love, so she takes a chance and marries Jody. Hurston states, “Janie hurried out of the front gate and turned south.
Scottie wants so badly for her to be Madeline that he dresses Judy up as her and takes her to places where he and Madeline had been even though Judy herself is an absolute antithesis of everything Madeline was. Despite her discomfort with these actions, she eventually gives in. Although, Scottie’s obsession with Madeline scares her, Judy’s need to be loved by him allows her to submit herself to his mania and give him control over her. Her eventual death is caused her own submission to Scottie.
Next, after Logan she finds a man who she actually is attracted to; his name was Joe Starks. Janie thought he was the one she was looking for but as time went on she realized she could be living better. Janie, over their 20 year marriage began to lose love for him and on chapter 7, pg.77 she says “His prosperous- looking belly that used to thrust out so pugnaciously and intimidate folks, sagged like a load suspended from his loins.” Eventually Joe died from stomach cancer and now she was a widow and had to pretend like she cared in front of the people of her town.
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie suffers from hardship in two relationships before she can find her true love. Janie explains to her best friend, Pheoby, how she searches for love. Therefore Pheoby wants to hear the true story, rather than listening to the porch sitters. Throughout the book Janie experiences different types of love with three different men; Logan Killicks, Joe Starks, and Vergible "Tea Cake" Woods. At 16 Janie marries Logan Killicks.
For example, when she seeks love, she marries Logan. When she realizes that she cannot attain love through marriage, she desires wealth and power. In order to obtain this, Janie leaves Logan to marry Jody Starks. She is constantly moving from desire to desire every time she is unhappy with her present condition. It would be in her best interest to set realistic goals for herself, and settle in to her life in a way that will provide her with the most efficient method to obtain her goal.
“Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston”. In this story the main character Janie gets married three times. Her first husband Logan Killicks didn’t work out because she was forced to marry him by her Nanny. The second husband Joe Starks, she kinda had feelings for him, but it wasn’t anything big. Then her third husband was Tea Cake, she love him and actually had feelings for him.
In her epiphany from Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie realizes her intrinsic capacity as an individual, and frees herself from Jody’s covetous ways in the act of letting down her hair. In the quote, “She tore off the kerchief from her plentiful hair... the glory was there,” Janie’s hair symbolizes her power and strength because it holds glory. By Janie releasing her hair, she finally notices the greatness that she has, which allows her to now view herself as eminent individual whom has independence. Because Jody made her tie her hair up as a device to hinder her individuality and identity in their marriage, he is intimidated by her reluctance to comply with his controlling demands.
“Their Eyes Were Watching God” is a novel written by Zora Neale Hurston. The novel portrays Janie, a middle aged black woman who tells her friend Pheoby Watson what has happened to her husband Tea Cake and her adventure. The resulting telling of her story portrays most of the novel. Throughout the novel, Zora Neale Hurston presents the theme of love, or being in a relationship versus freedom and independence, that being in a relationship may hinder one’s freedom and independence. Janie loves to be outgoing and to be able to do what she wants, but throughout the book the relationships that she is in with Logan,Jody and Tea Cake, does not allow her to do that.
One of the universal themes of literature is the idea that children suffer because of the mistakes of an earlier generation. The novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God" follows the story of Janie Mae Crawford through her childhood, her turbulent and passionate relationships, and her rejection of the status quo and through correlation of Nanny 's life and Janie 's problems, Hurston develops the theme of children 's tribulations stemming from the teachings and thoughts of an earlier generation. Nanny made a fatal mistake in forcibly pushing her own conclusions about life, based primarily on her own experiences, onto her granddaughter Janie and the cost of the mistake was negatively affecting her relationship with Janie. Nanny lived a hard life and she made a rough conclusion about how to survive in the world for her granddaughter, provoked by fear. " Ah can’t die easy thinkin’ maybe de menfolks white or black is makin’ a spit cup outa you: Have some sympathy fuh me.