The townspeople’s envy of Janie is rooted in internalized racism--one that favors light skin and other Eurocentric facial features. The porch-sitters of Eatonville also find it strange that Janie, who was at a higher social class before she met Tea Cake, come back to Eatonville and present herself in a way typical of a laborer. Although Janie yearns for a sense of community within Eatonville, the porch creates a division rooted in envy and internalized racism amongst the black community. Furthermore, as Tea Cake rapidly gets more sick, Janie acts upon self-defense and is forced to kill Tea Cake. That same day, Janie was to be put on trial in the courtroom.
In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie, a strong, empathetic woman, explores many different interpersonal relationships and has experiences specific to her identity as a black woman. Throughout the story she is oppressed and is forced to silence herself after being silenced by her husbands, Nanny, and the townspeople. Janie is first controlled by her grandmother, Nanny, when Janie is forced to marry Logan Killicks, a much older man. Janie is placed under Logan’s authority until a seemingly ideal man named Joe Starks comes into Janie’s life with promises of a better future. After marrying Joe, however, Janie realizes that he is not all that he claims to be and is forced, once again, to be oppressed and silence
Many factors may cause or create a change in someone’s character. It’s usually from their relationships they have encountered in their life. Relationships good or bad can help shape a person’s character immensely, and from every relationship, a person’s character can be changed for the better or worse. The main character, Janie Crawford, in the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston,had encountered several relationships that caused a positive and negative changes her character. Janie’s first husband, Jody Starks, and second husband, Tea Cake, both caused a change in her character.
Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, portrays the story of young woman named Janie struggling with relationships that become crucial to the way she chooses to identify herself. Janie goes through the constant struggle of being controlled by others and allowing others to dominate her identity rather than her owning herself. When she marries her second husband, Jody, he forces her to wear a handkerchief around her head in public because he declares her to be his property and is scared that her beauty will attract other men. However, when Jody gets ill and dies, Janie is placed into a predicament and finds herself face to face with the pain caused by her relationship.
“I hate to hear you talk about all women as if they were fine ladies instead of rational creatures. None of us want to be in calm waters all our lives.” Jane Austen. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston depicted the travels of Janie Crawford and her understanding of womanhood and freedom through her several marriages. Throughout the book, Hurston portrays the growth of Janie and her ideals, her hair being a major recurring symbol.
Although Janie’s life is already partially determined at birth due to her race, bloodline, and gender, her actions and personality reveal her true identity. The time period in which Hurston wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God was not one of complete racial equality. That being said, in the novel, Janie faces belittlement for being biracial. Mrs. Turner, a biracial woman much like Janie, acts as a
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston acknowledges the idea of sexism when she addresses that Janie Starks, the protagonist, never got to fulfill her dreams. Janie’s grandmother, Nanny, wanted the best for her granddaughter so she married her off to a man named Logan Killicks, a man who had a small farm and good wealth “Janie and Logan got married in Nanny’s parlor of a Saturday evening with three cakes and big platters of fried rabbit and chicken,” (Hurston 3). Years has passed within the marriage and Janie never found love for Logan. Logan comparing her to his ex-wife, discriminated Janie’s place of position, “Mah fust wife never bothered me ‘bout choppin’ no wood nohow. She’d grab dat ax and sling chips lak
Complicated relationships, even family members can bring a person down but in the end, the hard times are what makes a person who they are. Janie Mae Crawford is a prime example of this, she goes through many relationships and even has complications with her own family that lead to her being unhappy. She finally learns that when she finds who she is and finds her own voice is when she becomes happy. In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston examines the idea that Janie's past, where she has many complicated relationships, including her Nanny, aids her on her journey to find who she is and to establish her own voice.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston contains many elements of racism, sexism, and elitism. Janie spends a lifetime of going from one relationship to the next in an effort to find out who she is. Along the way, there are elements of feminism, or the advocacy for gender equality, that touch her journey as she learns to make her own decisions and speak her mind. While Janie would not necessarily be the most typical conception of a strong feminist character, the context of the southern African American society of the 1920´s, Janie has made some decisive actions that would constitute her as a feminist character.
“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.
In Zora Neale Hurston’s African American Literature Novel Their Eyes Watching God, she writes of a young female named Janie who journeys through life trying to find the perfect relationship. Throughout Janie’s relationships she discovered that she did not want to live a marriage life full of fear, unhappiness and sorrow. Janie’s ability to dream and to act on her instincts allows her to truly find her happiness with her last
Children most often like to make their parents proud. Whether it is pursuing the career of their childhood dreams, or by simply making an “A” on a test. Examples like such occasionally lead to high expectations that the child may not be able to meet. Sometimes those expectations contradict the dreams of their own, leading up to the most crucial question. To please the parents or to please oneself?
During the Harlem renaissance, there were many popular figures like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Langston Hughes, but one that usually isn't mentioned is Zora Neale Hurston. Zora Neale Hurston was an author, and a Civil rights activist during the Harlem Renaissance. Zora Neale Hurston is both a reflection of and a departure from the ideas of the Harlem Renaissance because, She wants the women to have lots of freedom, and talks about how women should be more dependent and stand up for themselves, but in contrast shows how the women are somehow tied down to working, and she mentions slavery and how racism is still a problem. To begin with Hurston Talks in her book, “Their Eyes Were Watching God” about how women should live a free and
Zora Neale Hurston’s writing in Their Eyes Were Watching God, reflects the Harlem Renaissance through Janie 's individuality, and departs from the Harlem Renaissance with the common recurrence of black woman empowerment. In the novel, Hurston reflects the ideas of the Harlem renaissance with the ways in which Janie rebels and goes against norms for women.
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston wrote in a way that conveyed a message through her characters, using a storytelling "frame" to express her ideas. Hurston did not stop by means to get her point across. Hurston uses Janie’s thoughts and actions to represents how during Reconstruction, African Americans were trying to find their identities and achieve their dreams of independence. At the start of the novel Hurston begins to illustrate how African Americans in Eatonville feel about their lives.
