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Janie's search for love and self in "their eyes were watching god
How janie from their eyes were watching god relates to zora neale hurston
How janie from their eyes were watching god relates to zora neale hurston
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4. Nanny • Although she is not in the book for long, readers meet Janie’s grandmother, Nanny, early in the novel. Janie has grown up with this lady, after her mom left her at a young age. Nanny wants Janie to marry into wealth, which is why she motivates Janie into marrying Logan Killicks.
In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie is a young woman who struggles to find her identity. Janie Separates her exterior life from her interior life by keeping certain thoughts and emotions inside her head, and she reconciles this by while presenting the proper woman society expects her to be. Janie also silently protests to those expectations by acting against what people require of her, both emotionally and physically. When Janie’s rude and abusive husband, Joe, dies, Janie is glad because she is finally free from him.
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 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.
“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.
The first person that influences on janie's life is her nanny. Nanny wants Janie to marry a man that will bring her protection. Janie's nanny does not think that she should not love any man she should instead look for a man that can do things for her and keep her safe. Janie's nanny can not find a way to make janie view things in her perspective so she had RECORRER “you just wants to hug and kiss and feel around with first one man and then another, huh?
(Hurston 55). Jody’s determination to keep Janie safe and protect her from other men causes Janie to be upset. Janie feels as if her only purpose “was there in the store for him to look at, not those others'' (55).
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.
Another example of how Joe impacted Janie’s identity development was when Joe forced Janie to keep her hair up in the store. But when he did, Janie learned of her independence and her personal power. After Joe dies, Janie took control and let her hair down in public again. “Before she slept that night she burnt up every one of her head rags and went about the house next morning with her hair in one thick braid swinging well below her waist.” (Hurston
In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, written by Zora Neale Hurston, one of the main characters, Janie has a level of low class as an African American women. When Janie and Jody got married, everything changed for Janie as a person. The two of them moved to Eatonville and Jody bought tons and tons of land. He would get carried away with his money and power. He then became mayor of the town.
She understands that Logan surely did not marry her for love, but rather he married her for the purpose of sex and as a field hand. She feel like she is being used, and she has been considering leaving Logan in spite of my Grandmother’s wishes. Write a "Dear Diary" entry at the end of Janie's marriage to Jody in which she writes in earnest and in depth about the contrast
Throughout their entire marriage, Janie submitted to Jody and tried her best to become his version of a perfect wife. Her inherent romanticism and belief that love is sacrifice sunk her deep within the confines of Jody’s manipulation. By fighting back, Janie defeated her internalized sexist belief that women are incapable of intelligent thought, a perception Jody impressed upon her. This integral shift in Janie’s perception of herself poses a significant threat to Jody and the men of Eatonville as she realizes love is not simply sacrifice, but reciprocal sacrifice in the name of love. Physically, she signifies this change the day of Jody’s death, as “Before she slept that night she burnt up every one of her head rags and went about the house the next morning with her hair in one thick braid swinging well below her waist.
Janie allowed her voice to be controlled by her lust in her relationship with Joe causing her to be unable to express her opinions to him. She let everything he did to her pass, “ no matter what Jody did, she did nothing” (76). She hopes
but it didn’t do her any good” as Jody kept on fighting for her “submission” (71). As Jody continues to make Janie submit, less of her individuality is present as she is reduced to the ideal wife in Jody’s eyes. He does this by covering her hair, confining her to the store, and insults her. Again, In one scene,
Jody’s image of Janie changes her into someone who she is not, submissive and non independent. Again, Janie’s marriage was not made in love and she was trapped. Unlike Logan, Janie puts up with Jody for 20 miserable years before she is finally freed by his death. To Janie, Jody’s death is an eye-opener. Janie is no longer going to settle for less than what
