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Analysis Of Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston

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A system of rules intended to deprive women of their rights and firmly subjugate them to their husbands was brought to the New World by the first English immigrants. Women are still denied human rights and are kept in the background in various countries throughout the world today. The book Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston shows Janie Crawford's "ripening from a vibrant, but voiceless, teenage girl into a woman with her finger on the trigger of her own destiny" (Zora Neale Hurston). First published in 1937, Their Eyes Were Watching God opens a teaching to young women who are Black and struggle to find peace with themselves and their significant other. Today, Ongoing struggles include forced marriages, women's racial struggles, …show more content…

“In 2003, the International Center for Research on Women estimated that over 51 million girls under the age of 18 were forcibly married”( the International Center for Research on Women). Women of any size and any age experience forced marriage and are not able to have a choice to be able to marry who they chose. Through the book Their Eyes Were Watching God Hutson explained how this idea was shown in her book. Janie Crawford was forced to be engaged to Logan Killicks, by her Nanny who is her grandmother. Her grandmother only wants what's best for Jaine. Jaine's mother was raped by her Teacher and ran off, abanding Jaine with her mother to care for her. Nanny doesn't want Jaine to grow up in a white family and struggle to live so it is why she ended up having Jaine marry Logan. But he was not a man of goodwill he was very controlling of Jaine and demanded of her to work on the field and do household needs around the house. He verbally abused her and caused her to become trapped in a marriage with him. She soon was fed up with his ways and it was his actions that made her leave town and start fresh with a new beginning seeking new love. Forced marriages have been making young girls and women of all races feel depressed, irritable, with low self-esteem, and rage, yet racial struggles create these …show more content…

“They are penalized in school, directed toward the criminal justice system after enduring physical or sexual abuse, exposed to racial profiling and police brutality, and jailed at rates substantially higher than their percentage of the population, these are all examples of how racism affects black girls and women” (Susan Green). Hurston explores this topic in the book Their eyes were watching God. When Jaine was a young little girl she was raised by Nanny and she would go to school with white folk who made her realize she was a darker compilation than they were and she became a target for the white little girls in a school of the color of her skin and they way she dressed. Throughout Janie's three marriages, she was able to surpass her life goal and become a

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621 Words | 3 Pages

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.

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Her first marriage was to Logan Killicks. This marriage was unwanted by Janie, but wanted by her grandmother. Logan put her to work as if she was another farm hand. She told her grandmother she wanted to love him but simply just couldn't. After a few months into this marriage, Janie realizes something about marriage.

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“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.

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994 Words | 4 Pages

In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by, Zora Neale Hurston Janie, strives to find her own voice throughout the novel and she succeeds even though it takes her time to do it. Each one of her husband’s has a different effect on her ability to find her voice. Janie had noticed that she did not have a voice when Jody was appointed mayor by the town’s people and she was asked to give a few words on his behalf, but she did not answer, because before she could even say anything Jody had stated “ ‘Thank yuh fuh yo’ compliments, but mah wife don’t know nothin’ ’bout no speech-makin’/Janie made her face laugh after a short pause, but it wasn’t too easy/…the way Joe spoke out without giving her a chance to say anything on way or another that took

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997 Words | 4 Pages

Janie is the product of rape. Her mother, a poor black girl, was raped and impregnated by a white school teacher. Janie is raised by her grandmother, a woman with very steadfast beliefs stemming from her own personal trauma. Janie’s grandmother, Nanny, lived through the Civil War, and was forced into an unwanted relationship with her white slave master. Nanny wants what she thinks is best for Janie.

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Nujood Ali has faced a multitude of horrors from a very young age: being forced into an arranged marriage with an older man at the age of nine, sexual abuse, physical abuse, running away, having family turn a blind eye on your suffering or be an accomplice to it. However, the true horror lies in the fact that Nujood is not the only victim of these atrocities. So, why is Nujood’s story so important? She may not be the first person to experience the true horrors of child marriage, but she is the youngest Yemeni girl to be granted a divorce. Ali shares her heartbreaking with millions across the world in her memoir titled I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced.

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Nanny pushes Janie into an arranged marriage with Logan Killicks, an older man who can provide financial security and respectability that the Nanny values. Although Janie agrees to marry out of respect for her grandmother, Janie does not want to enter a marriage for the values that is imposed by her culture’s standards, but for her value of

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Their Eyes Were Watching God, penned by Zora Neale Hurston, bears a major life question: how is happiness reached? Hurston uses Jannie, Nanny, Jody, and Tea Cake’s experiences to show how a person reaches happiness. Hurston’s creation of Janie’s and Nanny’s relationship shows the contradiction of feeling secure and feeling happy. Nanny’s struggles in life edged Janie to her first marriage with Logan Killicks. Nanny was born a slave who had meager rights, which contributed to her being raped and the subsequent birth of her daughter.

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In the novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, Zora Neale Hurston writes about the struggles of true love between Janie and her three husbands. As the story progresses, Janie believes she has found love, but then she gets disappointed after she is treated wrong. At the beginning of the story, Janie is forced to marry Logan Killicks after her Nanny convinces her that it is for her protection. Janie then tells herself that she will someday grow to love Logan.

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Naw, Nanny, no ma’am! Whut Ah know ‘bout uh husband?” Janie spits out (12). Then again, Janie is only 16, but after all that Nanny has done for her, she doesn’t want to let Nanny down. Janie feels pressured to please her Nanny, but through marriage?

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Her purpose was to sensitize and show the audience the emotional effects of gender inequality. Love, society, freedom, dreams, goals, compassion, gender, and marriage are the main themes in the novel. All these together form the story of an innocent and dreamer woman named Janie Crawford that tries to find love in her three marriages. Throughout the novel, she creates meaning to the dependence of marriage to gender roles, and emphasizes how this can shape relationships in a social way. Therefore, women and men play a role that affects positively and negatively marriages in order to represent a particular social group.

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Janie’s first dream was dead, so she became a woman” (page 79). This quote highlights Janie's realization that her happiness and fulfillment are not contingent on societal expectations of marriage. Nanny, Janie’s grandmother, played a significant role in shaping Janie’s perceptions of love and marriage. Nanny’s own experiences of oppression and trauma lead her to prioritize financial stability and relationships. Nanny's advice to Jenny is reflective of the limited options available to black women at the

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Nanny, Janie's grandmother, wants to protect Janie from all the social injustices she has gone through and decides that the only way to keep Janie safe in life is for Janie to avoid love and acquire money through a man. Nanny does not want Janie to feel a sexual desire because she believes that it will make Janie vulnerable to other men. Janie marries Logan Killicks, the man Nanny married her of to. “The vision of Logan Killicks was desecrating the pear tree, but Janie didn't know how to tell Nanny that” (Hurston 14). This pushed Janie closer and closer to leave Logan.

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Janie does not understand the structure of society at the time. In fact, she almost completely contradicts her social role as a woman. During this time, the woman in the relationship was to be dependent on the husband and fulfill the stereotypical role of women following their husbands. Janie is able to overcome these roles by finding happiness in what she does and ignoring what she is told to do in order to fulfill these roles of women not only to support herself and her family, but also to protect herself, as seen early in the story when Nanny forces the marriage to Logan Killicks. Nanny begs, "Tain’t Logan Killicks

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1000 Words | 4 Pages

In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the main character, Janie, experiences several marriages on her quest to find love. Her first marriage was arranged by her grandmother, causing Janie to despise her. Janie villainizes and misunderstands her grandmother, Nanny, who holds selfless intentions toward her. As a former slave, Nanny lived a life full of misfortune.

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