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Analysis Of Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston

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In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, it is blatantly obvious that women, in this case Janie, led an interesting life both with and without a man. Both before her marriage with Logan and after her marriage with Tea Cake, Janie led a lifestyle that did not produce boredom by thinking for herself and always exploring with her mind. During her marriage with Tea Cake especially, Janie was able to live an interesting and fulfilling lifestyle in both Eatonville and the Everglades while at her husband’s side.

Janie easily proves an ability an ability to enjoy an interesting lifestyle with or without men. When Janie was living with her grandmother she was able to live an interesting lifestyle by playing with the other white children. …show more content…

After Janie’s second husband, Jody, passes away, Janie immediately “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 84). Janie displays her ability to make decisions and live freely after Jody dies by continuing to manage the house and the store. However, when presented with challenges, Janie acknowledges that “these men didn’t represent a thing she wanted to know about [because] she had already experienced them through Logan and Joe” (Hurston 86). Janie clearly recognizes that she does not need men at all. Furthermore, Janie lives an interesting lifestyle still after the death of her third husband Tea Cake by picking up where she left off after Jody’s death. After being acquitted for the murder of Tea Cake, Janie decides to return to Eatonville where she had lived with her second husband Jody. Janie quickly realized upon arrival there that “ . . . the place tested fresh again [and] [t]he wind through the open windows had broomed out all the fetid feeling of absence and nothingness” (Hurston 183). Such a refreshing feeling conveys a deeper message yet again from Hurston that women can live interesting lives without

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She expected to obey for her husband like others. “He ordered Janie to tie up her hair around the store” reveals that she did everything to his happiness not for her. Even though she is a wife of a mayor, she didn’t get any privilege rather she lost her social relationship with other people. She lived under the dominance of her husband

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779 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, we follow our protagonist, Janie, through a journey of self-discovery. We watch Janie from when she was a child to her adulthood, slowly watching her ideals change while other dreams of hers unfortunately die. This is shown when Jane first formulates her idea of love, marriage, and intimacy by comparing it to a pear tree; erotic, beautiful, and full of life. After Janie gets married to her first spouse, Logan Killicks, she doesn’t see her love fantasy happening, but she waits because her Nanny tells her that love comes after marriage. Janie, thinking that Nanny is wise beyond her years, decides to wait.

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660 Words | 3 Pages

In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the protagonist Janie, is influenced by others to change her ideals. Hurston vividly portrays Janie’s outward struggle while emphasising her inward struggle by expressing Janie’s thoughts and emotions. In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening the protagonist is concisely characterized as having “that outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions,” as Janie does. Janie conforms outwardly to her life but questions inwardly to her marriages with Logan Killicks, her first husband, and Joe Starks, her second husband; Janie also questions her grandmother's influence on what love and marriage is.

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1354 Words | 6 Pages

On the other hand, silence is used as a demonstration of individualism and expressiveness. This especially allows women of the 20th century to regain control and autonomy. The perspective that Domina presents allows the reader to find a feminist viewpoint of patriarchal events. Furthermore, critics, such as Claire Crabtree, dive deeper into the realm of the impact of feminism that is brought out by Hurston’s novel. Crabtree says, “The three marriages and the three communities in which Janie moves represent increasingly wide circles of experience and opportunities for expression of personal choice” (Crabtree 315).

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786 Words | 4 Pages

This quote highlights the contrast between Janie's character and the expectations of women during the Harlem Renaissance period. Logan wants a wife that would do the so-called “men's work” without complaint such as work in the field and the farm.

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1660 Words | 7 Pages

In The Eyes are Watching God, the author Zora Neale Hurston expresses the struggles of women and black societies of the time period. When Hurston published the book, communities were segregated and black communities were full of stereotypes from the outside world. Janie, who represents the main protagonist and hero, explores these communities on her journey in the novel. Janie shows the ideals of feminism, love, and heroism in her rough life in The Eyes. Janie, as the hero of the novel, shows the heroic qualities of determination, empathy, and bravery.

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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

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The “Rock Pile” by James Baldwin and “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston are two stories that examined black male resistance to emasculation. The men in these stories lived in patriarchal societies, and they reaped the benefits of a structure that favored men. In both of these stories, the male characters are dominant figures in their households, and when they felt like their manhood was being attacked, they retaliate viciously. In “Their eyes were watching god”

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Janie’s relation with Joes till his death is another step to realize the real meaning of domination and liberation. The moment that Janie kills her third husband Tea Cake is a must in the novel. Although Tea Cake liberated Janie from two different kinds of domination for a period of time but he turns to practice another kind of domination through his physical abuse and his jealousy; so his murder is a momentary freedom for Janie. Janie in her development and growth contends to replace the old culture concept that places women’s wishes on material and economic demands by love and affection.

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Society persists in restraining what someone can be, when they can be it, how they can be it, and where they can be it, a precedent set to continue throughout generations. In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, men hold control over women to perpetuate the existence of gender roles that are stipulated in women their whole lives. Womanhood is viewed as a service to men rather than an experience of life with women being equated to the men in their lives. Women are always perceived through the lens of how society believes they should be. Throughout Hurston’s, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the progression of an individual’s womanhood is on a pedestal in front of everybody for the sake of belittling and impeding women’s lives without

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774 Words | 4 Pages

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

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666 Words | 3 Pages

You wake up beside your significant other as if it were any other day; then look them in the eyes and utter the words “Good morning!”. You are overwhelmed with joy by the mere company of your spouse for it is the morning after your wedding night and the dream of obtaining the level of companionship in which you yearned becomes a reality. In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God the main character Janie pursues the quest of finding companionship in means of a husband. Zora Neale Hurston’s work includes many salient themes. The overlying theme of Their Eyes Were Watching God does not become evident until the last chapter of the novel.

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Porch. A covered shelter projecting in front of the entrance of a building. This inanimate object served to develop various themes throughout the book, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. She reveals the theme of jealousy and envy, gender inequality and a sense of community with the help of the porch.

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Racism can be defined as prejudice, discrimination, or contributions to a system that perpetuates the idea that one race is inferior to another. Racism was heavily enforced throughout American history, specifically in the early 1900’s. Coincidentally, this was the same time feminists, or women’s-rights activists, were in the in the midst of their fight for equality. Feminism is the theory that women should be treated equally to men in terms of social, political, and economic matters. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston uses the protagonist, Janie, to convey both concepts through her journey to self-love and acceptance.

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