“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.
Growing up, Janie was taught to keep quiet by society due to not only her race, but her gender. Keeping her hair from Society's eye was, in a way, keeping her voice from it, as well. “How about playin’ you some checkers? You looks hard tug beat.’’Ah is, ‘cause At can't play uh lick.’’You don’t cherish
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"Thank yuh fuh yo’ compliments, but mah wife don’t know nothin’ ‘bout no speech-makin’. Ah never married her for nothin’ lak dat. She’s uh woman and her place is in de home." (Hurston ?) Joe Starks treated Janie as an accessory, someone who belongs in a home with the kids, and is not worthy of doing the things he does. In this quote, Jody refuses to let Janie recite a speech due to his belief of her status. This must way down on Janie and her emotional state, as Jody eventually treated her like an object. "I god, Janie," Starks said impatiently, "why don’t you go on and see whut Mrs. Bogle want? Whut you waitin’ on?" Janie wanted to hear the rest of the play-acting and how it ended, but she got up sullenly and went inside. She came back to the porch with her bristles sticking out all over her and with dissatisfaction written all over her face. Joe saw it and lifted his own hackles a bit.” (6.168-169) The line with the bristles sticking over Janie’s face may represent disheveled hair sticking out from hiding. This quote represents the tie emotions slowly pulling apart, as Jody is referred to as ‘Starks,’ "Maybe he [Joe] make her [Janie] do it [tie up her hair]. Maybe he skeered de rest of us mens might touch it round dat store." (5.144) A catty townsfolk is shown here gossiping about Janie and Jody’s relationship. He infers how Jody may be forcing Janie to tie her …show more content…
“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.” (9.3) Following the death of Joe Starks, Janie gets a sense of freedom from burning her head rags. This is symbolic not only literally, but figuratively as well, as Jody kept her in an unfit relationship where jealousy and unequalness between the two played a role. “Besides she liked being lonesome for a change. This freedom feeling was fine.” (9.7) The idea of being single struck a chord with the main character, as she’s now not tied down to other men, and she can feel what it’s like to be a woman again. "Naw, Pheoby, Tea Cake ain’t draggin’ me off nowhere Ah don’t want tuh go. Ah always did want tuh git round uh whole heap, but Jody wouldn’t ‘low me tuh. When Ah wasn’t in de store he wanted me tuh jes sit wid folded hands and sit dere. And Ah’d sit dere wid de walls creepin’ up on me and squeezin’ all de life outa me. Pheoby, dese educated women got uh heap of things to sit down and consider. Somebody done tole ‘em what to set down for. Nobody ain’t told poor me, so sittin’ still worries me. Ah wants tuh utilize mahself all over." (12.16) This quote alludes to Janie’s realization of the way Jody treated her during their relationship compared to how Tea Cake treated her. This is a vital milestone in the book as it