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Character Analysis Of Janie In Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale

979 Words4 Pages

From the very start of the novel, Janie exhibits passion, determination, and strives to change her life positively. However, Janie, and many other women in Their Eyes Were Watching God, have the term “mule” tied to them with what seems like an unbreakable rope. Through Janie's life experiences, she is able to shift from the object of other's lives to the subject of her own life. In many regards, Janie is treated like a mule throughout her marriages. The mule first appeared when she married Logan. Janie thinks that she has no other choice but to marry him, and in doing so ties herself down. Additionally, much like a mule, she has no choice who her “owner” is. Janie is treated like property in this relationship as well as others. Similarly in Janie’s relationship with Jody, she …show more content…

Nonetheless, one of the biggest obstacles that Janie faced in the novel was the belief associated with women: “inferior.” When I was a little girl, I quickly learned of this primitive idea. At the ripe old age of 6, I was playing in a sandbox and was suddenly struck with surprise when a little boy stole the toy that I was playing with. I approached him, and said, “Why did you take my toy? I was playing with it!” In response, he said, “Because I can. I can do it because I’m a boy and you’re a girl.” I was unaware of the unconscious bias, but those words lingered in my head for the rest of the day; “Because I’m a boy and you’re a girl.” This notion appeared in many of her relationships, but it was most prominent in her relationship with Jody. In the end, Joe values material wealth more than Janie. Jody forces Janie to avoid socializing with the locals, putter around the store day in and day out, and hide her beautiful hair. Joe keeps Janie socially and emotionally isolated. Throughout their relationship, Janie was constantly forced to keep

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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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In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie’s flaws about love continuously brought her to the same ending with all of her husbands, no matter how long the marriage lasted. In The Odyssey, Calypso was trapped on an island to fall in love with men who washed ashore. The fatality of her faults was her over affection and her need for love while being so alone on her island, Ogygia. Their weaknesses are exact opposites, specifically in their relationships with men. The flaws are role in relationship, attachment to men, and lastly, their submissiveness to men.

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Being a woman of color in the 1920’s was no easy task. Gender and racial inequalities have made progress throughout history, however during the time of this novel, and even in our modern day world they are still present and causing conflict. This is an issue that should be focused on and taken more seriously. In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie does a fantastic job overcoming several of these inequalities in order to pursue her own happiness, overall depicting her as an extremely powerful role model for young

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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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“She was there in the store for him to look at, not those others” (Page 55). He had her wear head rags to cover her beautiful hair, and she hated every second of it. He put unreasonable restrictions on Janie. He did not even let her go to the town funeral for the famous mule. “But you ain’t

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Interpreting the message of sexism in Their Eyes Were Watching God. Janie is now with another man named Joe Starks (Jody by the nickname Janie gave him) was a man in high wealth. Janie was not able to have the freedom she wanted with this man. Whatever he did she would have no say; Janie continued to keep silent regardless of what happened in their marriage, “No matter what Jody did, she said nothing. She had learned how to talk some and leave some.

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He forces her to wrap up her hair as a symbol of submission to him. He also does not let her go out and socialize, but keeps her in so the other people do not lust over her. He then buys the mule from Matt Bonner in the interest of Janie and he does not use the mule, but lets it rest instead. The

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Throughout the course of the book, Janie experiences oppression as a woman, revealing the hidden gender roles in American society that help form the American

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She did not experience satisfaction or self fulfilment in the relationship, and their conversations were loveless and passionless. When Logan ordered Janie from chore to chore, she says nothing but, “Ah’ll cut de p’taters fuh yuh”(Hurston 17). This portrays how Janie has not yet released how she feels about being tied down into the marriage. The symbolism of the mule comes into play during Janie’s marriage with Logan. In American Folklore mules are silent creatures that bear the burden, yet they are still stubborn and unpredictable.

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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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Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is a story written about a woman by a woman. It is often looked at from a feminist point of view. It is often thought that Hurston wrote the novel with that intention. In the novel readers see Janie develop into a strong woman through the trials that she endured. Janie worked hard to overcome the oppression of being an African American woman in the early 1900s.

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During the late 19th century to the early 20th century women, especially black women, barely had a say in anything done within the family. Janie was different, she was able to control her own destiny simply by leaving Logan for Joe, and marrying Tea Cake after Joe’s death. Janie was raised by her grandmother due to the fact that her mother was not around during this time. Her grandmother was raised in a time where there was no hope for a chance at a better life. Her grandmother told Janie that black women were the mules of the world (Hurston 14) , representing that they are the lowest of society and are used by people.

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Jody controlled major aspects of Janie’s life, such as her appearance, when he forces her to keep her hair up. Janie does not like that Jody feels the need to control her: “This business of the head-rag irked her endlessly. But Jody was set on it... that was because Joe never told Janie how jealous he was” (Hurston 55).

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This novel was written in 1937, which means that this was written at a time where women, especially young women, had no say in their lives. They were told what to do by the elders in their family, in Janie’s case this is Nanny but in many cases it was the father or eldest brother in the family. Therefore, when Nanny caught Janie having her first kiss with Johnny Taylor, a local boy who did not come from money, she decided that it was time for Janie to be married off. She insisted that Janie marry a man named Logan Killicks who was a middle aged, wealthy, and a farmer. Janie was only 16 when Nanny decided it was time for her to marry this man and didn’t want to do this, but Nanny insisted that she marry him because she needed a man and his money

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Janie’s grandma made efforts to warn Janie of the systematic hardship she’ll endure as woman of color. (p.14) Nanny essentially told her that in terms of societal value, black women were the most taken for granted, for they’re the “mules uh de world” as far as she knew. Nanny was constantly urging Janie to find a man because of this. She believed that a man could better her granddaughter, whether there was requited love or not, by providing security and financial stability. Janie tried to refute this idea that only a man could complete her life.

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