Character Analysis: Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston

Their Eyes Were Watching God, one of the most influential novels to come out of the Harlem Renaissance, plays a crucial role in revealing the deep-rooted issue of misogyny during the era. As the protagonist, Janie Crawford, navigates the complexities of her three marriages, Zora Neale Hurston delves into the core of human emotion to develop Janie’s character throughout the novel. As Janie witnesses the deaths of her three marriages, she is transformed from a silenced wife to an icon of feminism; she changes in her level of maturity, independence, and self-reliance in response to her husbands’ treatments of her.

Janie matures out of her adolescent naivety when her loveless union with Logan Killicks extinguishes her pre-marital perceptions of

Throughout her marriage, Janie endures both verbal and physical abuse as the reader witnesses the couple’s respect for each other deteriorate. This lack of respect stems from the juxtaposition of Joe’s inherent misogynistic views with Janie’s desire for equality, dividing them as Janie builds her character in contrast with Joe’s perception of an ideal woman. In one circumstance where Joe publicly degrades women, Janie’s budding independence is manifested as she retaliates against her husband’s audacity at comparing women’s minds to those of domestic animals. When Joe argues, "When [I] see one thing [I] understands ten. [Women] see ten things and don’t understand one," his implicit belief in the dominance of men stirs Janie’s intrinsic desire for equality and independence (71). Additionally, Hurston underscores the extent of Janie’s submission in her second marriage through a sequence of symbols that represent distinct qualities of their relationship. In one instance of this, Joe reflects his internalized insecurities by forcing Janie to wrap her locks in a head rag. By restricting Janie from embracing her hair, a widely-envied symbol of her freedom and beauty throughout the novel, Joe moves from antagonistic to oppressive. Resulting from this conspicuous tyranny, Janie’s desire for freedom surpasses her quest for love, completely reversing her

Among the only men to respect her as an equal, Tea Cake’s benevolence is immediately attractive to the recently widowed Janie. Upon their first meeting, Tea Cake surprises Janie with his modern notion - uncharacteristic of her former husbands - that women are capable of pursuits such as playing checkers, riding trains, and walking long distances. But more significantly, when Tea Cake invites her to play a game of checkers, Janie glows at concept that “Somebody wanted her to play. Somebody thought it natural for her to play” (96). By means of this small act, Tea Cake dismisses the possibility that Janie’s womanhood will cost her opportunities around him, as seen with her previous husbands when she was prevented from making a speech as the mayor’s wife or going to a funeral for a mule. When Tea Cake teaches Janie to play checkers, he sparks a fundamental fortitude in Janie that grows throughout their marriage into an everlasting confidence in herself. When the newlyweds arrive at the Everglades, Janie’s burgeoning self-reliance is furthered when Tea Cake asks her to work with him in the bean fields. Rather than attempting to dominate Janie through labor like Logan and Joe, Tea Cake expresses that he, “gits lonesome out dere all day ‘thout [Janie],” once again addressing Janie as his partner rather than an object (133). Tea Cake