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Comparing Their Eyes Were Watching God And Sweat By Zora Neale Hurston

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Zora Neale Hurston was a well-known anthropologist and novelist in the 1920s, whose works of literature became popular throughout the Harlem Renaissance. One of her most famous works was Their Eyes Were Watching God, which she wrote while traveling in Haiti. It follows the life of Janie Crawford, a mixed-race girl looking for true love in post-slavery Florida. An important aspect of this novel is Janie’s three marriages, none of which worked out the way she wanted them to. Another one of Hurston’s works was a short story entitled “Sweat”, which is also about a black woman named Delia who has issues with her husband. Despite both of these pieces being different in length, they do share some similarities. More specifically, they share similarities …show more content…

In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie’s most significant relationship issues come with her second husband, Joe Starks. In Chapter 6, Janie is forced to deal with Joe’s controlling nature, in which he will not allow her to spend time with the people of Eatonville or even show her hair in public. The turning point of their relationship occurs in the next chapter, as Janie and Joe get into a public argument. After Janie had made a mistake while cutting tobacco for a customer, they argued and Joe said, “T’ain’t no use in gettin’ all mad, Janie, ‘cause Ah mention you ain’t no young gal no’. Nobody in heah ain’t lookin’ for no wife outa yuh. Old as you is.” (Hurston 79) So, Joe not only disallowed Janie from being able to express herself, he also publicly humiliated her. Similarly, in “Sweat”, Delia’s husband Sykes is very harsh when he talks to his wife. Delia complained when he dirtied the clothes she had just cleaned, and he responded by saying, “Well you better quit gittin’ me riled up, else they’ll be totin’ you out sooner than you expect. Ah’m so tired of you Ah don’t know what to do. Gawd! Ah hates skinny wimmen.” In both Hurston’s novel and short story, Janie and Delia are wrongfully mistreated by their husbands, even though their reasons for becoming annoyed were

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- Zora Neale Hurston, born January 7th, 1891, was an African-American author, widely known for her classic novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Being raised in Eatonville, Florida, the first black township of the United States, Hurston was indulged in black culture at a very early age. Zora was described to have a fiery, yet bubbly spirit, befriending very influential people, one being American poet, Langston Hughes. With heavy influence from her hometown, along with the achievement of the black women around her, an abundance of motivation came when Hurston wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God. The novel promotes black power, all while rejecting the stereotypes held against women.

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In “Sweat”, Hurston repeatedly points out that the husband, Sykes, does not own the home, does not contribute anything financially, and has abused Delia for most of their marriage. When Delia says,

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Hurston describes the transition Janie makes from being identified by others to recognizing her self worth. “The young girl was gone, but a handsome woman had taken her place. She tore off the her handkerchief from her head and let down her plentiful hair. The weight, the length, the glory was there” (Hurston 170). The author uses the handkerchief to symbolize how people and objects have constantly covered and concealed the true beauty that Janie has never been able to embrace.

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“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.”

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She was a rut in the road,” (Hurston 76). By this Janie was not well respected by Jody, she was not able to say how she felt. Considered being the wife of a rich man, she was treated less than

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In her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neal Hurston portrays the story of a black heroine named Janie who seeks to find confirmation of herself through vision and voice. Janie struggles with the visions not only Nanny have, but also by the three different men in whom she marries of how she should live her life. During the 1930’s, women were not able to have their own voice and had to submit to the restrictions of being a woman at the time. Even though she toils with having to find her own vision and voice, Janie finds herself through her mangled relationships and is, therefore, able to gain control over her own vision and voice.

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In the store “the more his back ached and his muscle dissolved into fat and the fat melted off his bones, the more fractious he became with Janie” (Hurston 78). He made a point of pointing out her flaws in front of customers. On time when Janie was cutting tobacco for Steve Mixon she missed her mark. Steve teased Janie a little but it caused Jody to criticize Janie. He harshly commented on her figure which caused Janie to lash out at him.

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(Hurston 55). By using phrases such as “set on it” and capitalizing words such as “not,” Hurston emphasizes the fact that Joe was not going to change his decision or let Janie violate it under any circumstances. Not only does Janie not have the courage to speak up about her discomfort with the head rag, but Joe never gives her the chance to do so either. It is paramount to note that Joe is the person of power in the relationship between himself and Janie because of his role as mayor of the town and his assertion of this role throughout their relationship. Though this shouldn’t matter in terms of their relationship, Joe continually characterizes Janie as being “the mayor’s wife,” giving Janie no opportunity to express the way she feels, in private or public.

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Throughout the novel, Janie struggles to find herself and who she really is in a society where opportunities are limited. Janie challenges traditional gender roles throughout the novel by doing a mens job and changing the way women were looked at. Hurston states that “She was stretched on her

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Janie was now able to breathe. Nothing was holding Janie back anymore, and the possibility to learn about herself and what she wanted in life stimulated Janie, even at her age. Furthermore, after Joe’s death, it took some time for Janie to show interest in another man. Nothing regarding Joe, mainly because Janie didn’t want to settle down with another man that doesn’t treat her the way she wants to be treated. “You wants to be keerful ‘bout who you marry, Mis’ Starks.

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