ipl-logo

Comparison Of Freedom In Their Eyes Were Watching God And Hills Like White Elephants

941 Words4 Pages

What would the perfect world be like? Ask, and many will describe a scene of ease, happiness, and freedom. But in reality, there is no place so ideal, especially in the aspect of freedom. What is true freedom, and how can one attain it? Is it even possible? These questions are addressed in both Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God and Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Hills Like White Elephants.” But while both works explore the subject of freedom, Hurston discusses the influence of society on one’s personal freedom while Hemingway sheds light on people’s various interpretations of freedom. Set in an early-20th century Florida, Their Eyes Were Watching God is the story of Janie Crawford, a woman who defies the archetype of …show more content…

Manipulative and …show more content…

Janie grows up shaped by the rules of the people and society. Never in her life is she free of expectations, opinions, and rumors. As a child, she is governed by her protective, often overbearing grandmother, Nanny, who did her best to give Janie her idea of the best future. When Janie angrily questioned her, Nanny defended her choices for Janie’s future, saying that she “‘can’t always be guidin’ yo’ feet from harm and danger… Don’t you set dere poutin’ wid me after all Ah done went through for you!’” (Hurston 13-14). But when Janie becomes an adult, she realizes how she actually despises her grandmother, suddenly realizing that “Nanny had taken the biggest thing God had ever made, the horizon - for no matter how far a person can go the horizon is still way beyond you - and pinched it in to such a little bit of a thing that she could tie it about her granddaughter’s neck tight enough to choke her” (Hurston 89). Nanny had taken Janie’s wide, bright future - her horizon - and hammered it into the future she wanted. Nanny tells Janie that she just wants Janie to be free and have a stable, pleasant life, especially now that the slaves are freed, but in constructing this life, she is keeping Janie from living her own way. No matter where Janie goes, she is always followed by people that stop her from living completely

Show More
Related
896 Words | 4 Pages

Janie ran away to Eatonville to escape from a life she didn’t want to live, however, Eatonville represented the oppression that has continuously tormented her. In Eatonville, although Janie lived with the reassurance of financial security, she was limited in other aspects of life. Chained to the life Joe made her live, Janie slaved away at work, deprived of the social interactions she desired. It was evident that Joe held a grasp over the town and everyone in it, including Janie, “something else made men give way to him… Take for instance that new house of his.

Read More
1043 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout Janie’s life, her relationships with other people have forced her downwards into a submissive, acquiescent role; “Janie loved the conversation and sometimes she thought up good stories on the mule, but Joe had forbidden her to talk” (53). She is unable to clearly define her own wants to others, resulting in her repeatedly being perceived as complacent in unpleasant relationships and circumstances. Ordinarily as the book continues she slowly progresses towards full realization by expressing her feelings in which she felt “ She was a rut in the road” and “she mostly lived between her hat and her heels, with her emotional disturbances like shade patterns” (76). Furthermore, her expressing that she felt like “She was a rut in the road” expands on her loneliness and barring emptiness, where she begins to notice the dread that is weighing over her. As the story advances, Janie begins to concede to acknowledging and contributing her distress to others, until finally she up fronts and acknowledges how she feels, confessing her true feelings towards those who suppressed her; “You done lived wid me for twenty years, and you don’t know me atall…

Read More
1489 Words | 6 Pages

(Hurston 55). Jody’s determination to keep Janie safe and protect her from other men causes Janie to be upset. Janie feels as if her only purpose “was there in the store for him to look at, not those others'' (55).

Read More
660 Words | 3 Pages

Janie’s grandmother, Nanny, forces Janie to marry a man she is not in love with out of convenience. Nanny does not want Janie to suffer the necessities of life, but Janie cares little about materials and seeks love. Nanny’s ideology haunts Janie for much of her life, influencing decisions she takes later in marriage. Huston says, “The memory of Nanny was still powerful and strong,” which shows how Janie conforms to the ideology her grandmother instilled in her. And although Janie conforms, she continues to question inwardly about love.

Read More
1875 Words | 8 Pages

The Interpretation of Freedom in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself, and Our Nig: Sketches from the Life of a Free Black This essay will argue that the two African-American protagonists from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, written by Frederick Douglass, and Our Nig: Sketches from the Life of a Free Black, written by Harriet E. Wilson, have suffered lives without freedom for long, but eventually they find their way to achieve some freedom, by regaining control of their bodies and souls. Such freedom is limited, for they cannot escape or destroy the racist society that confines people’s free will, but it still can be regarded as a great success for them and other

Read More
1254 Words | 6 Pages

Nanny who has been Janie’s caretaker has several hopes and dreams for her granddaughter. Nanny is not entirely perfect at her job of raising Janie, since her dreams for her are clouded by her own scarring experiences. Nanny attempts to insure a better life for Janie by forcing her to marry Logan Killicks, an old and wealthy man. Blinded by her own dreams, hopes, and desires, Nanny makes many impositions on Janie, “Have some sympathy fuh me. Put me down easy, Janie, Ah’m a cracked plate” (Hurston 20).

Read More
633 Words | 3 Pages

The United States Constitution states that the country values liberty, life, and happiness for all of its citizens. These three values shape the ideal American experience. Most view it as living freely, where all men, women, and races are created equal, and where oppression of genders and races does not exist. In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, however, Zora Neale Hurston challenges the traditional view of this experience by illustrating how gender roles and racism change it, manifesting that it is not close to what the average citizen goes through, especially if he or she is black.

Read More
937 Words | 4 Pages

While both works analyze the subject of power, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston highlights equality, whereas in the short story “Hills Like White Elephants,” Ernest Hemingway emphasizes the manipulation of power. Hemingway portrays his message through dialogue, lending the reader ques to unveil the hidden message. In contrast, Hurston allows the reader to feel the inferiority of her main character, Janie, and experience the abuse of power firsthand. Utilizing symbolism and dialogue, both authors exemplify the idea that men obtain a toxic power. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, the reader is introduced to Janie through the eyes of the “porch sitters.”

Read More
446 Words | 2 Pages

Janie has realized that she hates her grandmother for raising her to value materialism and social status. Janie has always been searching for experiences and people to make her life valuable, and she states that “She had been getting ready for her great journey to the horizons in search of people; it was important to all the world that she should find them and they find her.” This quote displays the longing for people who made up value and joy in her life that Nanny never allowed and taught. Nanny shuts down any thought of exploration and self-development to thoroughly enjoy life, this includes new experiences and real relationships focused on love instead of practicality and protection. Janie’s longing for real relationships and experiences makes her aware that Janie ruined the previous chances she had to experience life and states “Here Nanny had taken the biggest thing God ever made, the horizon — for no matter how far a person can go the horizon is still way beyond you — and pinched it into such a little bit of a thing that she could tie it about her granddaughter's neck tight enough to choke her.”

Read More
1584 Words | 7 Pages

Conclusion Their Eyes Were Watching God is Hurston’s document to explain the impact of the history which is represented by the legacy of slavery on the present dilemma of her female protagonist Janie. As Janie’s grandmother was abused physically and exploited sexually and her mother was also raped ,Janie develops her past history within the era of post- Emancipation and attempt to find the real concept of her identity and self-fulfilment. Janie tries to put an end to the African –American women’s thoughts which are influenced by the white culture.

Read More
1849 Words | 8 Pages

Janie Crawford fights to live the life she imagines for herself. Being lively but voiceless, she holds the trigger to her own destiny. Janie’s main characteristics are her willingness to act upon her inner instincts and

Read More
459 Words | 2 Pages

Their Eyes Were Watching God: An Exploration of Female Empowerment and Departure From The Harlem Renaissance In Zora Neale Hurston’s Novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God” it reflects a departure from the key concepts of female empowerment through the character of Janie Crawford, using aspects such as the pear tree and the horizon to show how she challenges the traditional gender roles and expectations during that era. She shows that departure as Janie Crawford experiences personal growth and empowerment. On page 11 Zora Writes “ She was stretched on her back beneath the pear tree soaking in the alto chant of the visiting bees, the gold of the sun and the panting breath of the breeze when the inaudible voice of it all came to her… Oh to be a pear tree– any tree in bloom!

Read More
1171 Words | 5 Pages

One of the universal themes of literature is the idea that children suffer because of the mistakes of an earlier generation. The novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God" follows the story of Janie Mae Crawford through her childhood, her turbulent and passionate relationships, and her rejection of the status quo and through correlation of Nanny 's life and Janie 's problems, Hurston develops the theme of children 's tribulations stemming from the teachings and thoughts of an earlier generation. Nanny made a fatal mistake in forcibly pushing her own conclusions about life, based primarily on her own experiences, onto her granddaughter Janie and the cost of the mistake was negatively affecting her relationship with Janie. Nanny lived a hard life and she made a rough conclusion about how to survive in the world for her granddaughter, provoked by fear. " Ah can’t die easy thinkin’ maybe de menfolks white or black is makin’ a spit cup outa you: Have some sympathy fuh me.

Read More
1073 Words | 5 Pages

After Nanny was raped by her white slave master, she was threatened to be “whipped till de blood run down to yo’ heels… And if it kills you Ah’ll stand the loss” by the Master’s wife (Hurston 18). On the Plantation, Nanny’s identity was stripped away and she was perceived as an asset to help the slave owners increase their profit instead of a person. Given that Nanny was the parental figure in Janie’s life, she did not want Janie to be trapped in racial and gender discrimination like her. Despite her efforts to protect Janie, Janie was sexually assaulted by her second husband JodyStarks, a mayor, due to power dynamics in their relationship since Jody is well respected in the community and Janie is a powerless

Read More
697 Words | 3 Pages

When Janie first arrives to the town, she is greeted by envious glares and cruel remarks from the porch sitters. “Seeing [Janie] as she was” made them remember the “envy they had stored up from other times.” Their jealousy ate them them through till they couldn’t take it any longer. They made “burning statements with questions, and killing tools out of laughs. It was mass cruelty.

Read More

More about Comparison Of Freedom In Their Eyes Were Watching God And Hills Like White Elephants

Related Topics

Open Document