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

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.” Hurston begins with judgemental dialogue between these male characters.

In Hurston's novel, she focuses on Janie's oppression because she is a black woman. Janie’s power fluctuates throughout the novel and especially in her relationship with Tea Cake. Tea Cake is the love of Janie’s life and allows her to feel the equality she longed for her entire life. One example of this is when Tea Cake and Janie are playing checkers together and Janie mentions, “Jody useter tell me Ah never would learn. It wuz too heavy fuh mah brains” (96). By stating this, Janie revealsillustrates the lesser power she had when she was in a relationship with Jody. Her neglect in the relationship is contrasted now by her relationshipassociating with Tea Cake, giving her more freedom and equality. The symbolism of the checkerboard is presented in this way to show that Tea Ccake and Janie are on the same level when sitting and when they are choosing where to move. They both have the power and control of their own game, which conveys the message that they are equals, eliminating his male dominance in the relationship. Conversely, in Hemingway's writing, the male always has the power and continuously abuses it throughout the short story. For instance, when the American man and Jig are in the bar, the American man starts to exertuse his power over Jig and blame their broken relationship on other factors, saying, “That’s the only thing that bothers us. It’s the only thing that’s made us unhappy” (427). The American man starts to blame the baby for their broken relationship, instead of faulting themselves. By using the word “only”, the American man is trying to manipulate Jig into believing him that the abortion would end all of their relationship problems. Relating to the idea that he has the power in the relationship and manipulates her into believing that she should always listen to