Examples Of Identity In Their Eyes Were Watching God

Identifying identity takes a lot of time and energy that most people are not willing to give. Discovering identity might put others off of your track in life because they might be holding you back. In the book Their Eyes Were Watching God there is a big life-changing moment for one of the characters, where she finally discovers herself but by doing that she overcame many hard challenges. Zora Neale Hurston examines the idea of identity in Their Eyes Were Watching God through Janie and Joe’s characters to highlight the self-discovery of African Americans during the Harlem Renaissance era. The Idea of Identity reflects the Harlem Renaissance in Their Eyes Were Watching God because Janie represents someone finding themself through challenges

Throughout Janie’s life, she has experienced a significant amount of changes that have affected her. Janie gets a glimmer of hope for her new life when she runs away with Joe. She is captured by his confidence and riskiness. It all goes downhill when Joe becomes Mayor and loses sight of his marriage. He controls Janie throughout his time being Mayor. When Joe finally passes, Janie discovers herself after being freed of Joe. Hurston uses the phrase “ She tore off the kerchief from her head and let down her plentiful hair” to symbolize Janie being free from Joe’s control. With Joe gone, she can finally find who she is without a man controlling her. This also reflects the Harlem Renaissance because after facing horrible challenges and having to put on an act the whole time,

It’s been shown that Joe is very self-absorbent and only cares about his reputation. His superiority complex is what is ruining him and everything decent thing around him. Joe is constantly mixing around his values and turning them into something horrible. He is so worried about being perceived as a weak man that he puts all of that into making sure Janie is perfect, “But Jody was set on it. Her hair was NOT going to show in the store. It didn’t seem sensible at all” (pg. 261). This is when Janie realizes that Joe doesn’t love her, he is just using her as someone to make him look better. Joe views Janie as someone he possesses and not someone he loves anymore. This can relate to the Harlem Renaissance because it’s about feeling comfortable in your own skin and not needing anything else while Joe is needing more and more to make himself feel better. On the other hand, Janie didn’t need anyone after Joe died. She was better on her own. Although, when Tea Cake walked into her store that is when she realized that Tea Cake makes her feel better and more human rather than something to just play with. Hurston uses the sentence, “Tea Cake set it up and began to show her and she found herself glowing inside”(pg. 260) to show that Teak Cake wants Janie to know how she doesn’t need to be doing anything special to be beautiful. Tea Cake