Feminism In Janie By Hurston

In contrast to the negative tone of tribulation, as Hurston’s Janie is oppressed within two of her relationships, she finally experience a brief affection and love with the relationship between her and Tea Cake Woods. Furthermore, the inner struggles of women are presented within Hurston’s novel through the struggle for identity and the struggle for a degree of love similar to her imagination. Hurston explores the most popular concept of lust that has been famous during her time, but she manipulates the theme in a different matter through nature and a coming of age. Tea Cake is the representation of her freedom and frees her mind from past-oppressions, reinforcing the notion of love of the previous “Pear tree” (Hurston, p.15) metaphor, during

The modernist writing explores one’s inner-self if this is the case than Clarissa has many aspects of individualism and an identity crisis. Clarissa loses a sense of identity within the confines of a patriarchal society as throughout the novel, she continually moulds her identity into nothingness and associates herself as a product of Richard Dalloway. Although Clarissa Dalloway was what an ideal woman should be and encompasses the notion of a proper hostess, she feels as “This body she wore.. this body with all its capacities, seemed nothing- nothing at all” (Woolf, p.11), trivialising the humanity of Clarissa, when she obtains all the ideals of a proper Victorian lady. Within her era, the notions of love and the conceptualisation of love and sex are impermissible, however, women are regarded as the objects of men and beneath the ‘dominant’ male species (Khrisat, pp. 141-142). In regards to this, elements of the modernist writing is constructed by Woolf as her character explicitly loses her own sense of identity, through marriage yet she is conscious of her identity crisis. Instead of the conventional notion of women being incapable of loving and particularly bound by weaknesses in intellect (Showalter, p. xi), Clarissa possesses knowledge and wisdom in her explorations of love. She recognises that the bounds of marriage

Her individuality is explored by the sense of homosexuality and Woolf highlights the modernist context through the unconventional lust for self-identity. The modernism of Virgina Woolf’s novel is highlighted by her exploration of the patriarchal society, through the exploration of the taboo concept of homosexuality and questions the suppression of love within a modern context. Although Clarissa is the embodiment of a perfect woman within the Victorian context, she experiences the desires of her past affections towards Sally Seton. Her struggle reflects, similar to Hurston’s persona of Janie, within the confines of love and follows an unconventional-journey of relationships, such as the exploration of her past homosexual affiliation to Sally Seton. Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway resonates with women in this age and shows a modern perception of love. The constant shifts in perspectives are compelling as it explores homosexuality, through the inner struggles of a woman and contextualises the romantic quest, in a distinctive manner that strays away from heterosexual experiences. However, homosexuality within Woolf’s era was illegal and frowned upon, hence the suppression of her own personal emotions towards same-sex relationships (Schiff, pp. 363 - 378). Yet her protagonist embraces the affection of