Gender Roles In Their Eyes Were Watching God

Their Eyes Were Watching God is full of many topics that would still be considered controversial today. One of the most important that Hurston decides to expand upon is the gender inequality/feminism portrayed in the novel. Gender inequality, and just gender in general, is a very important theme in Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, and through this theme Janie has the internal conflict of whether she should be a free and independent woman or if she should stick to the traditional womanly roles that were expected at the time. Throughout the novel Janie breaks stereotypical feminine roles by marrying three times, to men who were very different from each other. During her first marriage to Logan, Janie not only had to struggle to

“"…but Ah’m uh man even if Ah is de Mayor. But de mayor’s wife is somethin’ different again. Anyhow they’s liable tuh need me tuh say uh few words over de carcass, dis bein’ uh special case. But you ain’t goin’ off in all dat mess uh commonness."” (Hurston) Joe hides his fear of losing Janie behind the idea that women have no place in the "mess uh commonness" (Hurston) that this mockery of a funeral will bring together. What Janie doesn’t realize is that when Joe is dominating her, he is keep her physically but he’s also losing her

For Janie, her time came when she spoke up for herself, “Janie did what she had never done before, that is, thrust herself into the conversation. "Sometimes God gits familiar wid us womenfolks too and talks His inside business. He told me how surprised He was ‘bout y’all turning out so smart after Him makin’ yuh different; and how surprised y’all is goin’ tuh be if you ever find out you don’t know half as much ‘bout us as you think you do. It’s so easy to make yo’self out God Almighty when you ain’t got nothin’ tuh strain against but women and chickens." "You getting’ too moufy, Janie," Starks told her. "Go fetch me de checker-board and de checkers."” (Hurston) Janie breaks out of the traditional role of the silent, obedient woman and speaks her mind to the men, and tells them how stupid they’ll feel when they learn the truth of how hard women work and how much they know. Joe is threatened by Janie’s outburst and puts Janie back in her place by taking a commanding tone with her and reasserting his dominance by bossing her