How Men Portrayed In Their Eyes Were Watching God

How Men are Portrayed in Their Eyes Were Watching God The Oxford Language Dictionary defines Portray as “To depict (someone or something) in a work of art or literature”. In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, men are portrayed in many different ways, and most of the time they are not portrayed positively. Janie, the book's main character, goes through a few different relationships with men that don’t end well. The first relationship is an arranged marriage with a wealthy farmer named Logan Killicks. Logan was not abusive, but he was very bossy and much older than Janie. Janie marries Joe Starks. Joe is an abusive husband to Janie until he dies due to kidney problems. Janie marries Tea Cake, the husband that Janie loves the most.

Another example of men being abusive is Janie’s relationship with Joe Starks. While Janie is in a relationship with Joe Starks, he is physically abusive. One instance of this is when Joe slaps Janie because Janie overcooks the rice and undercooks the fish for dinner. This example shows Joe Starks being blatantly abusive to Janie because she accidentally messes up dinner. If one spouse makes a bad dinner, it is not an instance where one should abuse one’s spouse physically. He either should have politely critiqued her cooking or if he were to be super polite then he would not say anything. The third example of men being abusive is when Janie s third boyfriend, Tea Cake, hits Janie to show Janie that he is the boss. This example shows abusiveness in two different ways. The first way is how having someone in a relationship who thinks that they rule the relationship is a recipe for an unhealthy and abusive relationship. The other way is physical abuse. The act of hitting one's significant other is evidence of one being abusive. There are many instances of men being abusive in their eyes when they were watching

One way this is shown is when Janie's husband Joe becomes mayor. He then gets asked by the town if Janie would like to speak and he says, "Ah never married her for nothing lak dat. She's a woman and her place is in de home"(43). In this speech, he talks about how he only marries her so that she can help around the house. He says this mainly because he wants to gain respect by following the traditional values of the time. He also shows his power by not letting Janie speak. He shows how he is the "leader" in the relationship, which was a very traditional idea at the time. Another example of men following traditional values is at the conclusion of Janie's relationship with Logan Killicks. When Janie finally decides to leave him, Janie takes off her apron and throws it at Logan's farm. Janie's apron signifies that she has worked for Logan. That is what an apron is usually used for. Janie also shows that she does not like the work that Logan has Janie doing when she throws her apron at the farm in anger. The fact that Logan had Janie doing work that she didn't want to do is a perfect example of Logan following traditional values. The third example of men following traditional values is also related to Logan Killicks. This specific example is during their relationship when Logan says to Janie, "You ain’t got no particular place." It’s wherever Ah needs you"(31). This is a great example of Logan following