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Janie Crawford In Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston

968 Words4 Pages

At some point in our lives we all go on a journey of self-knowledge and exploration. Maybe it is miniscule; going off to realize that you are independent and can live on your own, or maybe it is drastic and involves a spiritual journey where you discover yourself more deeply. For the protagonist, Janie Crawford, in Their Eyes Were Watching God, a novel written by Zora Neale Hurston, it is recognizing that she deserves to have true love and will go through any undesirable circumstance to achieve it.
The quest for love first formulates under the pear tree. Janie observes as a dust-bearing bee pollinates a bloom; this is a very symbolic point, showing how Janie is at the brink of desperation for passion and affection. Following this moment, Janie …show more content…

This is when her first experience arises; Janie explains how she saw a “glorious being”(Hurston 11) coming down the road and recognizes him to be Johnny Taylor. Johnny, seen as the town’s trouble-maker, steals Janie’s first kiss under the iconic pear tree. This could be seen as a bump on Janie’s journey because deep down she knows he is not someone who will treat her the way she deserves, but her amazement by love is still too new to resist the …show more content…

He strolls into Janie’s shop after Joe’s death to begin his courtship, however, Janie doesn’t believe he is being sincere and brushes off his advances. This all changes after Tea Cake does something no one ever considered for Janie, he teaches her to play checkers. With this he planted the first seed of love in Janie’s heart without her recognizing it. Tea Cake and Janie eventually fall for each other and decide to move to the Muck where Janie begins to work alongside Tea Cake. This provides an excellent example on the true love Janie holds for Tea Cake because she refused to work in the fields with Logan Killicks, her first husband, for even a day. While in the Muck Janie also was a part of the community and held gatherings at their home nightly. This is increasingly important because in Janie’s marriage with Joe Starks she was not allowed to have social arrangements. In addition, it is apparent that Janie has finally completed her quest of self-knowledge with her overall attitude toward Tea Cake. She knows that he isn’t perfect but she accepts all of his faults with loving

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1. Unlike Janie’s previous husbands, Tea Cake treats Janie with compassion and respect. In addition, he loves Janie for her personality instead of her looks and her role as a woman (housewife). 2. The speech characteristic that Tea Cake encourages Janie with is truth.

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Janie wonders what the people in Eatonville would think of her being with a younger man, but laughs it off and doesn’t care because she is so happy with

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After Joe’s death, Janie meets Tea Cake. Tea Cake is younger, but he is kind to Janie, unlike Joe. At first, Janie thinks he may be using her for her money, but this is proven false when he promises to be the sole wage earner and never touch her savings. Tea Cake and Janie’s relationship are drastically different from Janie’s past relationships. She is treated as an equal, rather than as a lesser human being.

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She endured a lot, and these romances that would inevitably break her didn't help her in the end. Greed is the demise of our society, and Janie's relationships are no exception. Tea Cake, her third husband, is gone for a whole day and when he returns home to Janie; he says, "Don't need tuh ast me where Ah been all dis time, 'cause it's

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Janie, however, now cares less about the judgment of the townspeople and more about her relationship with Tea Cake and decides to go as far as to marry him and go with him to Jacksonville. Once she begins prioritizing her husband over society’s judgment, she allows herself to be placed under the authority of another

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(99) Tea Cake genuinely cares for Janie. While he may seem risky, he always wants the best for her. Compared to her previous marriages, Janie has much more power, and the control is evenly distributed. Tea Cake, an excellent gambler, runs off with Janie’s money to gamble one day. Janie does not hear from him for a while, and the community's beliefs are becoming true.

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Hurston vividly describes the scene to emphasize the beauty the tree has. She romanticizes about the marriage she believes she will have some day. Throughout the course of Janie’s life she has not had the best of luck with romantic relationships.

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In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie’s happiness and self-fulfillment greatly depended on the man whom she was in a relationship with. From, the beginning of the novel, Janie never followed the path that had the utmost value to herself; She always settled for what other people thought was best for her. This made Janie never quite content with her situation and caused her happiness and self-fulfillment to be hindered by her circumstances. The horizon, a motif representing dreams, wishes, the possibility of change, and improvement of ones’ self, is the point in which Janie’s journey of self-discovery is illustrated by.

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In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. A character named Janie Crawford is introduced and she is yearning for love that warms her inside and out. She is married to a man named Logan Killicks he's older than her. Janie knows that they will not have a connection. The other man she marries is Joe Starks, he is also older and wealthy.

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In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the main character, Janie, often focuses her attention on nature and makes many comparisons of situations in her life to things, such as pollen and a pear tree, in nature; the nature comparisons reveal her love-centered nature and her hopeful visions in the future for a love-filled life. During the early years of Janie’s life, she often sees situations in a way related to nature, as a child this reveals her love-centered nature. One day while her grandmother is sleeping, she goes outside to lie “beneath the pear tree[,] soaking in the alto chant of the visiting bees”(Hurston 13), and while she was out there, her mind drifted to thoughts of love. Although the pear tree is mentioned

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The novel 's plot is driven by Janie 's series of relationships with different men: a kiss with Johnny Taylor, followed by marriages with Logan Killicks, Jody Starks and finally, Tea Cake. Logan Killicks and Jody Starks see Janie as defined by her relationship with them, and expect her to be obedient, silent and proper. Jody sees her as a kind of ornament that bolsters his social standing and that helps to justify his efforts to assert control over everyone, men and women alike. Tea Cake, in contrast, defines himself not by political power but rather by his physical strength and ability to have fun. Even while Tea Cake treats Janie as an equal, there still exists a certain power struggle in Janie 's relationship with him, as her increasing ability to recognize her needs as an individual throughout the novel emerges in response to Tea Cake 's treatment of her.

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She meets Tea Cake, falls in love, and later marries him. This marriage is by far the most special and unique marriage Janie has had. Her relationship with Tea Cake is her first true love; which consists of affection, happiness, understanding and everything else that follows. This marriage makes Janie feel like she has a second chance in life to relive her youth. Janie has lots of fun and is truly blessed and happy with Tea Cake.

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Finally, she married Tea Cake who showed her what it was like to be loved and feel love. In each of these marriages, Janie fights for her independence that was previously denied from her. She refuses to give up on her dream for true love and is only satisfied after she finds it with Tea

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713 Words | 3 Pages

When tea cake shows up janie 's feels something she has never felt before, she is set free but the townspeople don 't think so. “‘Ain’t you skeered he’s jes after yo’ money him bein’ younger than you?’” (Hurston pg.133)Janie is in love with Tea Cake because he loves her for her youthful young side that was forced into hiding for so long because of her previous husbands. However the rest of the community is discouraging her and trying to keep her in the image as a mayor 's wife. They told Janie that Tea Cake was after her money

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She questions why Janie would marry a dark man like Tea Cake. Mrs. Turner falsely assumes, like the rest of the people form the town, that Janie only married Tea Cake for his money because she could not possibly love him. Janie informs Mrs. Turner that her assumption is incorrect because Tea Cake was not wealthy when they met, and he is the only person that has made her truly

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