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Literary Analysis On Their Eyes Were Watching God

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Different but Similar Loves…Analysis of Their Eyes Were Watching God Janie Crawford is the protagonist of Zora Neale Hurston’s novel titled: Their Eyes Were Watching God. The life of Janie, in this novel, is one of true tragedy and self-realization. Janie goes through three marriages with three different men: Logan Killicks, Joe Starks, and Tea Cake. Each marriage has something different that pulls Janie in towards them. Likewise, each marriage has something in common with one another and each one taught her something which made her grow as an individual.
When the novel begins, Janie is a young adolescent living with her grandmother. While living with her grandmother, she discovers what she believes to be the meaning of marriage:
She saw a …show more content…

Her grandmother forced her to marry Logan Killicks. Although Janie figured that she could naturally learn to love Logan after a while of living with him, “after two months and two weeks, Janie [came to visit] Nanny pouting about her marriage” (“Their Eyes Were Watching God: Marriages & Analysis”). Janie recalls that Logan treated her very well. He did almost all the hard labor around the house while she stayed inside. She tells her grandmother: “he chops all de wood he think Ah wants and den he totes it inside de kitchen for me. Keeps both water buckets full” [sic] (Hurston 23). Logan, like Tea Cake, did whatever he could to please Janie; however, Logan did not let his care or feelings for her …show more content…

He only told her what was needed to be done and how she should act, when and who she could talk to. Joe Starks dies in his bed, but instead of feeling torn, Janie felt relieved. Janie escaped from a love she did not have. Joe had turned into a man she could not love. Although she did not find true love with Joe Starks, she did find self-determination and self-worth. By standing up to Joe, she learned to stand up for herself in general. Logan and Joe did not reveal to Janie what she believed marriage was: a representation like the bee and the blooming tree. Two things, mutually needed, that come together to create something

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