Richard Wright's Their Eyes Were Watching God

Wright argues that Their Eyes Were Watching God does not convey any ideas or themes of importance, but I believe that his masculinity blinds him, and he is unable to see how this novel is able to call attention to how women of color are oppressed by men.

Throughout the entire story, Janie is constantly being oppressed by, not by a person, but by an idea, which was created by men. The idea that black women were at the bottom of the social pyramid, they are forced to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders, therefore they were “de mule uh de world.” Hurston communicates this idea through Nanny by writing, “So de white man throw down de load and tell de n***** man to pick it up. He pick it up because he have to, but he don’t tote it.

She thinks that women are the mules of the world, women, just like mules are forced to carry around the men’s possessions, but it it not only the white men who take advantage of the black women, it is also black men who make them carry “de load”. Wright may ignore this blatant example of what Hurston is communicating because he doesn't agree with it or he doesn't like how she portrays men. Like mules, women don’t have any say in where they go, what they carry, and when they get there. Women have to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders, they are there simply to serve men, just like mules they are the lowest of the low. Everyone treats black women as if they are animals. Wright is only capable of seeing the world through his eyes, so he only gets a man’s

She realizes that she sometimes has to make sacrifices for her love. Hurston demonstrates this by writing “‘Janie, Ah gits lonesome out dere all day ’thout yuh. After dis, you betta come git uh job uh work out dere lak de rest uh de women—so Ah won’t be losin’ time comin’ home.’ [...] So the very next morning Janie got ready to pick beans along with Tea Cake. (133) Tea Cake’s control over Janie is not intentional. He does not set out with the goal to force her into doing something that she doesn't want to do. I don't believe that he knows the effect that he has on Janie's actions, and how willing she is to sacrifice her day in order to make him happy. While Tea Cake isn't forcing her to go and work in the fields with him, he is controlling her because he is using Janie’s infatuation with him as a tool to spend time with her. Which, is not really a bad thing, because not all forms of control are negative. Wright is also not able to see this example of male domination, because he is in fact, a man. So, he is not able to see what Janie, and women in general are willing to sacrifice in order for men to be happy and feel as if they are in