Throughout life we discover what we desire the most from life, and we do our best to get to where we want to be despite the many difficulties we are forced to face. In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the protagonist, Janie Crawford, endures many hardships throughout her life. Janie faces the many struggles that come along with the role she must follow by being a woman. Also, Janie must go along with the rules set by those who are in control of her life. Nevertheless, Their Eyes Were Watching God is a story of woman who goes from “ … a naive girl to a mature woman” (Bernard, 2). Through Janie’s struggle for independence and sense of self, she experiences hardships, but in the end, accomplishes her goals.
As a woman,
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As a child, until her first marriage, Janie was controlled by Nanny. Nanny has lived a life full of difficulties. Being born into slavery, Nanny was under the control of a master. At a young age, she was raped by her master and gave birth to Janie’s mother Leafy. Nanny wanted to protect Leafy from the tragedies she endured. However, at the age of seventeen, Leafy was raped by a schoolteacher and as a result, Janie was born. Nanny did her best to protect Janie from the traumatic experiences she and Leafy had to go through. By cause of the horrific experiences Nanny endured, Janie was forced to marry at a young age. Janie does not want to marry, yet she does so on account of her grandmother’s requests. During Janie’s marriage to Logan, she became submissive to his requests of becoming a housewife. When Logan purchases a mule for Janie to help plow, she can doing more than obey and do the work. The marriage between the two did not last for long. However, in that short amount of time, Logan “ …insists on janie’s complete obedience to him.” (Kaur, 7). After leaving Logan, Janie remains victim to the control of another person. This person being her new husband Jody. After moving with Jody to a new town, Janie surrenders to Jody’s