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Their Eyes Were Watching God Change Analysis

707 Words3 Pages

Social Change Social change in our society can be good and bad at the same time; it can fix things that are not operating well, but it can also badly affect what could be currently working. In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie Crawford proves her independence by making decisions that change her life both positively and negatively. From the beginning to the end of the novel, Janie switches from allowing her grandma to create her life to taking charge and dictating her own path. In Janie’s early life, she tolerated the choices that her grandma had made for her and accepted the path that was chosen for her. This is present when Janie agrees to marry Logan Killicks, despite his crustiness and lack of connection towards …show more content…

Little does she know, just because Joe has the looks, he also ends up being overpowering, overconfident and treats women as if they are objects. Joe’s bad traits are shown when Janie expresses, “Time came again when she fought back with her tongue as best she could...It just made Joe do more...So gradually, she pressed her teeth together and learned to hush,” (Hurston 71). In a marriage where Janie feels the need to stop herself from talking, she is making herself smaller than Joe and that is a representation of what Janie does not want. Another incident where Joe makes Janie seem smaller is shown when they are at a town gathering. Joe does not allow Janie to speak for herself because he thinks she is incapable of controlling her own speech and assumes she is not as educated as he is. This marriage also comes to an end, not by Janie running away, but by the death of Joe. Although Joe was abusive and controlling, Janie had feelings for him in the beginning of their relationship and she truly cared for him. Janie’s relationship with Joe showed her a portion of the type of partnership she dreams for, but it is not until Tea Cake that Janie finds what she has been waiting

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289 Words | 2 Pages

Janie had no love for her husband Logan and became doleful she could ever be able to love him. Janie felt logan was treating her in a desecrated way because he was spoiling her less and demanding her to work more. After the death of Nanny, Logan was becoming more and more fractious with Janie.

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441 Words | 2 Pages

Janie disliked the rag, but said nothing because it please Joe. Janie would do anything to please her husband's. Hurston shows this through her text, “This business of the head rag irked her endlessly. But Jody was set on it”. This not only reveals the willingness Janir has to please her husbands, but also resembles the power her husbands had over Janie.

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384 Words | 2 Pages

In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie is a young woman who struggles to find her identity. Janie Separates her exterior life from her interior life by keeping certain thoughts and emotions inside her head, and she reconciles this by while presenting the proper woman society expects her to be. Janie also silently protests to those expectations by acting against what people require of her, both emotionally and physically. When Janie’s rude and abusive husband, Joe, dies, Janie is glad because she is finally free from him.

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779 Words | 4 Pages

For example, when she seeks love, she marries Logan. When she realizes that she cannot attain love through marriage, she desires wealth and power. In order to obtain this, Janie leaves Logan to marry Jody Starks. She is constantly moving from desire to desire every time she is unhappy with her present condition. It would be in her best interest to set realistic goals for herself, and settle in to her life in a way that will provide her with the most efficient method to obtain her goal.

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471 Words | 2 Pages

In “Their Eyes were watching God”, Zora Hurston creates a fictional novel where the emotions, lifestyles, and people create a realistic image. Janie’s origins were mysterious to the reader and bit by bit they were revealed , although much is not known. Her past shaped her into the free, hopeful character she is at the end of the book. In the book her origin of character would most notably be her rising with Nancy.

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1254 Words | 6 Pages

People come into our lives for different reasons. Some leave a positive impact, while others bring negativity. Readers and critics alike have treasured Zora Neale Hurston’s 20th century novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, for generations particularly for its complex portrayal of the different main characters. The people a person meet and the experiences that person many go through in their lifetime can alter a person significantly. Through the tyrannical words of Joe Starks and the inconsiderate actions of Nanny, Janie in the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God is negatively influenced as her actions and thoughts alter her life.

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543 Words | 3 Pages

In the beginning Janie feels as if Tea Cake’s age would effect their relationship. She has strong feelings for him, but on the other hand people are saying he will run off with her money. Janie proves them wrong and runs off and gets married to Tea Cake. He makes Janie feel wanted, she feels like she could be herself. Janie states, "We been tuhgether round two years.

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584 Words | 3 Pages

The black culture is very diverse in different parts of the world-even in different parts of the state. Janie as moved throughout Florida to places such as West Florida, Eatonville, and the Everglades. Residing in these different places helps develop and define the character of Janie. Throughout Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie experiences many variations of black culture that helps build her character as she travels through Florida.

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1660 Words | 7 Pages

Janie shows determination as she persists and struggles to define love on her own terms through her marriages. First, her determination shows when Janie runs away with Jody. She becomes aware that her marriage with Logan does not satisfy her goals and dreams for love, so she takes a chance and marries Jody. Hurston states, “Janie hurried out of the front gate and turned south.

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722 Words | 3 Pages

“Their Eyes Were Watching God” is a novel written by Zora Neale Hurston. The novel portrays Janie, a middle aged black woman who tells her friend Pheoby Watson what has happened to her husband Tea Cake and her adventure. The resulting telling of her story portrays most of the novel. Throughout the novel, Zora Neale Hurston presents the theme of love, or being in a relationship versus freedom and independence, that being in a relationship may hinder one’s freedom and independence. Janie loves to be outgoing and to be able to do what she wants, but throughout the book the relationships that she is in with Logan,Jody and Tea Cake, does not allow her to do that.

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1657 Words | 7 Pages

Janie didn 't start living until Joe died and she met Teacake. With Teacake Janie felt alive, they understood and respected each other. Their marriage was full of love and compassion, two things that Janie always wanted. Her marriage with Teacake ended in a tragedy, but Janie felt like she lived a life full of new beginnings, and she was content with that. All the men in Janie’s life

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1614 Words | 7 Pages

These factors seemed to become transparent within the presence of Janie’s new pear tree, Joe (Jody) Starks, a being that produced “a feeling of sudden newness and change…” (pg. 49) The reality is however that change never comes on its own will, but rather it arrives with a cost, and to Janie that cost became her womanhood. The outcome of such was first seen on page 61, as the town chooses Jody as their mayor and call Janie for a speech, a request that never comes as Jody silences Janie’s voice, “Thank yuh fuh yo’ compliments, but mah wife don’t know nothin’ ‘about no speech-makin’.

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1746 Words | 7 Pages

Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see” (265). Hurston beautifully depicts this image of Janie’s soul emerging as a statement of her love for Tea Cake and of her vulnerability when she is with him. Likewise, at the end of the story, Janie calls on her soul to come out yet again at the moment in which she reflects upon her life with Tea Cake and in a way thanks him for allowing her to be free.

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2301 Words | 10 Pages

Zora Neale Hurston was an American novelist, anthropologist, folklorist, and short story writer and is closely associated with the Harlem Renaissance. Hurston grew up in one of America’s first all-black community’s this gave her a sense of independence, freedom and boldness that many African-Americans especially females did not have during this time, this distinguishes her from other writers of her time and it is clearly reflected in her work. In Hurston’s time she wrote a plethora of short stories, plays, essays and 4 published novels. Of all of the works she published and accomplishments she had, she is best known for her 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. This novel tells the story of Janie Crawford a young African-American girl growing

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530 Words | 3 Pages

Self-discovery is essential to a prosperous life. In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie, the main character, discovers who she is through her relationships. Janie learns from each of her experiences, but the most significant are her husbands: Logan, Jody, and Tea Cake. Each of these people attempt to control her thoughts and actions, but Janie rebels against them. Janie stands up for what she believes in, and through these confrontations, she better understands herself.

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