Their Eyes Were Watching God Janie's Identity

In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie, a strong, empathetic woman, explores many different interpersonal relationships and has experiences specific to her identity as a black woman. Throughout the story she is oppressed and is forced to silence herself after being silenced by her husbands, Nanny, and the townspeople. Janie is first controlled by her grandmother, Nanny, when Janie is forced to marry Logan Killicks, a much older man. Janie is placed under Logan’s authority until a seemingly ideal man named Joe Starks comes into Janie’s life with promises of a better future. After marrying Joe, however, Janie realizes that he is not all that he claims to be and is forced, once again, to be oppressed and silence

After Tea Cake teaches Janie to play checkers at the store, he begins to accompany her home at night and shows her experiences that she’s never had. Janie makes it clear that she is extremely fond of Tea Cake and the things he takes her to do, particularly “…digging worms by lamp light and setting out for Lake Sabelia after midnight that she felt like a child breaking the rules. That’s what made Janie like it” (102). Janie clearly enjoys being able to break the rules'' and be able to express herself more freely than she had been able to while married to Joe. As Janie and Tea Cake’s relationship became more open, “the town began to notice things and [get] mad” (110). 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

Tea Cake begins to exert his control over Janie very early in their marriage in small ways, such as telling her what to wear when he takes her to Jacksonville. Janie tells Phoeby about this, saying, “Wait till you see de new blue satin Tea Cake done picked out for me tuh stand up wid him in. High heel slippers, necklace, earrings, everything he wants tuh see me in.” (115). While this instance seems small, it is only the beginning of Tea Cake’s reign over Janie. He continues to show his dominance over her in indirect ways such as taking her to the muck and compelling her to work outside, something she would not have done in any of her other relationships. As the marriage continued, Tea Cake became more obvious about how he controlled Janie, even going as far as whipping Janie because “being able to whip her reassured him in possession” (147). Janie simply accepts the beating and doesn’t defend herself. This dynamic proves that even though Janie does have more freedom initially with Tea Cake, she is still held under someone else’s