ipl-logo

Their Eyes Were Watching God Janie's Relationship

1000 Words4 Pages

Throughout Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie continually searches for true, unconditional love. Initially, Janie’s grandmother, Nanny, arranges a marriage for her with Logan Killicks. However, she proceeds to run away with a man named Joe Starks, who has an obsession with wealth and power. Subsequently, after Mr. Starks dies, Janie meets a stranger who comes into her store and they play a game of checkers. She feels as though she had known this man all of her life. The young man’s name is Tea Cake, and they quickly fall in love. Primarily, Janie experiences a protective love with Logan as the relationship is a means of security for Janie. Joe Starks’ love is possessive as he values Janie as an object rather than his …show more content…

Nanny wants to protect Janie from the budding sexuality that has occurred with a man named Johnny Taylor. Therefore, Janie’s relationship with Logan is one characterized by protection and security. Logan is a successful landowner, and he is also much older than Janie. Additionally, he offers her financial security and economic stability due to his great successes. Unfortunately, their marriage is absent of true feelings as Janie does not genuinely love Logan. Nanny merely wanted Janie to be in a safe relationship, and therefore, she arranged the marriage with him. Protective love is exhibited by Nanny as she is a caring grandmother and wants Janie to be financially stable and safe. However, the relationship with Logan does not satisfy Janie’s desire for true, unconditional love. A great deal of independence is portrayed by Janie when she decides to leave her marriage with Logan in favor of Joe Starks. Janie begins to make her own decisions and this character trait is established throughout the …show more content…

Throughout the novel, Janie searches for the love that she has always desired, but it is only after experiencing other types of love that she fulfills her desires. Initially, with Logan, Janie attains a protective love provided by Nanny. Logan owns a 60-acre potato farm, representing financial security, and he also drives Janie away from other sexual activity. Joe Starks represents possessive love as Janie is merely a decoration in his shop. She is not allowed to speak on his porch or show her beautiful, dark hair. Primarily, Janie gains strength and courage through these two adverse relationships and finally finds her desired love with Tea Cake. Generally, Tea Cake is a fun-loving, affectionate man who provides Janie with respect, equality, strength, and independence. Janie gains her own sense of self along with a great deal of freedom and fortitude. Tea Cake acts as a catalyst, providing Janie with autonomy and genuine love during a time period in which Africans experienced animosity and

Show More
Related
660 Words | 3 Pages

In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the protagonist Janie, is influenced by others to change her ideals. Hurston vividly portrays Janie’s outward struggle while emphasising her inward struggle by expressing Janie’s thoughts and emotions. In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening the protagonist is concisely characterized as having “that outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions,” as Janie does. Janie conforms outwardly to her life but questions inwardly to her marriages with Logan Killicks, her first husband, and Joe Starks, her second husband; Janie also questions her grandmother's influence on what love and marriage is.

Read More
175 Words | 1 Pages

Janie’s first of three marriage was to Logan Killicks, a middle age hard working farmer. However, the marriage was a product

Read More
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.

Read More
543 Words | 3 Pages

In Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie suffers from hardship in two relationships before she can find her true love. Janie explains to her best friend, Pheoby, how she searches for love. Therefore Pheoby wants to hear the true story, rather than listening to the porch sitters. Throughout the book Janie experiences different types of love with three different men; Logan Killicks, Joe Starks, and Vergible "Tea Cake" Woods. At 16 Janie marries Logan Killicks.

Read More
1660 Words | 7 Pages

In The Eyes are Watching God, the author Zora Neale Hurston expresses the struggles of women and black societies of the time period. When Hurston published the book, communities were segregated and black communities were full of stereotypes from the outside world. Janie, who represents the main protagonist and hero, explores these communities on her journey in the novel. Janie shows the ideals of feminism, love, and heroism in her rough life in The Eyes. Janie, as the hero of the novel, shows the heroic qualities of determination, empathy, and bravery.

Read More
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.

Read More
1584 Words | 7 Pages

Liberation and self-fulfillment within Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes were Watching God By Wael Fadhil Hasobi PhD Scholar English Dept Acharya Nagarjuna University Waelfadhil38@gmail.com 4-16-25E,Bahertpetha,Guntur,Andrah Pradesh Mobile:9676703836

Read More
1428 Words | 6 Pages

Janie holds anger for her grandma because of the grandmother’s decision, but eventually, after she matures, Janie realizes that Nanny was merely doing it

Read More
1171 Words | 5 Pages

One of the universal themes of literature is the idea that children suffer because of the mistakes of an earlier generation. The novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God" follows the story of Janie Mae Crawford through her childhood, her turbulent and passionate relationships, and her rejection of the status quo and through correlation of Nanny 's life and Janie 's problems, Hurston develops the theme of children 's tribulations stemming from the teachings and thoughts of an earlier generation. Nanny made a fatal mistake in forcibly pushing her own conclusions about life, based primarily on her own experiences, onto her granddaughter Janie and the cost of the mistake was negatively affecting her relationship with Janie. Nanny lived a hard life and she made a rough conclusion about how to survive in the world for her granddaughter, provoked by fear. " Ah can’t die easy thinkin’ maybe de menfolks white or black is makin’ a spit cup outa you: Have some sympathy fuh me.

Read More
978 Words | 4 Pages

In Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston develops a contrast between the male and female genders of the time period of the story, and the male and female gender of today. Hurston wrote this novel in or about a time when women were considered simple-minded , women were disempowered by the empowered man in the relationship, and women can only gain power through marriage. But when Janie kisses Johnny Taylor, her view of men changes after seeing “a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight. So this was a marriage!

Read More
801 Words | 4 Pages

Zora Neale Hurston, an author during the Harlem Renaissance, wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God, an amazing novel written about the losses and loves of a lady named Janie Crawford. The author describes the way Janie found out who she really was and what love was throughout her three marriages. Janie’s first two marriages were unfulfilling and not healthy for herself. Janie realized what true love was when she met Tea Cake. Janie’s first marriage was to a man named Logan Killicks, which was forced upon her by her grandmother.

Read More
774 Words | 4 Pages

Finally, she married Tea Cake who showed her what it was like to be loved and feel love. In each of these marriages, Janie fights for her independence that was previously denied from her. She refuses to give up on her dream for true love and is only satisfied after she finds it with Tea

Read More
697 Words | 3 Pages

Porch. A covered shelter projecting in front of the entrance of a building. This inanimate object served to develop various themes throughout the book, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. She reveals the theme of jealousy and envy, gender inequality and a sense of community with the help of the porch.

Read More
1012 Words | 5 Pages

She questions why Janie would marry a dark man like Tea Cake. Mrs. Turner falsely assumes, like the rest of the people form the town, that Janie only married Tea Cake for his money because she could not possibly love him. Janie informs Mrs. Turner that her assumption is incorrect because Tea Cake was not wealthy when they met, and he is the only person that has made her truly

Read More
1567 Words | 7 Pages

This lets the reader know why nanny wants the security and the protection for Janie. She

Read More

More about Their Eyes Were Watching God Janie's Relationship

Related Topics

Open Document