Zora Neale Hurston Influence

Many authors utilize the events that have occurred throughout their lifetime as an inspiration for not only their novels’ plots, but also their novels’ themes. The author of Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston, is one of the many authors who have utilized their life’s experiences as inspiration for her novels’ themes. Throughout her major novels, she has utilized events in her life, such as her early life, her relationships, and the fact that she grew up in an all-black town, in order to inspire several themes in her novels, and several of her beliefs that she conveys in her novels. Themes, and beliefs, such as African-Americans are not all good nor are they all bad, experiences contribute to finding one’s true self, there is no

In Their Eyes Were Watching God, each and every male character feels the need to assert their dominance over Janie. In her first relationship, Logan Killicks asserted his dominance by always talking don on Janie. Rather than being thankful for what she would do for him, he would respond with answers such as, "Come help me move dis manure pile befo’ de sun gits hot. You don’t take a bit of interest in dis place. ‘Tain’t no use in foolin’ round in dat kitchen all day long…” As a young child, Janie always imagined that with marriage, love would come, However during her first marriage she realized that in some cases men simply wanted women as a way to assert their dominance over them. This was also true in her second marriage with Joe Starks. When she first met him, Janie believed that Joe truly loved her since he would always buy her stuff. However after some time, she began to realize that he simply liked her because not only did her appearance allow him to assert his dominance over the other townspeople, but also because of the way that Janie would allow herself to be treated. All the times that Joe would talk down on Janie, or simply even beat her, Janie would allow herself. Joe loved this because not not did it make him feel good about himself , since it made him feel powerful, as men believe they should, but it also forced the townspeople to view him as a strong and masculine leader, an image of himself that he loved. Therefor, when Janie stood up against him and insulted a man’s most prized possession, he was infuriated beyond repair. As for Jamie's third husband, Tea Cake, at first he was characterized to be a nonconforming male that did not need to assert his masculinity in order to feel like a man. However when he became overpowered by jealousy, he returned to the way that society