Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale A Feminist

“Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. For some they come in with the tide...Then they act and do things accordingly” (Hurston 1). Men have different views on dreams than women do. Women typically live their dreams while men realize the difference between reality and the illusion of their dreams. This pertains to Janie because her entire life was

She’s had to deal with many struggles throughout this novel. She’s had to grow up at a young age thanks to her Nanny. Janie has been strong though all of it though. She had the guts to leave her first husband to be happy. She dealt with control from Jody for many years of her life. She even had someone come into her life and whisk her away into her fairytale. Janie dealt with death of loved ones and she has either dealt with them in a good or negative way. Janie is a very strong person and she can be seen as someone to look up to. If you’re dealing with a situation of control in a marriage or relationship, you’ll do whatever it takes to stay alive. Most people would think the best thing to do is leave. In some cases, that’s not the case. You’ll do whatever it takes to stay alive and that’s what Janie did. Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston is an example of what some people deal with in modern day

She has made choices based on her own feelings and has spoke out to stand up for herself when necessary. One example of how Janie has self-directed herself was by making the choice to leave her first husband, Logan Killicks. For example, “The morning road air was like a new dress. That made her feel the apron tied around her waist. She untied it and flung it on a low bush beside the road and walked on, picking flowers and making a bouquet” (Hurston, 31). Janie had made the decision to leave Logan when she knew Joe was leaving town. Nanny passed away days before this happened so this is why Janie is growing closer to being autonomous, she made her own choice and is redirecting her new life with Joe. Another instance is when Janie made a comment to her current husband, Joe, about feeling like she had become invisible ever since they traveled down to Green Cove Springs. “Naw, Jody, it jus’ looks lak it keeps us in some way we ain’t natural wid one ‘nother. You’se always off talkin’ and fixin’ things, and Ah feels lak Ah’m jus’ markin’ time. Hope it soon gits over” (Hurston, 43). Janie finally tells Joe how she has been feeling since he has been crowned the Mayor which demonstrates her moral independence. This shows how Janie Crawford has made choices that led her to become

Throughout a person’s lifetime, he or she is likely to encounter a death that will have a profound effect on the way they look at themselves and the world around them. This is true for Janie Crawford, the main character of the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. The book takes place in the early 1900s and follows the life of a young black woman named Janie; her story is told in the form of a flashback as she describes her life to her friend Pheoby. Her tale begins when she is a teenager, illustrating her life with her grandmother and three different men up until her return to Eatonville. It follows her quest to find true love, and shows her grow stronger despite the judgment she faces. During Janie’s life, she loses

Janie is in search for satisfaction but she is repeatedly struggling against overpowering male figures who strive to restrict her. “Thus race and gender converge on this issue of evaluating beauty and this purports to the belief of Black feminists that women are oppressed not only because they are women but also because they are black women.” Janie craved to find a relationship that included the couple being equal to each other but the perspective of the time in the great depression denied her from entirely accomplishing her dream. Throughout the novel Janie’s actions try to demonstrate the reader the erroneous claims that women were by nature inferior to men and thus deserved to be subservient to them. It was evident that Janie will stop at nothing to accomplish what she set her mind to.

Janie has a quest that started at the age of sixteen. During Janie’s marriage to Jody, Janie’s dreams are not fulfilled by Jody; this causes a strain in their marriage. Jody had restrained Janie by making her tie up her hair, isolating her from both the men and women of the town, by hitting, e.t.c all these actions making Janie lose interest in Jody. Janie wasn’t able to express herself anymore; therefore surpressing her quest to find love Jody’s death was an escape for Janie. Janie didn’t have to live in submission anymore nor,

This then puts Janie in a back and forth tug of war with herself about the idea of marrying a man, who is over twice her age, that she was never interested in. “She was back and forth to the pear tree continuously wondering and thinking. [...] Yes, she would love Logan after they were married.[...] It was just so,” (Hurston 21).  Even Though most of Hurston’s readers aren’t able to relate to the situation that Janie is going through, they can certainly can relate with having an identity crisis. Readers are able to draw connections with what Janie is going through because they have been there or are currently trying to find who they want to be and how they want to stand out from others and whether they are making the right decisions or not. After Nanny’s passing, Janie officially started to try and find who she was after deciding to leave Logan and run off with Joe Starks. At this point in the novel, Janie is truly making strides in trying to find herself. However, with every stride, there’s an occasional

In chapter 3 Janie realizes that she does not want to marry Logan because she does not love him, however she marries Logan due to her grandmother’s wishes. Janie clearly used to believe that love is a requirement in marriage and searched for an emotional connection. As soon as Janie married Logan, her dream for a happy relationship with her true love was ruined and concluded that marriage doesn’t require a physical or emotional connection. Her grandmother marrying her off led to Janie’s discovery that love is not always required. Janie’s dream of true love “had failed her… so she became a woman” (24).The reality of marriage proved Janie’s dream to be false which led her to transition to a ”women” where it means to be mature and obey her husband.

Janie, straying from the mainstream culture of her society, marks a turning point in her life when she verbally defends herself against Jody, “Naw, Ah ain’t no young gal no mo’ but den Ah ain’t no old women neither… Ah’m uh woman every inch of me, and Ah know it” (Hurston 79). Although Janie’s outburst causes her to be further oppressed, it opens the door for her to be an individual, instead of the property of her husband. Emily Hinnov argues that as the book proceeds, Janie finds a true place in the community (66).

Janie goes from marrying the “right man” to actually marrying the right man that is suitable for her. She gains the confidence to steer away from southern women’s traditional roles. Janie ignores the traditions and doesn’t care what other people think. When her second husband died, Janie doesn’t show any grief. A traditional women would showcase her grief, and wear clothing that a widow would wear, Janie didn’t do anything that made her seem like she was a widow. She did the opposite of what society deemed to be fit. "Tain't dat Ah worries over Joe's death, Pheoby. Ah jus' loves dis freedom." "Sh-sh-sh! Don't let nobody jear you say dat, Janie. Folks will say you ain't sorry he's gone." "Le 'em say whut dey wants tuh, Pheoby. To my thinkin' mourning oughtn't tuh last no longer'n grief." (93). After escaping her marriage with Jody, Janie starts to ignore the societal norms, but she doesn’t abandon them. She finds a way to act that shows her growing confidence. Janie lets her hair down as soon as Jody died, and this shows everyone that Janie doesn’t need to follow his rules. She even refers to Jody as Joe and that shows Janie’s unwillingness to do as he wishes. Janie tells Pheoby that she is not depressed about Jody’s death and she doesn’t have any intention to remarry a “proper man.” Janie does not like that a widow needs to mourn for her husband for a certain period of time because she doesn’t miss Jody and doesn’t want to pretend. She wants to enjoy her new freedom. Janie wants to leave behind the values her grandmother had taught her and create her own set of rules. After burying Tea Cake Janie comes back to her hometown in overalls. She does not act like a woman of that time, and she doesn’t really care. "What she doin coming back here in dem overhalls? Can't she find no dress to put on?-Where's dat blue satin dress she

Janie’s first marriage was to a wealthy farm man that her nanny picked out, his name is Logan Killicks. Marrying Logan was her opportunity of escaping the wits of becoming a “mule” like her Nanny said,” De nigger woman is de mule uh de world so fur as ah can see. Ah been prayin’ fuh it to be different wid you.” Janie never really “loved” Logan Nanny told her the love will come she just have to wait, that never happened thus she left Logan for Joe Starks who also is known as Jody, her second husband. Jody was wealthy just like Logan, Jody was a man with a plan to become mayor. He was a power hungry man to show who's dominate he’d emotionally and physically abused Janie Logan never put his hands on her like that. It was just fine at first but after he got power he didn’t allow her to show her hair he forced her to wear a hair a scarf, and forbid her from joining the porch debates/conversations at the shop, Janie remain submissive she would hold her tongue.

The second man she marries is an entrepreneur and has some good qualities, even though he is a jerk most of the time. She was blinded by his good looks and money, something that her first husband didn’t have. With time she realizes he dresses this way to have people feel inferior to him. The one things Joe and Logan had in common was that they thought women should be treated as objects, not as a human being. The first time Janie had felt trapped in her own body was when her husband, Joe, treated her as a trophy wife. When he was delegated mayor by the town, the people there wanted her to put in her two cents on her husband’s victory. Before she even bothered to say her speech, Joe grabbed her and deliberately told the town that no woman, especially

Janie wants to make path and do what brings her happiness as a woman, not what others perceive to be happiness for women. Janie’s idea of happiness is not found however in the traditional roles that women of her time are supposed to assume Janie has to learn to hush,

Janie is a symbol of feminism , a symbol of every black women who are rejecting man dominance and the restricted rules of the patriarchal society. Along with the novel Janie suffer from man dominance beginning with her first marriage of Logan who treated he like a mule in his farm to her second marriage of Joe who also married her to be a perfect image to his position as a mayor and treated her like a possession or a piece

In the book “Their Eyes Were Watching God,”  by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie embarks on an immensely arduous journey in order to reach a juncture in her life where she is satisfied with herself as well as her accomplishments, regardless of what her friends and family think. Throughout the book, one can see that it is very difficult for Janie to reach this highly desirable point in her life due to the gender norms in her society, which greatly hold her, and her dreams back. Although the characters in this book are living in a very androcentric society, Janie is able to break through these social norms due to her non-compliant tendencies to society in the book such as her ability to shoot a gun and her defiance to wear the shawl post quietus of her late husband Joe. Therefore, Janie is viewed as a symbolic character in the story because of her proud and open resistance to the standards related to male dominance.