Self realization is a prominent theme in Their Eyes Were Watching God. This story is centered around Janie’s life journey towards independence. In the beginning of the book, Janie begins telling her story to Phoebe about her vision under the pear tree. As a sixteen year old, she discovers the idea of true love: a commitment of true trust, equality, and devotion. This vision is an early sign that Janie desires self sufficiency. This love doesn’t require her whole dependence upon another person, it’s a relationship that would entreat Janie as an equal to her husband, although society believes that men are superior. Janie is first married off to Logan Killicks, who treats her like a child. He expects her to listen and obey to his desires without hesitation or complaint. This is desecrating to Janie’s dream. Instead of pushing her along the path of self reliance, Logan …show more content…
Joe marries her so he can have a pretty wife by his side who he can demonstrate his superiority over. As the single most powerful man in Eatonville, the town that he took initiative of, he expects his wife to present herself as above everyone else. This means she can’t participate in regular talk with the people of the town, and she has to obey Joe’s commands because she is his property. However, towards the end of Joe’s life, Janie publicly rants her true feelings to Joe. This decision shows her growth towards self realization. She defends herself against Joe’s insults of her being old. Janie finally acts out, expressing her feelings towards Joe’s unfair treatment to her. Her strength in acting for herself begins to emerge once she forces Joe to listen to her feelings of their marriage. This is evident when she tears off her handkerchief and lets down her hair. This is symbolic of her freedom. Joe forced her to tie up her hair for his sake, but now releasing it, Janie shows that she will no longer let other people control
Janie was not happy with her marriage to Logan. Logan was not nice to her and does not talk beautifully to her like he use to when they first got married:
Their Eyes Were Watching God is a story that follows protagonist Janie Crawford, through many hardships, relationships, and adventures. As Janie Returns to her hometown in Florida after a long absence the novel is a recollection of her experiences and adventures to her friend Pheoby Watson. Janie struggles throughout the entirety of the novel to find freedom and peace with herself. She experiences relationships with a few different kinds of people all of which help her to eventually find that
Janie's marriage to Logan Killicks was the first stage in her growth as a woman. She hoped that her obligatory marriage with Logan would
Janie’s quest begins with her grandmother forcing her to marry Logan Killicks; her compliance demonstrates her need to follow what others expect of her. Although she believes "[Logan] look like some ole skullhead in de graveyard", she marries him, simply because her grandmother tells her she will love him with time (13). She compares him to a “skullhead”, literally likening him, and subsequently their relationship, to death. Although she knows she wants to find love, and that she does not love Logan, she marries him to appease her grandmother. This shows how much Janie cares about what other people think of her, and what lengths she is willing to go to keep others pleases with her.
Janie’s outward appearance and her inward thoughts contrast following Joe’s death. She finally frees herself from his control only after he dies as she, “…tore off the kerchief…and let down her plentiful hair” (87). In freeing her hair, Janie begins to free herself from others’ control and social norms. However, she chooses to keep it tied up until after Jody’s funeral in order to keep appearances that she is grieving his passing in front of the townspeople. However, on the inside, Janie doesn’t really feel any sorrow and “sent her face to Joe’s funeral, and herself went rollicking with the springtime across the world” (88). It is only after Joe’s elaborate funeral that Janie shows her first act of freedom by burning “every one of her head rags and went about the house next morning with her hair in one thick braid swinging well below her waist” (89). She chose to let her hair be free from his domination, thus freeing herself from him overall and allowing herself to move onto the next journey in her life.
(Hurston). She thought that she could learn to love her husband just as long as someone can tell her how. Logan was a very demanding husband who expected Janie to help him around the house and still tend to many things that he felt were “women’s chores” like being in the kitchen. Eventually, Janie got tired of Logan’s demands and ran off with Joe Starks.
The story ‘their eyes were watching god’ is about Janie Crawford and her search for love in a world where women were denied everything including love and their voice. She is portrayed as a heroine, who undergoes through many disappointments in search of unconditional and fulfilling love. Moreover, she is a heroine following her desire to gain autonomy in a gender biased society. The novel also talks about the different types of love that Janie has experienced and how this has shaped her life as an independent woman. A lot of literary devices, including symbolism, the view of the narrator, and imagery are used to create a picture of Janie and her circumstances. Analysis of the book provides a picture of how women today struggle in search of true love amidst a distrustful society and the delicate balance between
Janie realizes that she had to stand up for herself, and not let anybody drag her down. Janie let Joe control her life and by letting him do that, she acted as if she was a rag doll,
Janie does not find the love she longs for in her arranged marriage to the farmer, Logan Killicks, and is treated poorly as the relationship progresses. Initially, she clings to the hope that she will eventually love Logan, and confronts her Nanny when she realizes she does not have the feelings she longed for. Although her relationship with Logan does not fit Janie’s idea of romance, her initial complaints about the marriage are a bit shallow—mostly concerned with Logan’s age and appearance. Eventually, Logan’s weak attempts at romance and validation of Janie wear off: “Long before the year was up, Janie noticed that her husband had stopped talking in rhymes to her. He had ceased to wonder at her long black hair and finger it. Six months back he had told her, ‘[...]You done been spoilt rotten’” (26). At this point in her marriage with Logan, Janie is expected to work alongside him. Logan expresses his frustration at Janie’s inability to pull her own weight in their marriage. Moreover, Logan no longer compliments Janie, and her physical beauty ceases to captivate him in the same way it did before. From
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston presents a story of self-love as Janie goes from one love to the next in hopes of finding someone to value her. Initially Janie sees that she is more than just a possession and being mistreated. She knows that she can find better. Later she finds Joe and believes that she is valuable because of her looks, and he just sees her as a possession and not his wife but this does not last. Eventually Joe dies, and Janie is single again and must decide on what to do for love. This time around, Janie finds her own voice, and she finds love with Vergible “ Tea Cake” Woods who embraces her as a full person. Vergible “Tea Cake” Woods wanted to talk to Janie to and listen to her whatever she has to say. Vergible “ Tea Cake” did not force Janie to do anything that she did not want to do. In her other relationships, they were dominate and want to control or use her for their own image. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie’s journey from one marriage to another reveals her discovery of her own value. How does each man view Janie? What does she learn in each marriage? How is she different in the end of the book from the beginning? How does Janie feel about herself and each of her husband 's? Does Janie value herself?
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, the author, Hurston, is following the life of Janie Crawford. Janie is an independent woman who is telling her life story to her kissing friend, Pheobe. Janies conception was an result of Leafy, Janies mother, being raped by her school teacher as a child. So Janie wasn’t destined to have a wonderful life. Being as though her mother abandoned her, she was raised by her grandmother, Nanny, and her boss Mrs.washburn. Since she was raised by them she never had to work because everything was handed to her. Throughout the book she goes through two marriages, each teaching her something new along the way, before finding true love in the third and fulfilling her romantic dream. Although the journey was overshadowed
Janie, the female protagonist, meets her second husband, Jody aka Joe, as he is traveling from Georgia to Eatonville. He believes once he reaches Eatonville he will be able to become wealthy through his ambitions and political savviness. Once Janie meets Jody, she decides to leave her first husband, marry Joe, and follow him to Eatonville. Once they arrive in town, Joe quickly begins to take over the town as a businessman, becoming the postmaster, mayor, storekeeper, and the owner of the most land in Eatonville. Joe has been conditioned by society to be the man in power who answers to no one, especially his wife. While, he presents himself as a loving man when he first meets Janie, he soon shows his true colors when he begins to treat Janie as an object instead of as a person. It quickly becomes evident that Joe did not marry Janie for love, but because he sees her as an object he can control that will benefit him in obtaining power in Eatonville. It is through his treatment of his wife that their marriage begins to
Individualism in Their Eyes Were Watching God In her depicting Janie’s life, Zora Neale Hurston aims at expressing the will of Janie to achieve her individuality in a male-dominated society. Janie requests her rights to express her feelings. Her need to find a loving man is the most challenging issue for her. After passing through four experiences three of them are marriages, Janie finally comes to understand the real meaning of love and independence.
Janie stands under the pear tree, staring at the blossom, wondering. Suddenly, her sense of romance is activated, which helps her develop the vision of love. Over the course of her three marriages, she finds more of herself, especially the right to live for herself and pursue her own happiness. In the book Their Eyes Were Watching God written by Zora Neale Hurston, the author uses Janie to present an example of the awakened spirits of modern American women, which are individuality, right to pursue and perseverance.
Janie’s childhood begins with a strong dependency on her Nanny. She informs Janie that she must marry someone who can protect her and provide for her. Her Nanny expected Janie to live her entire life depending on someone else. Nanny forced the marriage with Logan Killicks upon her. Janie, who at his point depended on her Nanny, listened to her. She first time gained some independence when she left Logan for her next husband. Her second husband, Joe, constantly gave orders to her. His controlling attitude forced Janie to rely on him for anything she wanted to do. In their twenty-year marriage, there were only a few instances of Janie trying to break away from Joe’s control. One instance was when she spoke up against him at the store and told him, “You big-bellies round here and put out a lot of brag, but ‘tain’t nothin’ to it but yo’ big voice.” (79). This was the first time she had defended herself and could have been her first true taste of independence. She did this again at Joe’s deathbed. At Joe’s death, Janie became more independent than ever. This is shown when she takes off her handkerchief, which Joe forced her to wear, and lets her hair down for everyone to see. The handkerchief