Mayrston Character Analysis Essay

In the book “To Kill A Mockingbird” written by Harper Lee is based in a small town in Maycomb county in the year 1933 during the great depression.Which is also at a time where racial tensions are high.From the title”To Kill A Mockingbird “ we have gathered that the mockingbird symbolizes innocence, peace and how it is a sin to kill a Mockingbird.

Throughout the novel, Hurston describes Janie as a young woman with a compelling desire for seeking unconditional love. As Janie searches for her inner self, she begins life not knowing who she is. Janie endures harsh judgment from many people throughout the novel, which help build the qualities of independence and strength. Throughout everything she has learned, she matured and transitioned from a defiant teenager, to a woman in complete possession of herself. Janie 's quest for the “horizon” of herself finally lead her to a place in which she is defined, despite the society who denies her power because of her black ethnicity. The “horizon” demonstrates the distance one must travel in order to distinguish between illusion and reality, dream and truth, role and

As a woman within a male dominant society, Janie struggles with maintaining her individuality. Through her first two marriages, Janie realizes that no person should have to become subservient to someone. The moment when Jody puts Janie in charge of the store in Eatonville may seem to contradict this notion, but the action relies heavily upon what Janie must do in order to please her husband. For example, she must wear a bandana so her beauty will be shielded from everyone but Jody (Hurston 60). The moment where Jody and Janie become the mayoral couple of Eatonville, the people request for Janie to give a speech, but Jody responds by stating, “Thank yuh fuh yo’ compliments, but mah wife don’t know nothin’ ‘bout no speech-makin’. A never married her for nothin’ lak dat. She’s uh woman and her place is in de home” (Hurston 43). This restriction that Jody places upon Janie creates a barrier in her journey towards finding herself, but it also provides a learning experience for Janie in the fact that she must realize that she prefers to have control over her own life rather than someone else controlling

A boat ride through the Caribbean Ina yacht made rainsford use his physical strength, intelligence, and instances for his survival. What seemed to be a harmless boat ride at night turned into a almost deadly scene. Rainsford fell overboard when he stood up on the railing on the side of the yacht. The reason he fell is because he herd a gun shot in the distance. His physical strength saved his life on the long swim to the shore.

One of the primary literary tools Hurston uses to tell Janie’s story is through the embrace of African American slave vernacular. Hurston’s creation of the porch sitters is equivalent to the Greek Chorus used by ancient playwright Aristophanes as an embodiment of collective voices who offer the audience side opinions, supportive information, or (as in Hurston’s usage) valuable

Nanny's explanation to Janie about her inheritance in life as a young black woman expresses a theme that Hurston returns to again and again in many of her stories, the harsh realities of black women's lives in a racist, sexist society: "...De nigger woman is de mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see." Nanny tells her that the white man dumps on the black man and he, in turn, dumps on the black woman.

She says “So when we looked at de picture and everybody got pointed out there wasn’t nobody left except a real dark little girl with long hair…but Ah couldn’t recognize dat dark chile as me. So Ah ast, ‘where is me? Ah don’t see me” (Hurston 11). Janie never thought of herself being different from her white friends until the day she saw herself in that photo. For the first time, Janie felt different and begins her journey to self-identity.

In her novel, she write of a town called Eatonville, which is the first black town. “Ah had difficulty believing that such a town as Eatonville, ‘inhabited and governed entirely by Negroes,’ could be real.” Throughout the book, more and more people join the town and the main character, Janie, becomes the Mayor’s wife. The whole town is so excited to be apart of this

During this time while slavery was abolished a woman was very much expected to serve her husband fully, who was not always chosen out of love. Growing up Janie's guardian and major influence was her nanny, a woman that grew up during slavery and in turn hoped for janie to have a better life, she says, “You know , honey, us colored folks is branches without roots and that makes things come round in queer ways. You in particular. Ah was born back due in slavery so it wasn't for me to fulfill my dreams of what a woman oughta be and to do” (Hurston 16) Her view was imposed on janie to the extent where she grew up believing that a woman's dreams were predetermined and don't go far beyond being a wife, unlike men who are seen to have the world

Wright uses a sophisticated style of writing to argue that Hurston fails to exemplify a theme that addresses the Negro life. Instead, he claims that her novel supports the “white audience whose chauvinistic tastes, she knows how to satisfy.”From this, one can assume that Wright probably knows more about her, and severely criticizes her writing style for not having the hardships and the race relations with the whites and the blacks. However Wright is wrong, in the sense that Hurston implies the notion of race relations because she uses the characters Joe and Janie to compare with the townspeople of Eatonville. With Joe’s education, the people of Eatonville are surprised to see and are skeptical that as a black man, he most likely acts as if he is the white man, trying to take control and having this authoritative personae that dominates the town as well as his wife, Janie. For example, in the novel, Hicks states, “It troubled him to get used to the world one way and then suddenly have it turn different. He wasn’t ready to think of colored people in post offices yet. He laughed boisterously.” (39) Hurston is showing that people are always used to this idea that the whites are always in the top, but by rebelling against this idea, Joe, empowers colored men that there are several opportunities in life, and

As she described it, life was full of hard work and hard play, but even with its vigorous energy, society was somewhat stratified. Groups were still separated by their roots, reputation and assets, but it wasn’t quite as severe as in the “white society” we are accustomed to. It could be said that the social levels were present but not as pronounced, considering certain characters, such as the main character Janie, were able to move from one circumstance to another. However, it usually wasn’t without critical judgment. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston presented three basic social divisions, or three basic lifestyles for African Americans during this

Janie’s grandmother takes notice of her awakening of love and wants to immediately set Janie up for marriage with a rich yet older man named Logan Killicks. Janie’s grandmother represents the value of the American Dream, and she attempts to cast this idea onto Janie by having her marry a man that will provide for her so that she may live a more secure life. Janie’s grandmother says, “Ah don’t want no trashy [N-word], no breath-and-britches, lak Johnny Taylor usin’ yo’ body to wipe his foots on” (Hurston 13). Janie’s grandmother associates a man of lower social class as not fit for Janie, and she says, “De [N-word] woman is de mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see. Ah been prayin’ fuh it tuh be different wid you. Lawd, Lawd, Lawd!” (Hurston 14). Janie’s grandmother simply wants success, security, and safety for Janie, and she wants Janie’s purpose in life to be the achievement of the American Dream. In many ways, a parallel may be drawn between Janie’s grandmother and Dan Cody from The Great Gatsby. Both of these characters influence their younger counterparts to give purpose and meaning to their lives through the pursuit of wealth and financial

The Harlem Renaissance was very empowering time of the 1920’s. It was the uprising of black culture, i.e. jazz, art, books, poetry, etc… Zora Neal Hurston captures a lot of the Harlem aspects in her books; today we are going to be discussing and analyzing her book “Their Eyes Were Watching God”.  The plot of this book is very similar to the hurricane— settled on by many as the front cover— examined in the book. Throughout the book Zora Neal Hurston hits on the idea of oppression and the seeking of freedom. Janie—the protagonist—was treated fairly well although she was black. She did not have to face the same trials and tribulations as a typical black person back then. Janie gets the respect and a role in the white community which was extremely

In contrast to Helga Crane, Janie is depicted with a healthy curiosity about sexuality and romance. At the beginning of the novel, Janie She spends “every minute she could steal” sitting beneath a great pear tree (10). She describes how it “called her to come gaze on a mystery” of “leaf-buds to snow virginity of bloom” (10). Janie thinks, “Oh, to be a pear tree—any tree in bloom! With kissing bees singing of the beginning of the world,” which symbolizes her coming of age as a woman (11). She likens herself to a tree with “glossy leaves and bursting buds,” not quite in bloom like the pear tree but still representative of her emerging sexuality (11). Despite this, Nanny takes it upon herself to save Janie from herself, noting that she “don’t mean no harm” and “don’t even know where harm is at” in regards to sex and romance” (13). Although in Quicksand most of the oppression is directed at Helga from members of another race, in Their Eyes Janie is oppressed by other members of the black community. Because the novel is set in Eatonville, an all-black town, there is no explicit white voice controlling the characters’ views of each other. Despite this, the white voice is still present, influencing how Nanny treats Janie. Because Nanny has lived through slavery, she is familiar with the way the masters used their slaves, and has also seen the way Janie’s mother was treated by men in her life, namely Janie’s father. In order to “guide [her] feet from harm and danger,” she marries Janie off (13). She tries to keep Janie from falling into the path of the hypersexualized female, one who “wants to hug and kiss and feel around with first one man and then another,” and from the men who will use her, but ends up oppressing Janie in a different

These strong female characters are able to portray their independence. Hurston’s fictional Character, Janie, sets a standard for women and proves that she does not need to rely on anybody. Janie is in an abusive and controlling relationship with her second husband, Jody. He would never let Janie do what she wanted, made her wear a cloth on her head so other men would not admire her, and always spoke for her. When Jody gives a speech at his welcome party for his new store,