Their Eyes Were Watching God Essay

Janie, the main character, marries three times throughout the novel. Her marriages do not contain unconditional love and because of this, do not last. Her first husband, Joe Starks, belittles Janie as a person including her intellect. "Somebody got to think for women and chillun and chickens and cows. I god, they sho don’t think none theirselves." (119). Joe shows his dominance over Janie by being the breadwinner in the relationship. Janie’s next marriage is with a man named Joe Starks. He tries to show his dominance over Janie by controlling her. “Janie! "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…" (42). Joe belittles the

Janie’s second marriage left her widowed, but a couple months after Joe Starks death Janie found her next husband. His name was Vergible Woods, but he was also known as Tea Cake. Janie and Tea Cake’s marriage was everything that she ever wanted for marriage to ever be. It is crazy how everything she wanted comes after she had been through two marriages. If Nanny Crawford were to be the judge of Tea Cake, he would be everything that she wanted Janie to stay away from. He was a young 28 year old marrying Janie at 40, he did not have much money or a big, nice place to stay, and he was a gambler with the

Janie’s three marriages were all different for the most part, though they each had their ups and downs. Her marriage with Logan Killicks was the worst of the three. The only upside to this marriage was that she did have the protection and security her grandmother wanted, but Logan was not willing to make compromises like, “And ‘tain’t nothing’ in de way of him washin’ his feet every evenin’ before he comes tuh bed. ‘Tain’t nothing’ tuh hinder him ‘cause Ah places de water for him.” (Hurston 24) which shows that he wasn’t even willing to wash his feet so Janie wouldn’t have to smell his feet. Logan also expected Janie to help him with everything he was supposed to do and still make dinner for him. Despite all that Janie still wanted to love him but she just couldn’t do it. Janie’s marriage to Joe was better than Logan’s but was still really bad. Joe provided Janie with anything and everything she needed, but not what she wanted. Their relationship was about Joe, and what Joe wanted. Joe also thought he was superior to Janie. “Ah knows uh few things, and womenfolks thinks sometimes too!” “Aw naw they don’t.

“Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston, written in 1937, is about a African american girl named Janie Crawford who grew up in a white household. Through her transition to womanhood she wanted to experience true love, which set her on a quest to do so. Her grandmother arranged a marriage for her, which Janie wasn't so happy about. The story follows her growing as a person and her many experiences with her marriages. Each impacting her emotionally and making her the woman she becomes at the end of the book. Towards the ending of her book, after being harmed emotionally, and sometimes physically by her past husbands she meets a man named Tea Cake, much younger than her. She fell in love with him and

In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the main character, Janie suffers through three abusive marriages. Janie’s husbands take away her voice and equality, for their own desires. Janie learns a lot from each marriage, hopefully leaving her in a better place to make the best decision for her own well being, if she chooses to marry again. The lack of equality and freedom given to Janie in her relationships with Logan, Joe and Tea Cake helps Janie to realize her need for a happier more independent life, that may not include a man.

They moved together to the Muck in the Florida Everglades and lived in Tea Cake's Shanty after the death of Joe. Tea Cake and Janie spent all the time they had together. They remained in constant tune with the nature and even went fishing together. This was the type of lifestyle Janie envisioned all her life. All of Janie’s previous relationships was based off of the spouse. Janie was never allowed to be herself and live the life she wanted. Tea Cake let her be herself. He loved her as she was and accepted all she dreamed of. He encouraged her to be what she wanted to be, to follow her goals, her dreams, and her aspirations. Janie had finally found her the man she had always been looking for. She loved him with everything she had. Janie would do anything for Tea Cake. They had the kind of everlasting love that she had hoped for all her life. Thing were going well for the new couple until a bad storm hit and Tea Cake gets bit by a dog trying to save Janie. Tea Cake ultimately get rabies and begins to act so distraught that Janie is forced to kill him. She killed Tea Cake in loving manner and could not bear watch him suffer

Understanding how to have a happy marriage is a difficult task. A writer published for his insights on cultural studies, professor Andrew Reiner at Towson University writes about men’s psychological and emotional behaviors; his theories can be applied to the Janie’s husbands in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. Janie’s first husband, Logan Killicks, is an old, unattractive man with 60 acres of land whose only concern is farming. Janie’s second husband, Joe Starks, is a confident and determined man who's driven to gain social status. Tea Cake, a young, fun, and loving man, is Janie’s third husband whose focus is on the pursuit of happiness. All of Janie’s husbands behave according

Every woman is looking for a good husband to make her feel special and loved in the marriage, but for many it may take a few tries. Zora Neale Hurston proves this point in her novel when Janie marries three different men before finding out what true love was. In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston Janie is forced into marriage, by her grandmother, at sixteen to an man she doesn't even love and who wants her to work. Meeting a man new to town, he promises to love her and keep her high on a pedestal so she won’t have to work, Janie thinks she would find true love with Joe runs away with him in search of true love. However Joe never let Janie do the things she wanted and never treated her as an equal. Then along came Tea Cake who

Janie’s relationships with her three husbands, Logan, Jody, and Tea Cake develop her final outlook on life, improves her relationships with every remarriage, and allows her to find flaws in herself. In Janie’s initial marriage she is arranged with a man named Logan, and she is pushed into the marriage by her Nanny who wants to find a man for her that is financially secure and is respectable. While Logan was arguing

This man gives Janie that chance she is looking for to get away from her marriage with Logan. Joe gives Janie a chance to run away when he tells her “Leave de s’posin’ and everything else to me. Ah’ll be down dis road uh little after sunup tomorrow mornin’ to wait for you. You come wid me. Den all de rest of yo’ natural life you kin live lak you oughta” (29-30).

During the 1900s, the role of men and women were very much different. Marriages became more popular, and women, often times, weren’t portrayed as taking heavier duties than men. In the book, Their Eyes were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie acquires a new form of love. First, she was forced into marriage by her grandmother. Than over time, Janie begins to take a different path, by following her own beliefs and choosing someone who she really loves. Over the course, Hurston highlights how Janie’s three marriages has given her more freedom and opportunity, which elicits how her life has ultimately changed as compared to before.

In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the main character , Janie, is forced to conform with the accepted standards of society and marry a man who has amassed wealth and land. Janie is told by her elders that she must get married. Her grandmother, who takes care of Janie, has found a suitor that would be “appropriate” for Janie. Although Janie wants to marry somebody that she loves, she is forced into the mold that was accepted by her society as what would be a good marriage. Because she had been raised up to never break away from the social norms of her town, she is taught to believe that “... she would love Logan after they were married. She could see no way for it to come about, but Nanny and the old folks had said it, so it must

Zora Neale Hurston composed a classic African American love story entitled “Their Eyes Were Watching God” in 1937. Throughout the novel, Janie gets married three times in hopes of finding the contentment she has been searching for. The failure of her first two marriages lead her to the next as they consist of her spending her days laboring and being dominated by men. Her time with Logan Killicks and Joe Starks helps Janie realize that love does not automatically come from marriage, but Tea Cake shows her what true love is. After spending years seeking inner happiness and serenity, Janie at last endures the bliss of life she has always hoped for.

Janie is raised by a suppressive grandmother who diminishes her view of life. Nanny came from a rough past during the time of war and slavery but she worked hard to give Janie a good life. Janie was raised to be attracted to financial security and physical protection instead of seeking love. Janie was in a stage of pure innocence abiding by any rules Nanny set for her. As a teenager, Janie used to sit under the pear tree and dream about being a tree in bloom. She longed for something more. The initial loss of innocence was conveyed when sixteen year old Janie kissed Johnny Taylor. The kiss gave her a glimpse of what freedom and self-expression felt like. Even then, she was restricted by Nanny who forced her into a marriage for the purpose of Janie’s physical well-being rather than mental well-being. This instance is expressed when Nanny says, “Tain’t Logan Killicks Ah wants you to have, baby, it’s protection.” Janie learns that marriage does not come with love, and Logan ruins her image of a blooming pear tree that she always dreamt of. Janie’s realization about love causes her to mature into a woman and run off with Joe

In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Hurston, a former slave named Nanny perception of a classic marriage is if the marriage provides security, protection, and wealth. Other people view marriage in a different perspective such as class or race, or maybe even to break their insecurity of being alone. To Nanny's personal view of marriage, being safe and well fed is enough for a wife to live. Nanny's perspective of marriage was deprived from the harsh living conditions during her time as a slave. She now has this thought that race isn't an issue, and that class is the only security a women can receive from a spouse.