People come into our lives for different reasons. Some leave a positive impact, while others bring negativity. Readers and critics alike have treasured Zora Neale Hurston’s 20th century novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, for generations particularly for its complex portrayal of the different main characters. The people a person meet and the experiences that person many go through in their lifetime can alter a person significantly. Through the tyrannical words of Joe Starks and the inconsiderate actions of Nanny, Janie in the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God is negatively influenced as her actions and thoughts alter her life. The author Zora Neale Hurston conveys the message that people closest to a person’s heart can often hide their true …show more content…
Nanny who has been Janie’s caretaker has several hopes and dreams for her granddaughter. Nanny is not entirely perfect at her job of raising Janie, since her dreams for her are clouded by her own scarring experiences. Nanny attempts to insure a better life for Janie by forcing her to marry Logan Killicks, an old and wealthy man. Blinded by her own dreams, hopes, and desires, Nanny makes many impositions on Janie, “Have some sympathy fuh me. Put me down easy, Janie, Ah’m a cracked plate” (Hurston 20). Nanny is successfully able to convince her granddaughter through her own traumatic experiences and make her feel “sympathy” as she tells Janie she doesn’t want her life to be spoiled like her own life was. At first, Janie refuses to marry Logan Killicks. Nanny being the older one, defends herself by saying “put me down easy” since she can no longer care for Janie and only her wish is for Janie to get married and be protected from the dangers she and her own daughter faced. By calling herself a “cracked plate” Nanny further elucidates that she went through many hardships in her own life and wants to do the right thing for her granddaughter by …show more content…
Janie realizes what she deserves in a marriage and runs off with Starks to live a happy life with him. Things do not go as planned for Janie as she starts to realize how manipulative Joe Starks is of her. Starks has full control over Janie with his tyrannical behavior and takes things even further when he establishes complete dominance over Janie. Janie soon realizes that Starks has taken advantage of her “It was her image of Jody tumbled down and shattered. But looking at it she saw that it never was the flesh and blood figure of her dreams. Just something she had grabbed up to drape her dreams over” (Hurston 72). Janie figures out that Joe is not the man she had married when the “image of Jody tumbled down” she begins to understand that Joe was not at all significant to her because he never cared for her and instead he was a bad influence. Janie figures out that he “never was the flesh and blood figure of her dreams” the life she desires of with Joe Starks, is an allusion and Janie’s dreams are once again crushed. Janie is deceived by Joe because he represents empty dreams for Janie, he was a “drape [for] her dreams” Joe took advantage of Janie and manipulates her to do excessive labour for him in the store and constantly silences her. Furthermore, Joe Starks never treats Janie with respect as he views her as an object and spends his time commanding her. Joe pushes away the opportunity
Janie didn 't start living until Joe died and she met Teacake. With Teacake Janie felt alive, they understood and respected each other. Their marriage was full of love and compassion, two things that Janie always wanted. Her marriage with Teacake ended in a tragedy, but Janie felt like she lived a life full of new beginnings, and she was content with that. All the men in Janie’s life
Literary Analysis The Quest for Independence Has one ever wonder what makes the world’s greatest novels so hard to put down? The ones that make one gasp aloud and bite one’s nails frantically; great novels that leave you on the edge of your seat, like, Romeo and Juliet, The Notebook, and even the Titanic. In each of these novels, they display a story of, the search for independence. In the novel, by Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God the protagonist, Janie Woods, begins her search for independence through three marriages and a life marked by poverty, trails and purpose.
In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the story revolves around the protagonist, Janie’s, experiences in three different marriages. First, with a man named Logan Killicks who has the money and land to provide Janie with security. Then, a rich leader and pioneer named Joe Starks. And finally, with a young man who could only provide Janie with his love and best effort, Tea Cake. Although these three relationships never lasted, through each relationship Janie was able to grow.
Over the years the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston has received many literary reviews and critiques both. Some praise her for bringing up gender inequality in the time period and showing how the main protagonist overcame her obstacles in life. Others think Hurston's writing style was confusing and needed more work to establish what exactly she was trying to say. Many reviewers think there is beauty in what they see to be a strong story both with the morals and writing story. One author writes of the dialect,"In case there are readers who have a chronic laziness about dialect,it should be added that the dialect here is very easy to follow, and the images it carries are irresistible" ("The New York Times Book Review")
Often in literature, the author sets the main character on a physical journey to divert attention away from the main character’s spiritual journey. In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the main character, Janie, goes on a physical journey that not only challenges her sense of self, but also is vital in her life-long spiritual journey to personal liberation and self-empowerment. Janie’s relationships mark Janie’s migration toward fulfilling Hurston’s purpose of the piece: Janie becoming empowered and finds personal liberation. Hurston proves Janie’s physical journey plays a central role as Janie completes her spiritual quest to personal liberation and self-empowerment. Through the loss of her grandmother and movement
so Joe makes her wrap her hair up so no one can see it. Janie tries to run away but joe stops her by telling her that she has nothing and nobody will want
I believe the novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston, is about racial and personal independence and not following what others tell you your future holds, but instead following God. The main dilemma in the story is when Janie finds herself in with both marriages, one that was picked by someone else and the other she choose and believed she belonged with. Through the fist six chapters, Janie has been rejecting other people ideas for what she wants in life. Nanny had picked Logan Killicks as Janie's fist husband for security. Although he is old and unattractive, he is a successful hard working farmer with 60 acres of land and a comfortable house.
In this story “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston I think this story is not a feminist novel. The females/ Women doesn 't have a say so of what they do. The men don 't treat the women with respect but see them as a object to get. Joe does not treat janie right.
Joe Starks helped Janie realize her desire and need to relinquish herself from the dominance of others. Furthermore, Tea Cake Woods granted her the freedom to do so. The two opposing cities revealed to her how her life would be, if she remained in them, ultimately showing her the best of both worlds, which essentially contributed to her leading to decide who she truly is. Eatonville answered that she should allow for others to control her and that she should accept unhappiness.
Self-discovery is essential to a prosperous life. In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie, the main character, discovers who she is through her relationships. Janie learns from each of her experiences, but the most significant are her husbands: Logan, Jody, and Tea Cake. Each of these people attempt to control her thoughts and actions, but Janie rebels against them. Janie stands up for what she believes in, and through these confrontations, she better understands herself.
In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie Crawford has two marriages, one that she is forced into by her grandmother, and the other her own choice. Both marriages end up showing that Janie is unable to have a husband so far that suits her,maven if she chooses them for herself. This would imply to most people that she's a poor judge in character, but being fair, one of the marriages she couldn't get out of, and the other had the groom charm her into going with him. Both husbands end up eventually making her fairly unhappy in different ways. Logan Killicks, Janie's first husband, is a self proclaimed hard working man who despises what he perceives as laziness.
From a young age, many people are told that they have free will to do what they want and that their actions are what define them as a person; however, what people are told isn’t always the complete truth. In the realms of reality, individuals are always influenced by the people they spend the most time around to such an extent that it can change who they are as a person. Zora Neale Hurston 's novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, epitomizes such truth through the development of Janie, a women who grows from not knowing her own race or what love even means to someone that has gained and lost countless relationships with people. Initially, she marries a wealthy man named Logan Killicks for financial security, but then runs away with a man named
"Naming and Power in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God." Bloom’s Modern Critical Interpretations: Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God -New Edition. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2008.
“Their Eyes Were Watching God” is a novel written by Zora Neale Hurston. The novel portrays Janie, a middle aged black woman who tells her friend Pheoby Watson what has happened to her husband Tea Cake and her adventure. The resulting telling of her story portrays most of the novel. Throughout the novel, Zora Neale Hurston presents the theme of love, or being in a relationship versus freedom and independence, that being in a relationship may hinder one’s freedom and independence. Janie loves to be outgoing and to be able to do what she wants, but throughout the book the relationships that she is in with Logan,Jody and Tea Cake, does not allow her to do that.
While she was lying there she had been hearing Janies young voice in what she thought was a dream, then to be thrown off guard with the voice of a young man as well. Before anyone knew it, she had snapped up and stood outside watching as her young Janie was being kissed on by Johnny and young Janies life would soon begin. When Nanny had seen this act, she told Janie that she was a woman know, she had things expected of her and things that needed to be done for her and that Johnny Taylor was nothing but a boy. Nanny had forced Janie into a marriage with Logan Killiks, a man who had been coming around the house talking to Janies Nanny for this specific reason. When Janie came across this news she was dumfounded, she was too young too marry, she did not want to marry Logan, she did not want to marry anyone that she did not already love.