An Epic on Jaine’s Silence And her Expolaration of INNER-SELF Introduction In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston a young lady named Janie starts her life obscure to herself. She searches for the horizon as it illustrates the distance one must travel in order to distinguish between illusion and reality, dream and truth, role and self (Hemenway 75). She is unconscious of life’s two most valuable endowments: adore and reality. Janie is raised by her suppressive grandma who reduces her perspective of life. Janie’s mission for genuine character rises up out of her ways in life and ultimately closes when her psyche is liberated from mixed up reality. Their Eyes Were Watching God, is a book considered exceptionally …show more content…
Instead of "Janie Starks," she is called "Mrs. Mayor" ("Their Eyes were Watching God" 56). In spite of the fact that Joe is himself a black man, he rather displays the attributes of a white man; every other person in the public arena is underneath him, particularly Janie. At the point when in his nearness, Janie compartmentalizes herself to better suit Joe's desires of her. She is compelled to wear her long hair in a head-cloth, on the grounds that Joe reveals to her that it isn't "sensible" to give it a chance to hang free, when truly he is envious of the way other individuals respect it ("Their Eyes Were Watching God" 66). Janie's hair turns into an image of her womanhood and indviduality ; it's what makes her “stand out as independent and powerful” (Dilbeck 103). Her hair is a prominent discussion point, as showed by Janie's arrival to Eatonville toward the start of the novel; the townsfolk discuss “the great rope of black hair swinging to her waist and unraveling in the wind like a plume” (“Their Eyes were Watching God”4).Janie encounters a disparity between her open self and the lady blooming inside her. There is the lighthearted, free Janie who disappoints her hair, however there is likewise the Janie who ties her hair back in accommodation of her
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 Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston composed a passionate story of a beautiful African American woman in the early 1900s. It embodies how life was for the women of color, and the struggles they faced. Hurston used literary devices to show the struggles Jaine had to go through to find her voice and the power within herself. In the relationship between her and her first two husbands, she struggled to figure out if marriage was really the equivalent of happiness. Not knowing what she needed in life she struggled to find the feeling she had always craved.
Janie, Tea Cake, Nanny, Mrs. Turner, Logan, Jody Janie shows her husbands the goals she wants to make, and she searches for her identity and where she fits in society thoughout the story. Zora Neale Hurston’s writing is both a reflection of and a departure from the ideas of the Harlem Renaissance. The porch sitters in Their Eyes Were Watching God reflected negatively on the image of how the majority of black people wished to be newly portrayed by gossiping ignorantly and degradingly
She later tries to find hope with Jody. Along with love, Jaine also seeks independence. Janie would make attempts to seek her independence, “Time came when she fought back with her tongue as best as she could, but it didn’t do her any good. It just made matters worse”(71). Jaine is always suppressed by Jody any time she makes attempts to speak.
Janie had just returned home after the end of a long journey and lives to tell the tale. This happens to be where the story ends but finishes all at once in Zora Neal Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God”. While many messages can be taken from the narrative that proceeds after Janie returns has many symbols, meanings and themes alike. However, there is an outstanding theme of Relationships that is apparent in the story. Janie ends up in three separate, very different relationships throughout the novel and through each she learns a little more about herself and learns what’s best for her in the end.
In The Eyes are Watching God, the author Zora Neale Hurston expresses the struggles of women and black societies of the time period. When Hurston published the book, communities were segregated and black communities were full of stereotypes from the outside world. Janie, who represents the main protagonist and hero, explores these communities on her journey in the novel. Janie shows the ideals of feminism, love, and heroism in her rough life in The Eyes. Janie, as the hero of the novel, shows the heroic qualities of determination, empathy, and bravery.
It was telling us what was fin to go on during the rest of the book that we read. It told us about a young lady name Janie that decides to come back to a town that she left years ago with another man. She came back with a new man name tea cake and she sat in judgment. In the second chapter the first paragraph it said “ Janie saw her life like a great tree
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.
Her Story, Her Voice The unique story that is Their Eyes Were Watching God is a story of voices collected together to create one big voice. Hurston uses many characters’ voices to help Janie find her own, actual voice and tell her story by the end of the novel. The story by Zora Neale Hurston is a frame story which is a story within a story. Hurston, like many other authors, uses the frame narrative to help the story come full circle and create a sense that the reader is part of the story.
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.
In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston Janie is held back from growing to her full potential. Janie is married three times and in each marriage there is one item that restrains her. In her marriage with Joe she was forced to wear a head rag to cover her hair because it is so long and beautiful. The red rag resembled the restraint Joe put on Janie.
Her second husband, Jody, was a very powerful man that restricted Janie's freedom in many ways. A significant way Jody physically confined Janie was by creating the rule, “Her hair was NOT going to show in the store” (55, Hurston). This is significant because Jody restricts Janie's freedom by removing her hair, resulting in a loss of power for Janie. Jody becomes jealous of the attention that Janie's hair draws and he wants to oppress that freedom to remind Janie who is dominant in the relationship. Hurston also includes this in the novel to display how Jody has control over Janie's body and the power that he holds over it.
Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see” (265). Hurston beautifully depicts this image of Janie’s soul emerging as a statement of her love for Tea Cake and of her vulnerability when she is with him. Likewise, at the end of the story, Janie calls on her soul to come out yet again at the moment in which she reflects upon her life with Tea Cake and in a way thanks him for allowing her to be free.
In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie is a main character whose outward existence conforms, and her inward life questions. This tension helps to evolve the author’s theme of the importance of individuality and how individuality creates happiness. Janie experiences most of her life in trying to conform, and grows to despise it. Once free, she becomes herself and becomes happy. Early in the novel, Janie marries Logan Killicks.
“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.