The yin-yang in China represents the two sides of a marriage and how they balance each other out: female gentleness by male toughness, female supportiveness by male leadership, and female endurance by male action. Just like the yin-yang, Janie Crawford in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston has two sides to herself that contradict each other, but make her who she is. In this novel, Janie searches for independence, but in her marriage with Joe Starks, she is unwilling to stand up for herself to gain her independence.
To start off, in Janie’s marriage with Joe, she desires freedom as “[she] hurried out of the front gate and turned south” (Hurston 32). She escaped from her lifeless and loveless marriage with Logan in a quest for her independence. As Janie fled, she found Joe and traveled to the new town with him hoping that her new relationship would suffice her needs. In Eatonville, Joe gains power over the town along with power over Janie as he is appointed the new mayor. For example, Joe makes Janie work for him in the store: “You kin look after things whilst Ah drum up things otherwise” (Hurston 43). Janie feels that she is being controlled by Joe
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For example, when Joe “ordered Janie to tie up her hair around the store” (Hurston 55), Janie did not resist. Instead, she wore a head-rag at all times in the store and in public; Joe only let Janie put her luscious hair down around him. Another instance on one night when Janie made dinner, but the “bread didn't rise... and the rice was scorched” (Hurston 72). On account of this, Joe “slapped Janie until she had a ringing sound in her ears” (Hurston 72). Instead of speaking up to Joe and defending herself, Janie stood still and accepted his abuse. Hurston is depicting to her audience that even though Janie desperately sought for independence, she stood defenseless every time Joe controlled and abused
She could no longer take the abuse from Jody any longer. She confronted him in the middle of the store and strikes back. She insulted his “maleness that all men cherish” (Hurston 79). Jody struck Janie “with all his might and drove her from the store” (Hurston 80).
The main character Janie, throughout the novel has to make tough decisions. Janie first obstacle comes across her when her grandma Nanny decides that “ Yeah, Janie, youse got yo’ womanhoodon yuh. So Ah wants to see you married right away” ( Hurston 12).
“It was the time for sitting on porches besides the road. It was the time to hear things and talk. These sitters had been tongueless, earless, eyeless conveniences all day long,”(1) throughout the entire day people on the porch have looked down and judged others for being the way they are. In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God the dominant character Janie had a life full of dramatic aspects, with many influences. Her idea of porches and being gifted with the power to sit on them continually shine through the text.
In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. A character named Janie Crawford is introduced and she is yearning for love that warms her inside and out. She is married to a man named Logan Killicks he's older than her. Janie knows that they will not have a connection. The other man she marries is Joe Starks, he is also older and wealthy.
Janie feels arrogant as she believes her thinking is more valid than “dumb” Indians. Later when the hurricane does hit the novel reads, “They seemed to be sharing at the dark, but their eyes were watching God” (Hurston 160). This pivotal
Janie shows determination as she persists and struggles to define love on her own terms through her marriages. First, her determination shows when Janie runs away with Jody. She becomes aware that her marriage with Logan does not satisfy her goals and dreams for love, so she takes a chance and marries Jody. Hurston states, “Janie hurried out of the front gate and turned south.
Jody controlled major aspects of Janie’s life, such as her appearance, when he forces her to keep her hair up. Janie does not like that Jody feels the need to control her: “This business of the head-rag irked her endlessly. But Jody was set on it... that was because Joe never told Janie how jealous he was” (Hurston 55).
Porch. A covered shelter projecting in front of the entrance of a building. This inanimate object served to develop various themes throughout the book, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. She reveals the theme of jealousy and envy, gender inequality and a sense of community with the help of the porch.
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.
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie suffers from hardship in two relationships before she can find her true love. Janie explains to her best friend, Pheoby, how she searches for love. Therefore Pheoby wants to hear the true story, rather than listening to the porch sitters. Throughout the book Janie experiences different types of love with three different men; Logan Killicks, Joe Starks, and Vergible "Tea Cake" Woods. At 16 Janie marries Logan Killicks.
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 grandmother wants Janie to live the life that she herself could not live. Janie’s grandmother says, “Ah been waitin’ a long time, Janie, but nothin’ Ah been through ain’t too much if you just take a stand on high ground lak Ah dreamed” (Hurston 16). This is only the beginning of Janie’s journey. By listening to her grandmother’s advice, Janie is able to realize what she truly wants out of life and continues her quest to find
INTRO Nowadays, men and women are seen as equals, but it wasn’t always like this. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, we see that men have dominance in relationships over women, at least in the beginning. Not only does Hurston use the gender stereotype that men are dominant over women, she uses the stereotype of passive women and active men as well. Before Hurston creates Janie’s awareness of the stereotype, the novel opens with “Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board.
Janie Crawford Killiks Starks Woods is the main character in the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, where she learns what's it's like to go from marriage to marriage looking for love. In the novel, Hurston utilizes the pivotal moment when Janie realizes that marriage doesn’t always mean love to show Janie's coming of age and psychological development which is used to show that love doesn't always come first. Logan Killicks was Janie's first marriage, which was brought about after Nanny (her grandmother) decided that she need to be married after she caught Janie and a young boy kissing when she was 16. After that Janie finds herself being thrown into some random marriage with some man she barely knew, and for a reason
“The Yellow Mule” paints a similar picture in the beginning when the narrator describes, “Janie loved the conversation and sometimes she thought up good stories on the mule, but Joe had forbidden her to indulge” (Hurston 1231). This establishes the lording nature Janie’s husband possesses and the acute isolation that the woman is placed in. In both stories the husbands are domineering, patriarchal characters, although it comes more out of ignorance and self-absorption than intentional cruelty. They treat their wives as inferior beings, confining them to a simple and monotonous