Analysis Of Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston

Children most often like to make their parents proud. Whether it is pursuing the career of their childhood dreams, or by simply making an “A” on a test. Examples like such occasionally lead to high expectations that the child may not be able to meet. Sometimes those expectations contradict the dreams of their own, leading up to the most crucial question. To please the parents or to please oneself? A situation like this is very difficult to tackle. The child has a burden to carry, after all that their parents have sacrificed for them. To let someone as important as that down, is a conflict Janie has to face and find an answer to. In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie has a similar conflict with Nanny. Janie feels pressured by Nanny’s expectations of her love

You don’t mean no harm,” exclaimed Nanny (Hurston 13). Nanny fears danger and thinks Janie lacks protection as she think her time will come soon; “Ah can’t be always guidin’ yo’ feet from harm and danger. Ah wants to see you married right away” (13). From Janie’s reaction, we can tell that she is very shocked with what Nanny says. “Me, married? Naw, Nanny, no ma’am! Whut Ah know ‘bout uh husband?” Janie spits out (12). Then again, Janie is only 16, but after all that Nanny has done for her, she doesn’t want to let Nanny down. Janie feels pressured to please her Nanny, but through marriage? She is unsure. Through this exchange in conversation, Janie invisions Logan Killicks “desecrating the pear tree” (14). By making the comparison of the pear tree to herself, she is hesitant on who to listen to. On Nanny’s final days, she made it clear that Janie should take her advice and whispered “Lawd, you know mah heart. Ah done de best Ah could do. De rest is left to you.” With Nanny’s death being so sudden, Janie felt obligated follow Nanny’s advice (24). By doing so, “She knew now that marriage did not make love,” instead, her “first dream {is} dead”