Janie's Expectations

The significance of the yellow mule in “Their Eyes Were Watching God” shows the relationship of Janie with Joe. It significantly implies the repression of Janie by her husband Jody. In the story, “Janie loved the conversations....but Joe had forbidden her to indulge,” reveals that Joe didn’t allow her to participate in conversation with other people. He enjoyed in whatever he likes, but she didn’t allow to do so. She expected to obey for her husband like others. “He ordered Janie to tie up her hair around the store” reveals that she did everything to his happiness not for her. Even though she is a wife of a mayor, she didn’t get any privilege rather she lost her social relationship with other people. She lived under the dominance of her husband

At the end of chapter 6, Janie rebukes the men and her response not only highlights the gender inequality problem in the novel, but it also shows a major character development in Janie. Not only of what Janie says is startling, but the fact that she said something made me see Janie in a different perspective. Janie?s opening line, ?Sometimes God gits familiar wid us womenfolks too and talks His inside business?, caught my attention because her response is against societal norms. Women are not classified as actual individuals, and they are expected to be obedient and quiet. In this quote, Janie asserts that women are individuals, and even God speaks to women as well. Janie bringing up God strengthens her argument

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. Janie reacts in different ways to people in her life trying to control her, and this can be seen with Grannie, Jody, and Tea Cake.

Janie tended to follow her husbands around and went wherever they went. An example of that vice occurred when she went to Jacksonville and forsakened Eatonville for a man named Tea Cake. It took place after Jody had died and she started to have a romance with him. He wanted to move to Jacksonville, where he could get a job, and the town did not like her being with him. “Janie’s train left too early in the day for the town to witness much, but

Throughout the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, author Zora Neale Hurston exploits and recognizes the certain standards that are set for women. Compared to their counterparts, women are perceived as a group that does not deserve the same daily rights as men. They are seen as “less than,” and are expected to get married and care for their spouse, prepare the dinner every evening, and make sure the house is neat and tidy. The protagonist, Janie Mae Crawford, faces this problem first hand with each of her three husbands. Without an easy fix to these problems, Janie views the horizon as her escape outlet and as a symbol of oppression. Zora Neale Hurston uses the motif of the horizon during the novel in order to make known the gap between the two sexes, and to demonstrate a woman’s thinking of her future as a free human being.

During Janie's first marriage, she outwardly conforms to the societal view of marriage, and the domestic wife, while inwardly questioning if she can learn to disregard her true

when she addresses that Janie Starks, the protagonist, never got to fulfill her dreams. Janie’s

Zora Neale Hurston, an author during the Harlem Renaissance, wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God, an amazing novel written about the losses and loves of a lady named Janie Crawford. The author describes the way Janie found out who she really was and what love was throughout her three marriages. Janie’s first two marriages were unfulfilling and not healthy for herself. Janie realized what true love was when she met Tea Cake.

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.

Some people view Janie as a woman who should be dependent on her husband, following the traditional roles of women, being satisfied with her life as the less powerful sex. Janie should follow the stereotypical, traditional role women follow, where “men are encouraged… to place [themselves] at the center… while women are forced to center around and serve the needs” of others (Ellison 98). The main goal of women is to take care of the family and the home. Janie, including all other women around the world should be satisfied with her life as the less powerful sex. “A gulf of inequality between men and women… establishes men’s superiority and normative status” (Ellison 98). “The women actively participated in their part of the work, therefore, they complement the men’s part” (Gonzalez 32). This is seen when “the men hunt game and the women clean and dry the meat. The women are

In the 1970’s women were expected to stay at home and take care of the household. They were usually not expected to further their education, but instead take care of the children or tend to their husbands’ needs. In 1972 Judy Brady decided to let the readers of Ms. Magazine know how she felt about her “duties”. In her short essay, “Why I Want a Wife,” Brady uses pathos to connect and appeal to the reader’s emotions while explaining why she wants a wife.

When freedom has thought about it is often associated with the soaring of an eagle. Janie’s goal of freedom was not completed. From when the book started to its end, Janie was not free. If we look at some of the events in Janie’s life we can come up with a list of things that stopped Janie from being free. events like her marriages and her childhood memories. It was while Janie was a young teen she was always working. Going into her first relationship she was always working, her husband made her work like a mule. In her second marriage, she was not adequate to do much. She could not let her hair down, she could not express her mind, and she could not play checkers with her husband or anyone else. Playing checkers may not look like much, but in the book checkers

Women are confined to single roles and are expected to be submissive and respectful. When Joe married Janie, he forced her into a role of subservience. Hurston indicates that Joe attempted to mold Janie into what white women do on a daily basis which is to “sit on their high stools on the porches of their house and relax.” Doing this, Joe believes he is granting his wife all the wishes she ever wanted while neglecting the fact that Janie takes pleasure in the simple things in life like chatting, laughing, fishing and dancing. “Janie [especially] loved the conversation[s]” that took place on the porch and sometimes “she thought up good stories on the mule, but Joe had forbidden her to indulge” because he didn’t want her to talk after those “trashy people” (Page 104). The porch also gives a clear vision of the how segregation in this town of Eatonville. Men sat around on the porch and played games but women were not allowed to participate in these activities because it lacked “class.” However, clearly not all men are alike so when Tea Cake came along, Janie felt the freedom she never experienced in her past relationships. Even before meeting Tea Cake, the death of Joe exonerated Janie from the shackles that were placed on her individuality and "[she] did what she had never done before, that is, thrust herself into the conversation." (Page

A wise woman once said, "The more a daughter knows about her mother 's life, the stronger the daughter" (http://www.wiseoldsayings.com/mother-and-daughter-quotes/). As any girl raised by their mother can attest, the relationship between a mother and her daughter is a learning experience. As young girls, you look up to you mother as your greatest role model and follow in their steps closely. In Jamaica Kincaid 's short story "Girl", a mother uses one single sentence in order to give her daughter motherly advice. Her advice is intended to help her daughter, but also to scold her at the same time. This mother is strong believer in domestic knowledge and believes that through this wisdom her daughter will be spared from a life of promiscuity or being, in her words, a "slut". Most importantly, it allows readers to see the detrimental measures of gender roles that are brought upon young girls just coming into womanhood. It is through the understood setting, constructive

While married to Jody, Janie is never allowed to play games. The other women of the town use games as an excuse to sit on the porch and talk. Jody does not want Janie sitting on the porch or similarly conversing with the other women. After Jody dies, Tea Cake comes into town and flirts with Janie. He asks her to play checkers with him, and after being deprived of playing games, Janie feels that this meant he respects her and feels as though they are equal. The game of checkers is used to represent respect and equality.