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Gender Roles In Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching

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In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, she uses her characters to challenge the gender roles of that time. In her book, women are the submissive and weaker gender. They cannot gain power without a influential or wealthy man backing her up which is usually connected by marriage. Considering since women have no powers in society, in marriages they also don’t have much power, therefore the husband suppresses their wives and doesn’t give them any freedom. Because the females are scared of the males, they don't fight back and just keep it in. However, the main character, Janie, doesn’t accept this submissiveness and fights back, therefore challenging the roles of gender and breaking them for herself.

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