Janie By Hurston: A Feminist Analysis

Daniel Webster was very expressive in The Seventh of March Speech. He talked about how America should be a place of peace, liberty, and strength. However, his words certainly did not match up with the fact that he was a bystander of the injustice of slavery. His speech lacked the importance of African American 's circumstances entirely. Although his speech, informed us that his primary concern was that America be strongly united, and secure, built on a good foundation, able to resolve issues, and act as a national family, he doesn 't suggest nor help create a resolution to the issue. In the first paragraph, it says, “"Hear me for my cause." I speak to-day, out of a solicitous and anxious heart for the restoration to the country...” This quote is a clear indicator that he wants the greater good for America. However, can we really consider what he says to be the greater good for America as a whole or just the whites and higher class citizens? Although I disagree with the way Webster views things, I took the time to look at things from his standpoint. Webster was known to be a great senator and it was because of his strong will and desire for the country to get better. Obviously he has people thinking the same as him. They don 't see that Daniel Webster contradicts himself throughout the entire speech. He communicates his concern on how the union should be and how it 's the nation 's job to unite, and enforce freedom, etc. while camouflaging his true feelings about slavery. One

Like other Southern women authors of the early twentieth century, Hurston does not categorically reject the association of women and nature, but reconstructs that bond as empowering and active in contrast to the passive identification with the tamed nature of the pastoral garden. In Their Eyes , one important way that Hurston counters the pastoral ideal of the middle landscape is by incorporating elements of Afro-Caribbean Voodoo that undermine the initial separation of humans and nature on which the pastoral myth depends. Replacing the polarized categories of culture/nature, male/female, and subject/object with a more fluid, relative, and interdependent model, Hurston envisions a more egalitarian society of communal values free from the ideology of dominance that characterizes the masculine gaze on a feminized landscape of the male pastoral tradition. She also suggests in her best-known novel that the acquisitive values of white-dominated society fosters an alienating conception of nature as something distinctly “other” estranging people from a natural world regarded as little more than an amalgamation of commodities.

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

For decades, women have always been viewed as nothing more than just a housewife. Their main goal in life was to get married and have children. From a young age, they were taught how to cook, clean and properly take care of their children and husband. They were looked down upon if they were not married nor had children by a certain age. The common thought was there was something wrong with them if women were not married by the time limit. Women were never thought of becoming lawyers or doctors because of the restrictions of the functions they had to do, based on their gender. They were just considered property belonging to their spouse. In Kate Chopin’s works such as The Awakening, she contradicted the roles and stereotypes of women and

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

This article is a curtain raiser of a self, ofan African American voice which lays bare the multiple voices buried deep into the conscience. The study of Dust Tracks on a Road – an autobiography of Zora Neale Hurston, affords an insight into the life of black women of the twenty first century. Zora Neale Hurston’s autobiography has been denounced as shallow and dishonest. However, a close reading of the text in terms of its narrative strategies and persona links the work to the African American continuum. It argues that a distinct woman’s voice must be heard in order to understand how the female experience may be different from the dominant male tradition, but, equally authentic. Her attempt to voice the voicelessness of black women has focussed on the question of the mercury identity of the postcolonial writer of the modern era. Her autobiography

The beauty of marriage is the lovely relationship, communion, and balance that equals strive for full humanity of women and men. However, this ideal visualization of marriage started to loose value and it was converted into a division or inequality between women and men. Love started to be a constant and endless research, and stereotype started to weaken women and give power to men. These were common characteristics of the late 19th and 20th century. This being the situation, Zora Neale Hurston, an American novelist, wrote in 1937 her masterwork entitled Their Eyes Were Watching God. Her purpose was to sensitize and show the audience the emotional effects of gender inequality. Love, society, freedom, dreams, goals, compassion, gender, and marriage are the main themes in the novel. All these together form the story of an innocent and dreamer woman named Janie Crawford that tries to find love in her three marriages. Throughout the novel, she creates meaning to the dependence of marriage to gender roles, and emphasizes how this can shape relationships in a social way. Therefore, women and men play a role that affects positively and negatively marriages in order to represent a particular social group.

White men have historically been the group with the most power. This power has allowed (and still allows them) to make "standards" that others in society are expected to conform to. From the capture of African men and women that led to slavery, to the plans to defund Planned Parenthood in the modern day, decisions that negatively affect other groups are often made by white men. Men in general, have been able to create a canon for society that causes women to have to fall in line or be subjected to ridicule. Janie's journey embodies how men attempt to control women, however, Janie showcases that women do have a responsibility to resist such imposition and rise against it.The era in which the novel takes place is fraught with old-fashioned ideals. The ideology that women are meant to be subservient to their husbands was prevalent during this time and caused many women to live out their married lives miserably, often being abused both emotionally and physically. Janie is forced to marry at a

The horizon, the place where the sky meets the earth, where the sun emerges with soft light and retreats to rest, the first one who let us know that the earth was round and what looks to be the destination of migrating birds. The horizon has been our farthest and yet closest neighbor, teacher, and home and in Hurston’s captivating novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, she uses this powerful symbol to represent in its great expanse, a yearning that keeps restless spirits in flight. No one can see over the horizon and so it remains an ambiguous destination characterized only by the feeling of satisfaction. Though few take up in its pursuit, everyone has their own unique horizon; Janie’s is to find love but not just any love as she comes to learn

During the late 19th century to the early 20th century women, especially black women, barely had a say in anything done within the family. Janie was different, she was able to control her own destiny simply by leaving Logan for Joe, and marrying Tea Cake after Joe’s death. Janie was raised by her grandmother due to the fact that her mother was not around during this time. Her grandmother was raised in a time where there was no hope for a chance at a better life. Her grandmother told Janie that black women were the mules of the world (Hurston 14) , representing that they are the lowest of society and are used by people. Although the main ideas are clear, the symbolization in each of Janie’s marriages with Logan, Joe, and Tea Cake all symbolize different ideas.

There are many different ways to end a story by including the way the plot is driven from one direction to the other while keeping the suspense in motion. The writer often surprises the reader with something completely different than what was expected to happen in the events of the storyline. A twist can be manipulated in the story to prevent any obvious predictions to disclose any further revelations in the plot. The use of a plot twist can come in different ways, such as revealing a little bit of the character traits, while other times the twist can be subtle by altering the beliefs of the reader through misconception towards the ending of the story. Just like in the story of “Sweat” by Zora Hurston and the film “Dolores

Janie`s feminism is visible also through her strong sense of individualism. Her story presented in the novel is often considered “as a vehicle of feminist protest through its condemnation of the restrictiveness of bourgeois marriage and through its exploration of intraracial sexism and male violence” (Jordan, 1988). Her struggle in which she wants to free herself from her grandmother`s influence is presented as a gradual process. In her first marriage, she is not strong enough to decide for herself. More importantly, Janie gets married for the first time because her grandmother wants her to do so. She hopes that her granddaughter will find financial security and, what is more, she will not have to work. Janie`s second husband also does not

Hurston ' grandmothers fear reflected that of many African Americans at that time: that a bold, brazen personality towards white people could be dangerous and result in punishment such as lynching. Her grandmother had known slavery any its deadly implications, and wanted nothing of the sort to plague her precious grandchild.

It surmises that women have much more control of their dreams and hopes than men do. Because the author began this novel with this gender difference the audience can assume that this will later become an important theme, especially with the main character Janie. The protagonist, Janie is characterized as looking very youthful effectively stating that the only way Janie was to be with a younger man was either for her money or looks. Yet, in reality this is not the case but it showcases the archaic mentality of the superiority of men especially in this society. Pearl states that “[her] husband ain’t fussy” but in reality women were considered property in this time period. It was commonplace for a man to beat his wife or child; this especially contrasts with Janie’s independence. It’s also important to note that while the southern jargon these woman use many sound faintly illiterate they are not unintelligent women. I consider myself independent so I very much relate to Janie’s various urges thus far. My mother always stated that she was fearful that her mother raised her to rely too much on other people so she raised my two sisters and I to dependent on almost no one and to be as self-sufficient as possible. As I read continue to read about Janie I definitely think I will see aspects of myself in

The idea of marriage and what was considered an ideal union has drastically evolved. Marriage has only become an option in our civilization it’s no longer a social requirement, neither a priority for a female or male to get marry. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” Charlotte Perkins Gilman illustrates a controlling and dysfunctional relationship that also relates to “The Story of an Hour” where Kate Chopin also reveals a dysfunctional and unhappy marriage. When paired together, both pieces of writing portrait the other side of marriage where everything is not just a happy ending and it’s shown as incarceration and loss of freedom. Also, both writing take place in the nineteenth century, a time period when marriage was considered the right thing to do