The novel Their Eyes Were Watching God is not just the story of Janie Crawford, but an exploration into the deeply rooted impacts of voice. The novel explores the idea that a person’s voice can be a powerful tool for self-expression and empowerment, but it can also be suppressed by societal expectations and gender roles. Janie’s journey towards finding her voice and using it to assert her independence and identity is a testament to the importance of speech. The writing also reflects on Zara Neale Hurston’s own experience as a black woman in Jim Crow America. The use of an “unrefined” African American dialect throughout the novel’s narration celebrated the depth, intellectual complexity, and very existence of black culture, a theme revolutionary …show more content…
Originally a reclamation of her choice, or her freedom, Janie finds herself silenced by Jody, who overpowers her and forces her into a subservient role through his social ambitions, which originally attracted Janie to him. She reclaims her sexual freedom in the beginning of their relationship, however quickly becomes an object for Stark’s own pleasure, rather than an equal in a passionate union like she desires. However, after Jody’s death, Janie finally finds the strength to use her voice and express herself. She becomes a leader in the community and asserts her independence and identity through her words and actions. A key moment in her self-reclamation is her uncovering her hair again; Jody had forced her to cover her hair, which serves as a symbol of her sexual appeal and sexuality, thereby stripping her of her sexual power. The climax of Janie’s journey towards (re)finding her voice is when she returns to the new home she had made with Tea Cake, a lover of hers who she ran off with after Stark’s death, after Tea Cake Though Tea Cake’s presence also suppresses Janie’s voice, he is instrumental in teaching her her value, both sexually, and socially. In their relationship, Janie’s silence is for the first time empowering, a sacrifice that she willingly chose. When Tea Cake dies, she realizes that she is her own woman again. She has seen the horizon and what she has desired, and she Her return, alone and okay with that, represents a powerful assertion of her voice and her right to exist on her own terms. During her return she is described as having “her horizon like a great fish-net…” draped it over her shoulder. In the beginning of the novel, the horizon symbolized dreams, goals, and moments, but by the end, Janie has achieved the horizon. The horizon has gone from standing not for what she hopes for, but for what she has achieved, self-acceptance, fulfillment, and
Unlike Killicks where he threw aside her apron because he saw it as if that makes her less of the person that she is which she hates, she wants to feel young and beautiful but does not want to be a couch potato like her nanny, just sitting and staying where she's at never trying to do more for her life. Janie never wants to stop striving or reaching for something better at this point, mainly because she feels that there is always something she can do better or improve on. So when Tea Cake dies a part of her died with him in a way, all the time she spent with him was a part of the perfect life that she was living and she was so in love with him that it deeply impacted her life, but I don't believe that that destroyed who she was at the end of it. At that point, Janie's dream was not to find someone to take care of, but in a way what her dream was to be able to have more dreams and not just stop trying to reach for more just because she is happy now.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Hurston introduces readers to the life of Janie Crawford living in rural Florida during the early twentieth century. During this time, women, specifically black women, were considered to be property of men in the south. Legally, women had no voice. Janie Crawford, as well as many others find themselves in a society expecting more out of life than what the time period has to offer. Through love affairs, catastrophes and death, Hurston shows readers how a small voice can make a difference.
Once she is free from Joe Starks, Janie is able to accept things about her life and move on. Although she realized things about her grandmother, and claims later that “Ah done lived Grandma’s way, now Ah means tuh live mine” (114), the lasting effects that Nanny and her marriages had on her can still be felt in her relationship with Tea Cake. Tea Cake’s and Janie’s relationship starts with Janie being insecure in Tea Cake’s motivations with her. Janie was hurt in her previous relationships, and so is not confident in her feelings towards him, even trying to resist the thoughts. Despite this, Janie marries him and is able to do things that she could not do before in her previous relationships, and
Olivia Lea Mr. Dart Honors Perspectives in American Literature 25 Jan 2023 The Pursuance of Dreams in Their Eyes Were Watching God “... For no matter how far a person can go the horizon is still way behind you…” (Hurston 89). Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston follows Janie, a beautiful Black woman living in the South during the twentieth century.
Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, was distributed in 1937 and highlights a young lady from Florida named Janie Crawford who is on an excursion to discover an accomplice who will love her. In any case, Janie experiences three unique connections where she has been a casualty of abuse by every one of the three of her accomplices and
So much of life its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see. ”(193) and with the horizon as her cape, as if to show that she was now her own hero, Janie’s quest ended.
She didn’t change her mind but she agreed with her mouth. Her heart said, “Even so, you don’t have to cry about it.” This quote uses language in order to instill the idea that not only had Janie begun to find herself as a young woman but she also learned that the best way to speak as a young woman was to say nothing at all. Again, showing the concept of identity and also gender roles.
After Jody dies Janie encounters Tea Cake, a young man that not only lets her assert her voice but encourages her to do so. Janie's feelings are revealed about Tea Cake when she thinks, “He looked like the love thoughts of women. He could be a bee to a blossom-a pear tree blossoms in the spring.” (Hurston 106) Tea Cake’s relationship is different for Janie for he taught her the value of a healthy relationship where “there is no imbalance of power,” they respected “each other’s independence” letting Janie form her ”own decisions without fear of retribution or relation, and share decisions” as proven in the article “What Does a Healthy Relationship Look Like?”
To advance in society, the characters must stick together and not attempt to tear each other apart. It is hypocritical for someone to condemn another person for something that they also practice; “colorism and traditional U.S. racism are inextricably intertwined, yet distinct” (Harris 54). However, this demonstrates how racism has influenced the thoughts of those oppressed by it. It is ironic that although Janie is the person with the lightest skin and has grown up in a white household, she does not have these views. The people with darker skin have these colorist views toward her.
Zora Neale Hurston’s writing in Their Eyes Were Watching God, reflects the Harlem Renaissance through Janie 's individuality, and departs from the Harlem Renaissance with the common recurrence of black woman empowerment. In the novel, Hurston reflects the ideas of the Harlem renaissance with the ways in which Janie rebels and goes against norms for women.
Janie is silenced by her first two husbands, Logan Killicks and Joe Starks, which causes her to lose her identity
When Janie and Tea Cake open their house to their new friends in the Everglades, Janie compares her life now to her life in Eatonville with Joe. She notices that, unlike Joe, Tea Cake doesn’t forbid her from interacting and conversing with the men and women they’re spending time with. Janie realizes she could “talk some herself” (134). Janie is able to use her own voice while communicating, instead of remaining silenced while Tea Cake speaks and takes control over Janie’s opinions. The speaking abilities that Tea Cake doesn’t take away from her contributes to the even split of power in Janie’s relationship with Tea Cake.
By killing Tea Cake, in a self defense action, Janie overcomes the barrier of “men being superior” and not needing a man to live successfully. Through her experiences, she was able to ignore the gossip of her neighbors as she was criticized for overtaking her husband. By ignoring the gossip and unwavering towards the isolation, Janie overcomes the
Zora Neale Hurston wrote the novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God," which was released in 1937. The book is recognized as one of Hurston's most significant achievements and as a classic of African American literature. The novel is centered in the rural South and revolves around Janie Crawford, as she experiences love, death, and finding out who she is. The novel examines the theme of gender roles. It is a powerful story of a woman's struggle to be heard and to live her life according to her own principles.
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston wrote in a way that conveyed a message through her characters, using a storytelling "frame" to express her ideas. Hurston did not stop by means to get her point across. Hurston uses Janie’s thoughts and actions to represents how during Reconstruction, African Americans were trying to find their identities and achieve their dreams of independence. At the start of the novel Hurston begins to illustrate how African Americans in Eatonville feel about their lives.