Zora Neale Hurston's Response To Their Eyes Were Watching God

She admits, “Her marriage to Leonce Pontellier was purely an accident, in this respect resembling many other marriages which masquerade as the decrees of Fate…closing the portals forever behind her upon the realm of romance and dreams” (Chopin 18). In marrying Leonce, Edna abandoned her hopes for love and adventure. Although she thought that she would outgrow her childish desires, Edna still yearned for something more in her life. She did not fit her role as a housewife, “In short, Mrs. Pontellier was not a mother-woman…They were women who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands” (Chopin 10), Edna is not one of them. She is unapologetic when she chooses how to live her life.

It isn’t only the money, which I don’t deny has helped. But what would have become of Shabanu.” Dadi is making Shabanu marry Rahim just to make peace between their families. Dadi knows Shabanu doesn’t want to marry Rahim but still makes her because he know it will make their family rich and keep them out of danger. Further in the book Women are valued even less their main purpose in life was to marry and have children. As a woman in a marriage you must obey your husbands every request.

This moment is further representative of how Tea Cake is receptive to her desires and feelings. Others would disregard or put down her feelings, but with Tea Cake, they are accepted. She can express her identity with Tea Cake without

Her thoughts take precedence over images, Instead of being given lovely images of her children, the reader is left to imagine the fleeting moments of mother-child interaction. Unlike with the idealized relationships of Madame Ratignolle, much of Edna’s raising of her children is out of necessity and they are simply a force that keeps Edna from having her own individuality. In the society represented in The Awakening, it is clear that mothers who err from the patterns of married female behavior are frowned upon by their husbands. Chopin also makes it clear that the husbands in the book, especially Edna’s husband Leonce, feel that it is necessary to intervene in their wives lives, in order to make judgments of their profession as a mother and wife. In her husband’s relationship with Edna there is no question of his devotion to her, but the reader cannot ignore the issue of economics that continually comes up anytime he finds himself dissatisfied with his wife.

Although Tea Cake offers Janie a new sense of "place," a role of partnership and mutual connection, and a new sense of "self," a more positive image of her own nature, his choices raise questions as far as his character is concerned. These concerns include his recurring absences as well as his manipulation of Janie 's image concerning his gambling habits. This type of male-dominating character is similar to that of the men from her past marriages, and Tea Cake 's jealousy becomes apparent when he "whip[s] Janie. Not because her behavior justified his jealousy, but it relieved that awful fear inside him. Being able to whip her reassured him in possession"

Furthermore, she did not become forced or stuck in a marriage she did not want. Babi and Fariba’s marriage were consensual, for Fariba had actually proposed to him on her own because they had actually loved each other (Page 120.) Also, she showed the love she had for her husband when she would talk affectionately about him to her friends (Page …) In her older years, because of her depression, she stopped handling

Nunkie was constantly on Tea Cakes toes and almost throwing herself at him. Janie describes how she noticed Tea Cake not fighting her off as much as she expected. She could have gotten scared hat he was intrigued by Nunkie. The idiom that her fear was growing into tree shows that she was only a little nervous at first but once she watched closely, she realized that she should be worried about Tea Cakes loyalty. Tea Cake not fending Nunkie off as much as Janie expected could actually mean that Janie hoped Tea Cake would avoid contact with any other woman while she was dating him.

As much as a reader might agree with Sherley Anne Williams’ ideas of Hurston’s writing, there are some concepts a reader may question. Although the author, Sherley Anne Williams, was correct in suggesting Hurston including the shield of protection for Janie from her grandmother, Nanny, was not creating a picture of life looking like reality; however, her idea that Janie had an insufficient amount of wisdom about herself as a whole is inaccurate because Janie does have self-awareness as she chose who she wanted to be, even if the ideas were pushed away by others. Sherley Anne Williams includes a quick understanding of how Janie sees herself. Discussing how Janie saw her self for the first time in a picture, notiving she was black. Because Janie

This could have been placed directly after they moved into the new house, but having her wait so she could finish her schooling shows that it is something that she really desires and is not a wandering thought that she picked up along the way and decided to run with, which she was often reprimanded for. This also brings closure for the reader because it puts Beneatha with a man that she truly loves, not one that has been handpicked to satisfy all of her and her families needs. Along with this, she is also wearing her hair in its natural state. Originally she had been mocked for this, but after searching long and hard she had finally found who she wanted to

Fleur Beale wants readers to understand that no matter what others think, what others talk about doesn’t matter as you should do what you think is right. The main character, Hannah Carstairs was sure she didn’t want to get married but everyone who knew her believed she should. Despite the talk about this and disapproval from others she didn’t give up her opinions and stayed strong with what she believed. This is important as often in life we will have an original opinion which is good but courage is sticking with that opinion even when it is obvious that others disagree and not changing that because of this mater. A movie that is similar to this book is Divergent.