Their Eyes Were Watching God Traits

After leaving Logan, Janie marries Joe Starks, believing that their marriage will flourish where her marriage with Logan failed, as Janie is the one choosing her partner, not Nanny. However, her initial attraction to Joe blinds her from his flaws and causes Janie to unknowingly enter into a more oppressive relationship than she previously had with Logan. Joe’s controlling nature becomes more apparent when he is around other people, as he yearns for a strong public persona in which he is tremendously respected. He craves to gain the admiration of the people of Eatonville and concludes that keeping Janie quiet is the best way to accomplish this. When the people of Eatonville prompt Janie to offer “words uh encouragement” Joe stops them, explaining that his “wife don’t know nothin’ ‘bout…speech-makin” (Hurston 43).

Joe is power hungry and seeks to dominate Janie, who cannot be held back and craves the freedom to manage her own life. With such caustic tension, it seems odd that Janie would stay with Joe until his death. Clearly, she was not afraid to walk out on a husband, so why did she choose to stay? Though Joe was frequently an oppressive dictatorial husband, he still offered more love to her than the cold, quasi-emotionless Logan Killicks. Only after finding love with Tea Cake, however, would Janie realize one of the major themes of the novel: in order to gain true happiness, you cannot sacrifice one desire for another, in her case freedom from oppression for love.

Therefore, both Joe and Janie are looked up to by the townspeople. To some extent, this could be considered a form of equality. Unfortunately, this is about where the equality stops. While Joe gains prominence through his own actions and words, Janie gains some prominence by doing what she is told to do. She is not permitted to voice her own opinions or join in the lighthearted gossiping which occurs outside of their store. Janie is expected to be the dutiful wife. If she makes a mistake, then she should have known better and therefore should accept her punishment quietly. Joe holds the obvious upper hand in the relationship until his death whereupon Janie inherits a large amount of money and learns to enjoy the freedom of living as her own person.

Throughout her marriages Janie has grown and become a mature woman. When she married Logan Killicks she was a young girl with no idea of the harsh world. She learned that she does not want to be with Logan. “Ah wants to want him sometimes” (Hurston; 3, 26). He does not treat her like wife should be treated, he treats her like a worker. She realizes that this horrible marriage to Logan is not what she dreamed about under the pear tree. When Janie meets Joe Starks he speaks to her in rhymes and promises her the world. Her dreams of a beautiful marriage are alive once again. Joe and Janie move to Eatonville, Florida, an all-black town where Joe becomes mayor. As time progresses and Joe gains more power and respect Janie feels lonely. Joe is so focused with his position that he unknowingly pushes Janie into loneliness and sadness. Joe had taken all the fun and life

Zora Neale Hurston had an intriguing life, from surviving a hurricane in the Bahamas to having an affair with a man twenty years her junior. She used these experiences to write a bildungsroman novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, about the colorful life of Janie Mae Crawford. Though the book is guised as a quest for love, the dialogues between the characters demonstrate that it is actually about Janie’s journey to learn how to not adhere to societal expectation.

Janie's attraction to Joe Starks' charisma quickly diminishes when his overdose of ambition and controlling personality get the best of him. Although he is a big voice in the town, Janie only sees him as a big voice. All his money and power have no effect on her when all he does is ridicule and control her. He makes it clear where Janie belongs: "Ah never married her for nothin' lak dat. She's uh woman and her place is in de home" (Hurston 43). This is ironic because when she is with Logan, she wants to be in the house doing her own thing, but Joe is making it sound like confinement. It's as if she has no choice in the matter and Joe intends to make his power over her known. People have different desires and sometimes when we get caught up in our success, we can end up hurting others. Joe's reply to Janie is a great example of the insensitivity that can form from the pride we can possibly inherit when we achieve success: "Ah told you in de first beginnin' dat Ah aimed tuh be uh big voice.

The book, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is about Janie Crawford and her quest for self-independence and real love. She finds herself in three marriages, one she escapes from, and the other two end tragically. And throughout her journey, she learns a lot about love, and herself. Janie’s three marriages were all different, each one brought her in for a different reason, and each one had something different to teach her, she was forced into marrying Logan Killicks and hated it. So, she left him for Joe Starks who promised to treat her the way a lady should be treated, but he also made her the way he thought a lady should be. After Joe died she found Tea Cake, a romantic man who loved Janie the way she was, and worked hard

Her decision to leave Logan for Joe Starks shows her determination to achieve her dream of love; she does not want to give and take this dream for stability. Logan is extremely ignorant of Janie′s feelings. When she tries to talk with him about them he simply replies: "′Ah′m getting′ sleepy Janie. Let′s don′t talk no mo′.′" (Hurston,30) He does not realize that Janie is serious about leaving him and that she wants him to show his feelings for her. Instead, he tries to hurt her like she hurt him, by pretending not to be worried about her leaving him. Janie gets to know Joe during her marriage with Logan. Right from the beginning he treats her like a lady. This is one reason why Janie is so attracted to him.

Janie initially sees Joe Starks as an enticing option to better her life; however, his frequent use of the phrase "I god" emphasizes his commitment to living under the white hierarchy (Hurston 34). Joe's dialect reveals that he sees himself as a god-like figure, but never able to fully able to achieve the power of a white man, shown by the lack of capitalization of "god." However, this pursuit leads him to dominate Janie's life, most notably her appearance in public. Contrasting with the relative physical inactivity of Joe Starks, the sight of another man touching Janie's hair spurs him to "[feel] like rushing forth with the meat knife and chopping off the offending hand" (Hurston 55). Hurston's dialect here, not in the typical spoken dialogue, but the biblical allusion of cutting off an offending body part to maintain the safety of the whole suggests that Joe considers Janie's beauty a foil to his greatness. Julie Newman argues, "He clearly represents an aggressive, white-identified capitalism, consuming Janie" (821). In ridding himself of his African American heritage and dialect in favor of white culture, Joe elevates himself above the other citizens of Eatonville, including Janie. After nearly twenty years of oppression, Janie rebukes Joe's control on her life: "When you pull down yo' britches, you look lak de change uh life" (Hurston 79). Hurston's use of "you" amidst other more familiar dialect suggests Janie noticed Joe's infatuation with white hierarchy, yet still used traditional African American speech to break publicly with Joe's rule. However, Janie already criticized a male representative of the white culture, Logan Killicks. While in bed, representative of the most intimate part of marriage, Janie wonders

Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God tells the story of Janie’s journey towards spiritual enlightenment and her development of individuality, largely through Janie’s relationships with others. Hurston uses the themes of power, control, abuse, and respect, in Janie’s relationships with Nanny, Killicks, Starks, and Tea Cake, to effectively illustrate how relationships impact identity and self-growth.

Joe “did not represent the sun-up and pollen and blooming trees,” (29) foreshadowing that Janie would not find her true love in this relationship. Indeed, she enters an oppressive marriage with Joe. Joe “order[es] Janie to tie up her hair” (55) and cover it with a rag because her hair attracts men and he “want[s] her submission” (71). He suppresses her sexuality and strips her of her independence. Consequently, “[s]he had no more blossomy openings dusting pollen over her man.”

Janie is the one who is constantly listening to Joe and actually taking action upon what he says, while Joe is the one who tells Janie what to do all the time. Joe is at his death when Janie starts to tell Joe that he is too engrossed in himself and hasn't been willing to hear what anyone has to say. Janie has been the one to obey in the relationship and Joe is the commander. Janie tells Joe, “All dis bowin down, all dis obedience under yo' voice-dat ain't whut Ah rushed off down de road tuh find out about you.” 86 Making Janie listen to him makes Joe powerful so in the relationship Joe has the power and is the commander, while Janie obeys his commands as a maid for him. This entire relationship Janie has had to pretend to be happy with Joe, and be the perfect wife for him. She has been doing all of his work for him, like a servant. At the beginning of their relationship Janie thought this would be a perfect marriage and everything would work out, but she was wrong. Janie had wanted a relationship where both sides of the relationship give and receive, and both people get to share their opinions and

In the novel, Hurtson made it seem that Joe Starks was a selfish man with an ego. However, readers fail to acknowledge that he was very caring towards Janie. Joe charmed Janie with: “De day you puts yo hand in mine Ah wouldn’t let de sun go down on us single”(Hurtson 29). Joe promised the life Janie always wanted. If Joe

She feels her hair is her best feature and her most treasured asset. This marks a vital phase in Janie’s life as she becomes submissive in order to be compliant to what Joe demands of her and allows his taunts and abuses on a day-to-day basis. Through the imprisonment of Janie’s hair, Hurston demonstrates the repression of freedom and independence, which Janie is unable to prosper. Another important and critical development phase in her life started when Janie was finally able to liberate herself from the dominating grip of Jody. The most significant event in her life is marked after Jody’s death, “Before she slept that night she burnt up every one of her head rags and went about the house next morning with her hair in one thick braid swinging well below her waist” (Hurst 106).

After showing much resistance, Janie’s self interests are neglected as she humbly begins her journey.”De nigger woman is de mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see. Ah been prayin’ fuh it tuh be different wid you”. Ironically through yielding her wishes she becomes the mule her Nanny acted in prevention of; consequently, Janie is stripped away from her childhood environment of indifference and thrown into the world to be an emotional spectator at the mercy of others. While during and well beyond her marriages, Janie is suppressed through emotional obstacles and conflicting views on what her role should be. Being