the society she lives in is trapping her and trying to keep her from reaching her full potential. Maya feels like the white society is keeping her and her people in bondage, by saying subliminal things and doing certain actions to keep them on a lower level than whites. The speech that the white man spoke did nothing but clarify the societies expectations of people of color. Maya got angry because she wants to break free from those expectations. She wants to be able to have her own aspirations and not let her future be shaped based on the society that she lives in and what they expect from her. According to Elizabeth Fox Genoese’s essay called “Emphasis on Community in Caged Bird” she says that unbreakable barriers closed black communities …show more content…
Although Maya struggles with freedom while growing up, being socially, physically, and mentally trapped in bondage had a big impact on her life adventures and quest for freedom. In comparison to Huck, Jim, and Maya, Janie struggles with freedom in a different way. She wants to find a relationship where she can be free to do things that she isn't use to doing, things that the society she lives in doesn't expect from her. In Janie’s past 2 marriages, her husbands were controlling, abusive, and ultimately didn't have Janie’s best interest at heart. After the death of her 2nd husband Jody, Janie is actually a lot happier. She feels free to do as she pleases. At Joe’s funeral, Janie laughed at how pitiful everybody thinks she is because of her being widowed. She laughed at all of them because “she knew that they knew plenty of women who were alone; that she was not the first they’d ever seen. Besides she liked being lonesome for a change. This freedom feeling was fine.” (Hurston, 90) in Roger Rosenblatt’s essay called “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, he thinks that the conflict which Janie represents, between freedom or passion, and restraint or reserve, has a special addition in black
In Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie, the protagonist, tells the story of her ascension to adulthood and several of the lessons she learned along the way. Though married three times, her second marriage to Joe Starks had the most formative impact on her transition to maturity. Given that Joe played such a crucial role in this affair, we can classify him as a type of parent to Janie. Later, after her final marriage, Janie reflects on her life and is at peace. By that point, she came to realize how to be truly happy.
In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie has allowed us to better understand the restraints that women in society had to deal with in a male dominated society. Her marriage with Logan Killicks consisted of dull, daily routines. Wedding herself to Joe Starks brought her closer to others, than to herself. In her final marriage to Vergible Woods, also known as Tea Cake, she finally learned how to live her life on her own. In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie suffered through many difficult situations that eventually enabled her to grow into an independent person.
Joe constantly felt the need to make Janie feel horrible about herself. He would take control of everything she would do and Janie couldn’t do anything but feel sad. Hurston says, “The years took all the fight out of Janie’s face. For a while she thought it was gone from her soul. No matter what Jody did she said nothing” Saying nothing showed her husband that she let this mistreatment happen to her without speaking up for her rights. Being gone from her sole shows that Janie didn’t even know who she was anymore because she couldn’t even make simple choices for herself. This becomes a problem because Janie couldn’t even find happiness in her relationship, which is far from self-actualizing. These two quotes both show Janie’s passivity through silence and the feeling of worthlessness. This may be an example from Janie’s life, but this became a problem for many women whose husbands follow gender hierarchies to feel like they have more power over their wife. Society always views men to have more power and to be a more powerful figure than women which causes uncomfort in relationships. This strive of power stops people from reaching self-actualization because they are always looking for others to be better than instead of looking to reach their fullest potential. Reaching self-actualization is a big goal for many people because you
Janie, like Esperanza of House on Mango Street, matures through her journey through the novel. However, unlike Esperanza, matured more mentally and emotionally than she did physically. Janie’s most important lessons that she learned was the ones involved with love. When she was on the brink of feeling sexual desires, she started kissing a young man at the end of her gate, but her Grandmother (who raised her) resented the idea of her granddaughter would marry a statusless man with no wealth. Consequently, she demanded that Janie would marry a wealthy farm/land owner named Logan Killucks. Janie was repulsed when confronted with this idea because Logan was an older man and was simply unattractive, but she eventually bought the myth that marriage would lead to love between the two of them. This couldn’t be farther from the truth, and she ended up resenting him even more once they were married due to his unhygienic nature, his desire of her working on his land with him, and lack of affection. Her experience taught the first lesson on her life journey and “She knew now that marriage did not make love. Janie’s first dream was dead, so she became a woman” (Hurston Ch. 3). In addition, her marriage to Mr. Killucks influenced her to run of with a charming man named
Throughout the Novel Janie struggles with handling the opinions of others and allowing them to affect how she sees herself. For instance Hurston writes “some people could look at a mud puddle and see an ocean with ships. Here Nanny had taken the biggest thing God ever made, the horizon- for no matter how far a person can go the horizon is still way beyond you- and pinched it into such a little bit of a thing that she could tie it about her granddaughter’s neck tight enough to choke her” (Hurston 89). Here Hurston demonstrates that others will always see things differently from one's perspective and Janie’s ongoing internal conflict with doing what would make her happy or doing what will satisfy those around her. However at the end of the novel Janie ultimately departs from the beliefs of others and displays self empowerment by disregarding the opinions of others over her actions. Similarly Hurston states “so she was free and the judge and everybody up there smiled with her and shook her hand. And the white women cried and stood around her like a protecting wall”(Hurston 188). This quote from the novel indicates that Janie displays self empowerment throughout the course of the novel and individual progress. This quote also shows the ideal of equality because although Janie is mixed she has always made her African
Initially Janie was raised in a impecunious African American household by her grandmother. She was taught from a young age that marriage equals love and that women depend on men for financial security. Janie wanted a love “sweet…lak when you sit under a pear tree” (29) but instead receives Logan, a man who wants her to “chop and tote wood” and calls her “spoilt rotten.” (31) Janie was stuck to succumb to these expectations when she was with Logan. However, Janie’s second marriage begins with a personal choice that Janie makes to leave Logan and follow Jody, a man whose plan was to build “a town all outa colored folks” and become a leader in the new city. Just the fact that she left her first husband was a very bold move, but the profound point is that Janie chooses to get together with another man. Janie expresses her true feelings and voice by leaving Logan and telling him that he “ain’t done [her] no favor by marryin’ [her.]” This displays that Janie’s views on marital expectations have took a turn and she will no longer be put under this illusion of a perfect woman during this time period. However this newly acquired confidence that Janie had gained
herself. Janie, all her life, had been pushed around and told what to do and how to live her life. She searched and searched high and low to find a peace that makes her whole and makes her feel like a complete person. To make her feel like she is in fact an individual and that she’s not like everyone else around her. During the time of ‘Their Eyes’, the correct way to treat women was to show them who was in charge and who was inferior. Men were looked to as the superior being, the one who women were supposed to look up to and serve. Especially in the fact that Janie was an African American women during these oppressed
In The Novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie does find herself at the end of the novel. Zora Neale Hurston displays this perfectly, with all the conflicts and struggles going on she finds her way to her true voice. All the husbands she has gone through, and what she has experienced. Hurston effectively shows Janie’s victory over oppression throughout the book. She has allowed to use her language as power, and use that power to grow into what she is at the end of the book. This movement allows her the opportunity to explore and form her ideas and voice in solitude. These external variables cause her to look inward and not depend on others as a source of survival. When she finally comes to terms with her influence, she stops fleeing. She
Women during this time did not necessarily have the amount of freedom that Janie was able to have due to stereotypes and their husbands sometimes. Janie did not truly gain freedom until her second husband Joe passed away. Janie took care of herself after he died which was the opposite of what was going on in this time period because usually the husband in the household is the provider. Janie has a sense of freedom and independence because she is taking care of herself and she was able to uncover her hair from the rags after Joe
Most directly, Janie was alienated by her Grandmother. Janie sought after a natural and passionate relationship with a man from the beginning, believing that marriage was the only option for a young woman such as herself. Throughout her journey she desired a perfect relationship. She thought that a mutual love would quench her desire, while her grandmother sought for her merely a good man, which caused resentment to arise inside Janie. “Please don’t make me marry Mr. Killicks… Lemme wait, Nanny, please, jus’ a lil bit mo,” ( Hurston 15). Her Grandmother forced upon her a marriage she did not want. “Neither can you stand lone by yo’self,” a statement that her grandmother made quite evident (Hurston 15). It is from her grandmother that she
Another factor which strongly affects Janie and Delia’s search for independence is their gender. With her first marriage, Janie is forced into the submissive, passive role in their union. Because of her gender, she does not get to choose her husband. Rather, he chooses her and Nanny encourages her to go along with his desires. She feels no love in their marriage, but partly because she is a woman she does not have much control to change her situation. “She knew that marriage did not make love. Janie’s first dream was dead, so she became a woman” (Hurston 25). If Janie were a man, her options for marriage would be greater and therefore more likely to lead to a relationship that would fulfill her dream of finding love. This dream is ultimately what leads her to run away with Jody, who eventually begins to assert dominance over Janie, justifying his actions by saying, “Somebody got to think for women and chillun and chickens and cows. I god, they sho don’t think none themselves” (71). Jody lumps Janie in with kids and animals because of her gender, using this as an excuse to oppress her, which therefore leads to her being kept from reaching independence. It is impossible to be independent when another adult is treating you as if you were a child. Both of her first husbands do this to Janie, as Jennifer Jordan discusses in her article, “Feminist Fantasies: Zora Neale Hurston 's Their Eyes Were Watching
Maya’s early life was tough. She and her brother were abandoned by their parents and had to go and live with their paternal grandmother. Their Uncle Willie, who was disabled, used to live in the household too. She narrates how she and her brother had to put up with being called baggage whenever they traveled without their parents. As she lived with her family in the South, she experienced racism every day.
She lived during a time in which racial segregation prevailed. In some places it was not as severe, but where Maya grew up, there was nearly total segregation. Children where she was raised grew up thinking
At the end of the novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya is free. She is free because she rises above her problems, and is not imprisoned by them. For example, after being raped by Mr. Freeman she moved back to Stamps and put the incident behind her, by not mentioning him, nor the incident. Second example is when she really wanted to work as a conductorette for the streetcars, and her determination landed her the job as the first Negro hired to work for the streetcars of San Francisco. As stated in the poem “Still I Rise”, “I am the dream and the hope of the slave” (40) as a free black person she broke a barrier and made way for other blacks in the future.
“‘Ah knows uh few things, and womenfolks thinks sometimes too!’ ‘Aw naw they don’t. They just think they’s thinkin’. When Ah see one thing Ah understands ten. You see ten things and don’t understand one.’ Times and scenes like that put Janie to thinking about the inside state of her marriage. Time came when she fought back with her tongue as best as she could, but it didn’t do her any good. It just made Joe do more. He wanted her submission and he’s keep on fighting until he felt he had it.” (Hurston 71)