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Janie As A Woman

Decent Essays

The novel presents a story of an African American woman, Janie Crawford. It shows her struggle in which she fights for acceptance and a sense of security. Throughout the novel, her growth into womanhood is presented. At the beginning, Janie is depicted as a shy and withdrawn woman who is not inclined to speak about her emotions and feelings. Her voice is often stifled, and, as a result, she remains unheard and unnoticed. She feels that her community ignores her. She could not define herself as a woman, and, in turn her inner self is not integral (Fard & Zarrinjooee, 2014). Miller writes that Janie`s character can be considered as a canonical figure from the feminism`s point of view because of the fact that she wants to free herself from men`s …show more content…

Only in this way can she manage to gain her “self-actualization” (Miller, 2004).
In the course of time, Janie becomes a self-confident woman. Importantly, because of her experiences, she learns that, in order to fight for her own happiness; she has to make her voice heard. In their article, Fard and Zarrinjooee state that in the course of time, the protagonist begins to accept her blackness (2014: 94). This argument coincides with the following passage in the novel in which Janie refers to her skin color and her identity: “Where is me? Ah Don`t see me” and “Ah`m colored” (Their Eyes Were Watching God, 1990: 9).
In the novel, this transition is symbolized by means of a recurrent symbol – the mule which refers to the moments of speech and silence. Whenever Janie remains silent, the image of the mule appears, while in the moments in which she takes action – the mule disappears (Haurykiewicz, 1997:46). Before the close analysis, it is worth focusing here on the symbolism in the novel. As a matter of fact, the mule does not appear in Their Eyes Were Watching God for the first time. There are two short stories published by Hurston before the novel in which the mule functions as a symbol: The Bone of Contention and

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