Literary Analysis Of Their Eyes Were Watching God

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.

     Janie's first marriage is to Logan Killicks. Logan enters the marriage with a large portion of land. However, Janie enters the marriage with practically nothing. This ends up becoming a relationship based on inequality because Logan starts to use

At the beginning of Joe and Janie’s relationship, she was very much in love with him. When they started their endeavor to the new town, she was very proud of the man she was looking at. He moved to a new town to start his own business and buy his own land. However, as time progressed, the town began to feel lonely to Janie. She never saw Joe anymore, and when she did, he was trying to control her every move. He became very possessive and mean to her. He wanted her to submit to him, and he wouldn’t stop until he had it. The once loving relationship they had, has now become detached.

To begin with, Janie’s first marriage is to Logan Killicks. She meets him through her grandmother and is basically forced to marry him. In the novel, Janie complains to her grandmother “Cause you [Grandmother] told me Ah mus gointer love him,and, and Ah don’t” (Their Eyes were Watching God 23). This quote demonstrates how Janie feels throughout her marriage to Logan. He treats her like a labor mule and complains that she is too lazy to do anything. From her first marriage, she learns that she has to be with a man she

Janie in her first marriage is her far from mesmerized with her husband's 60 acre land. The incompatibility between her and Logan ultimately cause the marriage to fail. Logan

Janie’s three marriages were all different for the most part, though they each had their ups and downs. Her marriage with Logan Killicks was the worst of the three. The only upside to this marriage was that she did have the protection and security her grandmother wanted, but Logan was not willing to make compromises like, “And ‘tain’t nothing’ in de way of him washin’ his feet every evenin’ before he comes tuh bed. ‘Tain’t nothing’ tuh hinder him ‘cause Ah places de water for him.” (Hurston 24) which shows that he wasn’t even willing to wash his feet so Janie wouldn’t have to smell his feet. Logan also expected Janie to help him with everything he was supposed to do and still make dinner for him. Despite all that Janie still wanted to love him but she just couldn’t do it. Janie’s marriage to Joe was better than Logan’s but was still really bad. Joe provided Janie with anything and everything she needed, but not what she wanted. Their relationship was about Joe, and what Joe wanted. Joe also thought he was superior to Janie. “Ah knows uh few things, and womenfolks thinks sometimes too!” “Aw naw they don’t.

In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, a young woman travels through difficult life experiences in order to find herself. Hurston portrays the protagonist as an adventurous soul trapped in the binds of suppressing marriages. Janie experiences three different types of marriage learning from each one what she values most. From these marriages she learned she values love and respect, finally achieving them in her last marriage. Each new marriage brought something new to the table for Janie and no matter the situation or the outcome of the relationship Janie grew into her own independent individual because of it.

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 continues to suffer Logan’s demands but envisions a better life for herself with Joe Starks; she debates whether she should leave Logan for Joe. While she contemplates this decision, Logan commands she help with the manure pile, but she refuses to do so. Logan then declares: “Ah’m too honest and hard-workin’ for anybody in yo’ family, dat’s de reason you don’t want me!”(Pg.32) She is appalled at what she hears and finally comes to a breaking point. He continually degrades her by relentlessly reminding her of her up bringing, arguing that she is trying to bring him down to her low standards. Janie realizes she has endured Logan’s degrading remarks and disrespect for long enough. She refuses to follow the path of her mother and grandmother who were repeatedly abused. Janie knows that she will never love Logan; he will not fit as her pear-tree. The next morning, she deserts her miserable marriage with Logan and continues down the road to a new adventure, where Joe Starks awaits.

However, she quickly learns that Logan, finds her useless, “spoilt rotten” and compares her to his old wife, who did manual labor for him without many complaints (26). Not only does Janie find Logan unattractive, but she does not even find him intellectually or emotionally stimulating, as he never shows her affection (24). Attempting to gain some perspective on how to liven up her marriage, Janie seeks out the advice of her Nanny, an unmarried former slave. Janie claims that she “wants to want him sometimes” (23), but her efforts are in vain. Due to the conditions Nanny was raised in, Nanny told her granddaughter that love was bound to happen eventually because Logan was financially stable. Nanny did not understand Janie’s wishes of love; she was on a basic level of understanding. While Janie obeyed Nanny’s wish of her to stay with Logan for almost a year, when Janie knew the marriage was headed nowhere except disaster, she runs off with a man named Joe Sparks who she had correspondence with for almost a year. Janie concluded from her time with Logan “that marriage did not make love” (25). Janie’s view on love did not change with her relationship with Logan. In fact, it was because of the horrendous outcomes of the marriage that Janie decided to chase after her ideal relationship with

“Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston, written in 1937, is about a African american girl named Janie Crawford who grew up in a white household. Through her transition to womanhood she wanted to experience true love, which set her on a quest to do so. Her grandmother arranged a marriage for her, which Janie wasn't so happy about. The story follows her growing as a person and her many experiences with her marriages. Each impacting her emotionally and making her the woman she becomes at the end of the book. Towards the ending of her book, after being harmed emotionally, and sometimes physically by her past husbands she meets a man named Tea Cake, much younger than her. She fell in love with him and

(beginning 2 ) “Janie if you think Ah aims to tole you off and make a dog outa you, youse wrong. Ah want to make a wife outa you” (Hurston pg 23).Joe Starks tells Janie he will be waiting for her sunup tomorrow if she wanted to come with him. So Janie kinda considers it but first she has to talk to Logan about leaving him and he kept it short and said do what you have to do. He didnt really care so much what she did but he thought she was gone go out there and get her feelings hurt.“Ah guess some lifed nigger is grinnin’ in yo’ face and lying tuh yuh” .(Hurston pg25) Logan said.Janie runs off on Logan to be with Joe and he made her and himself a little town called Eatonville then he also became the mayor of the town and he also owned a store,

In the book Their Eyes Were Watching God the main character Janie goes through many obstacles of love in her relationships. She was first married to a man named Logan, then to Jody, and finally to Tea Cake. Each of them had a significant impact in her life and how she evolved through thoughts about what love is and what it should feel like. Janie’s character changes from the beginning to the end of the story in many significant ways because of these three relationships that she goes through. Janie’s character realized many things throughout her journey like doing life the way she wants and not letting people tell her what love and marriage should be.

Janie’s appearance was certainly an advantage to the black community. Emily Kendall, in her online article “Symbols and Metaphors,” speculates “Janie’s hair is a recurrent and powerful motif. It has a potent effect on almost every character that Hurston introduces” (para. 4). Emily Kendall basically states that everyone that was introduces in the novel, had an impact with Janie. The statement is true because Logan Killicks, Jody Starks, and Tea Cake fell in love with Janie. Janie was three-fourths white and one-fourth black. Her mixed heritage separated Janie from the other black females. As Hurston said in the book, when first describing Janie, Janie had “pugnacious breasts and grapefruit buns.” Mostly every time, the people in Eatonville or anywhere else, would fall in love, when they would see Janie pass by. As for Janie’s husbands, they did not even know Janie for a long time, and they got with her. The scenario was like, love at first sight.

Initially, Janie’s first marriage crashes and burns. Though it wasn’t such a horrible thing, for the relationship’s foundation was piled high with disagreement and force. Janie and Logan were two people that obviously were bound to be with other people. Their marriage consisted of conflict between the settlement of work and laziness on an everyday basis. Janie clearly wanted to be treated as an equal in the relationship, however, in Logan’s perspective she is nothing but a lethargic, soon-to-be adolescent, that should be working. Janie, being silent, decides to leave Logan and run off with a man named Jody instead of facing her problems with Logan.