A successful marriage can be defined as a union consisting of three values: happiness, trust, and sacrifice. These values are illustrated in The Great Gatsby and Their Eyes Were Watching God as they are exemplified by the relationships commented on by the authors. The vows said during the marriage process, mainly till death do you part, relate to these values as a promise between the people about to be wed. In order for the marriage to be successful and contain the values defining a successful union, there must be the presence of a connection between the two people, commonly referred to as love.
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston incorporates three marriages into Janies life story. The actual process of marriage and the
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Tea Cake also illustrates sacrifice as he risks his life to save Janie from the dog during the hurricane. This eventually brings upon the ultimate sacrifice, which is death. This marriage encompasses all the elements of a successful marriage, transforming it into a model marriage for determining success.
In F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby, only two marriages are presented that can be examined for successfulness, those of Tom Buchanan and George Wilson. Though the actual process of marriage has evidently occurred prior to the beginning of the story, these marriages can still be evaluated on the existence of the core values and the presence of love. Despite the fact that Fitzgerald does little to comment on the marriages, he still offers a different perspective than that of Hurston.
The marriage between Tom Buchanan and Daisy provides difficulty in forming an opinion as to whether it is successful or not. It appears as though the couple had once been in love, hence the marriage, but that love had faded, calling for the failure of the marriage. Also, though the partners venture towards other people and secret relationships, they ultimately end up together still married. Nevertheless, these separate relationships outside the marriage cause it to be considered unsuccessful. The aforementioned affairs cause for the values of trust and happiness to be found nonexistent
Janie’s second marriage left her widowed, but a couple months after Joe Starks death Janie found her next husband. His name was Vergible Woods, but he was also known as Tea Cake. Janie and Tea Cake’s marriage was everything that she ever wanted for marriage to ever be. It is crazy how everything she wanted comes after she had been through two marriages. If Nanny Crawford were to be the judge of Tea Cake, he would be everything that she wanted Janie to stay away from. He was a young 28 year old marrying Janie at 40, he did not have much money or a big, nice place to stay, and he was a gambler with the
In this relationship, Janie finally gets to experience what its like to love and be loved. Not only did Tea Cake express his love through words, he took Janie out to play checkers, go dancing, fishing, and more. Tea Cake even took Janie out to the fields because he just couldn’t live without her by his side for more than a couple hours at a time. They were both madly in love and enjoyed life as much as they enjoyed each other. Janie says “…we aint got nothin’ tuh do but do our work and come home and love”(127). Tea Cake ends up dying and Janie returns to the town of Eatonville. At this point in the story, Janie has given and received love, which completes her developmental stage as a
After Tea Cake’s symptoms worsen, he ends up threatening Janie with a gun. Janie had no choice in the end but to shoot him in self defense. The author says, “It was the meanest moment of eternity. A minute before she was just a scared human being fighting for its life. Now she was her sacrificing self with Tea
Janie initially feared that she was too old for Tea Cake, but she could not help but to fall in love with his charm. To the town’s disapproval, Janie left behind everything that she had ever known to start a new life with Tea Cake. The townspeople believed that Tea Cake couldn’t “do nothin’ but help her spend whut she got” (Hurston 111). Janie loved Tea Cake and Tea Cake loved her. After moving to the Everglades with Tea Cake, Janie embraced her new life with Tea Cake and their newlyfound friends. After being in the Everglades for some time, a hurricane struck, causing Janie and Tea Cake to flee. While fleeing, Janie was almost attacked by a mad dog, but luckily Tea Cake was there to save her. After rescuing Janie, Tea Cake wanted Janie to know that “‘it’s uh man heah’” (Hurston 167). Hurston uses this diction to emphasize how much Tea Cake loved Janie and what it means to be a man and husband. Tea Cake loved Janie so much that he was willing to risk his life to save hers. Tea Cake gave Janie the same type of love that she gave and wanted back. By being with Tea Cake, Janie was finally able to obtain the type of love in which she always desired. She declared that Tea Cake could be a "bee to a blossom — a pear tree blossom in the spring" (Hurston 106). Hurston uses this symbolism to show that Tea Cake was Janie’s true love. He fulfilled both Janie’s emotional and physical
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.
In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, she sets the protagonist, Janie Mae Crawford as a woman who wants to find true love and who is struggling to find her identity. To find her identity and true love it takes her three marriages to go through. While being married to three different men who each have different philosophies, Janie comes to understand that she is developed into a strong woman. Hurston makes each idea through each man’s view of Janie, and their relationship with the society. The lifestyle with little hope of or reason to hope for improvement. He holds a sizeable amount of land, but the couple's life involves little interaction with anyone else.
Tea Cake was Janie's third husband. He was a simple person who returned kindness for kindness. He saw women as equal human beings and told them that. He was very passive in thought, but smart in his own ways. His desire in life was to love and be loved.
Marriage is something many people experience, and for people like Janie, a marriage can change your life. In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Hurston uses common themes, symbols, and metaphors to advance Janie’s character during her relationship within the timeline of their relationship. When she meets Joe, Janie starts optimistic and looks for adventure but, as time passes, their marriage becomes strained. Janie gets increasingly oppressed until one day she realizes what is happening and speaks out. Later, when Jody gets sick and dies, she is finally freed from him.
Many people believe in marrying for love and they spend most of their life searching for it. In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Nora Zeal Hurston, Janie Crawford goes through three marriages, and as a result, she learns who she wants to be and how to become that woman. Janie has her idealized view of marriage that depicts that you marry for love, and everything is like a fairytale. Through Janie’s three marriages, she learns what she truly desires in life and finds herself along the way. As each marriage comes to a close, Janie becomes stronger and surer of herself.
However, this does help Janie realize that Joe will not help her fulfill her dreams. It is made clear by both of these marriages that Janie lacks independence and is continuously molded by men. As a result of enduring a variety of cruel treatments, Janie acquires a better understanding of her role in the world. As Janie continues to gain strength, especially through Tea Cake's death, she also learns the burden that being in love can come with. Tea Cake was Janie's third and last husband; they had been through a lot together, and he was a better match for her than her previous husbands.
Life is not always what it seems, but is constantly fooled by metaphorical masks people wear. The appearance of many of the characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby differs greatly from their actual selves. The use of illusion in the novel is used effectively to portray the nature of people in the 1920 's, and the “artificial” life that is lived in this modern age. There are many incidences in which the appearance of characters is far different than what lurks inside them. Several of these incidences are shown in the appearances of Gatsby himself, Daisy Buchanan, and Gatsby’s true love for Daisy. Gatsby goes through a dramatic transformation from his old self to his new self, even changing his name and buying a faux mansion in
In the novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, there is an importance of relationships. They can be between lovers, friends, and families. The novel shows these, but also the wrong types of relationships such as people having affairs. People form relationships so they are not alone and they try to stick together through the hard times and the good times. In every relationship there are differing situations that affect the outcome and success of the relationship.
Humans are malicious and furtive creatures. They conform to their surrounding environments and surrender to the pressures of their social class and peers. Therefore, people dissemble their true feelings, and present a false identity of themselves to the world. Humanity also struggles with the acceptance and realization of reality, for people consume themselves with their own mental fantasies. In the novels, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the events the characters face during the roaring ‘20s and World War II illustrate how vastly different plot can share similar themes of humanity. The duality of humanity consists of people, who conceal their true identities and emotions beneath a facade, and their willingness to reveal the truth decreases due to their social circumstances; while other times, the refusal to accept reality can cause humanity to imagine elaborate fantasies that they strive to achieve.
There are no two people exactly alike in the world. Identical twins, the only people in the world who share the same fingerprints and genetic information, have different personalities, distinct strengths and diverse shortcomings. When comparing two people, parallels can be drawn between them, but crucial dissimilarities will be highlighted as well during the process. Such is the case when it comes to analyzing the protagonists of The Natural by Bernard Malamud and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Both Roy Hobbs and Jay Gatsby, the main characters of the two books respectively, are driven by money and their lust for women, and these factors lead to their eventual downfall; however, their character development is different in that Hobbs undergoes a change of heart and Gatsby suffers from a lack thereof. Although both books share many parallels such as problematic relationships, a key distinction of the two men is their ability to garner sympathy from the readers.
Like all the relationships in this novel Daisy and Tom Buchanan’s marriage is not what most would call a successful one. Did both of them achieve what they wanted? Yes, Tom got the beautiful wife of his dreams and Daisy got a very wealthy and powerful husband. The marriage was very beneficial for the both of them. They used each other to get what they truly wanted which was not true