Their Eyes Were Watching God And A Streetcar Named Desire Analysis

When Janie is about sixteen her grandmother finds her in the act of kissing a boy, and afraid for Janie, she arranges for Janie to be married to Logan Killicks, who is an older man with vast property to his name. Nanny, as Janie calls her, is unable to wrap her mind around the idea of marrying for love and mocks Janie saying, "So you don't want to marry off decent like, do yuh? You just wants to hug and kiss and feel around with first one man and then another, huh?" (Their Eyes Are Watching God, 13). Her grandmothers’ gift of life is different from the life that Janie wants to live. She tells Janie, “De nigger woman is de mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see.'” (Their Eyes Are Watching God, 11). Nanny doesn’t believe that trying to find love and make a better life for you will succeed, she tells Janie that marrying and older man with land to his name will bring security, and she shouldn’t want more than that. Because of this Janie agrees and goes along with the plan. She is depicted as very compliant and rarely speaks her mind, even saying “But Ah hates disagreement and confusion, so Ah better not talk. It makes it hard tuh git along” (Their Eyes Were Watching God, 90).

The marriage is unsatisfying and lonely for Janie. Janie “...knew things that nobody had ever told her...the words of the trees and the wind. She often spoke to falling seeds and said, ‘Ah hope you fall on soft ground,’” (25). She spoke and connected with nature because she was still searching for the kind of love she had witnessed when laying under the pear tree when she was younger. After a big fight with Logan, Janie meets a man named Jody Starks who is charming and charismatic. He is extremely intelligent and Janie leaves Logan for him because even though “he did not represent sun-up and pollen and blooming trees...he spoke for far horizon. He spoke for change and chance." (28). Janie has not been able to find herself in her marriage with Logan because there was no real connection, she hopes to find love resembling the pear tree with Jody. Unfortunately Janie’s dreams of finding love with Jody fall flat. Jody is controlling and restricts Janie from expressing herself and he further isolates her from society.

Janie met Jody Sparks when she was still married to Logan. Janie was immediately intrigued by Jody given his nice clothing and ambitions. shortly after meeting Jody, she left Logan and married Jody. Their marriage started out as very nice. Janie admired Jody’s ambition and strength in building the town of Eatonville and also becoming the town’s mayor. And Jody loved pleasing Janie and making her happy. Janie was happy in her marriage and she thought that she found real love with Jody, making this marriage very different from her marriage with Logan. though the two marriages were different, they were also very similar. For example, both men were controlling and kept trying to change Janie and make her become someone who she is not. For example, Logan tried to make Janie work outside and he also tried to change her by trying to make something out of her. Jody tried to turn Janie into something that she is not by trying to control

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, 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

Janie’s marriage to Logan was not anything special. In the beginning Logan was acted like a good husband and would do all the work on his land, and Janie would stay in the home, cooking and cleaning. Eventually, after a couple of months of being married, this so-called honeymoon stage was over. Logan now acted as if he owned Janie and she was his slave, commanding her to do whatever he wanted, not listening to what she wanted. Janie felt constraint; she felt like she was losing her freedom to Logan, she felt like she was not Janie anymore, she was now Mrs. Logan Killicks and she was now obligated to do whatever he commanded of her. Janie was tired of being in an unhappy marriage; she did not love Logan like Nanny said she eventually would: “She knew now that marriage did not make love. Janie’s first dream was dead, so she became a woman”, and she did not like the way she was being treated. One day while she was outside she saw a man walk by, she thought he was very attractive so she drew attention to herself and the man came over. After having a conversation

Janie is married to two men, before she finds Tea Cake, that both suppress her individuality in their own ways. Janie's first husband, Logan Killicks, suppresses her by keeping her in a marriage that she can't fully, or at all, love the man she's married to. "Cause you told me Ah wuz gointer love him, and, and Ah don’t. Maybe if somebody was to tell me how, Ah could do it." Janie says she needs to be told how to feel about Logan in order for her to be able to love feel anything towards him at all. Janie is a mixture of the people around her because they're telling her to live and how to think. Janie can't bring herself to figure out how to do these things on her own so she ends up looking for the answers in the man she married, her grandmother, and her society. Joe Starks, Janie's second husband, keeps her from showing who she really wants to be by

Marriage means something different to everyone.The role of marriage is vastly different to everyone around the world. A Streetcar Named Desire and Their Eyes Were Watching God are very similar in how they portray the roles of husband and wife.

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

Janie went on a long journey to obtain womanhood. Janie grew up living with her grandma, who always wanted her to get married at a young age. Janie eventually did marry Logan Killicks when she was 18 years old. However, she hated living with him. He was described as a shallow, unlovable human being. This was when Janie became a woman because she realized that marriage does not assure love. Janie then married Jody Starks. At first, he seemed like a good person because he offered her a new life, but over time grew worse. Jody would constantly restrict what Janie could do, and would beat her for simple errors. It was not until late in their marriage that Janie finally spoke out to Jody of the way he treated her. Jody would soon die, and Janie

Summary: Janie Crawford is a southern African-American woman who grows up under the care of her grandmother. Janie’s mother has her at seventeen and soon after Janie’s birth, she becomes a drinker and stays out late until she leaves for good. Janie’s Nanny’s background of slavery makes her push Janie to be someone she could not be during her days. Nanny urges Janie to marry Logan Killicks. Janie is not in love with Logan, but Nanny and others push Janie to marry him. Janie assumes “she would love Logan after they were married. She would see no way for it to come about, but Nanny and the old folks had said it, it must be so”’ (20). Because of this mindset, Janie’s marriage to Logan diminishes her idea of a loving and romantic relationship. Janie spends a little over a year with Logan under miserable conditions, until she marries Joe Starks not long after. Mr. and Mrs. Starks move to a new town where they meet friendly townspeople. Not long after, Joe becomes mayor of the town

All through the novel Janie travels through valuable life experiences allowing her to grow as a woman. Janie at first has a difficult time understanding her needs rather than wants, but as she continues to experience new situations she realizes she values respect. Janie’s first two marriages turned out to be tragic mistakes, but with each marriage Janie gained something valuable. When Janie is disrespected in her second marriage with Joe Starks, he publicly humiliates her, disrespecting her as a wife and woman. This experience forced Janie to come out of her comfort zone and stand up for herself.

Janie, again, finds herself in a loveless marriage. Unlike her first, however, the lack of affection is reciprocal. “Again with Jody [as with Logan], Janie has money and respectability, but Jody's objectification - of her and his demand for her submission stifles any desire

Janie is a black woman who asserts herself beyond expectation.  She has a persistence that characterizes her search for the love that she dreamed of since she was a girl.  Janie understands the societal status that her life has handed her, yet she is determined to overcome this, and she is resentful toward anyone or anything that interferes with her quest for happiness. "So de white man throw down de load and tell de nigger man tuh pick it up. He pick it up because he have to, but he don't tote it. He hand it to his womenfolks. De nigger woman is de mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see, "(Page 14)  laments Janie's grandmother as she tried to justify the marriage that she has arranged for her granddaughter with Logan Killicks. This paragraph establishes the existence of the inferior status of women in Janie's society, a status which Janie must somehow overcome in order to emerge a heroine in the end of the novel.

Janie starts with how her Nanny raised her all by herself. When she was a baby, her grandmother cares for the young one due to the fact that her mother runs away and her father is killed, leaving Janie as an orphan. Her granny cared for her up until Janie was in her mid-teens. Her nanny didn’t want to die and leave Janie to suffer, so she arranged a marriage for her with an older farmer that could hopefully take good care of her. Janie doesn’t agree with the arranged marriage but still goes for it. Janie and her new husband, Logan Kellicks, don’t have a good start in their marriage. He isn’t even into her and treats her horribly. While Janie is stuck with her selfish new husband, she meets Joe Starks, a man who is good with words. They both have an instant connection and run off with each other and marry, returning to Janie’s home town. Joe, who Janie calls Jody, owns a store in the small town. Just like her other marriage, Janie and Jody start having conflicts and are constantly fighting. She wants to leave him but isn’t able to because Jody doesn’t accept her suggestion, and is basically stuck with him. After some time, Jody gets ill. When his in his death bed, Janie gets the opportunity to tell Jody all the anger she was holding inside, and moments after that he died. Janie is left with Jody’s store, which she decides to sell and leave her town again. The town had seen it wrong for