Their Eyes Were Watching God As A Bildungsroman Analysis

Similarly, Janie makes another great sacrifice when she decides to leave her life of ease and luxury in Eatonville, so she can start a new life with Tea Cake. In Eatonville, she had authority as the store owner and as the former mayor’s wife, but she decides to follow her heart which ultimately leads to her fulfillment of self-actualization with the help of Tea Cake. Without Tea Cake, Janie could not have found herself, and his impact on her remains even after his death. Janie recounts her life lesson to Phoeby saying, “Love is lak da sea. It’s uh movin’ thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from de shore it meets, and it’s different with every shore...Two things everybody’s got tuh do for theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin’ fuh theyselves” (191-92). Through Janie’s words, the effect of Tea Cake on her is eminent through how Janie learn about life and herself and leads her to becoming independent. Because Janie sacrifices her luxurious life in Eatonville, through Tea Cake, she fulfills her need of self-actualization, a recurring idea in the book. Janie’s values concerning her life and of Tea Cake are also illuminated in her conversation with Phoeby before she leaves Eatonville. She and Tea Cake “‘...[had] done made up [their] minds tuh

She ended up living a life full of manipulation and mediocrity. While living with Joe, she had to tend to many different tasks as his wife.  She wasn't independent with him either.  She was Joe's tag-a-long.  'She went through many silent rebellions over things like that.  Such a waste of life and time.  But Joe kept saying that she could do it if she wanted to and he wanted her to use her privileges.  That was the rock she was battered against.' (Hurston, 51)  Janie always had to wear her hair a certain way, always up in a head rag, in order not to attract attention to other men and women. She was always in a state of loneliness with herself.  While married to Janie, he would not allow her to attend the people's gatherings believing that she does not belong to such a group of lower class people.  Joe was depriving Janie of her independence and sanity.  "Naw, Ah ain't no young gal no mo' but den Ah ain't no old woman either.  Ah reckon Ah looks mah age too.  But Ah'm us woman every inch of me, and Ah know it.  Dat's uh whole lot more'n you kin say.  You big-bellies round here and put out a lot of brag, but 'tain't nothin' to it but yo' big voice.  Humph!  Talkin' 'bout me lookin' old!  When you pull down yo' britches, you look lak de change uh life." (Hurston, 75)  This quote spoken by Janie proves that she was getting sick and tired of being pushed around by Joe and his stuck-up ways.  This was a slow

Even before Joe’s death, Janie “was saving up feelings for some man she had never seen. She had an inside and an outside now and suddenly she knew not how to mix them.”(75) Joe’s influences controlled Janie to the point where she lost her independence and hope. She no longer knew how to adapt to the change brought upon her. When she finally settles and begins to gain back that independence, the outward existence of society came back into play. “Uh woman by herself is uh pitiful thing. Dey needs aid and assistance.”(90) Except this time Janie acted upon her own judgment and fell for someone out of the ordinary. Tea Cake was a refreshing change for Janie, despite the society’s disapproval. “Janie looked down on him and felt a self-crushing love. So her soul crawled out from its hiding place.”(128) This was what she had always dreamt of. When she was with Tea Cake, she no longer questioned inwardly, she simply rejected society’s opinions and acted upon her own desires.

Their Eyes Were Watching God was written in 1937 by Zora Neale Hurston. This story follows a young girl by the name of Janie Crawford. Janie Crawford lived with her grandmother in Eatonville, Florida. Janie was 16 Years old when her grandmother caught her kissing a boy out in the yard. After seeing this her grandmother told her she was old enough to get married, and tells her she has found her a husband by the name of Logan. Logan was a much, much older man. This book later follows Janie through two more marriages to Jody Starks, and Tea Cake. All three marriages extremely different from one another, along with Janie’s role in each marriage. Janie always had her own individual personality, her true self, but she also had an outer personality, the person she would pretend to be for each of her husbands. The Book took us through a journey of each of these marriages and through the journey of Janie finding herself.

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

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.

In their relationship, they both experience their times of jealousy, but by working in the Everglades Janie and Tea Cake find mutual joy. A hurricane comes, Tea Cake is given plenty of warnings and even an opportunity to flee, but instead he chooses to stay. While trying to get away from the storm, Tea Cake saves Janie from a dog but gets himself bitten instead. Tea Cake gets rabies from the bite, and develops an aggressive behavior over Janie. At the end, Janie has shoot Tea Cake to save herself. She's is then accused for murder, but found innocent. After Tea Cake’s funeral, Janie returns home to Eatonville. She cannot bear to remain in the Everglades because all the memories that remind her of the love of her life. Once is Eatonville she meets up with an old friend, Pheoby Watson, and tells her the whole story of her life. Thus, the story, which actually spans nearly 40 years of Janie's life, is "framed" by an evening visit between two friends. This frame becomes the first part of the structure of the novel. The rest of the story is told chronologically in order of Janie’s

Each of these people changes her in some way or another. And all of these relationships either ends in disappointment or tragedy. Needless to say, Janie’s love life is exhausting, to say the least. The tragedy

Janie’s true love as well as sufferings throughout the book, enabled Janie to discover her voice and figure out who she really

Tea Cake’s given name is Vergible Woods; he entered Janie’s life soon after Joe’s death. Janie was reluctant to trust Tea Cake; however, he eventually wins her over by not only sweet talking her but spending time with her. Janie still did not fully trust Tea Cake, so in an effort to try to win her over he professed his love to her, “Twasn’t ‘cause Ah wanted tuh stay off lak day, and it sho Lawd, wuzn’t no woman. If you didn’t have de power tuh hold me and hold me tight, Ah wouldn’t be callin’ yuh Mis’ Woods. Ah met plenty women before Ah knowed you tuh talk tuh. You’se de onliest woman in de world Ah ever even mentioned gittin married tuh. You bein’ older don’t make no difference. Don’t never consider dat no mo’. If Ah ever gits tuh messin’ round another woman it won’t be on account of her age. It’ll be because she got me in de same way you got me – so Ah can’t help mahself” (Hurston, 26-27). Tea Cake not only professed his love for Janie, but he also said that he would remain faithful to her and that their twelve year age difference did not mean anything to him. Janie eventually falls in love with Tea Cake and they get married and run away together. Meta G. Carstarphen dissects Janie and Tea Cake’s relationship in his analysis “Fantasy and Reality in the Novel,” “… the desire to be a couple never overcame a shared inability to unite over life goals” (92). Tea Cake

She is instantly attracted to his appearance and his sense of humor. After many games of checkers, fishing, and dinners Janie falls in love with Tea Cake and his feelings are mutual. Regardless of being judged by the town because of their age difference and the fact that Tea Cake is much lower class than the mayor was, Janie runs off and marries Tea Cake. They move away to the Everglades in the muck so they can make money and she is beyond happy. Janie and Tea Cake are truly in love with each other and his lack of money or materialistic things do not alter her feelings for

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is a novel of a person coming into divinity. Through Janie’s tribulations, the reader sees her grow into her own person while gaining power along the way. She becomes connected to nature and disconnected from people. Comparatively to her husbands, whose brashness and force lead them to fall from grace. In their attempt to become divine beings, Janie achieves divinity.

When he dies, Janie does not feel sad, instead she feels free. For the first time in a while, Janie feels that she can be herself. The thought of living alone was a thought Janie looked forward to, then she meets Tea Cake, a younger man who symbolizes the true meaning of living for yourself. He does not have a job and he moves around frequently, but he is happy and that was the life that Janie longed for. They soon get married and move to a new place where everyone was not financially rich, but rich in spirit. For the first time in her life Janie does not care what others think of her or what they presume her life to be. All that matters is that she was happy with Tea Cake and their new life. During a massive rainstorm, Tea Cake is bit by a rabid dog and falls ill. In one of the most profound quotes from the book, Janie tells him that she never expected anything from life “...but bein’ dead from the standin’ still and tryin’ tuh laugh. But you come ‘long and made somethin’ outa me” (Hurston 230). This reveals the answer to the overwhelming question addressed by Zora Neale Hurston of how should one live. Because Janie was happy and genuinely in love with Tea Cake, she did not care what life had to bring, as long as she had him. Life is unpredictable but living the way you want to live with someone you want to live it with, whether it is a spouse, a friend, or a family member, will always make life a worthwhile

Zora Neale Hurston composed a classic African American love story entitled “Their Eyes Were Watching God” in 1937. Throughout the novel, Janie gets married three times in hopes of finding the contentment she has been searching for. Her first two marriages, with Logan Killicks and Joe Starks helps Janie realize that love does not automatically come from marriage. Her last marriage with Tea Cake shows her what true love is. After spending years seeking inner happiness and being a romantic dreamer, Janie becomes a dynamic character, therefore, she is able to enjoy the bliss of life she has always hoped for in a relationship.

“Their eyes were watching god” a novel that looked how societies view on women, written by Zora Neale Hurston, portrays a society where “nigger women” are considered a “mule”. Throughout the novel, the protagonist, Janie Crawford, strives to find her own voice but struggle to find it because of the expectation in the African American community. Each one of her husbands play a big role in her life long search for independence and her own voice.