Their Eyes Were Watching God Feminist Analysis

Janie Crawford is surrounded by outward influences that contradict her independence and personal development. These outward influences from society, her grandma, and even significant others contribute to her curiosity. Tension builds between outward conformity and inward questioning, allowing Zora Neal Hurston to illustrate the challenge of choice and accountability that Janie faces throughout the novel.

There are many critical lenses in the English language such as historical, gender identity, and reader response. The critical lens gender identity is prevalent throughout Zora Neale Hurston's novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. This critical lens covers a broad range of topics such as the role of female characters, what the absence or minimal appearance of these characters applies, and whether the characters are viewed in a positive or negative manner. Many of Janie's actions throughout the novel are dictated by men, and her idea of her pear tree love, and by the ideals about men that her grandmother has instilled in her.

Janie wanted fulfilling love out of marriage, and in the case of both Joe and Logan, this is not what she got. In many cases, she was treated as property before she was treated as a person. Janie ran away from Logan because of this-- a powerful move considering that leaving your husband, regardless of how he

‘Scuse mah freezolity, Mist’ Killicks, but Ah don’t mean to chop de first chip." (p.26) This shows that even at this point, Janie definitely had a voice. Janie’s emotional strength is also proven at this time. She is obviously unafraid of Logan and has no problem confronting him with her problems. She even confronts him about running away saying "S’pose’ Ah wuz to run off and leave yuh sometime…I might take and find somebody dat did trust me and leave yuh" (p.30). When Joe came along speaking of "change and chance", Janie acted quickly, running away with him and getting married that same day. This shows that Janie had the emotional strength to confront Logan and run away from his controlling and depraved ways.

I enjoyed Their Eyes Were Watching God's grasp on imagination, imagery and phrasing. Janie's dialogue and vernacular managed to carry me along, slipping pieces of wisdom to me in such a manner that I hardly realize they are ingesting something deep and true. Their Eyes Were Watching God recognizes that there are problems to the human condition, such as the need to possess, the fear of the unknown and resulting stagnation. The book does not leave us with the hopelessness of Fitzgerald or Hemingway, rather, it extends a recognition and understanding of humanity's need to escape emptiness. "Dem meatskins is got tuh rattle tuh make out they's alive (183)" Her solution is simple: "Yuh got tuh go there tuh know there." Janie

In Zora Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, she focuses on the life of the main character, Janie Crawford. The novel takes place in a small town down south called Eatonville in the 1930’s. Janie is on a quest to find her true identity or in other words, her horizon. Along Janie’s quest for true happiness, she faces numerous obstacles that continue to hinder her from finding her true identity and a man she can truly love. As the expectations of others control her life, Janie keeps pushing and is determined to find a true inner happiness. Janie has to fight the expectations of others all throughout the novel until she reaches a point

De white man is de ruler of everything as fur as Ah been able tuh find out… 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 as fur as Ah can see (14).

In both the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, and the poem “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, young girls are lectured on who they should be in life and how they should act.

In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Lora Neale Hurston, the main character engages in three marriages that lead her towards a development of self. Through each endeavor, Janie learns the truths of life, love, and the path to finding her identity. Though suppressed because of her race and gender, Janie has a strong will to live her life the way she wills. But throughout her life, she encounters many people who attempt to change the way that she is and her beliefs. Each marriage that she undertakes, she finds a new realization and is on a never-ending quest to find her identity and true love. Logan Killicks, Joe Starks, and Tea Cake each help Janie progress to womanhood and find her identity.

In the book Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Tea Cake is killed by Janie, which shows, at the end of the book, that Janie is a strong, independent woman who can make the choice to choose herself over a damaged Tea Cake, despite her love for him. Also, during the trial, which wouldn’t have been possible if he had died from natural causes, Janie is accepted by white people, which is an instance of irony with regard to racism. Additionally, Hurston appears to be very pro-women, and allowing Janie to kill Tea Cake is her way of showing sexism does not dictate her anymore. The author chose Tea Cake’s fate to show Janie has arrived at a place where her own self expression and independence can coexist, and ultimately, be put above love in a novel where a primary theme revolves around her attempting to find her independence.

Love and Marriage      Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is a novel about a Southern black woman and her experiences through life. Janie, the main character, is forced at a young age by her grandmother, into an arranged marriage with a man named Logan. Janie is told to learn to love Logan, but the love never comes for Logan in Janie's heart so she leaves him. She meets a man named Joe. Soon after they are married.

Brutal beatings that resulted in bruises, broken bones, and even death. Rape that haunted women until their last breath. Being caged and unable to go “tuh de horizon and back”. These are all things that Zora Neale Hurston tried to combat when composing Their Eyes Were Watching God. Through her novel, she tries to show the American people that women can choose the roles that they long for. In all, women have the right to pursue their desires.

The topic of racism is a very intriguing one for me. Other authors criticized Zora Neal Hurtson that she, being a black woman during the black liberation movement in the 1910’s, should be writing about black people being set free and how they are being suppressed by the world around them. Instead, Zora mainly deals with the issues of the women being suppressed and not allowed to be free. This idea itself mirrors that of freeing black people, but yet authors of the time were not able to see that, they called her book artificial and did not help them in their quest for freedom.

Throughout history, the aspiration to accomplish one’s dreams and gain self-fulfillment has been and continues to be prevalent. Consequently, one’s reactions to the obstacles propelled at them may define how they will move forward in search of achieving their goals. Reaching one’s full potential is certainly not an easy conquest. Zora Neale Hurston, an especially noteworthy African American author, uses her astounding piece of literature, Their Eyes Were Watching God, to illuminate the path to discovering what is truly valuable in life. She uses the character, Janie Woods, who endures some of the greatest hardship imagined to elucidate the ways in which hindrance, although discouraging, only makes one stronger. Accordingly, Hurston argues

This paper is discusses on the novel Zora Neale Hurston in the light of Patriarchy. The protagonist of the novel, Janie is taken for analysis. This paper also involves in delineating characteristics traits of the male characters in the novels. Further, the paper studies the treatment that is meted out to the protagonist at the hands of men in the selected novel. The paper studies the novel in terms of the violence, subjugation and oppression that the male characters pose to the protagonist in the novel. The paper discusses on the various levels of suppression that Janie undergoes at the hands of the people who are highly patriarchal in mind set. Further, this paper details on how the protagonist stands as a model to shun suppression at the