Their Eyes Were Watching God Janie's Identity

In Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie, the protagonist, tells the story of her ascension to adulthood and several of the lessons she learned along the way. Though married three times, her second marriage to Joe Starks had the most formative impact on her transition to maturity. Given that Joe played such a crucial role in this affair, we can classify him as a type of parent to Janie. Later, after her final marriage, Janie reflects on her life and is at peace. By that point, she came to realize how to be truly happy.

People grow and develop at different rates. The factors that heavily influence a person's growth are heredity and environment. The people you meet and the experiences you have are very important in what makes a person who he/she is. Janie develops as a woman with the three marriages she has. In each marriage she learns precious lessons, has increasingly better relationships, and realizes how a person is to live his/her life. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie's marriages to Logan Killicks, Jody Starks, and Tea Cake are the most vital elements in her growth as a woman.

Joe has been controlling Janie for the entirety of their marriage. One of the ways he did this was by not allowing her to show her hair because he was possessive and afraid of other men looking at her. After Joe’s death, Janie is finally able to let down her hair. Taking down her hair symbolizes that she is free from her relationship with Joe and his controlling ways. The “glory” she notices shows that she is still confident in herself as a woman and in her new freedom. Since she was not allowed to let down her hair because other men would notice it, this also marks the beginning of a new time in Janie’s life, and the opportunity for a new relationship.

During the beginning of Janie’s Journey to be an independently minded woman, she loses her grandmother and moves away from her first failed relationship,. After Hurston sets the scene and Janie begins to tell her story, Janie mentions her grandmother from a young age raised her. Her grandmother, Nanny, is protective of Janie and disapproves of Janie having any type of romance outside of marriage. (19). Hurston alludes to the archangel Michael, the angel that guides the dead back to heaven, to prove Nanny is nearing death, “One mornin’ soon, now, de angel wid de sword is gointuh stop by me” (15). Clearly, Janie must come to terms with the fact that Nanny will not always be there and Janie will have to watch over herself. Even though Janie knows Nanny is dying, she still argues with Nanny about being married off, “Please don’t make me marry Mr. Killicks” (15). Through this argument, Janie proves that while she may not be ready to completely disobey Nanny, Janie begins to have her own voice. Notwithstanding Janie’s opinion, Nanny marries her off anyways. After reluctantly marrying Killicks, Janie realizes she does not like being bossed around, “Youse mad ‘cause Ah don’t fall down and wash-up dese sixty acres uh ground yuh got” (31). Janie empowers herself by standing up for herself in the face of her aggressor. While living with Nanny, Janie realizes that she does not agree with Nanny’s choices for Janie, but Janie stays silent. However, in the case with Killicks, Janie not only realizes that she does not agree with

One of Janie’s most prominent features is her long hair. As a sign of Joe’s possessive nature, he makes Janie tie her hair up “lak some ole ‘oman round de store” (Hurston, Pg 49.) He fears the other men being attracted to Janie. The men in town feel that Joe makes her do it because he fears “some de rest of [the] men’s might touch it” (Hurston, Pg 50.) Joe views Janie as something that belongs to him, and he does not want other men desiring his possessions.

Janie's hair along the story represented more than her beauty, it helps show her identity and how women are unfairly treated. Hurston states, “That night he ordered Janie to tie up her hair around the store”(page 52).Jody shows his jealousy by making Janie cover her hair because he believed that he is only one who should see it. She states, “That was why she sought out Janie to friend with. Janie’s coffee-and-cream

Joe doesn't like this so he criticizes Janie daily about how she looks he makes her put her hair up. In the store Janie cuts tobacco for Steve Mixon but she cuts it wrong and Joe gets angry, and he yells at her “I god amighty! A woman stay round uh store till she get old as Methusalem and still can’t cut a little thing like a plug of tobacco! Don’t stand dere rollin’ yo’ pop eyes at me wid yo’ rump hangin’ nearly to yo’ knees!” (Hurston 92-93). Janie gets mad also and replies, “Stop mixin’ up mah doings wid mah looks, Jody. When you git through tellin’ me how tuh cut uh plug uh tobacco, then you kin tell me whether mah behind is on straight or not”(Hurston 86). Janie sticks up for herself after years of Joe controlling her and beating her. Janie waxes stronger and learns that the way she feels is just as important as the way Joe feels or anyone else. While Joe is dying Janie goes into his room and tells him that he isn't the same person that she ran away with that he changed for worse. After he dies she does something for herself, Hurston writes “The young girl was gone, but a handsome woman had taken her place. She tore off the kerchief from her head and let down her plentiful hair. The weight, the length, the glory was there. She took careful stock of herself, then combed her hair and tied it back up again”(103-104). Janie letting her hair down is symbolic of her freedom and independence she is done with Joe

Their Eyes Were Watching God is a novel by Zora Neale Hurston about Janie, who relates her life story of three marriages to her friend Phoeby. Throughout the novel, Janie embarks on a journey to find the limits of her personal horizons and expand them. Janie’s clothing varies from wealthy to poor, and from traditionally masculine to feminine, enriching the narrative with symbolism and supplementary information. Her femininity, actualized in her hair and clothing, is an integral part of her identity. The changing images of clothing throughout the novel exemplify Janie’s developing maturity and gradually show Janie creating a personal identity.

At the beginning of the book, when Joe Starks and Janie get married, Janie's hair gives a direct representation of how her identity and freedom can become tied up or freed, the way that Janie’s hair can be tied up or let loose. For example, after Janie marries Joe, she is unable to do the things she

Oprah Winfrey is a woman with power; power to mess up the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God in her own movie interpretation of the same name. By turning this story of a woman finding herself into a love story, many key points of the plot were left out. Character motifs and morals also dramatically changed.

The world of Janie Crawford in Their Eyes Were Watching God was one of oppression and disappointment. She left the world of her suffocating grandmother to live with a man whom she did not love, and in fact did not even know. She then left him to marry another man who offered her wealth in terms of material possessions but left her in utter spiritual poverty. After her second husband's death, she claims responsibility and control of her own life, and through her shared love with her new husband, Teacake, she is able to overcome her status of oppression. Zora Neale Hurston artfully and effectively shows this victory over oppression throughout the book through her use of

    In Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie Crawford is the heroine. She helps women to deal with their own problems by dealing with hers. She deals with personal relationships as well as searches for self-awareness. Janie Crawford is more than a heroine, however, she is a woman who has overcome the restrictions placed on her by the oppressive forces and people in her life.

When Janie goes out to find a new life, she meets a Joe Starks and goes on to find a new life with him. Joe is a man who sets his mind on creating a life with Janie in a nearby town. As time went on and Janie and Joe had lived together for a while now, Janie began to change because Joe was making her. One of the first big changes Joe made for Janie was forcing her to tie her hair up. Joe said “Whut make her keep her head tied up lak some ole ‘oman round de store” (Hurston 49). When Janie is told to put her hair up, she is stripped of her confidence because she has to cover herself up. Janie basically becomes a maid while living a life with Joe. Her days consist of bringing Joe meals and then going home and cleaning. As Janie and Joe's relationship grow, Joe becomes more controlling of Janie and not letting her do things she knows she can do. He did not let her give a speech saying “...mah wife don’t know nothin’ ‘bout no speech-makin” ( Hurston 43). Janie could have given a speech if she really wanted to but she never thought about it so his comment did not really have impact on

Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Hurston, is a novel that mostly takes place in Florida during the early 1900s. Hurston, a member of the Harlem Renaissance, grew up in Eatonville, Florida. In the novel, Janie Crawford, a black and white mixed girl, is encouraged by her grandmother, Nanny, to get married to a wealthy man. This is her pear tree dream. Janie spends time under the pear tree and realizes what true love is. She notices the transformation of the pear tree and begin to notice a change in herself. Janie’s relationship begins with Logan Killicks, but it soon ends when she gains the bravery to run away with a man named Joe Starks. Shortly after they marry, Starks and Janie’s relationship starts off as great as she is treated with love and they relocate to Eatonville.

In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, emotions such as love and hatred are showcased through the multiple marriages of Janie Crawford and her three husbands, impacting her life with bitterness, torture and ultimately peace due to Janie’s naive ideals of lust and desire. Nanny arranges Janie’s marriage to Logan Killicks, a responsible and financially stable man, after she catches Janie kissing the handsome Johnny Taylor. Although Nanny’s intentions are for the well-being of her only granddaughter, Janie finds herself losing interest in Killicks as the marriage turns bitter. Expecting love to save her lifeless marriage with Killicks is a false ideal leading Janie to leave the relationship and fall into the arms of Jody Starks. As jealousy captures the suave and idyllic Starks, he turns into a demanding monster, dictating the miniscule movements of Janie, torturing her mind and soul. Although Janie’s innocent desire for passion revives during her marriage with Tea Cake, several misunderstandings lead to a devastating end but eventually brings peace to her heart. Hoping her granddaughter will find happiness, Nanny arranges the marriage of Janie to Logan Killicks, a respected and monetarily secure man. After a year, Janie realizes her marriage to Killicks is a loveless union causing bitter disputes.