Their Eyes Were Watching God Reflection Essay

In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie has allowed us to better understand the restraints that women in society had to deal with in a male dominated society. Her marriage with Logan Killicks consisted of dull, daily routines.  Wedding herself to Joe Starks brought her closer to others, than to herself.  In her final marriage to Vergible Woods, also known as Tea Cake, she finally learned how to live her life on her own.  In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie suffered through many difficult situations that eventually enabled her to grow into an independent person.

Though it is not one of the main themes in the novel, poverty and its effects on people can be seen abundantly in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. The demonstration of poverty that I chose to discuss is how wealth causes a person to act toward others. The most notable examples are Janie’s three husbands, Logan Killicks, Joe Starks, and Tea Cake, and the way they treat Janie. In the novel, the wealthier a man is, the more power he has over people and the more entitled he feels.

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.

Their Eyes Were Watching God In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston portrays the life of Janie, an African American woman, who is struggling with identity and social issues. Even though Hurston wrote during the modernist movement era, it’s quite evident that the realism literary movement influence her writing. Even though there are aspect of Romanticism in the novel, Realism influences Hurston writing more, because it explores the everyday lives of the people, and the harsh reality of life for women.

In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, many critics have argued over whether or not the main character, Janie, finds her voice by the end of the novel. Yet many seem to be confused as to what her "voice" is. Her voice is her ability to express her thoughts and display her emotions verbally. Many relate the question of Janie’s voice to her amount of emotional strength (her ability to confront her problems or run away from the current situation rather than be isolated in it), yet these things are a completely different matter entirely. While Janie’s emotional strength varies throughout the novel, her voice is always there.

After years of quiet suffering, Janie finds the strength to confront Jody on his deathbed, " ‘But you wasn’t satisfied wid me de way Ah was. Naw! Mah own mind had tuh be squeezed and crowded out tuh make room for yours in me’ ” (86). Angry and finally motivated to speak her mind, Janie articulates her value as a woman and a wife, blaming Jody for being too self-involved and egotistical to appreciate her worth. Ironically, Joe’s attempts to stifle Janie during their marriage only serve to amplify her voice at its end. In stark contrast, Hurston’s heroine comes full circle to discover a peaceful inner-voice with soul mate Tea Cake who treats Janie as an equal and encourages her to express herself. Reminiscing with Phoeby, Janie explains, “ ‘Talkin’ don’t amount tuh a hill uh beans...you got tuh go there tuh know there...find out about livin’ fuh themselves’ “ (192). Janie had to endure the unhappiness and abuse of two failed marriages to discover her voice and find the courage to use it, eventually leading her to love and happiness with Tea Cake. Certainly each of Janie’s relationships, whether a failure and success, lends clarity and volume to her voice over the course of her

During the 1930s there was a time period known as the Harlem Renaissance, during this time African Americans sought a newfound cultural freedom and advancements in social classes. In the novel, Their Eyes Are Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston portrays both similarities and departures from the ideals of the Harlem Renaissance. Hurston uses the main character Janie to illustrate these ideals such as the struggle to find oneself and fight against the opinions of others. In addition Hurston also depicts issues and similarities like African Americans who achieved high social classes and discriminated those below them, racial segregation, but also a new found African American confidence. She also demonstrates departures from the Harlem Renaissance

This was the first of many times when Jody would refuse to allow Janie to speak in public. He also banned Janie from participating in the gossip that went on at the stoop. Janie always wanted to at least be able to participate in those, but Jody forbade her. He considered it lowly and something that a woman of Janie’s stature should be above. “…Ah can’t see what uh woman of your stability would want tuh be treasurin’ all dat gum-grease from folks dat don’t even own de house dey sleep in…They’s jus’ some humans playin’ round de toes of Time” (54). Jody continued to refuse Janie to socialize with the town. After Jody freed the mule and it passed, He didn’t even allow her to go to the draggin-out. Even though the main reason he bought that mule was because of Janie’s reaction to the way they treated the poor animal. Socially, Jody smothered Janie an did not allow her to participate in any activities outside of the store and that forced Janie to bottle up a lot of emotions and other feelings.

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.

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.

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’s first marriage is a stepping stone to finding her own role because it shows her what her life shouldn’t be like and it encourages her to find a new path while she still can. She lives as a homemaker who cooks and cleans, but that role doesn’t suit her. Janie’s goal is not to be a homemaker, a wife, or a mother no matter how much she believes it at the beginning of the novel. Her dream is to be free from the submission that she has lived with her entire life. Janie wants to be free more than she wants love, which can easily be seen when she shoots Tea Cake, her true love, to protect

Her first was,“there was some more good-natured laughter at the expense of women. ”(Hurston 78). Janie had felt uncomfortable with these men and their actions towards women. Through the use of narrative perspective, the reader is able to see what Janie feels. Janie may have never admitted her feelings about these men, but her point of view allows her to say what she is thinking.

Within the past hundred years there has been a flood of female authors voicing their opinions on controversial topics regarding female oppression. There is no question that history has not treated women nor Africans very well, leading to the unfortunate double oppression faced, in particular, by black females. The movement began shortly after the Harlem Renaissance when Zora Neale Hurston published her noteworthy novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, in 1937. This novel paved in giving black women the tools to liberate themselves in their search for femininity and sexual identity, all while being subjected to racism and domesticity. The novel created such an influence that it inspired Alice Walker to write The Color Purple many years later,

The main character, Janie Woods, is unlike any other character throughout the novel, being 75% white and 25% black. For this she was not only looked up to but also looked down upon. She was an outsider within her own community while from the male perspective, she was a prized possession to anyone that could gain her affection. It is important that Hurston told the story about how Janie reached her full potential because it clearly demonstrates how anyone can gain happiness if they simply try. The women on the porch who judge her have hopes and dreams like anyone else. However, Janie is different than them by the way she risks everything she has to chase after her dreams. She encountered many difficulties with this approach at first, involving her marriages with Logan and Joe. Although, she overcame such challenges stronger than ever. Her ending may seem melancholy with the death of Tea Cake, but it is actually tragically perfect. Everything Janie dreamed of as a child was true love and this is exactly what she ended up with. She gained a voice in her life which was masked in her previous relationships. At the end of the novel, Janie is quite content with where her life stands and it is clear to the reader that the problems she endured were actually quite necessary. Although it was sorrowful to see Janie grappling for her dreams, Hurston uses each obstacle to