Theme Of Honesty In The Tragedy Of God By Zora Neale

Marriage is a lifetime bond that cannot be broken. In the story, Janie was married three times each that had a problem. The first marriage which was Logan Kellicks. Even though she did marry him the reason why this was a failed marriage is she was not

Janie's first marriage was with Logan Killicks. This marriage was arranged by Janie's Nana, and Janie had no say in the marriage. Unfortunately for Janie, when Nana arranged her marriage with Logan Killicks she didn't think about Janie's feelings in any way as her first concern was for Janie's safety and financial security. Unfortunately, Janie and Logan have different views on gender roles. Logan expects his wife obey his demands and to help him out with the farm, while Janie prefers to do the opposite and to leave the physical labor to Logan. In this marriage, Janie learned the lesson that love is the foundation of a strong marriage, as, without love for each other, there can be little motivation to remain loyal in a relationship. Janie also learns that in a working marriage, couples must share similar worldviews about life.

In Janie's first marriage to Logan Killicks, she marries a guy her grandmother forces her to marry. She thought she would fall in love with him over time, but she could not. She could not love him because he did not show her; her definition of love. He was Nanny's, Janie's

Nanny did not give a clear answer except for giving it time to evolve between them. Janie tried to argue that Logan was not meant to be loved but Nanny disagreed, I think because she wanted Janie to have a name and a good life when she was gone which Logan could provided her with. Janie did not seem to like this answer so she wondered, “Did marriage compel love like the sun the day?” (Hurston 21). This simile seemed to make Janie wonder if marriage meant two people were forced to love one another just because of the title of Mr. and Mrs. This question from Janie made me see a theme of confusion in this chapter; Janie keeps coming back to asking what marriage is and what love feels like. This made me think she has never been in love before causing her to find it unclear. I think Janie was nervous that she would not love Logan, which makes sense since she was told to marry him, and did not want to never get that chance to feel true love for someone she picked. The first chapter of the novel tells us of a man named Tea Cake whom Janie ran away with. When I reflected on this I knew Janie must have either been cheating on or divorced Logan Killicks. Could this have been because she wanted to truly love someone? I think Janie did this to please herself with true love and not feel forced to love someone just because they are

Janie Crawford from the novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by the author Zora Neale Hurston, chases true love throughout her life. In her search for true love she marries thrice, once to Logan Killicks whom she was pressured to marry by her grandmother, once to Joe Starks who she married in part to escape her first marriage and partly because he was interesting and ambitious, and finally to Tea Cake when she had found actual true love. In these marriages Janie grew and developed as a woman and is is through them that Janie would eventually find out who she is. Janie’s first marriage was to Logan Killicks, an older man that her grandmother pressured her to marry so she would have safety after her death, “ ‘Tain’t Logan Killicks I wants you to have, baby, it’s protection” (Hurston 14). Janie hoped that through this marriage she might learn to love Logan, however as time goes on and she notices more and more flaws, Janie realizes she can’t learn to love Logan, “ ‘Cause you told me Ah mus gointer love him, and, and Ah don’t” (Hurston 22).

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.

Being forced into her first marriage with Logan Killicks, Janie was oblivious as to what love was. She believed that love came with marriage because her Nanny was feeding her incorrect information. Janie went back to Nanny one day because she still did not love Logan, so she expressed to her, “...you told me Ah mus gointer love him, and, and Ah don’t. Maybe if` somebody was to tell me how, Ah could do it.” (Hurston 23). Janie’s ignorance gets in the way of her “pear tree” love when she agrees to stay with Logan. Her goal of finding love is only being pushed further away because of Nanny. However, Nanny passes away, and Janie becomes more distant from Logan and finds comfort in nature. Janie begins to realize that, “her husband had stopped talking in rhymes to her. He had ceased to wonder at her long black hair and finger it.” (26) Through this realization, her growth begins. She finds that in order to have a more successful marriage, both people need to devote their time into each other. Both need to want each other, and Janie never wanted Logan in the first place. Janie began to separate herself from Logan.

Relationships also play a huge role in Janie’s development, giving her a better understanding of love, independence, and self-motivation. Stated before, Janie has had 3 marriages throughout the book that aided her in becoming an independent woman. Her first marriage to Logan represents traditional expectations set by her culture and community. Due to both Logan and Janie’s culture, Janie was expected by both her husband and community to prioritize her husband's wants and stability over her own personal fulfillment. A prime recollection of this is when Janie is asked by Logan to work in the fields and help with manual labor stating “If Ah kin haul de wood heahand chop it fuh yuh, look lak you oughta be able tuh tote it inside.

Janie's first dream was dead, so she became a woman” (Hurston 42). Janie was aware that none of her marriages would amount to much in the end. Even though two of Janie's three marriages failed, she is still receptive and open to love. Rather than letting those failed marriages define

Over the course of the novel, Janie is married three times to three drastically different people. First is Logan Killicks, whom she has no choice but to marry; soon Janie discovers that she could never have loved Logan because he treats her as less than him. She leaves Logan for Joe “Jody” Starks because initially, she believes that she loves him. However, after he gains power in their community and his true opinion of Janie as less valuable than any man is revealed, Janie begins to hate him and she isn’t affected much when he eventually dies. After Jody’s death, Janie falls in love with Tea Cake, who treats her better than either of her previous husbands. He makes Janie feel valued and practically equal to him and other men for almost the first time in her life. Each marriage brings Janie closer to realizing her role and identity in society. In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston explores each of Janie’s three husbands’ different opinions on gender roles in society and relationships to construct the idea that, in life, it is absolutely necessary to find your role in the world -- especially as a woman.

In this world, there is no such thing as a perfect husband, they can have a lot of good traits but also some bad ones. In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, their were a lot of examples of how a husband should and shouldn’t act. The character Janie got married two different times before she married the guy she really felt infatuated for. Although he wasn’t the perfect husband, his traits outweighed the other two guys. In her first marriage with a man named Logan Killicks, she was not allowed to have any input in the marriage therefore did not have the feelings which a relationship really needs. Her second marriage was a lot better than the one with Logan Killicks, but with Joe Starks, he was completely controlling over her

At first, Janie thought that loving someone meant you were married to them. Janie believed that she would love Logan because they were married as that was what Nanny had told her. In the few days before she would be with Killicks, Janie thought “Yes, she would love Logan after they were married… Husbands and wives always loved each other” (Hurston 21). Since Nanny had always told her that a marriage would make her happy, that’s what Janie thought. She had no feelings towards Logan, yet she held on to the hope that they appear once they were husband and wife.

In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the main character , Janie, is forced to conform with the accepted standards of society and marry a man who has amassed wealth and land. Janie is told by her elders that she must get married. Her grandmother, who takes care of Janie, has found a suitor that would be “appropriate” for Janie. Although Janie wants to marry somebody that she loves, she is forced into the mold that was accepted by her society as what would be a good marriage. Because she had been raised up to never break away from the social norms of her town, she is taught to believe that “... she would love Logan after they were married. She could see no way for it to come about, but Nanny and the old folks had said it, so it must

Janie's marriage to Logan Killicks was the first stage in her growth as a woman. She hoped that her obligatory marriage with Logan would

Janie’s three marriages were all different for the most part, though they each had their ups and downs. Her marriage with Logan Killicks was the worst of the three. The only upside to this marriage was that she did have the protection and security her grandmother wanted, but Logan was not willing to make compromises like, “And ‘tain’t nothing’ in de way of him washin’ his feet every evenin’ before he comes tuh bed. ‘Tain’t nothing’ tuh hinder him ‘cause Ah places de water for him.” (Hurston 24) which shows that he wasn’t even willing to wash his feet so Janie wouldn’t have to smell his feet. Logan also expected Janie to help him with everything he was supposed to do and still make dinner for him. Despite all that Janie still wanted to love him but she just couldn’t do it. Janie’s marriage to Joe was better than Logan’s but was still really bad. Joe provided Janie with anything and everything she needed, but not what she wanted. Their relationship was about Joe, and what Joe wanted. Joe also thought he was superior to Janie. “Ah knows uh few things, and womenfolks thinks sometimes too!” “Aw naw they don’t.