What Does Janie's Hair Symbolize In Their Eyes Were Watching God

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

Then, Janie finally stands up for herself and tells him that he was always trying to change her and control her. She yells at him until she dies. When Jody dies, Janie lets her hair down, symbolizing her newfound freedom.

Janie's first dream was dead, so she became a woman" (24). Janie's prayer is her final plea for a change in her life. She says "Lawd, you know mah heart. Ah done de best Ah could do. De rest is left to you" (23).

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.

She is free from Joe, and letting her hair down represents the return of Janie’s freedom. “Before she slept that night she burnt up every one of her head rags and went about the house next morning with her in one thick braid well below her waist. That was the only change people saw in her” (Hurston 89). This shows how she is “burning” up her stifled life with Joe, by burning her head rags and releases her hair. When Joe was alive, Janie was forced into working at the store, which she thought was “waste of time and life” (Hurston 54). While working at the store, Janie had her hair up, which is like Janie being chained to a shackled life she doesn’t want to be tied

When Janie is in a relationship with Joe “Jody” Starks, he restricts the freedom she has through Hurston’s symbolization of hair. Joe begins this oppression of her freedom when he witnesses the townsman Walter stroking the end of Janie’s braid “ever so lightly as to enjoy the feel of it without Janie knowing what he was doing” (Hurston 55). This violation of Janie’s body enrages Joe, for he views Janie’s body as exclusively his property. Regardless of Janie’s desires, he demands “Janie to tie up her hair around the store” (Hurston 55). By revoking Janie’s ability to wear her hair as she pleases, Joe strips her freedom to make her own choices. As she does not yet have the

Janie’s outward appearance and her inward thoughts contrast following Joe’s death. She finally frees herself from his control only after he dies as she, “…tore off the kerchief…and let down her plentiful hair” (87). In freeing her hair, Janie begins to free herself from others’ control and social norms. However, she chooses to keep it tied up until after Jody’s funeral in order to keep appearances that she is grieving his passing in front of the townspeople. However, on the inside, Janie doesn’t really feel any sorrow and “sent her face to Joe’s funeral, and herself went rollicking with the springtime across the world” (88). It is only after Joe’s elaborate funeral that Janie shows her first act of freedom by burning “every one of her head rags and went about the house next morning with her hair in one thick braid swinging well below her waist” (89). She chose to let her hair be free from his domination, thus freeing herself from him overall and allowing herself to move onto the next journey in her life.

Zora Neale Hurston was known for expressing the facets of African-American culture in her books, but her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God has elements of gender studies as well. Throughout the book, Janie’s life experiences serve as a metaphor for the historical struggle of both women and Black Americans to achieve equal rights, and various symbols throughout the book are significant in this context. Janie’s hair, in particular, is the clearest example of a symbol that represents her power and individuality. Two of the most important instances in which Hurston uses Janie’s hair as a symbol are when Janie’s hair serves as a symbol of Jody Stark’s oppression and when Janie’s hair represents her ability to have greater power than others due to its Caucasian nature.

Instead of treating Janie like the beautiful woman that she is, he uses her as an object. Joe was a man who “treasured [Janie] as a posession” (Berridge). Joe’s demanding nature suppresses Janie’s urge to grow and develop, thus causing her journey to self-realization to take steps backward rather than forward. In Janie’s opinion, “he needs to “have [his] way all [his] life, trample and mash down and then die ruther than tuh let [him]self heah 'bout it” (Hurston 122). It is almost as if Janie loses sense of her own self-consciousness due to the fact that she becomes like a puppy being told what to do by her master. The death of Jody is actually a positive thing. Joe’s controlling nature stifles Janie’s inner voice. While married to Jody, Janie became closer to others, however, she did not become closer to herself. Being on her own again gave her another chance to embark on her journey and realize who Janie Crawford really is.

Hurston uses small symbols such as the store to display how Janie has gained some independence. After Janie marries Joe they open up a store together. Being the only general store in the town they experience a lot of customers. Often Janie is found managing

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

The hair rags symbolize her freedom from corruption. In chapter 7(page 76) it states “ the years took all the fight out of janie's face. For a while she thought it was gone from her soul. No matter what jody did, she said nothing. She had learned how to talk some and leave some”. Through her first marriage with Joe she's been constantly shut down and has gotten her dignaty take out of her But towards the end of the chapter she was able to liberate herself from such corruption and value her worth and take out the toxics in her life.

Becoming an image herself looking in the mirror was an obvious and physical change seen in the story. "'Ah ain't been sleepin' so good for more'n uh week cause Ah been wishin' so bad tuh git mah hands in yo' hair. It's so pretty'" (Hurston 124). Letting loose her hair and Tea Cake telling her how pretty she was marked a new beginning for her and a time for a new image. Seeing herself in a new way, the mirror and Tea Cake helped her realize that she is a beautiful woman and she can be much better if she tried. Mirrors are always used to analyze oneself to be pleased, or to be displeased so you can adjust. In Janie's case however, she was surprised to see herself again and approved of her new, yet not so new self.

    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.

Both Janie and Hester use physical transformations to escape from the constraints of their roles in society. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie changes her clothes in a rebellion against the expectation of women to become housewives. When she runs away from her first husband, Logan, Janie notices “the apron tied around her waist. She untied it and flung it on a low bush beside the road and walked on” (Hurston ). Janie’s apron symbolizes not only her