What Does Zora Neale'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 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

All of this takes place in a rural town of West Florida called Eatonville in the early twentieth century. I was amazed at the story, symbols and images that this novel creates. The symbolism and metaphorical language used also brought interest and an urge to want to read more. In the novel Their eyes were watching God by Hurston Zora, Janie Crawford is a black middle aged woman who has an intriguing story to tell. She has been away from her home town for few years and comes back to be welcomed by harsh and barely near factual gossip and criticism. In life, criticism is inevitable like death, whether it’s positive or negative. What I found interesting is how Janie brushes off and takes no offense to the harsh gossip from her neighbors when she returned. The reason for that is because Janie left and found herself, she has lived life, got married a couple of times and know what life is outside of her town. She knew what love was and also knew what it felt like to be happy and hurt. Janie Crawford experienced things that any of the females who gossiped about her hasn’t.

From the very beginning of the book, Janie’s long, straight, flowing black hair causes a stir among the “porch talkers” of the

Zora Neale Hurston had an intriguing life, from surviving a hurricane in the Bahamas to having an affair with a man twenty years her junior. She used these experiences to write a bildungsroman novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, about the colorful life of Janie Mae Crawford. Though the book is guised as a quest for love, the dialogues between the characters demonstrate that it is actually about Janie’s journey to learn how to not adhere to societal expectation.

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.

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.

     “’…but she don’t seem to mind at all. Reckon dey understand one ‘nother.’” A woman’s search for her own free will to escape the chains of other people in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Zora Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God follows protagonist Janie Mae Crawford’s journey into womanhood and her ultimate quest for self-discovery. Having to abruptly transition from childhood to adulthood at the age of sixteen, the story demonstrates Janie’s eternal struggle to find her own voice and realize her dreams through three marriages and a lifetime of hardships that come about from being a black woman in America in the early 20th century. Throughout the novel, Hurston uses powerful metaphors helping to “unify” (as Henry Louis Gates Jr. puts it) the novel’s themes and narrative; thus providing a greater understanding of Janie’s quest for selfhood. There are three significant metaphors in the novel that achieve this unity: the

Janie's quest is for self-discovery and self-definition, but she encounters many obstacles while trying to win this quest.

Janie wants to be able to show off her hair because it is really powerful. But instead, Jody is afraid that Janie is too beautiful with her hair and he wants to cover her up as much as possible. Janie says to Jody “talkin ‘bout me lookin’old! When you pull down yo’britches,you look lak de change uh life”(79) he called her old and she talks back to him told him if you pull your paints down we know who is old. When jody died Janie goes against that expectation by wearing her hair down

Forcing Janie to hide her hair is just one example of how Joe took control over

Different cultures have valued specific aspects and features of a woman to consider them “beautiful”. Beauty has been recounted and characterized through images and notions that influence our reasoning. Beauty is often someone’s perspective or what society told them is considered beautiful. This is clearly seen throughout the novel written by Zora Neal Hurston known as Their Eyes Were Watching God. Janie is the main character in the book and is a woman of a mixed heritage both black and white. Janie was raised by her grandmother whose perspective has been formed from her experiences living through the Civil War and being forced into a relationship with her white master. Throughout the novel Hurston stresses the notion that Janie’s appearance and features are what she’s most confident in and gives her the strength especially her hair.

After spending most of her life with Jody, finally, Janie is free from his control. This moment after Jody has passed away, Janie has realized the freedom she was given and started to become her own individual person again. Jody in the beginning of their relationship, would not let Janie put her hair down due to his jealousy against other men. As a symbol of her now found freedom, Janie let her hair down from the kerchief that once took hold of it. This showed her new found independence of Jody’s control as the kerchief was showing Jody’s dominance over her. Now, that she is alone she has come to the sense of womanhood and not the young girl ,who was once naive in her quest for love. She can now be the woman that Joey did not want her to be and that is herself.