Janie's Loves Essay

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.

Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God recounts the life and loves of a bi-racial woman in the racially charged South during the 1900s. After the death of her third husband, Janie returns to Eatonville amid judgment and gossip, prompting her to share her life’s lessons with dear friend Phoeby. As Hurston’s protagonist relives her turbulent loves, she embarks of a journey of self-discovery, her voice transforming from suppressed to empowered over the course of her marriages.

Janie’s marriage to Logan was not anything special. In the beginning Logan was acted like a good husband and would do all the work on his land, and Janie would stay in the home, cooking and cleaning. Eventually, after a couple of months of being married, this so-called honeymoon stage was over. Logan now acted as if he owned Janie and she was his slave, commanding her to do whatever he wanted, not listening to what she wanted. Janie felt constraint; she felt like she was losing her freedom to Logan, she felt like she was not Janie anymore, she was now Mrs. Logan Killicks and she was now obligated to do whatever he commanded of her. Janie was tired of being in an unhappy marriage; she did not love Logan like Nanny said she eventually would: “She knew now that marriage did not make love. Janie’s first dream was dead, so she became a woman”, and she did not like the way she was being treated. One day while she was outside she saw a man walk by, she thought he was very attractive so she drew attention to herself and the man came over. After having a conversation

Janie’s quest begins with her grandmother forcing her to marry Logan Killicks; her compliance demonstrates her need to follow what others expect of her. Although she believes "[Logan] look like some ole skullhead in de graveyard", she marries him, simply because her grandmother tells her she will love him with time (13). She compares him to a “skullhead”, literally likening him, and subsequently their relationship, to death. Although she knows she wants to find love, and that she does not love Logan, she marries him to appease her grandmother. This shows how much Janie cares about what other people think of her, and what lengths she is willing to go to keep others pleases with her.

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.

In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, a young woman travels through difficult life experiences in order to find herself. Hurston portrays the protagonist as an adventurous soul trapped in the binds of suppressing marriages. Janie experiences three different types of marriage learning from each one what she values most. From these marriages she learned she values love and respect, finally achieving them in her last marriage. Each new marriage brought something new to the table for Janie and no matter the situation or the outcome of the relationship Janie grew into her own independent individual because of it.

So one day she meets Joe Starks and after spending some time together, Janie asks Logan what he would do if she ran away. Logan, rather than responding honestly, lies and hides his true feelings through insults. Janie learns that a marriage does not always withhold love. Love is something that must come naturally without force or thought and Janie sees that she has no such feeling towards Logan. Hence Janie runs off with Joe Starks and Logan is never heard of again.

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

Chapter four begins with the honeymoon period ending, and some resentment starting.The chapter starts with Logan begins to compare her to his first wife, explaining how she chopped wood with him. He believes she should be doing more manual labor, and maintain the house if she wants to be better than his first wife. When Logan leaves to get another mule, Janie finds finds Joe Starks, a.k.a Jody, “… a cityfied, stylish dressed man” (Hurston 27). Jody talks to Janie about how she can make her feel like a woman, and proclaims a secret marriage. When Logan returns, he argues with Janie about their relationship, and the next morning Logan yells at Janie to help him shovel manure. Janie decides she has had enough and leaves Logan to get married to Jody, and run away with him.

Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God tells the story of Janie’s journey towards spiritual enlightenment and her development of individuality, largely through Janie’s relationships with others. Hurston uses the themes of power, control, abuse, and respect, in Janie’s relationships with Nanny, Killicks, Starks, and Tea Cake, to effectively illustrate how relationships impact identity and self-growth.

Throughout a fair part of Zora Neal Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie’s low class create problems when it comes to men. She lives with men she does not love because they give her the financial stability she cannot have yet on her own. Janie marries Logan Killicks at a young age even though she does not want to

In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie is a Native American woman that struggles with the gender roles set by others. Throughout her life, Janie was put into different roles in which she was expected to conform to. Janie, however, felt that she should choose her own roles in life, which led her down many different marriage styles. Because Janie wanted to choose what roles she was to be in, she eventually found the courage to enforce her roles in subtle and passive ways. This led Janie to a marriage that complied with her needs as well as her husband’s desires. Because Janie was able to freely choose what her roles were in life, and her husband could do the same, Janie and her third husband lived happily together

In the novel, Their Eyes Are Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston lays bare the many faces of feminism and patriarchal ideology. Janie’s relationships show how feminism ideals and patriarchy thinking were normal within the African American culture in the slavery era. In many instances, Janie worked against the very ideas that an oppressive patriarchal society represents. The life dreamed of does not become a reality for most women. Although Janie saw a different future for herself. Those closest to Janie influenced her decisions and actions as she succumb to the patriarchal thinking. She was also empowered by those same influences.

In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, she explores the life of Janie Crawford and how numerous situations causes her to reject or accept the people and ideas wanting to suppress her. Janie's life begins as a power struggle and it evolves to much more as she goes through. Janie Crawford proves she is a woman who evolves as she moves through life. This is prominent in her relationship with Logan Killicks, Jody Starks, and Tea Cake.

The classic twentieth century novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, written by Zora Neale Hurston follows the life of Janie Crawford, who is the central character in the novel. Janie Crawford’s life revolves around her multiple experiences with the men in her three different marriages, and among these relationships, Janie does not act according to the standard stereotypes of women, but instead acts like many women of the 1920’s and 1930’s by stepping outside of what is expected of her and shaking off the dependency that her husbands attempted to create for her. Janie experiences distinct marriages with each of her three husbands, but she has the same end in mind when she enters each of her marriages. Nanny forces Janie to marry a significantly older man, by the name of Logan Killicks, at the young age of sixteen in hopes that Janie will have a stable life, regardless of Janie’s ability of love her arranged husband. Janie is deceived into her second marriage with sweet talk and temporary emotion by a man with the name Joe Starks. Janie and Joe remain married for over 20 years, until Joe passes away from liver failure. The final marriage that is mentioned in the novel is between Janie and Vergible Woods also known as Tea Cake. Janie and Tea Cake experience the typically marriage filled with love and laughter until Tea Cake dies in a tragedy. Janie’s actions and responses to her husbands in her marriages is representative of gender roles in the 1920’s and 1930’s.