Essay On The Voice Of Janie In Their Eyes Were Watching God

Essay on the Voice of Janie in Their Eyes Were Watching God
The Powerful Voice of Janie in Their Eyes Were Watching God 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 ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
She felt far away from things and lonely. Janie soon began to feel the impact of awe and envy
against her sensibilities. The wife ofthe mayor was not just another woman as she supposed. She
slept with authority and so she was part of it in the town mind." A skillfull change in narration which
combines the black dialect and the conventional narration occurs in the following quotation as the
narrator shows how the towns people feel about a spittoon which Joe Starks bought for his wife: "He
bought a little lady–sized spitting pot for Janie to spit in. Had it right in the parlor with little sprigs
of flowers painted on all sides...It sort of made the rest of them feel that they had been taken
advantage of. Like things had been kept from them. Maybe more things in the world besides spitting
pots had been hid from them, when they wasn't no better than to spit in tomato cans. It was bad
enough for white people, but when one of your own color could be so different it put you on a
wonder. It was like seeing your sister turn into a 'gator. A familiar strangeness. You keep seeing your
sister in the 'gator and the 'gator in your sister, and you'd rather not." What I attempt to show in the
above quotation is that through free indirect discourse Hurston is able to effectively express the
inner and outer voice of Janie. This voice is the voice of a woman who is
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...

Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston:...
In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie has allowed the
audience to better understand the limitations that women in society had to deal with in a male
dominated society. Janie's relationship with her first husband, Logan Killicks, consisted of tedious,
daily routines. Her second husband, Joe Starks, brought her closer to others, than to herself. In her
third and final marriage to Tea Cake, she eventually 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.
Janie Crawford's birth was a result of a impecunious African American schoolgirl being raped by an
unnamed teacher. Her mom splits, resulting in Janie being raised by her grandmother. Nanny, her
grandmother, has been shaped by living in the years of the civil war and having been ... Show more
content on Helpwriting.net ...
She's blinded to his faults by her own visions of love and by his entrepreneurial charisma.
Ultimately, Joe values ambition and material wealth more than he values Janie. He sees her as an
accessory rather than as an equal. Janie was rebellious with Logan's relationship, she would tell him
no often. On the other hand, Janie goes through silence rebellions with Joe. Janie was not an
independant with him either, she was his tag–a–long. Joe says "Thank yuh fuh yo' compliments, but
mah wife don't know nothin' 'bout no speech–makin'. Ah never married her for nothin' lak dat. She's
uh woman and her place is in de home" (Hurston 41–42). As a result of being the town mayor, Joe
got a lot of compliments on having such a charming young woman on his side. He stated that her
place in inside the home, and she is not capable of making speeches for the town. Janie was silent
with that remark. As a result of them living together for many years, Joe started to belittle Janie's
self confidence. He

Their Eyes Were Watching God Independence
In Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, a woman, through the course of three
marriages and a life of obstacles, finds her independence in a man's world. Janie Crawford learns
increasingly in each her marriages how to find her independence and speak her voice. A life riddled
with loss, poverty, and trials leads Janie towards a life of independence, freedom and the ability to
find her voice. Raised by her nanny, Janie lacked the ability to speak her mind and become her own
person. Once old enough, nanny arranged for Janie to marry Logan Killicks, a rich man with 60
acres of land. Though pampered by Logan, Janie becomes trapped in a loveless marriage that
quickly changes from being pampered to being treated like a servant. Logan's

Their Eyes Were Watching God Research Paper
Evette Galvan
11/03/14
H. English Essay
Their Eyes Were Watching God: How Janie Acquired Her Own Voice Many people let their lives be
controlled by someone else, but eventually have the ability to stand up for themselves and become
their own person. In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the main character, Janie, has to go
through many hardships to finally gain her independence. Janie thought that her dreams of finding
real love were over, but that all changed when she met a new man that allowed her to be who she
was. Janie obtains her own voice and the ability to shape her own life when she builds up the
courage to stand up to Joe and being able to control her life then follow her heart. To begin with,
Janie gains her voice by finally ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
When Janie began dating Tea Cake the whole town thought it was socially unacceptable, but Janie
did not listen to them and she decided to marry him anyway. Pheoby, Janie's friend, tried convincing
Janie not to run off with Tea Cake, but Janie says "Ah done lived Grandma's way, now Ah means to
live mine." (Hurston, 1937, pg.114) By saying this, Janie is showing that she is tired of living the
way someone else wants her to live; she married Logan and Joe for the sake of making her Nanny
proud, but now she found someone who she truly loves and she did not plan on giving him away
because he did not have money. The whole town begins to make up rumors about Janie when she
comes back, but she does not care what they say because she knows the truth. At the end of the book
Janie says "Two things everybody's got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got
tuh find out about livin' fuh theyselves." (Hurston, 1937, pg.192) In this sentence Janie is saying that
people should not depend on someone else besides themselves, we should be our own person, and
that way we can live our lives freely without someone constantly telling us what to do. When Janie
is able to depend on herself, she lives a lot more peacefully and without

Their Eyes Were Watching God Character Analysis
Finding Voice and Vision
Their Eyes Were Watching God is such a admirable book because it allows readers to sit and ride
along with Janie, the main character, on her journey through life. Living is about making memories,
falling down, and getting back up again. Zora Neale Hurston presents a character who stand for her
wants and her needs instead of someone else's. She notices who matters the most in her life and
stops putting other people's needs in front of her own. Janie demonstrates the creation of a woman
who enables herself to follow her own instincts and inspirations as well as the external and internal
God and voice in herself.
FIX ITFirst, Janie demonstrates when people want to make life decsions . Nanny was one of those
people to ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Yo' papa and yo' mama and nobody else can't tell yuh and show yuh. Two things everybody's got tuh
do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin' fuh theyselves."
(267) this quote explains what it is like finding your way through life. Janie went through ups and
downs, but your struggle is your testimony. You learn from decisions and mistakes you make in the
past and you grow from there. When God made the heavens and the earth and placed us all here on
this earth he didn't give everyone a map for them to follow everyday so they can know the
whereabouts in life. He gave no one nothing but faith and courage. You have to believe in yourself
and seek him for answers. Zora Neale Hurston did an amazing job and left her readers with such
knowledge after reading this book. She taught me that you have to venture off and do what satisfies
you. There's so much world out there and you should never have to settle in one place because your
scared or you think someone else won't be happy about a decision. Well fun fact, this is your life and
you are the only one living for you. So make sure you are happy first before considering anyone
else's thoughts or

The Role Of Speech And Silence In Their Eyes Were Watching...
An anonymous person once said, "silence is the most powerful scream." Silence has an incredible
role in society. One can trace this role and how it changes within both the real world and literature.
Their Eyes Were Watching God is a literary masterpiece in which speech is used as both a
mechanism of control and a vehicle of liberation.
Speech and silence have a critical role in the background of the novel written by Zora Neale
Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God. This novel takes a journey through the life of an African
American woman named Janie Mae Crawford as she strives to discover her place in the world.
There are many examples of the ways speech is used as the story follows Janie's life. The first of
these can be found near the beginning of the novel when Janie is only a teenager.
Janie Mae Crawford started off as a girl who spoke her mind, but she soon began to stop whenever
she discovered that she could be punished for speaking her opinions. In chapter two on page
fourteen of Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie says, "Naw, Nanny, no ma'am! Is dat whut he
been hangin' round here for? He look like some ole skullhead in de grave yard." This was Janie's
response when Nanny tells Janie that she is planning on marrying her off to Logan Killicks. When
Janie speaks her opinion, Nanny becomes very upset. Nanny responds to Janie with outrage by
saying, "So you don't want to marry off decent like, do yuh? You just wants to hug and kiss and feel
around with first one man and

Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston Essay
The struggle for women to have their own voice has been an ongoing battle. However, the struggle
for African American women to have their own voice and independence has been an ongoing
conflict. In Zora Neale Hurston's novel Their Eyes Were Watching God Janie struggles a majority of
her life discovering her own voice by challenging many traditional roles that are set by society
during this time. Hongzhi Wu, the author of "Mules and Women: Identify and Rebel–Janie's Identity
Quest in 'Their Eyes Were Watching God,'" recognizes the trend of African American women being
suppressed by making a comparison between animals throughout the novel and Janie. Wu argues
that there are ultimately two depictions of the mule that the reader remembers and compares both of
these interpretations to Janie's transformation throughout the novel. While Wu's argument is sound
in the fact that it recognizes certain stereotypes African American women faced during this time, Wu
fails to recognize Janie's sexuality in depth as her major push away from the animalistic pressures
she has faced. Throughout Wu's article, Wu address Janie's marriages and the representation with the
imagery regarding the mule. One of Wu's stronger arguments is the first marriage Janie has with
Logan Killicks. Wu argues that the marriage between Logan and Janie is an "obvious surrender to
Nanny's concept of black women, which defines them as the mule of the world" (Wu 1054). In the
beginning of their marriage, Logan treated

Metaphor, Metonymy and Vioce
Barbara Johnson's critique focuses on the metaphoric, metonymic and voice in Their Eyes Were
Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. It focuses on the major character, Janie Crawford's inner and
outer change towards her various relationships. She focuses on the strengths, both vocally and
physically, gained after her first slap down by her second husband, Joe Starks.
Barbara Johnson focuses on the metaphoric meaning of this transformation which was defined as the
substitution based on the resemblance or analogy and then she goes on to the metonymic meaning
which she defines as the basis of a relation or association other than that similarity. Paul De Man, a
deconstructionist literary critic and theorist, provides a brief summary stating the ... Show more
The sign of an authentic voice is this not self–identity but self–difference.
Barbara Johnson speaks of how the women's voices have attained inferiority as it relates to the
situation of Janie's acquisition of her inner and outer voice. Her opinionated statements were shut
down by Joe. Johnson then mentions Auerbach's urge to unify and simplify is an urge to re–subsume
female difference under the category of the universal, which has always been obscurely male. The
random, trivial and marginal will simply be added to the list of things all men have in common.
Auerbach's then calls for unification and simplification in the province of the white. If the woman's
voice must be incorporate and articulate division and self–difference, so too has Afro–American
literature always had to assume its double–voicedness.
Johnson concludes her critique with a brief synopsis of Zora Neale Hurston's main imitative into
writing Their Eyes Were Watching God. She explains that according to her, "there is no message, no
theme, no thought; the full range of questions and experiences of Janie's life are invisible to a mind
steeped in maleness as Ellison's Invisible Man is to minds steeped in whiteness.
Barbara Johnson, Metaphor,

How Does Janie's Use Of Voice In Their Eyes Were Watching God
In The Novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie does find herself at the end of the novel. Zora
Neale Hurston displays this perfectly, with all the conflicts and struggles going on she finds her way
to her true voice. All the husbands she has gone through, and what she has experienced. Hurston
effectively shows Janie's victory over oppression throughout the book. She has allowed to use her
language as power, and use that power to grow into what she is at the end of the book. This
movement allows her the opportunity to explore and form her ideas and voice in solitude. These
external variables cause her to look inward and not depend on others as a source of survival. When
she finally comes to terms with her influence, she stops fleeing. She

Their Eyes Were Watching God Theme Essay
Zora Neale Hurston conveys the theme that gender can confine one's true potential and freedom in
her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Janie, as a young woman, is controlled by her male
counterparts and is unable to act freely for herself. Her grandmother raised her to strive for stability
and security in her relationships, rather than an emotional connection. Janie is discouraged from
speaking in front of the community and participating in discussions on the porch by her second
husband, the mayor of Eatonville. However, she meets Tea Cake who enables her to freely express
herself. Through her various experiences, she is able to find her true self by breaking down typical
gender stereotypes of the time. Hurston tells the story both through Janie's voice and a third person
omniscient narrator. Hurston's use of multiple points of view allows Janie's thoughts and ideas to be
vividly expressed through the narrator ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Although her English is still mispronounced and broken, Janie's thoughts become more abstract.
Janie proclaims, "Love is lak de sea. It's uh movin' thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from de
shore it meets, and it's different with every shore" (191). Because of her relationship with Tea Cake,
Janie is capable of defining what love truly is, which is a complex idea. Although she is saddened to
shoot him when he is rabid, Janie frees herself from the limitations of being a woman in society. She
is able to focus on herself and find out who she truly is on the inside. Janie further states, "Two
things everybody's got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuf find out
about livin' fuh theyselves" (192). Janie's newfound freedom causes her to realize the importance of
focusing on oneself. Her simple, concrete thoughts as a young woman developed into abstract ideas,
similar to the

Their Eyes Were Watching God Analysis
Janie's Background
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston creates an environment full of social
imbalance for Janie by subtly planting a mindset of inferiority of herself compared to those around
her; this, in turn, develops a character that internally struggles with her feelings of freedom,
sexuality, and status, and unknowingly forces herself to accept these imbalances. Janie Crawford is a
young biracial woman, that grew up during the harlem renaissance. Her mother, who was conceived
from rape, gave birth to janie, who was also conceived from rape, eventually ran away from her
family, leaving Janie to be raised by her old–fashioned grandmother, Nanny.
Perception of Marriage
Born into slavery, Nanny grew up in a world of injustice, unwarranted violence, and abuse. The time
period of African enslavement was one where marriage was not allowed, and families were split
apart. With such cruel memories* instilled in her mind, Nanny pushed, what she thought was, her
ideal and old–fashioned perception of love onto Janie; that being to find a man that is well off, and if
you don't already love him, you will in the future. [mention pear tree; WC 5, p.4] What Janie's
Grandmother taught her about love/men. Experience under the Pear Tree. ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
Throughout her three marriages though, we see a shift in Janie's demeanor and self–expression as
she gradually masters the usage of her own

Their Eyes Were Watching God Summary
Review of Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston Their Eyes Were Watching God is
a story about a black woman in the 1930s, Janie's, quest for real and fulfilling love and freedom. The
story begins when her grandmother, Nanny, catches her kissing a boy she doesn't approve of. Nanny
is a former slave who is raising Janie as her own daughter, Janie's mother, was raped at seventeen,
began drinking, and ran away. Countless hardships were faced by Nanny and she was denied
opportunities, like marriage, in order to care for Janie and her mother. Therefore, she pressures Janie
to marry Logan Killicks before she dies of old age. Despite not wanting to take part in it, Janie
obeys, and learns that marriage doesn't create love as she had thought. ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin' fuh theyselves." Janie spends years
living as others tell her to. Nanny, Logan, Joe, her communities, and even Phoebe tell her what
should cause her to be content. Yet, marriage, money, and prestige never makes Janie appeased.
Only when Joe dies, does she find independence and realize that, "She had been getting ready for
her great journey to the horizons in search of people; it was important to the entire world that she
should find them and they find her. But she had been whipped like a cur dog, and run off down a
back road after things." When she meets Tea Cake she finally enters a relationship where, regardless
of its faults, she is valued as a person. Tea Cake enjoys caring for her, is open with her, and never
forces her to do anything. When he dies Janie's heart is broken; but, she is proud of her life and
ultimately content. She found God and herself while learning that people have to live their own
lives, not have their lives be arranged for

Annotated Bibliography For Their Eyes Were Watching God
Annotated Bibliography Project
Danticat, Edwidge. Foreword. Their Eyes Were Watching God. By Zora Neale Hurston.
New York. First Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006. ix–xvii. Print.
Four distinct, yet unified, sections exist in the forward of the book Their Eyes Were Watching God.
Each section focused on different aspects of the book, the author, and the personal reflection of
Edwidge Danticat. Janie and her actions in life, written artfully by Zora Neale Hurston, are
discussed at length in the first part of the forward. Danticat also analyzed the fact that Janie led a full
life of both love and heartache while she still managed to keep her head up and a smile on her face.
Edwidge Danticat formed a monumental bond with Hurston's novel which was examined largely in
the second section. Danticat focused on her struggle of understanding the dialect within the story, as
her English at the time was limited. This represents a struggle I also endured over the course of
reading Their Eyes Were Watching God. Once I ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Then she met Tea Cake who taught her to play checkers and so many other wonderful things. He
opened her heart in the way she had hoped Logan and Joe would but never did. Tea Cake and Janie
left for the Everglades and got married along the way. In the book, the pair faced many challenges
from others, including Nunkie who Janie believed was trying to steal Tea Cake from her. Tea Cake,
on the other hand, dealt with Mrs. Turner who tried to get Janie to fall for her brother. In the film,
neither Nunkie nor the Turner's are discussed which was a shame because it showed the pairs'
turbulent romance. I did enjoy skipping over the Turner section for one reason; in the book, Tea
Cake hit Janie to prove to Mrs. Turner he was in charge of the situation. This made the relationship
between Tea Cake and Janie abusive in my opinion and skipping it made the relationship healthier
and more

Their Eyes Were Watching God Language Analysis
Despite appearing as a quest for love and a fulfilling relationship with a partner, Zora Neale
Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God follows Janie Crawford and her search for identity. Janie's
story begins when she first idealizes the alluring beauty of the reciprocal relation between the bee
and the pear tree that sets her to seek the same level of reciprocity with a partner. However, by
experiencing and struggling through three relationships, Janie learns to use her voice for her
independence and displays how language forms an identity. The route towards Janie's development
of individuality through her three husbands is portrayed by a quest structure. The "quester" is
undoubtedly Janie Crawford, an attractive black woman who starts ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
While her destination is not predetermined, she ultimately pursues happiness, which she believes
can be found in a compatible partner. Janie's desire for a relationship blossoms when she, as a young
girl, bears witness to "a dust–bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister–
calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch
creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight" (Hurston 10–11). This romantic and erotic
awakening drives Janie's reason and will to leave her arranged husband, Logan Killicks, for Jody
Starks, an ambitious and well–spoken man. Similarly, after Jody's death, she reasons again with love
to follow Tea Cake, who answers Janie's deeper desire to practice the voice repressed by her
previous lovers. However, the challenges Jamie faces within each relationship transforms her into a
confident woman unafraid of judgment. Logan's unemotional and demanding treatment of Jamie
catalyzes her will to satisfy her own happiness. Jody's condescending demeanor teaches Janie

Janie Mae Crawford's Their Eyes Were Watching God
Introduction
Their Eyes Were Watching God is a novel that deals with the task of self–fulfillment as a human
being. The novel reveals the journey of the protagonist, Janie Mae Crawford, who seeks to be
content with her life. Her past experiences demonstrate how she has always felt powerless and
unsatisfied with her life. Janie always dreamed of being more– someone with a free soul. But her
previous husbands dominated every aspect of her life. Since the beginning of time, men have
controlled women. The effects of men being authoritive towards their opposite gender have caused
women to meet self–fulfillment. However, as time continues more women have become
independent to feel self–accomplished.
Critical Article Analysis The article written ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
The first voice is of the narrator, Janie, which is lyrical and refined by nature. On the other hand, the
second voice is informal. The style passage above is from the first page of chapter two. This passage
conveys both of the voices in the novel. The first three sentences "Janie saw her life like a great tree
in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone. Dawn and doom was in the
branches. "Ah know exactly what Ah got to tell yuh, but it's hard to know where to start at,"
combines both the first and second voice. Janie uses the first voice to convey how she sees her life
as a tree. Then in the third sentence, Janie transitions into the second voice. She repetitively
substitutes the word "I" for "Ah", emphasizing her race. Hurston's merging of Janie's thoughts and
words proves how one can have graceful thoughts with an informal

Janie in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Thus, their inability to relate to her does not come from hatred but form their upbringing or
skepticism. Janie's story (profoundly economic in emphasis, as Houston Baker has argued) focuses
on three representative husbands (Newman, Oct., 2003). Although the focal point of Their Eyes
Were Watching God correlates with Janie's relationship with her three husbands and other people. It
is the main and primary idea of Janie's search for divine clarification and a strong sense of her own
identity. Janie is alone as seen in the beginning and the ending of the story. The novel is not a story
of Janie's quest for love but rather than her quest for sense of security and independence. Janie's
improvement has been charted along the way as she studies ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
123) (Newman, Oct., 2003). Her outburst was somewhat malicious towards the dying Jody as she
measures the depth of Jody's dominance of her inner life. When Joe sickens (kidney disease), the
rumor immediately runs that Janie is responsible as the community suspects that Joe was poisoned
(Newman, Oct., 2003). As Janie begins to find her own voice, she propels through social subtleties
in order for her to express herself. On the surface it may appear that Teacake is able to provide Janie
with a better place in a more authentic, less money–driven world than Joe Starks, offering her an
open, giving form of love and treating her as an equal (Newman, Oct., 2003). Janie embellishes her
relationship with Tea Cake, as he "teaches her the maiden language all over." Having lived under
Joe, Janie is cautious when she first meets Tea Cake (Shmoop Editorial Team). It isn't the white
man's burden that Janie carries; it is the gift of her own love (p. 297) (Newman, Oct., 2003). Having
to begin controlling her speech, Janie reaches a new degree as she learns how to be silent when she
chooses. This idea of silence shows her strength rather than her passivity had come ahead during
Janie's trial can be based on the interpretations of the narrator over her testimony. For most of Tea
Cake's downfall, Janie is merely a passive spectator (Shmoop Editorial Team). Though she knows
she can do little to save Tea Cake, she still tries with her whole heart. Up to this point, the dialogue
here has

How Does Janie Lose Their Voice In Their Eyes Were...
Their Eyes Were Watching God An Analysis So many people in modern society have lost their
voices. Laryngitis is not the cause of this sad situation–– they silence themselves, and have been
doing so for decades. For many, not having a voice is acceptable socially and internally, because it
frees them from the responsibility of having to maintain opinions. For Janie Crawford, it was not:
she finds her voice among those lost within the pages of Zora Neale Hurston's famed novel, Their
Eyes Were Watching God. This dynamic character's natural intelligence, talent for speaking, and
uncommon insights made her the perfect candidate to develop into the outspoken, individual woman
she has wanted to be all along.
As the novel begins, Janie ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Hurston says it best: She knew things that nobody had ever told her... She knew the world was a
stallion rolling in the blue pasture of ether. She knew that God tore down the old world every
evening and built a new one by sun–up... She knew now that marriage did not make love. Janie's
first dream was dead, so she became a woman (24).
Janie remains relatively demure in her relationship with Killicks until Jody Starks appears. A
wealthy, well–dressed man on his way to a small black town he heard about, a little of Janie's
previous naïveté emerges again because of him. She mistakes his spending and kindness for the love
she had been seeking, but eventually realizes that he loves her as a reflection of his wealth. Of
Janie's three husbands, he is the one with the most negative effect on her. He defines all the
boundaries of her life and expects her to submit to everything he commands. When she defies him
and insults him in public, he reacts by shunning her and attempting to hurt her, and because of this
she was not free of his "rules" even after his death. "She lived between her hat and her heels, with
her emotional disturbances like shade patterns in the woods–– come and gone with the sun. She got
nothing from Jody except what money could buy, and she was giving away what she didn't value"
(72).
At this time, Janie begins to

Examples Of Individualism In Their Eyes Were Watching God
Individualism in Their Eyes Were Watching God
In her depicting Janie's life, Zora Neale Hurston aims at expressing the will of Janie to achieve her
individuality in a male–dominated society. Janie requests her rights to express her feelings. Her need
to find a loving man is the most challenging issue for her. After passing through four experiences
three of them are marriages, Janie finally comes to understand the real meaning of love and
independence.
2.1 Janie's Request for her Individuality
Hurston breaks the masculine social boundaries by depicting Janie as a strong black woman. This
later is neither a tragic heroine nor a weak victim. As quoted in the Arts Journal, Andrea Rushing
states: "... was not pathetic, wasn't a tragic mulatto, ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Logan treats her as an object. For him, Janie is a machine to plant the potatoes. Janie's relationship
with Logan witnesses neither sex nor love. She is in an internal conflict with how love finds its way
to her:
Cause 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."... "You come heah wid yo' mouf full uh foolishness on uh busy day. Heah you
got uh prop tuh lean on all yo' bawn days, and big protection, and everybody got tuh tip dey hat tuh
you and call you Mis' Killicks, and you come worryin' me 'bout love."... "But Nanny, Ah wants to
want him sometimes. Ah don't want him to do all de wantin'. (Hurston Their Eyes Were Watching
God 27)
The suppressed sense of love makes Janie looks for a new relationship in which she finds true love.
She enters into a conflict with Logan. She thinks of their relationship. She seems to take her
decision according to his answer. She expresses her feeling to him by stating that "You ain't done me
no favor by marryin' me. And if dat's what you call yo'self doin', Ah don't thank yuh for it. Youse
mad 'cause Ah'm tellin' yuh whut you already knowed." (Hurston Their Eyes Were Watching God

Their Eyes Were Watching God Feminist Analysis
Anas Bingham
ENG–376
Prof. Noelle Morrissette
09–12th–14
Their Eyes Were Watching God: A tale of
Their Eyes Were Watching God, a novel by Harlem Renaissance writer Zora Neal Hurston is hailed
by many as a feminist text due to focus on its protagonist's journey, Janie Crawford, to find her
voice and gain agency in a atmosphere that attempts to place her within narrow social confines. The
text focuses on the events in Janie's life that become integral in the formation of her identity. The
story takes place within this framework of social inequality and racialized gendered oppression and
through Janie's story the role of women, specifically that of Black women is discussed. Janie's
journey takes place over the span of her lifetime and Hurston ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
He is an up and coming black man with big dreams and a lust for power and though he isn't all of
what Janie wants for herself, he is a step up from Logan. "Janie pulled back a long time because he
did not represent sun–up and pollen and blooming trees, but he spoke of far horizon." Eventually
she leaves with him to go Eatonville, an all black town of which he quickly becomes the mayor.
Jody values power and consequently only values Janie in her ability to help him gain it. It's of some
note that the way in which Jody rises to power mirrors that of a white man. He assumes the position
of mayor and become the "bossman" or overseer for the town. He builds a big white house that
dwarfs the other citizen's houses. "The rest of the town looked like servants' quarters surrounding
the "big house" (47)." The way in which he treats Janie is also similar to the ways in which white
women of this time period where treated. He suppresses her sexuality and femininity by making her
tie up her hair, a part of her he decided he should be the only man to have access to. He stifles
Janie's voice by not allowing her to participate in town discussions; those that take place both
formally and informally. "But mah wife don't know nothin' 'bout no speech–makin'. Ah never
married her for nothin' lak dat. She's a women and her place is in de home (43)." This is the first of
many times where

Janie's Self-Discovery Essay
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is about a young woman that is lost in her
own world. She longs to be a part of something and to have "a great journey to the horizons in
search of people" (85). Janie Crawford's journey to the horizon is told as a story to her best friend
Phoebe. She experiences three marriages and three communities that "represent increasingly wide
circles of experience and opportunities for expression of personal choice" (Crabtree). Their Eyes
Were Watching God is an important fiction piece that explores relations throughout black
communities and families. It also examines different issues such as, gender and class and these
issues bring forth the theme of voice. In Janie's attempt to find herself, she ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
Nanny's idea of a marriage is "a haven from indiscriminate sexual exploitation and as a shelter from
financial instability" (Jordan). Janie's marriage to her first husband, Logan Killicks, is an unexpected
grief and he disgusts her sexually. She tries to love him but their relationship lacks intimacy,
romance, and fun. Throughout the novel, Janie is on a mission and she soon finds out "that marriage
did not make love. Janie's first dream was dead, so she became a woman" (24). Killicks think Janie
is spoiled and "counts Janie among the livestock on his farm, estimating her value by her ability to
produce greater surplus value" (Ha 33). It is when Janie realizes Killicks plans to put her to work on
a mule because she does not bore him any heir that she runs off with Joe Starks. Joe Starks is a
"quick–thinking, fast–talking, ambitious man, headed for a newly founded all black community,
where he plans to make a fortune" (Rosenblatt 30). Jody offers up a new start to Janie and she leaps
at the opportunity of marrying him, "committing bigamy" (Rosenblatt 30). Jody becomes the mayor
of Eatonville and provides Janie with a middle–class furnished house that does not provide her "with
the felicity and self–fulfillment that she needs" (Ha 33). Janie is treated no more or less than that of
the mayor's wife.

Their Eyes Were Watching God Literary Analysis
Zora Neale Hurston's book Their Eyes Were Watching God explains the journey of Janie Crawford's
life. Janie experiences abuse, sacrifice, and true love throughout different situations in the book. As
she goes through each circumstance of life, Janie gains confidence and courage that she does not
have in the beginning of the story. Janie's chief accomplishments in the book are finding freedom
and independence despite the situations in which she has to overcome loss and disaster, has to prove
her worth to a man, and has to learn to value and accept herself. First, Janie's accomplishment of
freedom and independence can be seen through situations as she deals with loss and disaster.
Towards the beginning of the book, Janie's grandmother dies. ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
Janie learns to value and accept herself throughout the many relationships in which she is involved.
Through each relationship where she is controlled, Janie's reaction shows the freedom and
independence that she gains. Janie's grandmother arranges Janie's first marriage to Logan Killicks
and assures Janie that "yes, she would love Logan after they were married" (21). In her marriage to
Logan Killicks, Janie discovers that marriage, in fact, does "not make love" (25). Janie finds
independence and freedom by realizing that she does not love Logan even though she is married to
him; she finds independence and freedom by realizing that her grandmother is wrong, and that she
does not have to stay in a marriage where she is unhappy only because her grandmother has forced
her to marry. Janie finds independence and freedom by deciding to leave her husband because
marriage is not about "protection" like her grandmother believes, but about being valued and loved
for who she is (15). In her marriage to Jody Starks, Janie realizes that she should be treated as an
equal, not as inferior. Janie is angry that he is "mad with her for making him look small when he did
it to her all the time" (81). She wanted Jody to "act like somebody towards her" (81). Rather than
accepting Jody's treatment towards her, she demands that she be treated respectfully. She finds the
confidence to stand up against Jody's disrespectful treatment that is directed at her because she is a
woman. Janie finds freedom in her marriage to Jody because she allows herself to be seen as
valuable and important. She does not allow her husband's treatment to degrade her self worth or rob
her of her freedom to be an independent woman. Janie's first two marriages help determine the
attributes she discovered were essential for her happiness in a partnership. Because she

Examples Of Metaphors In Their Eyes Were Watching God
Love Zora Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God follows main character Janie Crawford's
journey into womanhood and her ultimate search for self–discovery. Having to sudden transition
from childhood to adulthood at the age of sixteen, the story shows Janie's constant struggle to
discover her own voice and fulfill her dreams through three marriages and a lifetime of suffering
that come about from being a black woman in America in the early 20th century. Throughout the
novel, Hurston gives strong metaphors helping to unify the novel's themes and narrative; thus
providing a greater understanding of Janie's quest for selfhood. There are a couple significant
metaphors in the novel that achieve this unity: the pear tree metaphor, the figure of the mule,
metaphors representing nature personified and finally the use of visual imagery. Metaphors are used
throughout "Their Eyes Were Watching God". One of the most powerful metaphors in the novel is
the blossoming pear tree.
"She was stretched on her back beneath the pear tree soaking in the alto chant of the visiting bees,
the gold of the sun and panting breath of the breeze when the inaudible voice of it all came to her.
She saw a dust–bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister–calyxes arch to
meet the love embrace and the ecstatic ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Hurston uses a hurricane and a lake during the climax of the novel. Both the hurricane and the lake
represent the capriciousness of nature and the impersonal manner with which nature inflicts its
wrath on man. Hurston also uses these images to illustrate the inability of man to control nature. The
hurricane is a monster: It cannot be avoided. The lake is similar in its inevitable nature: Hurston
portrays it as unbeatable, impersonal and animal–like as it leaves its banks and overtakes people
hiding in their homes or trying to flee the storm. Tea Cake believes he can beat it, but is ultimately
defeated by

Essay about The Growth of Janie in Their Eyes Were...
The Growth of Janie in Their Eyes Were Watching God
Human beings love inertia. It is human nature to fear the unknown and to desire stability in life. This
need for stability leads to the concept of possessing things, because possession is a measurable and
definite idea that all society has agreed upon. Of course, when people begin to rely on what they
know to be true, they stop moving forward and simply stand still. Zora Neal Hurston addresses these
general human problems in her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. Hurston, however, does not
present the reader with the nihilistic hopelessness of Fitzgerald or Hemingway, but rather offers an
understanding of the basic human aspect that causes us to fear emptiness. Janie, the ... Show more
Instead, she portrays him as being racially whole and emotionally healthy. Hurston didn't want to
change the world based on racial movements, she had her own ideas about things. Capturing the
essence of Black womanhood was more important to her than social criticism.
Comparison of Hurston's life and work is ironic. Though Janie, having passed through dominance
and loss, had a 2 story home and money in the bank to come home to, Hurston had none. Hurston's
later life was that of the economically disadvantaged–– what Ellison, Wright, and other male black
authors penned their novels in protest of. Brilliant, talented, she could not rise above the economic
limits imposed on her and thus a talented anthropologist with two Guggenheims ended up buried in
an unmarked grave.
It's not chance that the three main characters besides Janie are men. Hurston was writing in a society
where men were still dominant in the literary field. The struggle Janie emerged from to find her
inner self needed men as a catalyst. The male/female relationship cannot be duplicated with a
female/female one. Logan Killick's ownership of her being could not have happened with a woman
counterpart. After marrying Killicks for protection rather than love, Janie realizes that she is living
Nanny's dreams rather than her own. She also realizes that with protection comes obligation––
Killicks feels he deserves to slap her around. With that discovery, she makes

Their Eyes Were Watching God Reflection
"Their Eyes Were Watching God" is a novel that was written by Zora Neale Hurston.
Some call this novel an "African–American feminist classic" The novel takes place in the early
1900s. It was about a story of Janie Crawford, an African–American women whose life is a quest to
find true love and her journey of self–discovery. The novel narrated main character Janie Crawford's
"ripening from a vibrant, but voiceless teenage girl into a woman her finger on the trigger of her
own destiny" It was not an easy time for African–American race. The story talked about Janie and
her discovery of love and identity. She first became obsessed with finding true love because she saw
a bee pollinating a flower in her backyard pear tree. The novel then documents ... Show more
During this time period African–Americans were now free, but were viewed as second class
citizens. Their living conditions were horrible. Due to the lack of educations they didn't have any
options. Because they had no real options they were forced to maintain jobs that were hard manual
labor.
The person who wrote "Their Eyes Were Watching God" was Zora Neale Hurston. Hurston was an
African–American novelist. She was born January 7,1891, Notasulga, Alabama. She was an
American folklorists, novelist, short story writer, and anthropologists known for her contributions to
the African–American literature, and the racial problems in the American South. Hurston had four
novels and over 50 short stories published, plays, and essays. She was mainly known for her 1937
novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God."
Hurston wrote the novel while she was under emotional duress. She decided to tell a story of a
woman named Jane, who survived three marriages, ultimately found emotion. Hurston is trying to
prove that black culture is valuable, unique, and worthy. She rejects the 19th and 20th century
stereotypes for women and creates a protagonist who through silenced for most of her life ultimately
finds her own

Their Eyes Were Watching God Character Analysis
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is a novel of a person coming into divinity.
Through Janie's tribulations, the reader sees her grow into her own person while gaining power
along the way. She becomes connected to nature and disconnected from people. Comparatively to
her husbands, whose brashness and force lead them to fall from grace. In their attempt to become
divine beings, Janie achieves divinity. Logan Killicks, Janie's first husband, is a failed attempt at the
attempt to achieve divinity. He does not get as far as Janie's future husbands, since he is not able to
gain any control over Janie. He attempts to be loving and caring, but when that fails he falls unto
belittling Janie. He is in a constant state of being unassured of his position with Janie. His being
unassured is his fall, which the reader never sees because Janie is not there. Jody, who is her second
husband, strains to achieve power. He begins to demonstrate wants to be a divine being when he
moves into Eatonville. After ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
After buying land for the town, he builds a store and post office to hold town meetings and does all
the talking at the assemblies. He sells his land to newcomers, deciding in who gets to stay in the
town. Through his control, the townspeople become jealous of Jody's wealth, his hubris indicates
that he will fall instead of rising above his station. Jody's forceful grasp of control becomes his
undoing, notably from Janie. By controlling Janie, she begins to fight back within herself, against
Jodie. In chapter six, his saving the mule is to appease Janie, but fails as she cannot part–take in the
festivities with the townspeople. His kindness is through money, Jody can see that Janie is slipping
from him and taking the mule is the only way to have her back under his control. The comparison of
him with Abraham Lincoln, freeing the slaves, encourages his

Voice and Language in Their Eyes Were Watching God Essay...
Voice and Language in Their Eyes Were Watching God
In one way or another, every person has felt repressed at some stage during their lives. Their Eyes
Were Watching God is a story about one woman's quest to free herself from repression and explore
her own identity; this is the story of Janie Crawford and her journey for self–knowledge and
fulfillment. Janie transforms many times as she undergoes the process of self–discovery as she
changes through her experiences with three completely different men. Her marriages serve as
stepping–stones in her search for her true self, and she becomes independent and powerful by
overcoming her fears and learning to speak in her own, unique voice. Zora Neale Hurston
effectively shows Janie's ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Janie's first movement toward self–awareness occurs shortly
thereafter, when she becomes fascinated by the blooming of leaf buds under
the pear tree. Here, Hurston uses the third–person narrative in a speaker's
voice that invites the reader into Janie's soul. For example, the narrative
voice portraying the "pear tree" incident seems to have a nature somewhat
intimate to Janie's:
the rose of the world was breathing out smell. It followed her through all
her waking moments and caressed her in her sleep. It connected itself with
other vaguely felt matters that had struck her outside observation and
buried themselves in her consciousness. (24).
Hurston brilliantly combines an intimate voice with the omniscience of a
third–person narrator for a vivid denotation of the beginning of Janie's
maturity and the initial stage in her development as a woman; she creates a

powerful description of a young girl's sexual awakening. However, just as
Janie is emerging as an individual and as a woman, her self–discovery is
crippled by Nanny's fear of this maturity. Nanny desires to marry Janie off
as soon as possible, so that she is protected in a financially

Their Eyes Were Watching God: Movie And Book Comparison
While the novel "their eyes were watching god" and the film by the same name were very much
alike they were also very different. The movie while touching on major issues that are parallel to
book also misses some other points. While the book touches heavily on nature and janies innerself
as discovered through nature the movie lacks the symbolism that the book was heavy with, Tea Cake
and Janie's relationships are changed and the janies trial is not included in the film either. In the
book "Their eyes were watching god" the symbol for janie's sexual awakening is very heavily
emphasized as the blooming pear tree. The pear tree is a motif that is introduced right in the
beginning of the book, it always goes back to sex, not the act of sex but

Janie 's Journey : Their Eyes Were Watching God
Janie's Journey: Their Eyes Were Watching God
In Zora Neal Hurston's novel, the story is about An African–American woman named Janie
Crawford. The book was set in the 20th century in central and southern Florida. The story shows her
journey through life and the obstacles she faces along the way. Janie goes through four men in her
life, each leading her closer to discovering herself. The novel begins as Janie returns to her
hometown Eatonville, Florida. It has been two years since Janie left and this makes her neighbors
question her. The last memory of Janie was her leaving in a wedding dress. Her returning in dirty
overalls makes her town wonder what happened while she was gone. Virginia Heffernan states that
the story, "...Opens with Janie ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
That child was Janie's mother who ended up being half white half black. Janie's mother was raped
by her schoolteacher when she was 17. She then gave birth to Janie and ran away. Nanny explains,
"She was only seventeen, and something' lak dat to happen! Lawd a'mussy... Couldn't git her to stay
here and nowhere else" (Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston 73). Because Janie
was a quarter black she faces judgment from others. She explains how her grandmother had to raise
her since her mother left her behind. Nanny tells Janie "Ah even hated de way you was born. But, all
de same Ah said thank God, Ah got another chance. Ah wanted to preach a great sermon about
colored women sittin' on high, but they wasn't no pulpit for me. Freedom found me wid a baby
daughter in mah arms" (2.56). Although her situation is tragic, it makes Janie stronger. Janie is able
to learn from the mistakes of the women that came before her. Virginia Heffernan states "In spite of
her circumstances, Janie stubbornly believes that she deserves to be rich, happy and sexually
satisfied" (The New York Times). Because she is fair–skinned, her beauty makes others envy her.
The silver lining in Janie's situation Nanny stepping up to be her parent and loving Janie to her best
ability. Although the women in her life were not perfect, it aids Janie to remain strong Janie was
raised in West Florida surrounded by white people. Janie was blinded and did not realize that she
was black. Janie

Their Eyes Were Watching God Analysis Essay
Their Eyes Were Watching God's Close Analysis Zora Neal Hurston's novel Their Eyes Were
Watching God discusses important aspects of the nature of identity in the form of the main
character's life. Janie, the protagonist, is a young woman who struggles on her path to find herself.
From the time she was sixteen, her life had been defined by men and marriage. Each person she
knew asserted themselves into her life as an asperous force that Janie defines herself by. On her
search for love and self–identity, she eventually emerges as an independent speaker with a narrative
of her own. The three men in her life parallel that individuality, each representing different facets of
freedom, that of companionship, ownership of voice, and the freedom of choice. Janie's
grandmother pushed her to marry to ensure a life of security that she had not known. Janie's first
marriage was to Logan Killicks, a man nearly forty years older than her. Janie, torn between wanting
to please her grandmother and her repulsion towards her husband, has the internal conflict of duty or
heart. Finding no excitement in her dull marriage, Janie feels ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
The heavy black dialect is used to contrast Janie's lack of a voice, especially when she is married to
Joe Starks. A smooth talking man like Joe offered Janie a life of color and romanticism but she soon
realized she was trapped again under the thumb of a man who governed her speech. Joe Starks
catches Janie in a cycle of verbal abuse and physical control, projecting his own insecurities onto
Janie and removing her voice thus removing her identity. With his death, she's freed of his tyrannical
way and she retaliates Joe by saying, that she did not leave Logan and "come down the road" with
him to lead a life of "bowing down" and obedience. The retaliation is the reclamation of her voice,
her opinion, and her

Theme of Voice in Their Eyes Were Watching God Essay
Breaking Through
In the novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God" written by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie the protagonist
is seen by critics as having no voice. For all women silence knows no boundaries of race or culture,
and Janie is no exception. Hurston characterizes Janie with the same silence that women at that time
& period were forced into, (complete submission.) "Women were to be seen and not heard." Janie
spends forty years of her life, learning to achieve/find, her voice against the over–ruling and
dominate men in her life. But in the end Janie comes out the victor, breaking the silence. In her
essay "What do Feminist Critics Want?" Gilbert states, "Like Wagner's master singers....men had the
power of speech,[but]....women ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Janie's actions are stronger than words, Janie's trial at the end of the novel, proves, Janie's silence to
be more powerful than articulation.
Hurston uses the narrative consciousness in Their Eyes, to characterize those who are silent and lack
their own voice, by doing this Hurston gives depth, to those whose voices, are heard. Throughout
the entire novel, the development of the male voice seems to parallel the development of Janie's.
The men in Janie's life have voices, and it is by her relationships with these men, that Janie's voice
gets stronger. Janie becomes more self confident with each relationship she endures. Hurston, by
using the consciousness narrative, is actually speaking for Janie; the narrator and Janie are like one.
This might be the reason that Hurston gives little voice to Janie's character. Janie is not silenced in
the novel, she is expressed through the narrative. Which if the reader does not close read, the reader
will not comprehend this aspect of Hurston's novel.
Passion and control correspond to voice and silence, as expressed by the three relationships in
Janie's life. Hurston brings together the men and women in her novel, comparing Janie's personal
growth to the three significant men in her life ( Logan, Starks, Tea Cake, which all three were her
husband.)

Searching for an Inner-Self in Their Eyes Were Watching...
Searching for an Inner–Self in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston a young girl named Janie
begins her life unknown to herself. She searches for the horizon as it illustrates the distance one
must travel in order to distinguish between illusion and reality, dream and truth, role and self?
(Hemenway 75). She is unaware of life?s two most precious gifts: love and the truth. Janie is raised
by her suppressive grandmother who diminishes her view of life. Janie?s quest for true identity
emerges from her paths in life and ultimatly ends when her mind is freed from mistaken reality.
Failing to recognize herself as the one black child in a photograph, ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
As a child, raised by Nanny, Janie was guided by the unreal allusion of what life is made up of.
When Janie was about sixteen, she spent a spring afternoon under a blossoming tree in Nanny?s
yard. Here she comes to the realization that something is missing in her life? sexual ecstasy. The
blooms, the new leaves and the virgin– like spring came to life all around her. She wondered when
and where she might find such an ecstasy herself. According to Hurston, Nanny finds Janie kissing a
boy named Johnny Taylor and her ?head and face looked like the standing roots of some old tree
that had been torn away by storm? (12) . Nanny can think of no better way to protect Janie than by
marrying her to a middle–aged black farmer whose prosperity makes it unnecessary for him to use
her as a ?mule? (Bush 1036).
Nanny makes Janie believe that marriage makes love and forces her to wed a much older man,
Logan Killicks. Jones believes that Janie?s first efforts at marriage show her as an ?enslaved and
semi–literate? figure restrained to Nanny?s traditional beliefs about money, happiness and love
(372). Unfortunately Janie?s dream of escasty does not involve Killicks. Her first dream is dead.
Janie utters, ?Ah wants things sweet wid mah marriage lak when you sit under a pear tree and think?
(Hurston 23). Logan began to slap Janie for control over

Analysis Of Cities In Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were...
As once stated by Italio Calvino, "You take delight not in a city's seven or seventy wonders, but in
the answer it gives to a question of yours." By what they behold, every city offers answers.
However, that does not mean these answers are always accurate. Residing in South Florida,
fallacious Eatonville and the Everglades contrast each other not only by the visual contents, but also
the answers given to the self–actualizing questions of the protagonist, headstrong Janie Crawford.
These answers, defining what the cities represent, ultimately differ. Though commonly overlooked,
these cities essentially contribute to Janie's discovering of herself. The two focal settings in Zora
Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, Eatonville and ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
Accordingly, She is a wise middle–aged woman that experienced suppression and the death of
several loved ones, yet she still believes that her life should be jovial and free–spirited. Initially,
Eatonville's and the Everglades' differences help to reveal her standards. To continue, they represent
tyranny and cruelty versus freedom and love, through her husbands, Joe Starks and merry and jovial
Tea, Cake Woods. Conclusively, they contribute two determinate ways of life, which allows for
Janie to choose her path and acquire a voice of opinion. Through the trials and tribulations of her life
in the focal Eatonville and the Everglades, Janie Crawford discovered that suffering and sacrifice are
necessary to obtain a self–identity; however, one may never kindle it, if they do not "pull in [their]
horizon" and establish harmony and peace with their

Whose eyes were watching God?
Whose eyes were watching God? In the movie Their Eyes Were Watching God, Oprah Winfrey
manipulates events that happened in the book by Zora Neale Hurston. Oprah morphs many
relationships in the movie Their Eyes Were Watching God. She changes the role of gender, and also
makes changes in Janie's character strength. Oprah also changes the symbolism in the movie to
where some important symbols in the book change to less important roles. Oprah changes many
important events in the book Their Eyes Were Watching God, when she makes the movie. In the
book Their Eye's Were Watching God, Janie the main character has a weaker role. Oprah strengthens
Janie's character when she makes the movie. "Women are not only considered the weaker sex but
are ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
She talks back because Jody got mad when one of the townspeople touched Janie's hand, and made
her come inside. This makes Janie look like an aggressive, partner, when she really does not have
those characteristics. In the book Janie stayed quiet when Jody was mad or had something to say. In
the movie Janie talks and plays games with the townspeople. Oprah makes her life look exciting in
the movie. Jody does not have a problem with this in the movie. This makes Jody look less
controlling. Jody controls Janie and does not let her have a social life in the book. Janie had a totally
different attitude in the movie while Jody lain on his death bed. In the movie Oprah made Janie look
like a sour person, when Janie's character in the book always had a sweet attitude. In the book she
was nice the whole time while Jody was speaking his mind. Oprah changes Jody and Janie's
relationship in the movie. Janie and Tea Cake have some changes in their relationship when Oprah
makes the movie. "With her new husband, Janie does not mind returning to a poor rural life" (Janie).
Janie does not even get married to Tea Cake in the movie. This changes the way Janie's character
looks significantly. Oprah makes Janie look classless by doing this. Janie would only run around
with a man in the book if she had married that man. In the movie when Tea Cake takes Janie's

Their Eyes Were Watching God Analysis
Summer Reading Assignment
1. I read Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, copyright in 1937 and has a total
of 193 pages.
2. A major theme in Their Eyes Were Watching God is the search for real love. Janie Crawford goes
on a journey in order to find her true love and what true love really means. If Janie didn't have that
desire, all the marriages she was in would not have a point. Men don't always treat her right so when
she meets Tea Cake things are different. The search for love is a hard search and only some people
are lucky enough to find it in their lifetime. 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.
Janie leaves Logan to be with Joe Starks who was waiting for her. On the train ride to town, the
narrator says, "he bought her the best things the butcher had" (Hurston 35). Joe is more concerned
about money and power. Janie feels that he's giving her gifts, but it's more that he's showing off his
money. Janie is the wife of the mayor and it

Their Eyes Were Watching God Literary Analysis
Janie strives to live the life of her imagination by attempting to achieve the dreams of her own. Their
Eyes Were Watching God reveals Janie Crawford as a sixteen year old girl who aims to discover
new adventures and find love within her marriages. Janie's grandmother demands she settles down
with a decent man that could bring her a bright future. As a matter of fact, Janie originally marries
Logan Killicks in order to fulfill her grandmother's demands. With their marriage progressing
without love, Janie runs off with Joe Starks. It was not until she meets Tea Cake, a younger man
with a poor background, does she experience true love and adventurous journeys. Their Eyes Were
Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston uses the symbols of the horizon ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
After making the risky decision to escape Eatonville with Tea Cake, they settle at Everglades. Soon
after their settlement, a hurricane approaches Everglades, leaving a mass destruction to the
community. As Tea Cake sneaks out of safety to find sanctuary, he notices the dead bodies looking
like "death [has] found them watching, trying to see beyond seeing" (162). The natural disaster
displays the world's capability to destroy and take thousands of lives. The dead bodies are staring up
into the sky in order to see God. These people are unwillingly serving their consequences for
believing and praying to God to take care of them. These decease bodies are reluctantly realizing the
world's capability of doing evil as the sky looks down upon them. Furthermore, while Tea Cake
commits his life to save Janie during the hurricane, he gets bit on the face by a deadly dog. A few
days later, Tea Cake gets diagnosis with a severe case of rabbis, which affects his overall mentality.
As his condition gets worse, he attempts to murder Janie as she "[sees] the ferocious look in his eyes
and went mad with fear" (175). The hurricane affects her overall relationship with Tea Cake, leaving
her in a horrendous situation. Since rabbis affects one's brain, Tea Cake was expressing an
alternative personality. The natural disaster did more than just destroying the community but also
being out one's unseen nature. The destruction made Janie damage her loving marriage and future as
no other option were available for

Essay on Janie’s Courageous Voice in Their Eyes Were...
Janie's Courageous Voice in Their Eyes Were Watching God
Through her use of southern black language Zora Neale Hurston illustrates how to live and learn
from life's experiences. Janie, the main character in Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, is a
woman who defies what people expect of her and lives her life searching to become a better person.
Not easily satisfied with material gain, Janie quickly jumps into a search to find true happiness and
love in life. She finally achieves what she has searched for with her third marriage.
Unfortunately, however, after years of a happy marriage, Janie accidentally kills her husband during
an argument. Her town forces her not only to deal with the grief, but to prove her innocence to a ...
Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Soon after they move to a new town, Eatonville, Joe concentrates his time and thoughts on being the
mayor and becoming powerful, not towards Janie. One evening, as the town gathers for the grand
opening of its general store, Joe denies Janie the chance to make a speech, even though the crowd
wants one: "'Thank yuh for yo' compliments, but mah wife don't know nothin' 'bout no speech–
makin'. Ah never married her for nothin' lak dat. She's uh woman and her place is in de home'" (43).
Janie, very hurt and embarrassed, does not tell Joe of her feelings, but instead keeps them to herself.
This non–confrontational attitude toward her marriage shows how easily Janie lets Joe control her
with his authority: "'Ah hates disagreement and confusion, so Ah better not talk. It makes it hard to
get along'" (57). Instead of working out her anger with her husband, an important quality in any
working relationship, Janie keeps quiet and lets the frustration and emotion build within her.
As their marriage grows, so do Janie's opinions and her ability to express them. She starts to stand
up to Joe when they get into arguments, although Joe continues to refuse to see or speak with her. As
Joe grows ill, and close to death, Janie forces him to listen to what she has to say:
Naw, you gointuh listen tuh me one time befo' you die. Have yo' way all yo' life, trample and mash
down and then die ruther than tuh let yo'self heah
'bout it. Listen,

The Sentiment of Oprah, Not Hurston: Their Eyes Were...
Oprah took a magnum opus, Their Eyes Were Watching God, and remade it into an entirely different
story that did not comply with the book. By altering Janie's character, moral fiber, relationships, and
public acts, it changed the meaning of the novel. The symbolism and the significance of the title
varied from the book and the story morphed into a tale of love when made into a movie. Zora Neale
Hurston's book held a disparate meaning before it fell into the hands of Oprah, who annihilated it.
Janie's character obtained strength in the movie when she did things that most women of her time
would not have done and she would not have done in the book. When Joe and Janie Starks went to
build the town of Eatonville, Janie helped out by carrying ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net
...
Janie could not indulge in the same things as normal people because Joe served as an impediment to
her. The movie gave her more power to do the things that she wanted to do than the book did.
Janie spoke up in Oprah's depiction, which she never would have done in the book as a typical
woman. Women in the 1930s did not lash out against their husbands or others and they did the
things expected of them. Janie audaciously told Joe what she thought of him in the movie and held
nothing back. "Joe: 'What de hell yuh doin'?' Janie: 'What de hell yuh think?' Joe: 'Janie!' Janie:
'Can't deal with yuh no more'" (Their)! When Janie addressed Joe, you would not expect that
arrogance or gall out of a woman of that time because of their submissiveness to their husbands.
Oprah's movie made Janie stronger when she talked like that and packed her bags to leave because
she had a voice and felt as if she could say or do what she wanted. In the book, Janie did not have
the fortitude of strength or her own mind, but she did in the movie because of her actions and
capability to do whatever she wanted. The moral fiber of Janie in the book showed more of what
you would expect from a woman of that time because they seldom showed affection or openness
about relationships and they showed less sexuality, but in the movie she did not have very good
character. During Janie's marriage to Logan Killicks in the book, she left with Joe after one week,
but in the movie she left

Analysis Of Their Eyes Were Watching God
Their Eyes Were Watching God: Prompt 10 "Their eyes were watching god" a novel that looked
how societies view on women, written by Zora Neale Hurston, portrays a society where "nigger
women" are considered a "mule". Throughout the novel, the protagonist, Janie Crawford, strives to
find her own voice but struggle to find it because of the expectation in the African American
community. Each one of her husbands play a big role in her life long search for independence and
her own voice. Janie's journey sets off when her grandmother, Nanny, insists she marries Logan
Killicks, a man twice her age. Because Nanny's experience with slavery, her worldview has been
about financial security for Janie. Like all elders they hope that their children and grandchildren
have protection and stability so they can ease. "Tain't Logan Killicks Ah wants you to have, baby,
it's protection... (Hurston 15)". With Janie rebellious young age, she does not realize what her
grandmother went through. Janie knew she had to obey her grandmother so she can give her Nanny
assurance that she would be taken care of before she dies. But not long after the Nanny's death,
Logan Killicks starts to treat her like a "mule" a free work of labor. Because of Janie status she
ought to speak for herself. Another example, where Janie struggles to find her voice is with her
second husband Jody Starts, a man who starves for power and the mayor of Eatonville. Jody rarely
allows Janie to speak her mind, participate in social

Essay On The Voice Of Janie In Their Eyes Were Watching God

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Essay On The Voice Of Janie In Their Eyes Were Watching God