Janie obliquely foreshadows that her marriage with Logan will not work, for she indirectly suggests that she can’t love him because he does not wash his feet. 4. Nanny reproached Janie for kissing Johnny Taylor, but she approved her marriage to Logan Killicks. 5. Nanny ran away with Leafy to regain a tabula rasa, for she needed a clean slate after being impregnated by her white master.…
and Ah wants to be de one tuh show yuh”(Hurston-46). Joe’s promise obviously caught Janies attention, she had been regarded as worthless for so long by Logan that just the possibility of having that romance that she desired from her childhood was enough to push her over the edge and into Joeys arms. Hurston uses the dialogue between Jainie and Logan later on to emphasize on the tipping point for Janie and his choice of words from Joey to coerce her to follow him. Ironically she could not have been more wrong about her relationship with Joey being a better off, her marriage with Joey ends up being even worse and more suffocating the the…
The novel this essay is about is Their eyes were Watching God. In this book the main characters name is Janie Mae Crawford. Janie has many relationships with men in this novel to be specific she marries 3 different men during her life. In her second marriage she is married to a man named Joe Starks. Joe dies towards the middle of the novel and she then moves on to her 3rd marriage.…
Throughout the entire book, we walk in Janie’s shoes as she explores and discovers what love truly is. She always desired independence, and wanted to discover the world herself. In the story, we listen as Janie grows wiser and matures as a woman after each of her marriages. Her first experience with marriage wasn't even her choice, her grandma was the one that picked a man for her. His name was Logan Killicks.…
In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God the author, Zora N. Hurston, focuses on Janie Starks journey for love. Growing up Janie's grandmother tried to obscure her views on love by forcing her into marriage with Logan Killicks. Even Though Nanny raised Janie on certain values for love, Janie met Tea Cakes and found the love she has been longing for. In the novel the horizon symbolized Janie life opportunities. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie's grandmother teaching on love coupled with the fulfillment Tea Cakes love for Janie revealed that the only thing Janie needed in life was to be loved with understanding.…
A worthy husband of Janie wouldn’t threaten to kill her if she tries to leave them. Janie also needed to leave him because she didn’t truly love him. Jany tells Nanny, “Ah wants things sweet wd mah marriage lak when you sit under a pear tree and think. Ah…”(24).…
Character development in literature can be extremely well illustrated through literary techniques. One novel in particular, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, is written in such a way that literary devices accomplish this purpose. Because of her use of various literary techniques, Hurston is able to develop Janie as a character and free her from the judgement that she experiences throughout the novel. The novel opens with the conclusion of Janie’s struggles.…
Given all of the struggle and oppression that they are put through in love and marriage, why do some women jump right back into the water only to find themselves catching another piranha? In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, the reader is taken through the development of Janie from her early life to her later years. You can read as she struggles with love and finding her own voice in a time of racism and inequality between both races and genders. We watch her struggle to find her “pear tree image” of love through several marriages. Although some may argue that she never found this in her life, further investigation shows us how Janie's relationship with Logan, Jody, and Tea Cake throughout the text leads her to self fulfillment…
The early nineteenth hundred was an important period for African Americans. During this time period, there was a lot of turbulence for race relations and gender role. Zora Neale Hurston was a writer who grew up during this time period and went threw a series of events prior to writing the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. At an early age Hurston’s mother passed away and her father went off to remarry but continued to pay for her education till he eventually stopped. For a bit of time she became a maid for an actress in a touring Gilbert and Sullivan group.…
It was the age of fourteen that Zora was thrown out her home, and this was only because her stepmother did not approve of Zora or any of Zora’s siblings (Zora!, 2012, page 19). Because of this, not only did Zora recognize unfair treatment at an early age, she learned how to care for herself, also. Zora was severely mistreated as a child and this impacted her writing severely. In her story “Drenched in Light”, she gives background information of her feeling and experiences of her child abandonment. She also equally focuses on women’s rights and battles with society and marriage expectations.…
Nanny, and her daughter Leafy, also Janie’s mother, have been both raped. Nanny saw the kiss as a sign that Janie too will get raped. She claims that Janie is now a grown woman and must be married right away to avoid getting raped. Janie then learns that Nanny arranged a marriage between her and Logan Killicks. Janie is displeased and believes Logan is ugly and old, and that she’ll never fall in love with him.…
In this excerpt from “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston, she used word choice, imagery and repetition to show that African Americans couldn’t be free around whites. The words she chose to use and the picture that’s being painted all bring a lot to the point the Hurston was trying to prove. Usually when an author say “the sun was gone” you’ll automatically think that that’s a bad thing, however Hurston is using it to show joy or happiness. During the day the black community always felt like they were being watched, and judged/oppressed by white people. So when the sun goes down, and nightfall they could finally be themselves.…
From Janie’s experience with Logan Killicks as well as Nanny’s advice, Janie was able to discover what she truly wanted from a marriage. Marriage did not create love so Janie learned she wanted to marry someone she loved. Although Joe Starks was a loving husband at first, he began insulting Janie for her diminishing looks although he was ironically growing old too. Due to the insults during their marriage, Janie found her voice and learned to speak up for herself. After Joe passed away, the marriage with Tea Cake is what allowed Janie to completely discover her identity.…
This statement leads to a fight which causes Jody to move into the guest room. This scene is pivotal in that it shows Janie her words have enough power to make another person react to them. Her voice and independence are strengthened through her ability to stick to her words and leave Killicks, and the death of Jody. Janie now has her own life, free of being a pawn, she is no longer a farmer’s wife nor is she the submissive wife Jody expected her to…
The novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston revolves around one woman, Janie, on her journey to self-discovery. Janie loses herself amidst the chaos that is society and must struggle through difficult circumstances and through many long years before she finds what she is looking for. Janie is not only searching for herself, she is on that universal quest all people must make in order to understand life. She 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 192).…