In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston writes a story that revolutionizes and contradicts the traditional gender roles of the 1930’s. The basis of this book is about the ever-changing love life about a young girl named Janie. Throughout her various marriages, she becomes versed in herself and in the end, learns to be self-reliant and not reliable on others.
Her first marriage was set up on a false hope. Every grandmother’s hope for her grandchild is to be married and prosper. In Janie’s scenario, her grandmother set her up with a man named Logan Killicks. Logan was a man of great wealth and in order to survive, Janie needed the money Logan had. At this time, Janie was just discovering what it meant to love someone passionately. “Yes, she would love Logan after they were married. She could see no way for it to come about, but Nanny and the old folks had said it, so it must be so. Husbands and wives always loved each other, and that was what marriage …show more content…
“From now on until death she was going to have flower dust and springtime sprinkled over everything. A bee for her bloom” (p. 32). This is a reoccurrence of the nature motif. Again and again, there is a reference to bees and flowers: pollination. This is a metaphor for the lust and passion that Janie feels towards Joe. Joe did not marry Janie for love; she was him arm-candy. Jody constantly treats Janie terribly. Once Joe died, Janie was not sad like was as expected; she was elated! After the death, Janie gained the knowledge of independence. Hurston writes, “Besides she liked being lonesome for a change. This freedom feeling was fine. These men didn’t represent a thing she wanted to know about. She had already experienced them through Logan and Joe” (p. 90). She started to care for herself and was happy with her current situation. Little did she know that another man would come into her life and turn her perceived philosophy
Her first marriage was set up on a false hope. Every grandmother’s hope for her grandchild is to be married and prosper. In Janie’s scenario, her grandmother set her up with a man named Logan Killicks. Logan was a man of great wealth and in order to survive, Janie needed the money Logan had. At this time, Janie was just discovering what it meant to love someone passionately. “Yes, she would love Logan after they were married. She could see no way for it to come about, but Nanny and the old folks had said it, so it must be so. Husbands and wives always loved each other, and that was what marriage …show more content…
“From now on until death she was going to have flower dust and springtime sprinkled over everything. A bee for her bloom” (p. 32). This is a reoccurrence of the nature motif. Again and again, there is a reference to bees and flowers: pollination. This is a metaphor for the lust and passion that Janie feels towards Joe. Joe did not marry Janie for love; she was him arm-candy. Jody constantly treats Janie terribly. Once Joe died, Janie was not sad like was as expected; she was elated! After the death, Janie gained the knowledge of independence. Hurston writes, “Besides she liked being lonesome for a change. This freedom feeling was fine. These men didn’t represent a thing she wanted to know about. She had already experienced them through Logan and Joe” (p. 90). She started to care for herself and was happy with her current situation. Little did she know that another man would come into her life and turn her perceived philosophy