Author Eckhart Tolle once said, “Wherever you are, be there totally. If you find your here and now intolerable and it makes you unhappy, you have three options: remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept it totally. If you want to take responsibility for your life, you must choose one of those three options, and you must choose now. Then accept the consequences.” Emma in Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert and Janie in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston exemplified this quote in their actions. Whether it was through their outward behavior of conforming to others wills, or the rebelliousness of acting upon their true selves, Emma and Janie were forced to choose which path they should take. Throughout the novels, Emma
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In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie and Joe were a part of the upper class as a result of Joe’s mayoral position. Joe put tight restrictions on Janie, one of which excluded her from sitting on the porch and talking to the community. Instead, he forced her to work in his store even though he repeatedly refused to work alongside her. Janie accommodated to this lifestyle because she wanted to remain married to Joe. Janie thought they had been together too long to justify a divorce.However, in Madame Bovary, Emma yearned to reach the upper class, but never quite succeeded. Emma’s desire to transform her class, from middle to upper, affected how she presented herself to society. In the beginning of the novel, Emma and Charles attend a ball of which entranced Emma so that "Her heart was like the soles of those shoes. Wealth and luxury had rubbed against it and left upon it something that would never wear away" (Flaubert 38). It’s at that point that Emma’s enthusiasm for Charles was extinguished and the upper class life style had completely entranced her. From that point forward, Emma only pursued a lifestyle that society supported. Even with the pressures of society over looking the woman, they were able to show nonconformity in their …show more content…
Janie came into her own when she stood up to her abusive husband, Joe. He controlled her for years and she endured it, until one day she lashed out at him and said, “... Ah ain’t no old woman… Ah’m uh woman every inch of me, and Ah know it. Dat’s uh whole lot more’n you kin say… Talkin’ ‘bout me lookin’ old! When you pull down ‘yo britches you look lak de change uh life” (Hurston 79). This was a very pivotal moment in Janie’s life because she was able free her inner nonconformist for the first time. After this altercation, her quality of life improved because she began to live her life the way she wanted. While both women were able to show their true characters, only one was able to become truly
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie and Joe were a part of the upper class as a result of Joe’s mayoral position. Joe put tight restrictions on Janie, one of which excluded her from sitting on the porch and talking to the community. Instead, he forced her to work in his store even though he repeatedly refused to work alongside her. Janie accommodated to this lifestyle because she wanted to remain married to Joe. Janie thought they had been together too long to justify a divorce.However, in Madame Bovary, Emma yearned to reach the upper class, but never quite succeeded. Emma’s desire to transform her class, from middle to upper, affected how she presented herself to society. In the beginning of the novel, Emma and Charles attend a ball of which entranced Emma so that "Her heart was like the soles of those shoes. Wealth and luxury had rubbed against it and left upon it something that would never wear away" (Flaubert 38). It’s at that point that Emma’s enthusiasm for Charles was extinguished and the upper class life style had completely entranced her. From that point forward, Emma only pursued a lifestyle that society supported. Even with the pressures of society over looking the woman, they were able to show nonconformity in their …show more content…
Janie came into her own when she stood up to her abusive husband, Joe. He controlled her for years and she endured it, until one day she lashed out at him and said, “... Ah ain’t no old woman… Ah’m uh woman every inch of me, and Ah know it. Dat’s uh whole lot more’n you kin say… Talkin’ ‘bout me lookin’ old! When you pull down ‘yo britches you look lak de change uh life” (Hurston 79). This was a very pivotal moment in Janie’s life because she was able free her inner nonconformist for the first time. After this altercation, her quality of life improved because she began to live her life the way she wanted. While both women were able to show their true characters, only one was able to become truly