Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, tells the story of a woman named Janie Crawford as she lives and grows throughout her life and marriages in Florida. Janie is a young woman around 16 who is being raised by her grandmother, Nanny, who is a former slave. Because of this fact, Nanny values financial security and respectability over anything else, and so she sees fit to marry Janie to a much older, ugly man named Logan Killicks. This newfound leap into womanhood at such a young age begins the real development of Janie’s character in the novel. Janie’s journey throughout the story is that of independence and seeking of oneself, which is shaped and formed through the relationships she has over the course of the novel.
To start, …show more content…
Although her marriage to Logan Killicks was short, this relationship still shaped her character in many ways. When she first marries him, she is catapulted into adulthood and womanhood and soon realizes that she cannot “grow” to love someone who she is forced to marry, and she will only end up resenting that person. After leaving him, she gains a new sense of independence, something that has always been in her nature, by abandoning an absolute chance at security. She also loses the desire to make others happy and forms a new wish to find love no matter the cost. Her relationship with Joe Starks was the longest and because of this, one of the biggest contributors to who Janie is at the beginning/end of the novel. Throughout their relationship, she is continuously oppressed and controlled by Joe which confuses Janie into believing that this is how love is supposed to be. When Jody finally dies, Janie is liberated from his oppression and finally feels free. It is because of this relationship that Janie feels the biggest need for independence and spending time finding herself instead of worrying about making others happy or finding “love” as she did before. The relationships in Janie’s life have, undoubtedly, shaped her character over the course of the novel, and contributed to the overall theme of Janie’s journey, which is finding her independence and
To start, …show more content…
Although her marriage to Logan Killicks was short, this relationship still shaped her character in many ways. When she first marries him, she is catapulted into adulthood and womanhood and soon realizes that she cannot “grow” to love someone who she is forced to marry, and she will only end up resenting that person. After leaving him, she gains a new sense of independence, something that has always been in her nature, by abandoning an absolute chance at security. She also loses the desire to make others happy and forms a new wish to find love no matter the cost. Her relationship with Joe Starks was the longest and because of this, one of the biggest contributors to who Janie is at the beginning/end of the novel. Throughout their relationship, she is continuously oppressed and controlled by Joe which confuses Janie into believing that this is how love is supposed to be. When Jody finally dies, Janie is liberated from his oppression and finally feels free. It is because of this relationship that Janie feels the biggest need for independence and spending time finding herself instead of worrying about making others happy or finding “love” as she did before. The relationships in Janie’s life have, undoubtedly, shaped her character over the course of the novel, and contributed to the overall theme of Janie’s journey, which is finding her independence and