Gender Roles In Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God

Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God challenges traditional gender roles through the growth of Janie. Janie is not seen as a stereotypical woman who simply does whatever a man expects her to do. She is her own person with her own thoughts, ideas, and feelings. She comes to learn that she is a strong, independent woman who doesn’t need to care about what other people think of her. Janie does not let social prejudice or discrimination get to her, but instead learns to rise above these challenges and become a better person. In the early 1900’s, women were considered inferior to men and were given fewer rights. Men were seen as tougher, smarter, and just all around better than most women. Women were stripped of their identities and …show more content…
She lived a hard life as a slave and was more worried about surviving than her rights. She doesn’t see why Janie is not happy about marrying Logan and does not understand her need for love. “Honey, de white man is de ruler of everything as fur as ah been able tuh find out…So de white man throw down de load and tell de nigger man tuh pick it up. He pick it up because he have to, but he don’t tote it. He hand it to his womanfolks. De nigger woman is de mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see”(Hurston 14). Nanny believes that all the hardships of life are given to black women. They are the lowest of the low as even black men use them for their own personal gain. A black woman is a mule, an animal that’s controlled by others and has no free will whatsoever. This forces Janie to feel as if she needs to stick by Logan as she does not believe she can make it on her own. Hurston also states that women’s experiences are limited through Janie’s anger towards her Nanny. She sees Nanny as the reason why her world felt so small. “Here Nanny had taken the biggest thing that God ever made, the horizon—for not matter how far a person can go the horizon is still way beyond you—and pitched it in to such a little bit of a thing that she could tie it about her grandmother’s neck tight enough to choke her” (Hurtson 89). Janie saw the world as a playground where she could be free to express herself …show more content…
He keeps saying how ungrateful and spoiled she is, that he is doing all the work around the house while she just sits there. Janie starts to despise him and tells him that she will never love him and she deserves better than how he treats her. Logan felt entitled to be constantly praised and worshipped by Janie. This fits into another stereotype of women, that they need to be thankful for everything their man does. He believes that she would be nothing without him and even enforces himself on her in the bedroom. “You won’t git far and you won’t be long, when dat big gut reach over and grab da little one, you’ll be too glad to come back here.” (Hurston 30) Janie and Logan’s relationship completely breaks after this and she realizes that she deserves better than him. Janie moves on to marry Joe and runs away to Eatonville. Joe establishes himself as mayor here as he renovates the entire town to a metropolis. Through his power and wealth, Joe places control over Janie and establishes her as his trophy wife. Joe constantly tells her to shut up and to do whatever he says. “Thank yuh fun yo’ compliments, but nah 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 43). Joe believes that women are dumb and that men should take control over what happens in the