Their Eyes Were Watching God Analysis Essay

Studying Janie Crawford Their Eyes Were Watching God is the compelling tale of Janie Crawford, a remarkably unique woman for her time. Intelligent and strong, Janie refuses to fall into societal traps set for young women regarding marriage, duty, and contentment. In appearance, she is described as extraordinarily beautiful, with long hair in braids and an attractive figure, and has no problem catching the attention of men. Janie is habitually adventurous and curious, and not pleased by doing the same thing for too long. The times she is forced into complacency, she becomes miserable and restless. This can be observed when she marries Logan Killicks and is expected to be a housewife, and also when she runs away with the charismatic Joe Starks …show more content…
For instance, at the beginning, Janie is expected to marry early, but is opposed to the idea. In Eatonville, Janie is expected to work in the store, be the mayor’s wife, and keep quiet, but has many things that she wants to say and do otherwise. Finally, Janie reaches her goals with Tea Cake; she is free, happy, and more in love than she had ever been. She and Tea Cake grew to have mutual interests, like checkers and shooting, and the relationship was more mutual than her previous marriages. With Tea Cake’s death, Janie’s goals have not ceased to be accomplished, but have rather taken on a new life. As Janie arrives in Eatonville after Tea Cake’s death and her trial, she seems to not notice or mind the lewd stares or hateful remarks – because she now understands that their expectations of her do not matter. Tea Cake was not the source of her newfound free spirit, just who brought it out of her the most. Thanks to his nurturing of this part of Janie, she was able to retain it after his death. The expectations of the society she was born into were keeping her from becoming who she was truly meant to be, and once she let go of her fear of being seen as abnormal, she was ready to step into a new chapter of her