Stereotypes In Zora Neale Hurston And Their Eyes Were Watching God

Since the beginning of time and even today, women have had to live up to society’s standards of how they are supposed to act and live their lives. Stereotypes have been placed upon women that have yet to be lifted, and only few women have challenged those stereotypes. In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie is a strong female character who goes against the stereotypes placed upon her, as a women in the early 1900’s. Similarly, in the movie Thelma and Louise, the best friend duo living in the late ‘80’s have to overcome obstacles thrown in their way because of the stereotypes they were facing. Most of these stereotypes were employed by men who think they know what is best for a woman, when in reality, they do not. They …show more content…
For Hurston’s work, it was met with the criticism that it “withdrawal[s] from political concerns in favor of personal relationships” (Kubitschek 1). Their Eyes Were Watching God was released around the time of the Harlem Renaissance, and they believed that Hurston ignored the racial issues that were going on during the time people and replaced that with just Janie’s womanly struggles. But this made the work relatable to everyone. Critics also believed that Janie’s character lacked a quest, and a lot of the attention was faced onto the character of Tea Cake. But in recent times, critics now “allowed Janie to be the heroine of her own story, much less the successful quester returning with a boon for her community” (Kubitschek 1). It took a while for people to see that although it wasn’t focused on racial issues that were occurring during the time, it was a successful piece of feminist literature that deserves to be recognized. Thelma & Louise also received tough reviews upon it’s release. The movie was supposed to be a fantasy of what women felt when they were disrespected by men in the way that Thelma and Louise were. However, “Margaret Carlson of Time argued that the movie represented a betrayal of the values of feminism” (Cooper 1). However, it did just the opposite of that. It was a dramatization. It was showing how women felt on the inside when they are disrespected in such a way and forced to conform to certain stereotypes. Feminism is not hating men. Feminism is simply fighting for equal status, and not taking no for an answer. However, it is perfectly understandable to hate certain types of men who treat women a certain way, like the way that Thelma and Louise were treated throughout the film. It was acclaimed as a feminist text for three main reasons: “resistance to male objectification and dominance… making men