Their Eyes Were Watching God Gender Analysis

Throughout Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, the main character, Janie, has to deal with the gender roles and stereotypes of her time period. Throughout the novel, Janie has three key relationships that define the way women fit into the society that she lives in. While Janie learns ‘her place’ in this society, she rebels against it with each husband that she has. Hurston uses Janie as a way to oppose the gender roles of her time. Their Eyes Were Watching God is a commentary on the lives and expectations of women in the nineteen thirties and forties.
According to chart 2 in “Women In The Profession, 1870-1970”, many women were nurses, librarians, and elementary school teachers, and very few were engineers, lawyers, and surgeons …show more content…
This is also the first time in a relationship that Janie has the freedom of choice. The image of Tea Cake as a perfect husband came to an end when Tea Cake “... slapped her around a bit to show he was boss” (Hurston 172). Even in this relationship where Janie is happy because she can finally make her own choices, she is ‘owned’ or under the man. She does not see this as a problem, in fact, she says he does it too show how much he loves her. This just goes to show how often this occurred in relationships that Janie not only thought it was normal but took it as a sign of a healthy one. Tea Cake also takes advantage of Janie pretty much as soon as they are married by leaving her for her to find that her purse remained, but “the [two hundred dollars] just wasn’t nowhere in the room” (Hurston 139). When Tea Cake returns he tells her about taking the money and spending it, and while he does win it back from gambling, he still stole from her. Again Janie does not see a problem with this because he comes back and returns her money, but this is just another example of the men in this society having more power than women. Despite Tea Cake trying to assure Janie that they are on equal standing, he tries to dominate not only her but other people. He is arrogant in that way to the point that “he discounts the warnings of the local Seminoles … because they are not property-owners” (Newman …show more content…
During her brief marriage to Logan, he exemplifies men that see their wives as a possession to better their own lives. Joe, similarly, sees Janie as a possession, but in the way that she is a trophy of his wealth and status. Tea Cake seems to be a man that sees women as equals at first, but he still feels the need to dominate Janie and show her that he is the boss. In each of her relationships, Janie submits to her husbands at first, trying to make the marriages work, but over time, she manages to stand up for herself and rebel against these stereotypes. With Logan, she leaves for what she sees as the better option. Then, with Joe, when she is fed up with the way he is treating her, she finally speaks up. Her retort emasculates him and eventually kills him, leaving her free from his rule. In her final marriage, Janie defends herself from a rabid Tea Cake by killing him. She uses her words instead of her actions for the most part when standing against the gender roles of her society, but they have a powerful impact on the people around her. Janie is a strong, intelligent woman who uses her wits to her advantage against the dominance of the men in her life. Hurston uses Their Eyes Were Watching God as a stand against women’s roles in her society, and a way to empower other women to make