In the first half of the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, the main character Janie Crawford lives the life that her grandmother pushed her towards , but ends up in loveless marriages and lacking the freedom she deserves. Social class is often linked to happiness and fullness of life. Hurston contradicts this ideal by showing the dissimilarities between what Janie thought she needed to be happy and w hat actually made her satisfied with life. Janie has never met either of her parents and was raised by her grandmother, Nanny. Nanny was a slave and that lifestyle left her with a world only concerned about finial security and gaining high social class. She imprints these ideals onto Janie by forcing her to marry a
