Injustice of Women Women have suffered and dealt with the tragedies of what is American history. Inequality is the most important struggle that women have had to overcome. Gender inequality is the basis of which this novel lies around. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, the women are portrayed as housewives who can only depend upon the power of their spouse. Along with Annie Tyler and Mrs. Turner, Janie Crawford is just one of these characters who is represented in an unfair way.
Janie deals with all of the struggles that life throws at her such as beatings, being stereotyped, and being controlled. The most common of these, however, are the beatings. During her lifetime, Janie gets beat. She does not bring on the beatings, and she does not …show more content…
She is a fifty something woman who can not stand the idea of being alone. Her money is wasted on men, who happen to be thirty years younger than her, who take her money and leave her. This is evident from the statement “ Her love affairs, affairs with boys in their late teens or early twenties for all of whom she spent her money on suits of clothes, shoes, watches and things like that and how they all left her as soon as their wants were satisfied” (118). Much like Janie, Annie is also treated like a rag doll. Men use her to receive material things and once that has happened, they leave her to fend for herself. They are not in the relationship because of genuine feelings, they are just greedy men who know that they can get away with taking from her and that she will not be able to do anything about it. Who Flung then comes into Annie’s life and she thinks that his feelings are true. She later finds herself to be wrong when Who Flung leaves her broken and beat down. It is clear that her feelings are hurt from the declaration “She was broken and her pride was gone. Who Flung had taken her to a shabby room in a shabby house in a shabby street and promised to marry her next day. They stayed in the room two whole days then she woke up to find Who Flung and her money gone” (119). It is obvious that Who Flung had no intention of staying in a relationship with Annie. He took advantage of her knowing …show more content…
Turner apart from the other women in the novel is the fact that she is the only one who cares about her opinion. Mrs. Turner is an African-American woman with Caucasian features and because of that, she finds herself very attractive and that is the only thing that matters. Because of her Caucasian features, Mrs. Turner believes herself to be upper class when she tells Janie “Ah hates tuh see folks lak me and you mixed up wid ‘em. Us ought class off” (141). Unlike other women throughout the novel, Mrs. Turner is a very attractive African-American woman and that leads her to believe that she is better than others. Since Mrs. Turner is very light-skinned, she hates darker individuals. Her belief is that she does not fit in with them, that even though they are of the same descent, they should not be classed together because of the drastic shade of skin color. During her conversation with Janie, Mrs. Turner says “Ah got white folks’ features in mah face. Still and all Ah got tuh be lumped in wid all de rest. It ain’t fair. Even if dey don’t take us in wid de whites, dey oughta make us uh class tuh ourselves” (142). Mrs. Turner classes herself off with white people and nobody dares to argue with her. It may not be fair that she is not actually classed with whites, but race is a touchy subject and she must go on living like that. Because of her independence, some women look down upon Mrs. Turner. Portrayal of women has changed drastically throughout the years. In past
Janie deals with all of the struggles that life throws at her such as beatings, being stereotyped, and being controlled. The most common of these, however, are the beatings. During her lifetime, Janie gets beat. She does not bring on the beatings, and she does not …show more content…
She is a fifty something woman who can not stand the idea of being alone. Her money is wasted on men, who happen to be thirty years younger than her, who take her money and leave her. This is evident from the statement “ Her love affairs, affairs with boys in their late teens or early twenties for all of whom she spent her money on suits of clothes, shoes, watches and things like that and how they all left her as soon as their wants were satisfied” (118). Much like Janie, Annie is also treated like a rag doll. Men use her to receive material things and once that has happened, they leave her to fend for herself. They are not in the relationship because of genuine feelings, they are just greedy men who know that they can get away with taking from her and that she will not be able to do anything about it. Who Flung then comes into Annie’s life and she thinks that his feelings are true. She later finds herself to be wrong when Who Flung leaves her broken and beat down. It is clear that her feelings are hurt from the declaration “She was broken and her pride was gone. Who Flung had taken her to a shabby room in a shabby house in a shabby street and promised to marry her next day. They stayed in the room two whole days then she woke up to find Who Flung and her money gone” (119). It is obvious that Who Flung had no intention of staying in a relationship with Annie. He took advantage of her knowing …show more content…
Turner apart from the other women in the novel is the fact that she is the only one who cares about her opinion. Mrs. Turner is an African-American woman with Caucasian features and because of that, she finds herself very attractive and that is the only thing that matters. Because of her Caucasian features, Mrs. Turner believes herself to be upper class when she tells Janie “Ah hates tuh see folks lak me and you mixed up wid ‘em. Us ought class off” (141). Unlike other women throughout the novel, Mrs. Turner is a very attractive African-American woman and that leads her to believe that she is better than others. Since Mrs. Turner is very light-skinned, she hates darker individuals. Her belief is that she does not fit in with them, that even though they are of the same descent, they should not be classed together because of the drastic shade of skin color. During her conversation with Janie, Mrs. Turner says “Ah got white folks’ features in mah face. Still and all Ah got tuh be lumped in wid all de rest. It ain’t fair. Even if dey don’t take us in wid de whites, dey oughta make us uh class tuh ourselves” (142). Mrs. Turner classes herself off with white people and nobody dares to argue with her. It may not be fair that she is not actually classed with whites, but race is a touchy subject and she must go on living like that. Because of her independence, some women look down upon Mrs. Turner. Portrayal of women has changed drastically throughout the years. In past