Woman's Voice In Their Eyes Were Watching God

I am Woman, Hear me Roar Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “to believe your own thoughts, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, -- that is genius.” In Zora Neale Hurston’s book Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie illustrates how thoughts and voices can make others feel powerful or powerless. Through the relationships the protagonist, Janie, experiences, she learns that a woman’s voice can be suppressed when people control her life, but a woman’s voice is heard when she receives help from others. When people enter unhealthy relationships, such as the marriage of Janie and Joe, an overbearing partner might mentally and physically abuse the weaker partner until he or she feels the power of submission, causing the weaker partner potentially lose their voice. In this case, Joe debases Janie until he has her submission. Joe continuously mocks Janie publically and abuses her in the privacy of their home, until …show more content…
Joe is power hungry for Janie’s submission, “he want[s it] and he’d keep on fighting until he [has] it,” and slowly he achieves his goal (71). Eventually, Janie starts to use her voice again. She realizes her relationship with Joe is not something she desires. As Janie stands up for herself she has many “silent rebellions” (54). By starting to use her voice, Janie “learn[s] how to talk some and leave some” (76). She wants to use her voice more, but she is too intimidated and feels powerless against Joe. By the end of Joe and Janie’s marriage, Janie ultimately stands up for herself by using her voice to point out the hypocrisy of Joe’s public torment. By acknowledging the lie of her “loving” relationship with Joe “[Janie] saw that it never was the flesh and blood figure of her dreams. Just something that she [has] grabbed up to drape her dreams over” (72). Janie starts to rediscover her mind, voice and