The Strength of a Woman in a Patriarchal World
Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God is a novel about a woman named Janie, and her search for her identity and a mutual relationship. At the start, Janie is forced into marriage by her Nanny where her husband, Logan Killicks, does everything for her. Janie is not in love with him so she leaves him for a charismatic man named Jody. Janie finds that Jody is oppressive and she is forced to be seen but not heard until his death twenty years later. Janie then marries a man named Tea Cake and follows him to the Everglades to be a migrant farmer. Tea Cake later dies and Janie decides she does not need a man in her life and becomes an independant woman. Throughout Janie’s journey she is faced …show more content…
When faced with a difficult challenge such as the death of her spouse, not once but twice, Janie rose to the occasion and showed great mental, emotional, and physical prowess.When Jody had died, Janie had shown herself that she was a free individual and was capable of doing as she pleased, such as putting the head rag on under her own will and not because she was ordered to: “_______________.”(##). When Tea Cake had died, Janie was forced to go on trial for the murder of someone she loved, she showed bravery in the trial. During the trial there was little dialogue, which represented Janie finding control over her own voice, showing how powerful women can be in times of struggle. Not only does this chapter attempt to empower women by showing their capabilities, but after the trial, Hurston makes note of how the connection by people of the same gender is stronger than that shared with members of the same race; while the white women consoled with Janie after the trial, the black men shunned her: “________________.”(##).
Though some argue that Their Eyes Were Watching God is an anti-feminist work, mainly due to the fact that Tea Cake hit Janie as well as treating her with little respect and trust, “_________.”(##), this is can easily be disproven. It is true that Janie was hit …show more content…
Hurston condemns male oppression upon females, writes about the true potential women have in any setting, of which potential is shown to be equal to man's, and she projected the ideas of when a relationship has rules laid out it can be loving. Their Eyes Were Watching God is definitely feminist, although society during the time of its writing shows through Hurston’s feminist opinions, which is to be expected. Since this novel was written in the 1900s, some ideas of what Hurston had for the most ideal relationship can still be viewed as politically incorrect, such as the fact that Hurston deemed domestic violence appropriate in relationships as long as it was with reason and the hitting was mutual. This shows how treatment of women has improved greatly over time, especially in the past fifty to sixty years, and much of it can be attributed to the feminists of Hurston’s time, who spoke out against patriarchy and created literature that is still read
Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God is a novel about a woman named Janie, and her search for her identity and a mutual relationship. At the start, Janie is forced into marriage by her Nanny where her husband, Logan Killicks, does everything for her. Janie is not in love with him so she leaves him for a charismatic man named Jody. Janie finds that Jody is oppressive and she is forced to be seen but not heard until his death twenty years later. Janie then marries a man named Tea Cake and follows him to the Everglades to be a migrant farmer. Tea Cake later dies and Janie decides she does not need a man in her life and becomes an independant woman. Throughout Janie’s journey she is faced …show more content…
When faced with a difficult challenge such as the death of her spouse, not once but twice, Janie rose to the occasion and showed great mental, emotional, and physical prowess.When Jody had died, Janie had shown herself that she was a free individual and was capable of doing as she pleased, such as putting the head rag on under her own will and not because she was ordered to: “_______________.”(##). When Tea Cake had died, Janie was forced to go on trial for the murder of someone she loved, she showed bravery in the trial. During the trial there was little dialogue, which represented Janie finding control over her own voice, showing how powerful women can be in times of struggle. Not only does this chapter attempt to empower women by showing their capabilities, but after the trial, Hurston makes note of how the connection by people of the same gender is stronger than that shared with members of the same race; while the white women consoled with Janie after the trial, the black men shunned her: “________________.”(##).
Though some argue that Their Eyes Were Watching God is an anti-feminist work, mainly due to the fact that Tea Cake hit Janie as well as treating her with little respect and trust, “_________.”(##), this is can easily be disproven. It is true that Janie was hit …show more content…
Hurston condemns male oppression upon females, writes about the true potential women have in any setting, of which potential is shown to be equal to man's, and she projected the ideas of when a relationship has rules laid out it can be loving. Their Eyes Were Watching God is definitely feminist, although society during the time of its writing shows through Hurston’s feminist opinions, which is to be expected. Since this novel was written in the 1900s, some ideas of what Hurston had for the most ideal relationship can still be viewed as politically incorrect, such as the fact that Hurston deemed domestic violence appropriate in relationships as long as it was with reason and the hitting was mutual. This shows how treatment of women has improved greatly over time, especially in the past fifty to sixty years, and much of it can be attributed to the feminists of Hurston’s time, who spoke out against patriarchy and created literature that is still read