Their Eyes Were Watching God, Essay Example

Their Eyes Were Watching God: Janie’s Character Development

Even though Zora Neale Hurston’s novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God” spins around the relationships of Janie with her three husbands, the one and the most important plot of it is the search of a woman for a strong sense of self identity and the spiritual enlightenment. The first and the last time that Janie appears in the book, she is alone. Janie constantly struggles with the society for personal self identification. She challenges the stereotypical black woman by insisting on independence. The main character of the novel significantly changes both externally and internally throughout the story due to her grandmother’s influence, her relationships with the men and her quest for self identity. The story is not just a simple quest of a female for a good partner but more of a self quest for a secure feeling of completeness.

Being a female of mixed heritage, Janie is the result of a poor, black girl being raped by a white schoolteacher and the nurturing of her tough grandmother whose life views were shaped up by the dramatic Civil War. Girl’s innocent sensuality and idealistic quest for love make her a target for men. Janie goes through three relationships, all of which teach her about different sides of love. Her heritage is a bit dubious and does not promise well for her future, namely her future of beautiful and romantic love. Janie comes from the generations of unmarried women. Her mother was raped at an early age and later abandoned her child. Her grandmother was also in a forced relationship with the white master during slavery which resulted into the birth of Janie’s mother. But since she was the woman who raised Janie, she became a very influential person in girl’s life. Regardless of these generations of unmarried females, Janie was not very concerned about becoming the first genuine wife in the family, but more about finding her true love.

When she was a young girl, Janie had some romantic bones in her body. Her miraculous experience beneath a blossoming pear tree has a deep effect on her. Girl parallels the pollination of tree blossoms with the essence of a romantic experience. Young girl becomes strongly inspired to seek love that results in her first kiss as well as the lifetime journey for true love. After the pear-tree episode Janie becomes related with flower and plant imagery, conceivably highlighting her natural beauty, innocence, gentle nature, and the maturity for romance.

Janie’s connection with her grandmother proves her need for love. She tries to please the woman and marries Logan Killicks whom she cannot love. From her first short marriage, Janie realizes that marriage does not necessarily involve love. She understands that being a legitimate wife, being dictated what to do is simply not for her. She cannot live a life without romance. Woman’s experience with Logan teaches her to oppose injustice and to treasure herself. Having firmly learnt this, Janie runs away in order to take her own future life into her hands.

At the time when Jody Starks appears in Janie’s life, he is the person who seems to offer her an ideal world compared to the practicality of her previous husband. Jody convinces woman that he will fulfill all her dreams and will make her satisfied. With time Janie learns that Jody’s exertion of power only suffocates her. The man married her not of true love but more because he saw her as an object that will serve a very useful purpose in his own life. Janie was an ideal of what the mayor’s wife should look like. Janie was unfulfilled by this relationship because he was held mute. Her language was silent. She was like a static object that could not grow. Woman was forced to even tie her hair the way her husband allowed. Even though Janie occasionally spoke her mind, she showed no real fight during this marriage. But her gentle nature did not allow her to rest while Joe was sick in his bed. She did all that she could for Jody, but at the end she felt triumphant at his death. She has finally won some freedom.

Throughout many years of life with Jody Starks, Janie loses a bit of self-consciousness that she acquired having run away from Logan. Woman was being told what to do and how to act. Even Janie’s hair serves as a symbol of her suppression in the novel. The way Janie wore her hair shows all her unconventional identity and power. It, first of all, represents woman’s independence of community standards. At the beginning of the story Janie is criticized by town for wearing her hair down. The refusal to bow down to the established norms of her society reflects the rebellious nature of Janie’s character and spirit. While being married to Jody, her braided hair represented masculine power that blurred gender lines and threatened her husband. Janie’s hair being straight also adds up being a symbol of so-called whiteness. It contributes to the white male power that she handles and helps to dislocate traditional power relationships such as whites over blacks or male over female. However, with Jody’s death woman begins to find her voice again. She disregards social refinements to be able to express her thoughts and feelings.

In her story Zora Neale Hurston uses a unique set of languages that shows her mastery of the rural Southern dialect among African Americans as well as its importance throughout Janie’s development. The use of language fundamentally parallels Janie’s personal quest to find her own voice. After her second husband Janie flourishes in a relationship with Tea Cake because he “teaches her the maiden language all over” (203). Janie’s control of speech takes a new level as she is learning to be silent when she wants. With her third husband Janie does not mind coming back to the poor life. She even truly enjoys the freedom to be able to be associated with everyone she wants as well as speak openly. Tea Cake did not try to tame or strangle Janie’s nature but encouraged her to try new things and experiences. The uniqueness of Janie and Tea Cake’s marriage was the communication they had. They openly spoke about troubles and continually reassured each other in the sincerity of their love. With Tea Cake Janie even learnt that love comes with the consequences, such as jealousy or mistakes.

The function of Tea Cake as her partner was a certain catalyst that drove Janie towards the achievement of her goals. In her life development he plays not a primary role but a supporting one. Just before him in her confrontation with Jody Starks, Janie has already shown that she started to acquire her personal voice within. Therefore, after the death of Tea Cake, it is worth to note the woman was not totally dependent on him. She was already half way through in her journey. Tea Cake dies but she remains a hopeful and a strong woman. He might have been the best of her husbands in terms of supporting her to find herself because if compared to her previous marriages, Janie was first treated like a farm animal by Logan and later silenced by Jody Starks. Tea Cake helped her not to lose her already going spiritual growth.

“Their Eyes Were Watching God” is a story of how woman acquires a strong feeling of self and comes to appreciate and understand her independence. However, as novel suggests the journey of Janie towards her personal enlightenment is not undertaken on her own. The gender differences that the author uses shows that women and men offer each other things that they need but do not have. Janie sees her relationships as based on mutual respect and reciprocal.

Men played an important role in Janie’s development. However as it is considered that relationships are necessary to fulfill one’s life, Janie proves to be a fundamentally self-centered person. At the end of the novel woman is alone again but she seems to be totally content with herself. She has liberated herself from unpleasant relationships with Jody and Logan who hindered her journey and experienced the true enlightenment and fulfillment with Tea Cake. Woman becomes very secure in her own independence. Janie feels a strong connection with world around her and even more, she has a feeling that Tea Cake’s spirit is still with her. Thus, being physically alone, in her spiritual world Janie is not.

Janie’s life is a difficult story. She started her life journey being a naïve, innocent and an inexperienced young girl who faced complicated challenges with men and life. However, as a result of all sufferings and hardships, she became a self-confident, smart and a self-reliant woman. The experiences she went through were very painful but they allowed her to transform into a mature and a better individual. From Logan, Jody, and Tea Cake she learnt various life changing lessons and grew from experience.

In “Their Eyes Were Watching God” Zora Neale Hurston showed a story of a woman who was looking for the possibilities of life, love and passion. Her life starting from an unhappy seventeen year old wife to a grown wise woman in her forties was bittersweet. But the woman was able to move on with her dreams and second chances. Janie’s story is an emotional journey with the experiences and heart aches. She hoped. She dreamt. She laid everything she had before the world to be able to find herself.

Works Cited

Hurston, Zora Neale. “Their Eyes Were Watching God.” Harper Perennial Modern Classics. 30 May 2006: 203