Their Eyes Were Watching God Essay Questions

Their Eyes Were Watching God Analysis Questions
1.In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, the protagonist is a mixed
–race, middle–aged woman
name Janie Crawford. Although Janie's name does not suggest any deeper meaning, her remarkable
physical appearance plays a significant role in the story. Janie possesses an impressive figure for a
woman of her age – on page 3, an unnamed character claims that Janie is "way past forty," yet on
page 2, author Zora Neale Hurston says of the congregation on the porch, "[Nobody] moved,
nobody spoke, nobody even thought to swallow spit until after [Janie's] gate slammed after her."
Janie's most magnificent feature, however, is her "great rope of black hair swinging to her waist"
[2]. Her appearance, particularly...show more content...
Hurston establishes the time and place in Their Eyes Were Watching Godby referencing the ideology,
speech, and events from the time period. On page 28, Hurston again alludes to the white superiority
present at the time when she writes "... de white folks had all de sayso where he [Joe Starks] came
from and everywhere else... ." Hurston also references the dialects in Florida at the time throughout
the book; the characters exaggerate vowels and use contractions abundantly. Additionally, Hurston
gives the setting context by referencing Union General William T. Sherman's March to the Sea [page
18] and the surrender at Appomattox Courthouse [page 19].
8.Their Eyes Were Watching God, written in the third person limited point of view, consistently uses
the same perspective throughout the book. Although Janie herself is not the narrator, the story is
told from her perspective. On page 46, Hurston writes, "She [Janie] felt far away from things and
lonely." This statement shows how the book is written as to where only Janie's thoughts are
revealed. While Janie interacts with other characters, the reader can only observe them externally;
Janie is the only character inside whose head is visible to the
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Their Eyes Were Watching God Analysis
The Power of God
Humankind has no choice in the end, and all of us are forced to live with a predetermined future.
Whether if you agree with this or not, in the american classic Their Eyes Were Watching God by
Zora Neale Hurston humanity is forced to accept this idea. Man kind can do nothing against the
power of god, and no matter what else happens, God always has the final say in the end.
God is a representation of nature, and is also a representation of all things that man cannot control.
The first example is Sam and walter are talking about caution versus nature
"Naw it ait, it's nature, cause nature makes caution. It's the strongest thing dat god ever made, now.
Fact is it's de onliest thing dat god ever made. He made nature and nature...show more content...
Ultimately, God is responsible for creating pretty much everything; besides the hierarchies that man
has made. The next example of this is right when Joe is holding the lamp lighting ceremony
"Folkes, de sun is goin' down. De Sun–maker beings it up in de morning, and de Sun–maker sends it
tuh bed at night. Us poor weak humans can't do nothin' tuh hurry it up nor to slow it down. All we
can do, if we want any light after de setting' sun or befo' de risin', is tuh make some light ourselves"
( 42).
God is being called the "Sun maker",as it serves for one large illusion to the book genesis as how
God brought light into the world, which credits him as being the "Sun–maker". This makes the "poor
humans" to feel powerless; as they cannot make the sun rise any faster or slow it down. The only
way to stop this feeling of powerlessness (according to joe) is to create light in the time where God
has not made any, thus the street light. Another example of this is when the hurricane hits and a
Janie and a few others are stuck inside of a building waiting for it to be ovey did not look at
anything else but the

Their Eyes Were Watching God Reflection Essay
Zora Neale Hurston is often credited for her ability to step outside of the box despite societal
norms around her. Her book Their Eyes Were Watching God was nothing short of unexpected,
especially during the time period it was released. The novel was released in 1937 when both the
rights of women and African Americans were limited; because Hurston and her main character
were both, many people were shocked. This astonishment was reflected in the reviews her novel
received; male readers(both white and black) generally dismissed her book because she failed to
address social injustices like other writers of color did during this time and because only African
Americans lived in Eatonville (Washinton). These reviews were the motive behind Their...show more
content...
This creates a visible contrast between Janie's past and present. This strategy helps to contribute to
the purpose because throughout the novel, Janie reminisces about her past longingly and in a
wistful way; it is as if she wants to relive her past because she is so unhappy with her present. As
each of her husbands become more and more restrictive over her life, she begins to find the strength
within herself to make her present situations as beautiful as her past ones.
Hurston's usage of denotative diction illustrates how Janie was forced to succumb to Jody and
the male dominated society as a whole while the two were married. An example of this is when
she describes how his restrictions and regulations "squeezed de life" out of her. This is effective
because squeezed can be easily associated with suffocating or choking which are both very
extreme. If Hurston had just said Jody controlled Janie's life, his control wouldn't seem as
extreme. Squeezed helps to contribute to the purpose because Jody exercised complete control
over Janie's life; he controlled how she wore her hair, kept her from enjoying town activities, and
made her stay in the store. Once she meets Tea Cake, the experiences that she was forced to miss
because Jody deemed them "common" became things she enjoyed which showed Jody put his status
above Janie's well being. Women during the 1930s experienced the same thing as Janie and could
easily relate to her struggles

Their Eyes Were Watching God Rhetorical Analysis
Mardokay Mosazghi
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Zora Neale Hurston
J. B. Lippincott & Co.
United States
Central Question
The central theme of Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, is the main character's
strive to find her own voice throughout the novel.Despite the long and difficult journey in which she
endures two loveless marriages and experiences that slow down her personal development, Jealie the
main protagonist succeeds in finding her

Their Eyes Were Watching God Thesis Statement
Rough Draft "The present was an egg laid by the past that had the future inside its shell," claims
author Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960). Through her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God she
demonstrates how strong, intelligent women, like the main character Janie, play an essential role in
shaping the future of black middle–class women during the early 20th century, so that when the egg
is cracked open they will be recognized as independent women in society. Throughout her life Janie
Crawford married 3 men, which each played different roles in her life. She never liked her first
husband, Logan Killicks, but married him because her grandmother wanted her to. This is why she
leaves him after meeting Joe (Jody) Starks, whom she falls in love with. They marry and move to
Eatonville, which Joe makes the first respectable black town in America and declares...show more
content...
Over the years they fall out of love and Janie begins to despise Joe for humiliating and degrading
her. After Joe dies because of a sick liver Janie doesn't remarry, till she meets Tea Cake. Tea Cake
is a couple years younger than her, which is why she questions his motives at first. They end up
marrying and moving to the Everglades where they both take the job as agricultural workers.
During a hurricane Tea Cake gets bitten by a mad dog, yet doesn't go see a doctor after the
hurricane. After the rabies spread throughout his body Tea Cake tries shooting Janie which is why
she shoots him to defend herself. She is acquitted by the court for killing Tea Cake and returns to
Eatonville where she tells her friend Pheoby her life story. The main character, Janie, inTheir Eyes
Were Watching Godserves as an effective looking glass through which the reader experiences the
lives of both the average and remarkable black woman, the role of men in their achievements, and
their effects on society during the early

Their Eyes Were Watching God An Analysis So many people in modern society have lost their
voices. Laryngitis is not the cause of this sad situation–– they silence themselves, and have been
doing so for decades. For many, not having a voice is acceptable socially and internally, because it
frees them from the responsibility of having to maintain opinions. For Janie Crawford, it was not:
she finds her voice among those lost within the pages of Zora Neale Hurston's famed novel, Their
Eyes WereWatching God. This dynamic character's natural intelligence, talent for speaking, and
uncommon insights made her the perfect candidate to develop into the outspoken, individual woman
she has wanted to be all along.
As the novel begins, Janie...show more content...
Hurston says it best: She knew things that nobody had ever told her... She knew the world was a
stallion rolling in the blue pasture of ether. She knew that God tore down the old world every
evening and built a new one by sun–up... She knew now that marriage did not make love. Janie's
first dream was dead, so she became a woman (24).
Janie remains relatively demure in her relationship with Killicks until Jody Starks appears. A
wealthy, well–dressed man on his way to a small black town he heard about, a little of Janie's
previous naГЇvetГ© emerges again because of him. She mistakes his spending and kindness for
the love she had been seeking, but eventually realizes that he loves her as a reflection of his wealth.
Of Janie's three husbands, he is the one with the most negative effect on her. He defines all the
boundaries of her life and expects her to submit to everything he commands. When she defies him
and insults him in public, he reacts by shunning her and attempting to hurt her, and because of this
she was not free of his "rules" even after his death. "She lived between her hat and her heels, with
her emotional disturbances like shade patterns in the woods–– come and gone with the sun. She got
nothing from Jody except what money could buy, and she was giving away what she didn't
value"(72).
At this time, Janie begins to

Their Eyes Were Watching God Persuasive Essay
Tea Cake: Better Than The Rest
Love is a life–changing event. It is an event that causes you to embrace another person in your life.
It can be a positive or a negative experience for a man or woman. It is a cycle of connection then
death, however; some people will not last to death due to death of divorce. In the novel Their Eyes
Were Watching God, Janie explores the themes oflove, beauty, and evolves into the woman that she
is at the end of the novel through three different marriages. When Janie gets married to all three
men, she loves them progressively as she goes from one marriage to the next;however, in the end she
ends up loving Tea Cake more than any of her past husbands. To begin with, Janie's first marriage
is to Logan Killicks. She meets him through her grandmother and is basically forced to marry him.
In the novel, Janie complains to her grandmother "Cause you [Grandmother] told me Ah mus
gointer love him,and, and Ah don't" (Their Eyes were Watching God 23). This quote demonstrates
how Janie feels throughout her marriage to Logan. He treats her like a labor mule and complains
that she is too lazy to do anything. From her first marriage, she learns that she has to be with a man
she...show more content...
She marries him because he starts seeing her secretly at her current home with Logan Killicks.
He convinces her to run away with him to Eatonville where they establish a town. Their
relationship starts very loving and close, but as time passes their love fades away slowly. Jody is
a man who needs power and rule to satisfy him; therefore, he seems to be a bit bossy. He was in
charge of the town, the store and more and "They bowed down to him rather, because he was all
of these things, and then again he was all of these things because the own bowed to him." (Their
Eyes Were Watching God 50). At the end of their marriage Jody gets sick and dies. Janie is left a
widow for six months until she meets Tea Cake, a store

Principles of Literature Professors on Their Eyes Were Watching God The principles in "How to
Read Like a Literature Professor" by Thomas C. Foster can be applied to Zora Neale Hurtston's
novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God". Most of the principles from the Thomas Fosters book
can be applied to Zora Hurtson's novel. The principles in "Their Eyes are Watching God" include;
its all about sex, a symbol can be anything, geography and rain doesn't just mean rain. In chapter
16 of "How to read like a Literature Professor" it claims that in a novel sex is disguised. Foster
blames Freud for making everyone's mind dirty but it is true the most innocent things can be about
sex. "Tall Building? Male Sexuality. Rolling Landscapes? Female Sexuality. Stairs

Summary Of ' Their Eyes Were Watching God '
Sheila Arman
Mrs. Coghill
AP Literature
18 December 2015
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Overview Questions
1.Janie's relationship with her first husband Logan Killicks consists of no true feelings. Her
grandmother suggests that she marries this man because of his ability to provide for her and give
her the protection she needs. Her grandmother believes that in time, Janie will develop undying love
for her husband however she fails to see that. She fulfilled her household duties but after a year of
marriage Janie "noticed that her husband had stopped talking in rhymes to her. He ceased to
wonder at her long black hair" (26). From this relationship she learned that "marriage did not
make love" so her "first dream was dead" (25). Logan's last name Killicks means a heavy stone or
anchor which illustrates how her desired to have a women who would anchor herself to him and
listen to him regaurdless since he is the more dominant. When Janie challenges him, he breaks
down as he abruptly states that he would "come in dere and kill [her]" (31) which reflects his las
name "kill"icks. The passion they once had dissipated which left Janie unsatisfied causing her to
remarry to another man named Jody Starks. Initially, Janie enjoys being with Starks as he treats
her with value and importance. However, soon she recognizes how he is just like Killicks as he
treats her like a possession and object of beauty and does not allow her to voice her opinion as she is
"getting' too moufy" (75). He

Research Paper On Their Eyes Were Watching God
Their Eyes Were Watching God In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, in the late nineteen
hundreds and early twentieth century, Zora Neale Hurston portrays the life of a black woman
trapped by patriarchal society, to make known the oppression and sexism imposed on Janie. During
this time a women gained power through their outer beauty. The duties of women shown as
submission to aggressive, manipulative, and power seeking men. Janie, however, had no power and
is viewed as a memento and for sexual purposes. Through the substantiation of women, the men take
away their power. Dominated by the rich white males, the black men have their power taken away
by a racist society. The white man empowers all population and black women were force to bottom

Summer Reading Assignment
1. I read Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, copyright in 1937 and has a total of
193 pages.
2. A major theme in Their Eyes Were Watching God is the search for real love. Janie Crawford
goes on a journey in order to find her true love and what true love really means. If Janie didn't have
that desire, all the marriages she was in would not have a point. Men don't always treat her right
so when she meets Tea Cake things are different. The search for love is a hard search and only
some people are lucky enough to find it in their lifetime. At first, Janie thought that loving
someone meant you were married to them. Janie believed that she would love Logan because they
were married as that was what Nanny had told her. In the few days before she would be with
Killicks, Janie thought "Yes, she would love Logan after they were married... Husbands and wives
always loved each other" (Hurston 21). Since Nanny had always told her that a marriage would make
her happy, that's what Janie thought. She had no feelings towards Logan, yet she held on to the hope
that they appear once they were husband and wife.
Janie leaves Logan to be with Joe Starks who was waiting for her. On the train ride to town, the
narrator says, "he bought her the best things the butcher had" (Hurston 35). Joe is more concerned
about money and power. Janie feels that he's giving her gifts, but it's more that he's showing off his
money. Janie is the wife of the mayor and it

Their Eyes Were Watching God Essay
Their Eyes are Watching God is globally viewed from many different angles, such as feminist
consciousness; the racial suppression; and the Black accrete of this novel. It contains love, murder,
hate, gossip, politics, and death. The novel itself contains positive messages, but the overriding
inappropriate language and sexism negates that. Mrs. Tasharofi explain that "Under racism, black
women have been programed to believe in white standards of beauty and this later is called
internalized racism". Mrs. Crawford, Janie's mother, portrayed this to Janie, a light skinned black
women (Main Character). It reflects and occupies a specific historical moments that in our current
life time's still occur. The novel Their Eyes were watching God by Zora Neale Hurston shouldn't be
in the curriculum because it shows a great deal of racism,...show more content...
Janie is in search for satisfaction but she is repeatedly struggling against overpowering male figures
who strive to restrict her. "Thus race and gender converge on this issue of evaluating beauty and
this purports to the belief of Black feminists that women are oppressed not only because they are
women but also because they are black women." Janie craved to find a relationship that included
the couple being equal to each other but the perspective of the time in the great depression denied
her from entirely accomplishing her dream. Throughout the novel Janie's actions try to demonstrate
the reader the erroneous claims that women were by nature inferior to men and thus deserved to be
subservient to them. It was evident that Janie will stop at nothing to accomplish what she set her
mind to. But the reality was that in the 1900s, women, specifically black women had legally no
voice "the author discussed the vivid picture of the black community." If a woman was abused by
her husband, the courts would not even acknowledge it even if it did

Theyre Eyes Were Watching God
A Voice With Experience
In Zora Neale Hurston's novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, many critics have argued over
whether or not the main character, Janie, finds her voice by the end of the novel. Yet many seem to
be confused as to what her "voice" is. Her voice is her ability to express her thoughts and display her
emotions verbally. Many relate the question of Janie's voice to her amount of emotional strength (her
ability to confront her problems or run away from the current situation rather than be isolated in it),
yet these things are a completely different matter entirely. While Janie's emotional strength varies
throughout the novel, her voice is always there.
Her voice is proven...show more content...
'Scuse mah freezolity, Mist' Killicks, but Ah don't mean to chop de first chip." (p.26) This shows
that even at this point, Janie definitely had a voice. Janie's emotional strength is also proven at this
time. She is obviously unafraid of Logan and has no problem confronting him with her problems.
She even confronts him about running away saying "S'pose' Ah wuz to run off and leave yuh
sometime...I might take and find somebody dat did trust me and leave yuh" (p.30). When Joe came
along speaking of "change and chance", Janie acted quickly, running away with him and getting
married that same day. This shows that Janie had the emotional strength to confront Logan and run
away from his controlling and depraved ways.
Throughout Janie's relationship with her next husband, Joe, she continued to keep her strong
voice but showed weakness emotionally. Speaking of "change and chance", Janie was
immediately attracted to Joe Starks. This is exactly what Janie wanted at the time: a change from
her life with Logan and a second chance at life and love. But the change and chance that Joe was
speaking of was very different than what Janie wanted or expected. He was not looking for love or a
companion, but instead wanted to use Janie to promote his image as a leader for his new plans to
start a black community. Janie soon realized this after it was too late. Her life with Joe was horrible.
Joe rarely said a word to her or even looked at her

"Their Eyes Were Watching God" had Janie face several conflicts throughout the book, conflicts that
relate to the real world and real world human rights issues. "Their Eyes Were Watching God" covers
human rights issues such as gender inequality, the right to marry the person you love, the right to be
an equal within a marriage, and racism. The novel's ending, where Janie returns back to Eatonville
after having to kill Tea Cake, is surprising, to say the least, and creates a sense of shock and slight
confusion within the reader. The resolution of the novel shows that the author intended to show each
of the aforementioned human rights issues, and how none of the issues are guaranteed to have a
happy ending. Zora Neale Hurston also seems to imply,...show more content...
The author uses negative diction when describing circumstances relating to gender inequality, racism,
or the right to marry the person you love, indicating that the author believes these are important
issues that need to be fixed. This negative diction is evident in lines such as, "But Joe kept saying
that she could do it if she wanted to and he wanted her to use her privileges. That was the rock she
was battered against. The business of the headrag irked her endlessly. [...] but he didn't want Janie
to notice it because he saw that she was sullen and resented that. She had no right to be, the way he
thought thing out. [...] He ought to box her jaws!" and "You better sense her intuh things then
'cause Tea Cake can't do nothin' but help her spend whut she got. Ah reckon dat's whut he's after.
Throwin' away whut Joe Starks worked hard tuh git tuhgether." However, when Janie talks about
Tea Cake and their love, Zora Hurston switches to positive diction, showing that she supports a
happy, equal, and loving marriage. This switch in the diction is clearly shown in the lines, "He
drifted off into sleep and Janie looked down on him and felt a self–crushing love. So her soul
crawled out from its hiding place." and "Anyway Tea Cake wouldn't hurt

Love and Marriage
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is a novel about a Southern black woman
and her experiences through life. Janie, the main character, is forced at a young age by her
grandmother, into an arranged marriage with a man named Logan. Janie is told to learn to love
Logan, but the love never comes for
Logan in Janie's heart so she leaves him. She meets a man named Joe. Soon after they are married.
Joe was sweet at first, then his true feelings about women come out and Janie looses her love she
thought she had for him. He soon dies after their separation. Janie then falls in love with a man
named Tea Cake. He is the man with whom she has a wonderful, loving, happymarriage....show
more content...
Nanny lets Janie believe that you need a man to take care of you and provide for you. According to
Nanny, you have to marry a man who has money because too much trouble comes with marrying a
poor man.
Joe marries Janie strictly for social appearance.
Joe wants to have empowerment and he thinks a woman, like Janie, would help his image. He
wants to run a town and the only way he feels he can look good is to have a pretty woman by his
side. In the beginning of their marriage Joe treats he like a queen. He tells her that his woman needs
to relax in the shade sipping on molasses water and fanning herself from the hot sun.
Janie fell in love with the idea. Joe's words, however, were deceiving. He actually means that
woman need to stay home to cook and clean while the man goes out to make the money. Joe often
puts Janie down in public saying things like, 'Thank yuh fuh yo compliments, but mah wife don't
know nothin bout no speech makin. Ah married her for nothin lak that. She's a woman and her place
is in de home.';(pg. 40–41). Joe publicly humiliates Janie constantly saying she is as low as mules.
Joe feels that his marriage is a part of his image, a part of his job. He does not marry her for love.
Joe marries Janie to look good in front of the people who look up to him.
Her marriage to Tea Cake is opposite

Their Eyes Were Watching God Research Paper
Power: A Force Of Nature
Throughout American history, groups of people have been subject to intolerance. Society has a
hierarchy of socio–economic power set in place to keep certain types of people lower on the totem
pole. Nature, however, does not discriminate. Zora Neale Hurston uses this idea to further the plot of
Their Eyes Were Watching God. When a hurricane destroys the 'Glades, Hurston emphasizes how
powerless humans are against nature.
Nature does not care who has money or power, it will strike with a vengeance if it must.
A perfect example of this idea is shown when Tea Cake is bitten by the rabid dog. His succeeding
illness is the work of nature; Tea Cake must succumb to his primal state. This is shown when he
attempts to kill

Essay about Their Eyes Were Watching God
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, the relationship between Janie and
Nanny is one of great dispute over if it is healthy or not. The idea that the most influential person in
Janie's life is also the one who triggered her struggles when she was becoming a woman is sadly
ironic. Nanny's true influence on Janie is brought to light through symbolic, and decaying diction,
Biblical, and Greek Mythological allusions, and natural metaphors, by describing Janie's journey to
womanhood, through finding her own opinion, acquiring a stable life from Nanny, her maturation,
and what she gained when becoming a woman.
Through the use of symbolic diction, decaying diction, and metaphors, Hurston illustrates Janie's
inner struggle...show more content...
A new side of Nanny is implied through decaying diction when Nanny enters Janie's mind on her
knees because moving on the knees both brings pain for the person being walked on, and is a
submissive way to be walked towards. This shows that Nanny both wants to force Janie to take
on her opinions and ask for forgiveness. What surfaces in this passage through positive unlikely
characterization, and biblical allusions, is the plight of Nanny in that she knows she is going to
die soon, and wants to make sure that Janie's life is stable before it happens. Through positive
unlikely characterization Nanny attempts to explain the crossroads that she was at whilst raising
Janie, "Lawd, you know mah heart. Ah done de best Ah could do" (24). Even though Janie and
Nanny had just had a fight, Janie does not understand Nanny's viewpoints. However, all that
matters to Nanny is that the "Lawd" (24) knows her position. The fact that Nanny is not Janie's
biological mother creates tension between the two of them because the values and way Nanny
would raise a child are out of date to Janie. When Nanny says, "De rest is left to you" (24) she is
referring to the Christian God. This biblical allusion implies that Nanny believes that she has
completed her mission of raising Janie, and the rest of Janie's life lies in God's hands. She realizes
that if she were to continue raising Janie it would deteriorate their relationship further. Therefore,
Nanny is explaining and justifying

Their Eyes Were Watching God Seminar Questions
Is Janie or Tea Cake a Christ figure? Choose one and argue for or against this, providing details from
the novel to support your answer. In my opinion, Tea Cake is a Christ figure. Saying this does not
make him an especially religious person nor does it make him a person without flaws, after all he
steal from Janie and he did try to kill Janie in the end of the novel. However, Tea Cake does in fact
have attributes that makes him a literary Christ figure. The biggest reason Tea Cake is seen as a
Christ figure is because he gave his life for Janie's, alike to how Jesus Christ gave his life for us all
on the cross. When Tea Cake saves Janie from a dog, the dog "somehow managed to bite Tea Cake
high up on the cheek–bone once" (166). Little did he know, that dog bite would lead to...show more
content...
During the time of her first husband, Janie says she can't love him because she "hates de way his
head is so long one way and so flat on de sides and dat pone uh fat back uh his neck" (24). Janie will
not allow herself to even have the notion to love Logan because of his looks. Janie is probably a
teenager and she is judging Logan based solely on how he looks. She may think like this because
she is too proud of her own beauty. When Joe and Janie first meet, Joe makes the comment that "a
pretty doll–baby lak [Janie] is made to sit on de front porch and rock and fan yo'self and eat p'taters
dat other folks plant just special for [her]" (29). Joe likes the girl he just met solely because of her
looks. Joe is somewhat attracted to the image of Janie herself, not Janie as a person. This is
negative in my opinion. When Joe sees "other men figuratively wallowing in" Janie's hair, he makes
her wear a head–rag. Janie's looks are not in her advantage and Joe uses this to show everyone that
"she was there in the store for him to look at, not those others"

Literary Analysis For "Their Eyes Were Watching God"
In the novel, "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie Crawford had a host
of marriages that didn't go how she planned. She was married a total of three times, two of her
husband's happen to pass away. Which makes me think to myself that Janie was probably getting fed
up with the pain and suffering made her feel that love was not the things for her due to all the
problems that occurred in the past relationships. Real love doesn't come easy nor it comes and go.
Real love is solid and stays with you forever.
According to the novel, Janie seemed to be a very sexual young girl from the ways she looked at
nature from her kissing Johnny Taylor (Hurston 11–12). So her...show more content...
And Logan would have put his foot down when Janie parked her mouth to ask him that question
instead of letting her do what she want to do. So therefore, Janie met Joe the next morning and they
headed off to "Green Cove Springs" (Hurston 33). Where they soon got married.
Once Janie and Joe arrived they noticed that Eatonville a poor looking colored folks town with no
mayor (Hurston 34–35). Joe felt that he had the power to actually make Eatonville a town so he
gathered people together to build a store and also provided the product for them to be the first
colored town to have a streetlight.That led the town to want him as mayor (Hurston 34). I feel
that this was a good idea for the town because he bringing great things the town can use on daily
basis. As the town began to grow Jody started to become more uptight about everything. So he
made a few adjustments to Janie appearance such as making her wrap her hair while working in the
store because he was jealous of other men looking at his woman. I feel that Jody should have spoken
up when the man rubbed his hand through Janie hair instead of punishing her for something she
can't help. And after a while, Janie started to get overwhelmed with the store as well "so Janie
another day. And every day had a store in it, except Sunday's" (Hurston 51). I understand where she's

THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD ESSAY
В¬В¬
Janie Crawford is surrounded by outward influences that contradict her independence and personal
development. These outward influences from society, her grandma, and even significant others
contribute to her curiosity. Tension builds between outward conformity and inward questioning,
allowing Zora Neal Hurston to illustrate the challenge of choice and accountability that Janie faces
throughout the novel. Janie's Grandma plays an important outward influence from the very
beginning. Her perspective on life was based off of her experience as a slave. "Ah was born back
due in slavery so it wasn't for me to fulfill my dreams of whut a woman oughta be and to do." (16)
She felt that financial security,...show more content...
Kind of portly like rich white folks."(35) He became less like a Husband, and more like a
respected authority. It was discovered that Joe's intentions with Janie had been wrongly accused. He
began to treat her more like an object rather than his loving wife as their marriage deteriorated. His
priorities were clear and Janie was not one of them. Joe's charming personality convinced Janie to
conform outwardly, yet in the end she was left questioning inwardly once again. Even before
Joe's death, Janie "was saving up feelings for some man she had never seen. She had an inside and
an outside now and suddenly she knew not how to mix them."(75) Joe's influences controlled
Janie to the point where she lost her independence and hope. She no longer knew how to adapt to
the change brought upon her. When she finally settles and begins to gain back that independence,
the outward existence of society came back into play. "Uh woman by herself is uh pitiful thing.
Dey needs aid and assistance."(90) Except this time Janie acted upon her own judgment and fell
for someone out of the ordinary. Tea Cake was a refreshing change for Janie, despite the society's
disapproval. "Janie looked down on him and felt a self–crushing love. So her soul crawled out from
its hiding place."(128) This was what she had always dreamt of. When she was with Tea Cake, she
no longer questioned inwardly, she simply rejected society's opinions and acted upon her own
desires. Throughout the novel Janie makes

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