The Effects of Attitudes in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

During the 1930s there was a time period known as the Harlem Renaissance, during this time African Americans sought a newfound cultural freedom and advancements in social classes. In the novel, Their Eyes Are Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston portrays both similarities and departures from the ideals of the Harlem Renaissance. Hurston uses the main character Janie to illustrate these ideals such as the struggle to find oneself and fight against the opinions of others. In addition Hurston also depicts issues and similarities like African Americans who achieved high social classes and discriminated those below them, racial segregation, but also a new found African American confidence. She also demonstrates departures from the Harlem Renaissance

Janie’s marriage to Logan was not anything special. In the beginning Logan was acted like a good husband and would do all the work on his land, and Janie would stay in the home, cooking and cleaning. Eventually, after a couple of months of being married, this so-called honeymoon stage was over. Logan now acted as if he owned Janie and she was his slave, commanding her to do whatever he wanted, not listening to what she wanted. Janie felt constraint; she felt like she was losing her freedom to Logan, she felt like she was not Janie anymore, she was now Mrs. Logan Killicks and she was now obligated to do whatever he commanded of her. Janie was tired of being in an unhappy marriage; she did not love Logan like Nanny said she eventually would: “She knew now that marriage did not make love. Janie’s first dream was dead, so she became a woman”, and she did not like the way she was being treated. One day while she was outside she saw a man walk by, she thought he was very attractive so she drew attention to herself and the man came over. After having a conversation

In this global era of evolving civilization, it is increasingly difficult to ignore the fascinating fact about love. Love is a feeling of intimacy, warmth, and attachment. Love is inevitable and it plays a vital role in human life as Janie uses her experience with the pear tree to compare each of her relationships, but it is not until Tea Cake that she finds “a bee to her bloom.” (106).

However, she quickly learns that Logan, finds her useless, “spoilt rotten” and compares her to his old wife, who did manual labor for him without many complaints (26). Not only does Janie find Logan unattractive, but she does not even find him intellectually or emotionally stimulating, as he never shows her affection (24). Attempting to gain some perspective on how to liven up her marriage, Janie seeks out the advice of her Nanny, an unmarried former slave. Janie claims that she “wants to want him sometimes” (23), but her efforts are in vain. Due to the conditions Nanny was raised in, Nanny told her granddaughter that love was bound to happen eventually because Logan was financially stable. Nanny did not understand Janie’s wishes of love; she was on a basic level of understanding. While Janie obeyed Nanny’s wish of her to stay with Logan for almost a year, when Janie knew the marriage was headed nowhere except disaster, she runs off with a man named Joe Sparks who she had correspondence with for almost a year. Janie concluded from her time with Logan “that marriage did not make love” (25). Janie’s view on love did not change with her relationship with Logan. In fact, it was because of the horrendous outcomes of the marriage that Janie decided to chase after her ideal relationship with

In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie compares Joe to Abraham Lincoln because he freed the mule just as Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves. While comparing him to President Lincoln, she says “. . . and dat makes you lak uh king uh something” (58) and this quote shows how Joe is seen by Janie and the people of Eatonville. He is seen as a king with the power to control everyone but instead of king, his title is Mayor of Eatonville. When Joe died, Janie stated that “Dis sittin’ in de rulin’ chair is been hard on Jody” (87) and his position of power finally caused him to collapse. The chair was his throne and he was on the throne as Mayor of Eatonville.His his reign eventually came to an end and it became too much for him.

In Zora Neal Hurston’s Their Eyes were Watching God, Janie Crawford tells her story of being mixed-race in the American South at the turn of the century. Janie is fascinated by finding love, and escapes a loveless marriage with Logan Killicks to marry the mayor of Eatonville, Joe Starks. This marriage, too, takes a turn for the worst and becomes physically abusive. After living as a widow following Joe’s death, Janie runs away with Tea Cake, and here she finally finds true love that is not dependent on her husband’s wealth or authority. Tea Cake gets bitten by a rabid dog during a hurricane, and Janie is forced to shoot him herself before he kills her. Whether she is living in an all-black town or in a situation with both white and black people,

Who has power? In the book Their Eyes Were Watching God, men have the upper hand. while the women did not and were seen more as an obeying pet. Throughout the book Zora Hurston show men dominating Janie (main character) through her three marriages. Janie 's first husband, Logan Killicks, uses his power to use her as a worker. Janie 's second husband, Joe Starks, uses his power on Janie to make her obey him and is not allowed to talk to other men. Now Janie 's last Husband, Teacake, uses his power to make Janie follow him wherever he goes. Why would Hurston portray men as powerful and women as powerless? Is it because this is the way our society depicts men? That men should be tough, fearless, and strong. Creating a tough interior

She does not get what she wants with Logan Killicks, her first husband. Janie married Logan because her grandmother wanted her to. Her grandmother could not understand why she did not love him, as he had sixty acres of land. Janie did not love him, and describes him as ". . . some ole skullhead in de grave yard" [13] and his house as "a lonesome place like a stump in the middle of the woods . . . absent of flavor" [20]. Janie's eyes are still full of pollen dust, and she cannot get her perfect vision of love out of her mind. Logan makes her do menial chores around the house, and treats her like a beast of burden. She prays for the day when she will be delivered from the life of tedium that she lives.

Janie was raised by her grandmother because she was left by her actual parents. Once Janie was sixteen, she was caught by her grandmother kissing a boy named Johnny Taylor and is deemed to be a woman, and in her grandmother’s world a women needs a good, protected life. Janie’s grandmother immediately marries her off Logan Killicks. Janie objects to this but knows that married life means you love the other; the problem is, she doesn’t love him and doesn’t know how to learn to love him.

Daisy on the other hand allures men with her voice and beauty and orients her life around her husband Tom and their image together rather than what she actually wants. When discussing her daughter, Daisy states “I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool – that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.” This quote which appears early on in the novel is striking because instead of wishing her daughter to be intelligent Daisy wishes her to be a fool so that she will be able to easily accept her lack of power. Demonstrating how the social environment objectifies women, viewing them as objects rather than intelligent beings.

In the book Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie’s understanding for struggle allows her to empathize for another and fix the problem. Zora Neale Hurston writes, “Janey is displayed by Starks as a 'lady'? Just as he displays the retired mule”(Hurston). Janie's treatment by Jody has caused her to feel the struggle and hatred towards the people that only make life harder than it should be. When Jody saw this mule getting abused and treated the way it shouldn’t be, she was able to feel empathy for it and do something about it.

Neil deGrasse Tyson once said, “The most successful people in life recognize, that in life they create their own love, they manufacture their own meaning, they generate their own motivation.” In Zora Neale Hurston’s riveting novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Tea Cake does just that. Tea Cake’s life is controlled almost entirely by impulse of emotion. He follows his first urge and lets his emotions take a hold of his life, both positively and negatively affecting his relationships and the world around him. He lives his life in a way that makes his life unique and authentic, differentiating himself from other men who would live in a way entirely different.

Janie’s first two marriages with Logan Killicks and Jody Starks are not true relationships because they do not reach the eternal line of mutuality, which leads Janie to her last relationship in which she finally realizes the true sensation of love.

In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the author uses the description of nature to emphasize the multiple relationships’ effect on the well-being and the personality of the main character, Janie. Janie’s character is mainly affected by the not only the different romantic relationships in her life, such as with her second husband Joe and her third husband Tea Cake, but also by her familial relationships as well with her Nanny, determining if she will “blossom” or “decay.” Therefore, the use of nature in the novel evaluates of the effects that her romantic relationships have created for Janie, such as how they uplift or hinder her growth as a person.

In the book “Their eyes were watching god” written by Zora Neale Hurston tells a story about a woman named Janie Mae Crawford. She goes through a lot through out of the book. Janie lives with her grandma , they live in an all black community. Everyone lives by same rules since they’re under the same roof, living in the same community. Janie, like I said goes through many episodes in her life. One motif that was in the book was Janie constantly looking for someone to be with her and for her to love. In the beginning of the book she was going out with a boy name,Johnny Taylor. Though her grandma caught her with him, and didn’t accepted their relationship. Instead her grandma forced her to marry a boy years older than her, Logan killiicks. Not