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Their Eyes Were Watching God is about a woman named Janie who learning to find herself and become a complete women threw lifes trial and tribulations. The novel centers on her life and the multiple marriages she has to different types of men. She goes threw some tuff times with her marriages, goes through other relationships and even one that ends in murder and kind of attempts to explore how a woman whos African American in the 1930 s figures out how to find herself. And part of what she learns is that it doesnt really work to simply accept the old myth. That even people like ones grandmother can tell a story that you have to be married to be happy and love will grow in a marriage. Janie finds that love doesnt necessarily grow after marriage.
People grow and develop at different rates. The factors that heavily influence a person's development are family and environment. Your ancestry can play a key role in what kind of person you become. Environment is the factor that most often and influentially affects a person's development. The people you meet and the experiences you have are very important in what makes a person who they are.
Janie develops as a woman with the three marriages she has. In each marriage she learns valuable lessons, she has gradually better relationships, and realizes how a person is to live their life. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie's marriages to Logan Killicks, Jody Starks, and Tea Cake are the most crucial elements in her development as a woman and a person. Each marriage teacher her something about here self and something about how the world works. Janie's marriage to Logan Killicks was the first stage in her development as a woman. She hoped that her forced marriage with Logan would end her loneliness and desire for love.
After marrying Killicks for protection rather than love, Janie realizes that she is living Nanny's dreams rather than her own. She also realizes that with protection comes obligation Killicks feels he deserves to slap her around. Right from the beginning, the loneliness in the marriage shows up when Janie sees that his house is a "lonesome place like a stump in the middle of the woods where nobody had ever been" (20). This description of Logan's house is an example of the relationship they have.
Janie eventually admits to Nanny that she still does not love Logan and cannot find anything to love about him. Plus the fact that Janie wasnt being treated like a person but like a prized animal, she worked out in the field with her husband which she felt it wasnt a women place to do this. "She knew now that marriage did not make love. Janie's first dream was dead" (24). Janie's prayer is her final plea for a change in her life. Janie's prayer is answered with her next husband, Jody Starks.
Jody is complex he represents a whole host of things, including the attempt of the black man to gain wealth and power, his effort to pattern success and failure after the model of the white man and the false sense of ownership that money brings. He is the man who fills the voids of loneliness and love, and continues her development as a woman. When they first met, Janie was convinced that Jody believed she was a very special person because of the compliments he gave her. For two weeks, before they married, they talked and Janie believed that Jody "spoke for change and chance" (28). The problem Janie had with Jody was that he did not treat her as equal. He would not let her speak in front of people, teach her to play checkers, or participate in other events.
Janie notices the problem early in the relationship and confronts Jody about it when she says "it jus' looks lak it keeps us in some way we ain't natural wid one 'nother. You " se always off talkin' and fixed' things, and Ah feels lak Ah'm jus' martin time. Hope it soon gits over" (43). Janie realizes that she cannot be open with Jody and that he is not the same man she ran off with to marry.
Jody has many of his own interests, and none of them are concerned with Janie. "She found out that she had a host of thoughts she had never expressed to him. She was saving up feelings for some man that she had never seen" (68). Jody only gave material goods to Janie. She knew she was missing something in her life, and that is how she realizes the next man she meets is perfect for her. Tea Cake is the right man for the final stage of development of Janie as a woman. Tea Cake gave Janie the freedom to be who she was not who someone wanted her to be.
Tea Cake has none of the financial stability of the first two men, but he has an openness of mind that allows Janie to escape from people's expectations. He makes Janie realize that she has to decide what she wants out of life, Janie learns to love and what it feels like to be loved. Tea Cake not only made Janie feel special with his words, but proved it as well by taking her fishing, hunting, to the movies, dancing, gardening with her, and other "signs of possession" (105). For a while, Janie and Tea Cake worked the fields together. For the first time in her life, Janie is enjoying life. She says ."..
we ain't got nothin' tuh do but do our work and come home and love" (127). Eventually Tea Cake dies and Janie goes back to Eatonville. From her marriage with Tea Cake, Janie experienced love. This is something she believes very few people have experienced. He makes Janie realize that she has to decide what she wants out of life, and she discovers she hates the limitations Nanny imposed on self-fulfillment. However, even thought Tea Cake aided in Janie's growth, he was not to be a permanent part of her life.
After his death, Janie ends up with no men, but a wealth of experience and a self- realization that brings her peace. Janie's marriage with Tea Cake finishes her development as a woman. Janie clearly progressed in her development as a woman through the three marriages she had. Logan Killicks was her starting place.
From him, she learned that she was missing love. Joe Starks gave her what she thought was love. It was only a show to win her over, which eventually gave way to his ulterior motives of building himself a name. His death gave Janie a new chance. Tea Cake was given the privilege of being the next to marry Janie. He taught her what love was.
Although Janie became a woman when her first dream was broken, she completed her growth as a person when she learned about love. Bibliography:
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Research essay sample on Eyes Were Watching God Tea Cake
