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Juarez 1 Megan Juarez Nov. 7, 2012 To Live, Love, and Grow A woman living “between her hat and her heels” must live a very confined lifestyle (p. 76). In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston tells the story of a character named Janie Mae Crawford who was confined to the measurements of her own body. Hurston uses her anthropological experience to portray how life was like for an African American woman in the early twentieth century. Janie, the novel’s protagonist, is a middle-aged African American woman who loses herself between what she wants and what her peers want of her. At a young age, Janie is married to her first husband, Logan, which was arranged by her grandmother. The marriage leads to separation due to Janie’s frustration with how controlling her husband becomes. Bored in the kitchen, Janie runs off with another man, Joe, who spoils her with fancy clothes and honors her with the title of the mayors wife. Still, he shelters her off from the world which makes her more stir-crazy than she was before. When Joe dies, Janie is freed to love and live as she pleases. A man named Tea Cake enters her life at the nick of time, and saves Janie from the fenced off life she had been living in for so long. Janie’s relationship with Tea Cake plays as the most significant in her life because unlike Logan and Joe, Tea Cake encouraged Janie to live and love freely which ultimately helped her grow as her own person. Hurston begins the novel with Janie returning home alone to Eatonville, Florida, after a very long absence. Out of concern, her friend Pheoby sits by Janie’s side as she decides to finally open up about her life. She begins by revealing that she, and her mother, was a child of rape. Her mother had abandoned her and in lieu of this, her grandmother, Nanny, raised Janie as her own.

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Page 1: Their Eyes Were Watching God

Juarez 1

Megan Juarez

Nov. 7, 2012

To Live, Love, and Grow

A woman living “between her hat and her heels” must live a very confined lifestyle (p.

76). In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston tells the story of a character named

Janie Mae Crawford who was confined to the measurements of her own body. Hurston uses her

anthropological experience to portray how life was like for an African American woman in the

early twentieth century. Janie, the novel’s protagonist, is a middle-aged African American

woman who loses herself between what she wants and what her peers want of her. At a young

age, Janie is married to her first husband, Logan, which was arranged by her grandmother. The

marriage leads to separation due to Janie’s frustration with how controlling her husband

becomes. Bored in the kitchen, Janie runs off with another man, Joe, who spoils her with fancy

clothes and honors her with the title of the mayors wife. Still, he shelters her off from the world

which makes her more stir-crazy than she was before. When Joe dies, Janie is freed to love and

live as she pleases. A man named Tea Cake enters her life at the nick of time, and saves Janie

from the fenced off life she had been living in for so long. Janie’s relationship with Tea Cake

plays as the most significant in her life because unlike Logan and Joe, Tea Cake encouraged

Janie to live and love freely which ultimately helped her grow as her own person.

Hurston begins the novel with Janie returning home alone to Eatonville, Florida, after a

very long absence. Out of concern, her friend Pheoby sits by Janie’s side as she decides to finally

open up about her life. She begins by revealing that she, and her mother, was a child of rape. Her

mother had abandoned her and in lieu of this, her grandmother, Nanny, raised Janie as her own.

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Janie’s grandmother was a very important part of her life because she was the only one to help

guide and protect Janie. Growing up as a slave, Nanny develops a very strict view on their

society and imposes her opinions on Janie. She feels it is very important that Janie marries at a

young age to a dependable man so that Janie does not have to support herself because it is hard

for a woman to be independent. It is when Nanny sees Janie kissing Johnny Taylor, a “trashy”

boy from their same town, that Nanny feels it is time that Janie recognizes what she is doing with

her life. Hurston describes this as “the end of her childhood” (p. 12).

This is the time that Nanny tells Janie she is a woman, and she cannot be wasting her

time with men who will not support her. Although Janie reveals the kiss was nothing of serious

intentions, Nanny informs her that she must marry Logan Killicks. Logan Killicks is the safest

choice for Janie because he is an average man who has financial stability and a good reputation.

Nanny is concerned because she is growing old and she will not be able to take care of Janie

forever. Despite Janie’s protests and lack of feelings for Logan, Nanny forces her to marry him

and Janie abides to the marriage out of respect for her grandmother. Nanny reassured Janie that

she would grow to love Logan. However, a few months after their wedding, Janie confides to

Nanny, “‘Cause you told me Ah mus gointer lover him, and, and Ah don’t. Maybe if somebody

was to tell me how, Ah could do it” (p. 23). Janie tried to love him like she was told to, but she

could never bring herself to do it. Eventually, Logan feels that he gives everything to Janie and

she is not appreciative of it. He recognizes her lack of feelings for him and becomes bitter about

it. When telling her to clean up the manure, Janie responds, “You don’t need mah help out dere,

Logan. Youse in yo’ place and Ah’m in mine” (p.31). She did not care to help Logan and would

rather keep to herself in the kitchen. While mourning her grandmothers death, Janie decides to

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leave Logan despite how hurt he might be. Janie realizes that she cannot learn to love someone,

which is a lesson that she recognizes once Joe Starks comes to town.

Janie meets Joe as he is passing through their town. They have an instant attraction,

therefore he stays around a little longer and they secretly meet up with each other on multiple

occasions. Janie’s attraction for Joe quickly turns into love, and he returns the same feelings. Joe

tells Janie, “if you think Am aims to tole you off and make a dog outa you, youse wrong. Ah

wants to make a wife outa you” (p. 29). Joe brings her to a town that he thought was prosperous

but actually turned out to be somewhat of a letdown. The town is rundown and does not even

have its own mayor, therefore Joe takes it upon himself to help rebuild the town. Joe starts new

projects, such as putting in the first street light, but his most major project was the building of a

new store. Janie was ordered to manage this store everyday. While with Logan, she was expected

to take care of the household chores and now that she is with Joe, she is still expected to fulfill

certain responsibilities that do not allow her to branch out and live freely. Joe was fulfilling his

own American Dream by being the mayor and gaining more wealth. Janie helped fulfill this

dream of his by standing aside him as his trophy wife. She was the prettiest woman in town and

it did not help that her long, thick black hair was admired by all the men. Joe had seen how the

men often looked at her and demanded Janie to wear her hair up when working in the store,

which was everyday. Joe kept Janie on a tight leash. He stated aloud that Janie is, “uh woman

and her place is in de home,” (p. 43). It is not until Joe becomes sick and is on his death bed that

Janie finally speaks out about how he’s tucked her away for only his advantage. As sad as it was

for the town, Janie feels a relief when she lets her hair down after Joe dies. First, she was owned

by the hands of Logan Hillicks, then strangled by the hands of Joe Starks, and was finally left to

rest with her own self.

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After Joe dies, Janie still runs the store everyday. It is in the store where she meets her

soon to be third husband, Tea Cake. Although he is significantly younger than her, they fall in

love with each other and move to the Everglades. Tea Cake differs so greatly from Logan and

Joe for a variety of reasons. His young age allows him to be more in touch with his feelings. He

flatly tells Janie how he feels for her and how she makes him feel. Most importantly, he shows

that he cares how he makes Janie feel. Logan and Joe never stopped to consider how their actions

were effecting Janie. Even when they did notice she was unhappy, they did not do anything to

change that. Tea Cake loves Janie so much that he will do anything to make her happy. He works

hard and even risks physical fights when gambling to bring home money to support her.

Alongside with supporting her emotionally and financially, he encourages Janie to live more

freely. When they first meet, he teaches her how to play checkers, a game Joe thought Janie to be

too naive for. Tea Cake also takes Janie on spontaneous fishing trips and flaunts her around

town. He consistently shows his love and appreciation for Janie. When their town was hit by a

hurricane, Tea Cake carries Janie on his shoulders as he swims to find a safer place for her. He

even threatens his own life when saving Janie from a dog which bit his cheek while defending

Janie. Little did they know that this dog’s bite would leave its revenge in Tea Cakes health, for it

was a mad dog and he acquired a disease from it. Tea Cake turned just as crazy as the mad dog

that bit him and pointed a pistol towards Janie. Out of defense, she held her rifle straight back at

him. Their guns “rang out almost together,” and Janie had killed her one true love. Hurston

describes the incident as “the meanest moment of eternity” (p.184).

Janie did not want to kill Tea Cake. She did, however, know that there was no other way

to rid this mad dog out of his body. Tea Cake’s death is so devastating for Janie because he is the

first man she truly loved. Earlier in the novel, Tea Cake feels bad for bringing Janie into the mess

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of the hurricane. She reassures him, “But you come ‘long and mad somethin’ outa me. So ah’m

thankful fuh anything we come through together” (p. 167). The conditions they lived under

together were no matter for Janie, as long as they were together. Tea Cake gave Janie the

freedom to be herself. She was able to love and to be loved without being pressured or

influenced by any outside factors. Her first marriage was arranged and her feelings were not

considered by anyone else taking part. Although Logan could financially support her, he could

not support her being her own person. Just like Joe, he kept her in a specific corner to fulfill his

expectations instead of freeing her to the world they lived in. Joe counted on her to be an

accessory to his success. He achieved wealth, a steady career, and the beautiful wife. He did not,

however, achieve true love. Instead of loving Janie, he used her, and she got tired of being used.

All Tea Cake wanted from Janie was her love, and she gave that to him because he let her love

him. She was not forced to be with Tea Cake. He welcomed her with open arms and she fell

gracefully.

Janie was not able to grow as her own person while with Logan and Joe because of how

controlling they were. Tea Cake was the release that Janie needed in her life. It was Tea Cake

who convinced Janie that she is a beautiful person. He showed her that love has no boundaries

and by doing so she was able to understand how she can love not only another but herself. With

Tea Cake, Janie was able to explore what she was prohibited to explore before. From learning to

play a simple game of checkers to swimming through the waters of a hurricane, Janie finally

learned how to live outside of a shell. When Joe dies, Janie promises herself that she will wear

her hair down and experience the world at her leisure, and Tea Cake helped her in doing that. In

the ending, Hurston describes the peace Janie feels that she has accomplished. Janie “pulled in

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her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over

her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see” (p. 193).

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her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over

her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see” (p. 193).