Their Eyes Were Watching God Analysis

The Power Struggle in African American Marriages Zora Neale Hurston is recognized as unriv everyed of the key contributors to the Harlem Renaissance that occurred during the mid-twenties and 1930s. Her multitudes of literary works explore and celebrate African American gardening and heritage without directly addressing the subject of racism which was prevalent during this time. Hurston incorporates both the imperative and negative aspects of African American culture into her stories in golf-club to work a true depiction to her audience.In a number of her works, including Sweat and Their eyeball Were Watching God, domestic violence cinchs a very frequent authority in wedding ceremonys. Husbands would hit their wives to establish their motive in the relationship, even when the wives did non do anything to deserve such cruel brutality. In Hurstons short-change story, Sweat, squashion of women in the black community is demonstrated through the marriage of Delia and Sykes Jones. In a nonher of her short stories, The wondrous Six-Bits, Hurston writes about a unify couple who is completely in love and share a balance of post in the relationship.In 1937, Hurston published one of her more long-familiar works, Their Eyes Were Watching God. The novel is about a young African American girl, Janie Crawford, and her journey from a young girl into an independent charwoman. This duty halt is gradually seen through her three marriages. Although each of the marriages was very different from one a nonher, they all shared the same underlying conflict a business leader struggle between sexs. Due to the death of her m other at an archeozoic age, Janie is raised by her grandmother who grew up as a slave. nanny, her grandmother, is super dissatisfied with the way that black women are treated.She explains to Janie that the white men oppress the black men who then oppress the black women. It is a brutal cycle that forces black woman to act as the mules by do ing all of the hard work (14). In order to protect Janie from this oppression, Nanny forces the cardinal year old girl to bind Logan Killicks. Before the wedding, Janie tries to convince herself she give be happy when she thinks, Husbands and wives everlastingly loved each other, and that was what marriage meant. (21). Nanny has the opposite view of marriage as Janie Nanny views marriage as a contract in which the couple does not have to be in love.Many historic period older than Janie, Logan is a dull farmer who owns threescore acres of land. After almost a year of be married to Logan, Janie is disheartened by the fact that she still does not love him. As time passes, Logan gradually begins to oppress Janie. At the beginning of the marriage, he would pearly the firewood and bring it indoors to Janie. Then, he started expecting Janie to chop the firewood herself and bring it into the house. He not only demands Janie to serve him in the home by preparing his meals and cleani ng, but he also expects Janie to serve him in the field by comprehending or moving cow manure.One day when Janie is in the kitchen cooking dinner party, Logan yells at her to transmit some cow manure. Janie refuses his order by saying that she is in her come forward in the kitchen. Logan verbally exerts his power everyplace his wife as he tells her, You aint got no particular place. Its wherever Ah drive yuh. (31). He also expresses his power through violence when he threatens Janie by tattle her that he will kill her with an ax if she talks blanket to him again. To Logan, Janie is just an object that he can utilize for labor and chores. He even plans to buy Janie her own mule so that she can plow the fields as well.The irony of this is that Nanny only wanted Janie to marry Logan so that Janie would not have to be worked analogous a mule. When Logan is gone for the day to pick up the mule, Janie meets a man by the name of Joe Starks (Jody). She is very fascinated by this co nfident and charming man. When Jody hears that Logan is devising her plow the fields, he is appalled. He convinces Janie to electioneering away with him by telling her he will treat her like a wife and narrow good care of her. Janie makes her maiden step towards claiming her independence when she leaves Logan to run away with another man.Although Hurstons short story Sweat exhibits a more extreme case of domestic violence and oppression than in Their Eyes Were Watching God, Delias marriage with Sykes is somewhat parallel to Janies marriage with Logan. Delia is constantly working as a wash woman in order to provide for her and her husband. Sykes does not contribute anything to the marriage. He has been verbally and physically abusing Delia since their second month of marriage, which was fifteen years ago. The balance of power in their relationship begins to shift when Delia starts to stand up for herself against her husband like Janie did against Logan.She even scares Sykes off when she threatens to hit him with a frying pan if he comes close to her. Janie and Delia both realize that they deserve to be treated with take to be by the men who supposedly love them. Upon running away unneurotic and getting married, Jody and Janie move to an all-black community called Eatonville in which Jody eventually becomes mayor and ends up owning most of the town. Jody is very power hungry and likes to be in control. He even holds multiple positions in the community befaces being mayor. opposed Logan, Jody did not think women should work in the field or finish tough labor.He referred to Janie as his pretty doll-baby (29). He molded Janie into the perfect amenable mayors wife. She ever had to be dressed abruptly and she was not allowed to participate in conversations in which she voiced her opinion. He was not only in control of Eatonville but he was also in full control of Janie. He frequently used violence to assert his power over her. For instance, if he did not enjoy a dinner she prepared, he would hit her to punish her. One day, Janie could not take being silent anymore so she jumped into a conversation with Jody and the townspeople.She made the splay of expressing her opinion on a matter that they were debating. Outraged and humiliated by his wifes behavior, Jody hit his wife in front of everyone to move her of her submissiveness to him. As Jody gained power in the community, Janie continued to lose her identity and some(prenominal) was left of her marriage. Whereas Logan treated Janie as an object that he could use in the house and field, Jody treated her as an object that people could admire from afar. When Jody is on his death bed, Janie finally speaks her mind and tells him all of the flaws that he possesses.She takes all of her see red and resentment that has built up over the past twenty years and lets it out on Jody on his death bed. This event was very substantial in Janies quest for independence. Once again, Janie has shift ed the balance of power from being the one controlled to being the controller. Jody dies very soon after Janies outburst. For the first time in twenty years, Janie is free again. Although Janie is content with being angiotensin-converting enzyme and free, an unexpected visitor shows up in her life one day. tea leaf streak is about twelve years younger than Janie and he possesses a care-free attitude that Janie loves.She ends up falling in love with him because of the way he makes her feel when they are together, starts to find out her true identity. Unlike Logan and Jody, afternoon tea Cake does not instruct Janie to play a certain use of goods and services or try to silence her voice. He wants to hear her opinions and everything that she has to say. He teaches her to play checkers and other games that she was not allowed to play in her foregoing marriage to Jody. He even taught her how to shoot a gun. They always had fun together, no matter what they were doing. They move to the Everglades where they are able side by side in the field, bonding with one another every day.They view their gender roles as equal he would cook dinner sometime tour she worked in the field. One certain person does not hold power over the other one, which is very rare in marriages during this time period in their culture. In fact, when Janie get jealous of another girl to whom tea Cake talks, she hits teatime Cake. This is a reversal of the gender roles that Janie encompassed in her previous marriages because she was usually the one being hit by her husband. When Tea Cake gets jealous of his wife and another man, he also hits Janie to remind everyone that she belongs to him.Even in a well-balanced and healthy marriage, violence is still used as a way to exert power during this time period. During an awful hurricane in the Everglades, Tea Cake is bitten by a dog with rabbis. Because he contracts rabbis, he becomes very violent and tries to kill the love of his life, Janie. For the first time ever, Janie full asserts her independence when she kills the only man she has ever loved in order to survive. Janie and Tea Cakes marriage is very similar to Missie whitethorn and John Banks marriage in the beginning of Hurstons short story, The voluptuary Six-Bits.Missie May and John treat each other equally and neer try to oppress one another. John does not use violence to gain power over Missie May like most husbands did during this time. The biggest affinity the two couples have is the playfulness of their relationships. Janie and Tea Cake are always playing games or doing something fun. On that same level, Missie May and John always have a play-fight on Saturday to keep the spark alive. Merriam Webster dictionarys definition of power is possession of control, authority, or influence over others.During the early 1900s in African American culture, there was a wide-ranging power struggle between males and females. African American males had been oppressed by wh ite men for so long that in turn, they oppressed their African American women in attempt to feel powerful. Unfortunately, most people would not even blink an eye at a man hitting his wife or verbally abusing her in public. As seen in Janies transformation, a person cannot truly live up to their true voltage until they are completely free of anything or anyone that would confine them. When Janie returns to Eatonville after Tea Cakes death, she walks through the town with confidence.She learns not to care what other people think of her because it is not their life it is her life and she is the one in control of it. Bibliography Hurston, Zora N. Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York HarperCollins, 2006. Print. Hurston, Zora N. Zora Neale Hurstons Sweat American literary productions Research and Analysis Website. University of South Florida in stronghold Myers, July 1996. Web. 13 Oct. 2011. . Hurston, Zora N. Zora Neale Hurstons The Gilded Six-Bits American Literature Research and Analysis Website.University of South Florida in Fort Myers, July 1996. Web. 13 Oct. 2011. . Power. Dictionary and Thesaurus Merriam-Webster Online. Merriam-Webster, Inc. Web. 13 Oct. 2011. . Uppling, Jill. Sweat and The Gilded Six-Bits in the midst of Hurstons Biography and Education. American Literature Research and Analysis Website. University of South Florida in Fort Myers, July 1996. Web. 13 Oct. 2011. .