The Men of Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Janie’s relationship with her second husband, Joe Starks, is perhaps the most damaging. In the beginning of their marriage, Janie is proud and admiring of the successful, strong man she marries and runs off with. At first, it seems as though Janie has executed a successful breakaway from her unfulfilling life with Logan Killicks, and transitioned to an exciting, happy life with Joe Starks. Unfortunately, Janie and Joe’s marriage retracts from the infatuated love it once was, into a

Logan Killicks developed Janie to become a worker. Logan Killicks was a farmer that owned a lot of acres of farmland. It was quite a task for Logan Killicks to keep up all of that farm land alone, so he married Janie. Once Logan Killicks and Janie was married, all of those farm tasks were given to Janie. Janie worked day in and day out. Janie never really had a break because of all of the tiresome tasks she had to complete. Janie was not happy being married to Logan Killicks. When Logan Killicks gave Janie a chance to leave, Janie left. Janie ran of with another man, her next husband, Joe Starks.

He thought the only thing she could do was work at home. Tea Cake has a very different idea about women. He thinks that Janie can do anything she wants to do, that she is just as smart as a man and has the capacity to learn and do many more things than what Joe would allow her to do. Throughout their marriage, Janie seems to have taken Joe’s ideas to heart and believes them herself. Tea Cake rejects these ideas and helps Janie begin to feel confident in herself and forget what Joe made her

They moved together to the Muck in the Florida Everglades and lived in Tea Cake's Shanty after the death of Joe. Tea Cake and Janie spent all the time they had together. They remained in constant tune with the nature and even went fishing together. This was the type of lifestyle Janie envisioned all her life. All of Janie’s previous relationships was based off of the spouse. Janie was never allowed to be herself and live the life she wanted. Tea Cake let her be herself. He loved her as she was and accepted all she dreamed of. He encouraged her to be what she wanted to be, to follow her goals, her dreams, and her aspirations. Janie had finally found her the man she had always been looking for. She loved him with everything she had. Janie would do anything for Tea Cake. They had the kind of everlasting love that she had hoped for all her life. Thing were going well for the new couple until a bad storm hit and Tea Cake gets bit by a dog trying to save Janie. Tea Cake ultimately get rabies and begins to act so distraught that Janie is forced to kill him. She killed Tea Cake in loving manner and could not bear watch him suffer

This is not because she did anything wrong, but rather because a neighbor’s brother showed interest in her. Tea Cake was not, truly, free of the misogynistic stereotypes of women, and the event showed deep down the possessiveness he felt for her. “Before the week was over he had whipped Janie. Not because her behavior justified his jealousy, but it relieved that awful fear inside him. Being able to whip her reassured him in possession” (147). Again, Janie is in a marriage where her husband thinks of her as a property. Tea Cake’s character brought much hope for a lifestyle in which Janie could be independent and powerful, participate in conversation and checkers, and be respected on an equal level. Ultimately, Tea Cake was still possessive, and in many ways was not in fact free of the suppressing beliefs of society as a whole. His character is evident of how deep rooted the beliefs were. Tea Cake passed away, but Janie carried on, returned to Eatonville, once again showcasing her

He wins her heart with his energy, and willingness to make Janie his equal. Tea Cake is the only husband that actually takes a genuine interest in Janie. He takes her hunting, fishing, and plays checkers with her. She especially enjoys playing chess, the fact that he considers her intelligent enough to learn such a game shows that he thinks more of Janie than Logan or Joe ever did. The town disapproves of Janie and Tea Cake because he is poor and younger than her. They have the impression that he is just after her money. Janie and Tea Cake leave the town of Eatonville and travel to a town called Jacksonville where Tea Cake has work. The sense of gender equality is very important to Janie in a relationship. Tea Cake asks Janie to work alongside him in the Everglades fields. Logan and Joe both wanted her to work, but she resented it. The difference is that Logan wanted Janie to do hard labor because he thought of her as an object like a workhorse. Joe wanted Janie to work in the store, which she also disliked because Joe just wanted to publicly display her as his trophy wife. Tea Cake’s attitude about Janie working is completely different. He gives her the choice of working and doesn’t command her. Janie goes to work the next day, “So the very next morning Janie got ready to pick beans along with Tea Cake. There was a suppressed murmur when she picked up a basket and went to work. She was already getting to be a special case on the muck. It was generally assumed that she thought herself too good to work like the rest of the women and that Tea Cake "pomped her up tuh dat." But all day long the romping and playing they carried on behind the boss’s back made her popular right away.”(133) This is the first relationship that Janie doesn’t care to work. She actually likes working alongside Tea Cake. As time passes the town gets word of a hurricane coming. All the people start fleeing to different places, but the boss

Janie had three different marriages with three different men: Logan Killicks, Jody Starks, and Tea Cake. These three marriages were very different from each other, each spouse having a different personality. Janie learns from each relationship and she develops her sense of independance.

Her decision to leave Logan for Joe Starks shows her determination to achieve her dream of love; she does not want to give and take this dream for stability. Logan is extremely ignorant of Janie′s feelings. When she tries to talk with him about them he simply replies: "′Ah′m getting′ sleepy Janie. Let′s don′t talk no mo′.′" (Hurston,30) He does not realize that Janie is serious about leaving him and that she wants him to show his feelings for her. Instead, he tries to hurt her like she hurt him, by pretending not to be worried about her leaving him. Janie gets to know Joe during her marriage with Logan. Right from the beginning he treats her like a lady. This is one reason why Janie is so attracted to him.

Everyone in the world today whether is be now or later on in your life, hopes to find a special someone that can spent the rest on their life with and fall in love as well. In the Novel, Their eyes were watching god written by Zora Neal Hurston, this is exactly what the main character Janie goal is. Janie encounters three different man she hopes to achieve her life goals and fall in love with. Each relationship that she experiences differs due to the different cultural context present or brought by each man. The relationship that stands out the most to me is her second relationship with Joe Starks(Jody). Janie is introduced to Jody when she is working outside and see him walking past. She is instantly faltered, and lets down her long hair to show she in interested in him. Jody notices her, and makes his feeling towards her apparent. He tells her to meet him the next morning, if she is interested to start a new life with him. The next morning, she meets him in the morning, and this begins their new relationship together. In this novel, Jody surrounds Janie with a cultural context containing a lack of respect, companionship and authority in marriage which restricts janie from truly expressing her love for him.

“Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale is a text acclaimed for its ability to speak to contemporary gender and sexual politics. Its plot focusses both on Janie's series of romantic relationships as well as on Janie's individual quest for self-fulfillment and spiritual nourishment. Their Eyes Were Watching God explores traditional gender roles as one of its main themes, specifically the way that stereotypical ideas about relationships between men and women empower men and disempower women. Hurston used the theme of gender roles within marriages to develop the character and the relationships of the protagonist, Janie, with her different husbands. Throughout the novel, Janie is married three times, but in each cases, the issue of gender

To Janie’s dismay, as time passes, Logan’s actions begin to fulfill Nanny’s warnings. Not even a year after their wedding, the narrator reveals the state of their marriage: “Janie noticed that her husband had stopped talking in rhymes to her. He had ceased to wonder at her long black hair and finger it. Six months back he had told her, ‘If Ah kin haul de wood heah and chop it fuh yuh, look lak you oughta be able tuh tote it inside. Mah fust wife never bothered me ‘bout choppin’ no wood nohow’” (26). Logan’s cruel comparison of Janie to his first wife implies his lack of satisfaction with Janie’s contributions around the household. However, while his expectations clash with Janie’s desires for a romantic loving relationship, she is unable to express her wishes because of her marginalized position in society. Eventually, Logan

Their Eyes Were Watching God was a book that presented the world with a new look on writing novels. Zora Neale Hurston’s experience in what she has seen through research was embodies in this novel. She demonstrates what data she has collected and intertwined it into the culture within the novel. While being a folklorist/anthropologist, and inspired by her life experiences, she developed a character who dealt with the issues that were not yet uncovered, female empowerment was one of them. Zora Neale Hurston defined this topic of female empowerment throughout the character Janie in Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Janie still didn’t give up hope in finding her identity and how she wanted her freedom. She tried marriage for the third time with tea cake. She knew tea cake would be different form the rest. He treats Janie better and he treats her more as a human and he actually treats her as if she belongs. When they got married he gave her gifts. Tea ake is humble and he knows where he come from he doesn’t act luke he has it all. “According to In order to demonstrate his lack of interest in material things, Teacake takes

The book, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is about Janie Crawford and her quest for self-independence and real love. She finds herself in three marriages, one she escapes from, and the other two end tragically. And throughout her journey, she learns a lot about love, and herself. Janie’s three marriages were all different, each one brought her in for a different reason, and each one had something different to teach her, she was forced into marrying Logan Killicks and hated it. So, she left him for Joe Starks who promised to treat her the way a lady should be treated, but he also made her the way he thought a lady should be. After Joe died she found Tea Cake, a romantic man who loved Janie the way she was, and worked hard

In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, the author, Zora Neale Hurston, attempts to bring into light problems caused by prejudice. However, as she tries to show examples of inequality through various character relationships, examples of equality are revealed through other relationships. Janie, the novel's main character, encounters both inequality and equality through the treatment she receives during her three marriages.