Feminism In Their Eyes Were Watching God Essay

The role of men and women in society has always been a subject of debate. Historically, men have been paid more, have held higher positions of power and have been respected more than women. Feminism is a way of questioning this “norm” and advocating for equal rights. It represents empowering women to not settle for less and continue to strive for what they deserve. Currently, feminism has become a very hot topic of discussion in the past couple of years due to social media, but women have been expressing their injustice since as far back as the early 1900s. Their Eyes Were Watching God encompasses this message, it shows the mindset that women are forced into, their hardships, and ultimately their triumph. At the time in which this novel takes place women are very dependent upon their men. They are seen as someone who cooks, cleans, and takes care of kids, while the men go out and make the money. Janie, being raised during this period of time, is constantly being influenced by this idea of dependency. Not only by society, but by her Nanny as well. She tells Janie, “ Tain’t Logan Killicks Ah wants you to have, baby, it’s
With all the hardships and tribulations in Their Eyes Were Watching God it was still able to end in Janie’s triumph. Although most of her life she was dependent on men, in the end she was all alone. She was sure in herself and did not need a man to complete her. In the final moments of the novel, “[Janie] pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder” (193). She went from needing to marry a man for protection, to being able to carry the weight of the world by herself as a strong women. This is motivation to those women out there who are going through hard times and are losing