Indirect Characterization In Their Eyes Were Watching God

In literature, a character’s abilities, actions, and opportunities are affected by their surrounding environment, including the characters they interact with. Their Eyes Were Watching God’s Janie Crawford is no exception, as the book follows her ascent from only being capable of reaching the Love and Belonging level while she is the wife of Jody Starks to having the potential to reach the Esteem level after she weds Tea Cake Woods. Zora Neale Hurston’s indirect characterization of Jody Starks as egotistical and Tea Cake as equitable in Their Eyes Were Watching God enables her to convey Janie’s acquired ability to reach the Esteem Level on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as she remarries. Joe Starks is Janie’s second husband in the novel,
While she is living in Eatonville, there is a mule that dies, for whom Joe later gives a eulogy, “standing on the distended belly of the mule for a platform” (60). The fact that Joe is standing on top of the mule stands to represent the idea that Joe craves power, and will always assume the dominant position in a relationship. Janie will never be able to be respected asi an equal with Joe, but Tea Cake assumes a different approach. During the hurricane, Tea Cake is indirectly characterized as protective when Janie is in danger of being attacked by a “dog’s angry jaws” in the water, and he risks his own life to “[seize] the dog by the neck” and save Janie (166). The protective nature that Tea Cake displays not only qualifies Janie for the safety level of the Hierarchy, but also the Esteem. Joe would not have risked his own life for Janie’s, because he is too involved in his own needs to recognize hers. Tea Cake’s cognizance of what Janie needed shows he respects her as an equal, enough to put his own life in danger. This behavior allows Janie to reach the Maslow Level of Esteem, which she could not ascend to while in a relationship with