Preview

Janie By Zora Neale: An Analysis

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
113 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Janie By Zora Neale: An Analysis
It isn’t that this novel is bad, but that it deserves to be better. In execution it is too complex and wordily pretty, even dull—yet its conception of these simple Florida Negroes is unaffected and really beautiful. Its story comes mostly through the person of Janie, a mulatto girl carefully married off to a proper fellow whom she ran away from shortly because that wasn't love and living as she hoped it would be. And her second husband, though he built a town and promoted for himself a main place in its life, cooped her up and smothered her with rectitude until he died, leaving her wiser with middle age, and still
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston: Summary
    • 406 Words
    • 1 Page

    Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston: Summary

    The book “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston reflects gender issues, class status issues and relationship issues that existed in the African American community in early 1900s. The story revolves around Janie Crawford, an African American woman with a little bit of mixed ancestry. Abandoned by her mother, she is raised by her grandma who was a slave. Grandma or Nanny’s opinion about slavery was, "Honey, de white man is de ruler of everything as fur as Ah been able tuh find out” (14). Janie is searching for true love all her life. Janie is forced to marry an older guy at a young age because her grandma wanted security and shelter for Janie. Janie doesn't enjoy the marriage as she never felt loved like the way she thought what a marriage would feel like. The author says “She knew how marriage did not make love" (25).…

    • 406 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Ossian Sweet's Arc Of Justice
    • 1247 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Ossian Sweet's Arc Of Justice

    The book begins with Ossian and Gladys Sweet, an African-American couple, just buying their first house. This was a common event for many people during this time period, but what was so uncommon about the Sweets’ home was the neighborhood their new house was in. The house on Garland Avenue was on an all-white street, in an all-white neighborhood.…

    • 1247 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Janie And Reevee: A Short Story
    • 196 Words
    • 1 Page

    Janie And Reevee: A Short Story

    Janie and Reeve decided to skip school and go on a two hour trip from Conneticut to New Jersey where Jaine's biological parents live. Janie studied the map of New Jersey while Reeve was driving.When Janie told him all about how she thought she was kiddnapped and how her parents are actually her grandparents, Reeve didn't believe it. They got off the New Jersey Turnpike and stopped by a Mobil station which had a phone booth. She got in the phone booth and hoped that the phone book wasn't there, but it was. She looked through it until she found the last name Spring, and there was only one listing and it read: Spring, Johnathan Avery... 114 Highview Avenue. Once Reeve and Janie got near their house they stayed in the car and saw a yellow school…

    • 196 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Janie's Love In 'Tea Cake' By Zora Neale
    • 148 Words
    • 1 Page

    Janie's Love In 'Tea Cake' By Zora Neale

    The last man who Janie falls in love with is Tea Cake and is the man who she developed the most commitment and intimacy towards. However, Tea Cake still did guarantee a secure relationship with Janie due to how he lacked what the Logan and Joe had which was material security. It is possible that Tea Cake could have achieved what Logan and Joe had but it is never fully shown due to his death. It is never known whether he would have treated Janie as a possession if he was given the opportunity to become wealthy which would have been the same case as Joe for Janie. However, if Tea Cake was able to maintain both components passion and companionship towards Janie if he was to become successful, then he would have been the most ideal type for Janie…

    • 148 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Who Is Zora Neale Hurston´s Harlem Renaissance?
    • 291 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Who Is Zora Neale Hurston´s Harlem Renaissance?

    The Harlem Renaissance was a time during the roaring twenties when african american arts, and music became extremely popular in the country and was centralized in New York, Harlem. Zora Neale Hurston was a notable writer during this period, creating works that included the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God and the essay “How It Feels to Be Colored Me.”Hurston’s style both adheres to and departs from Harlem Renaissance values because of her usages of dialect that was apart of the new african american culture developing at the time, she shows the development of the “ New Negro “ through the eyes of janie furthermore, how she develops an identity during her travels with Janie’s Husbands Joe and Tea Cake.…

    • 291 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Comparing The Great Gatsby And Their Eyes Were Watching God
    • 1489 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Comparing The Great Gatsby And Their Eyes Were Watching God

    The novel features Janie, a young black women, as the main character. Janie’s experiences in the American south during this time period help to shape the novel's themes of class and appearance. The American south during this time period saw many successful black men who committed with one another for popularity. In the novel, Joe Starks uses Janie to enhance his appearance and his social status among other successful black men. The setting serves as the basis for the theme of class, as the setting illustrates the class differences between wealthy Joe Starks and middle class Tea Cake. The novel’s setting pertains to the economic boom that many Black communities enjoyed during the 1920s and the resulting individual rivalries that occurred as a…

    • 1489 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Their Eyes Were Watching God: Personal Relationships
    • 703 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Their Eyes Were Watching God: Personal Relationships

    <br>Janie is a Black woman who asserts herself beyond expectation, with a persistence that characterizes her search for the love that she dreamed of as a girl. She understands the societal status that her life has handed her, yet she is determined to overcome this, and she is resentful toward anyone or anything that interferes with her quest for happiness. "So de white man throw down de load and tell de nigger man tuh pick it up. He pick it up because he have to, but he don't tote it. He hand it to his womenfolks. De nigger woman is de mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see," opines Janie's grandmother in an attempt to justify the marriage that she has arranged for her granddaughter (Their Eyes 14). This excerpt establishes the existence of the inferior status of women in this society, a status which Janie must somehow overcome in order to emerge a heroine. This societal constraint does not deter Janie from attaining her dream. "She knew now that marriage did not make love. Janie's first dream was dead, so she became a woman" (Their Eyes 24).…

    • 703 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Same Kind Of Different As Me Character Analysis
    • 1182 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Same Kind Of Different As Me Character Analysis

    One of the main characters, Denver Moore, is black. Ron Hall and most of the other characters are white. The interactions between Denver and other characters provide insight into how blacks were treated at this time in America, even if race was not specifically talked about in the book. Denver and his family were sharecroppers. It was referred to as modern day slavery because they were so in debt they did not have freedom anymore. Most of the black people mentioned in this book were illiterate. As a result, any part of the book written by Denver did not have proper grammar. Ron Hall’s writing, however, was perfect. This shows the difference in their upbringing. They both started out poor, but Ron was able to move beyond his debt, while Denver was caught in one big trap. Denver did not have the best relationship with white people when he was younger. The only white person he liked was this boy his age, but Denver ended up being moved to a new farm. All the stories Denver was told and experienced about white people involved violence. Some white schoolboys did not like the black schoolboys walking on the same path as them, even though it was a later time. They ambushed the black schoolboys with sticks and old pieces of wood. When Denver was a teenager, he saw a white woman who was having car problems. Denver offered to help, but some white boys drove by and decided that Denver…

    • 1182 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Zora Neale Hurston Character Analysis
    • 459 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Zora Neale Hurston Character Analysis

    During the post-civil war era, most “colored people did not know how to be free” (Houston Hartsfield Holloway). The abolishment of slavery was a major event that led blacks to desire fulfillment in life. Zora Neale Hurston demonstrates this through Janie’s life and the people she encounters. Each character provides a different outlook on life and their values are distinct from Janie’s. The novel questions what true happiness is via Janie’s influences and her quest to find love.…

    • 459 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Their Eyes Were Watching God: Janie's Quest for Love Essay Example
    • 2603 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Their Eyes Were Watching God: Janie's Quest for Love Essay Example

    In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, the main character, Janie Crawford, is on a quest to find true love. Like many people, she begins her journey not knowing what love is. Janie encounters many obstacles in her quest for love. Even when she finds love with Tea Cake, more obstacles challenge their relationship. "de very prong all us … gits hung on. Dis love! Dat's just whut's got us uh pullin' and uh haulin' and sweatin' and doin' from can't see in de mornin' till can't see at night" (22). But, what is true love, and how does one know when they have found it?…

    • 2603 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Essay on "Their Eyes Were Watching God" and the importance and symbolism of Janie's clothing. Many quotes, very descriptive.
    • 1939 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Essay on "Their Eyes Were Watching God" and the importance and symbolism of Janie's clothing. Many quotes, very descriptive.

    Zora Neale Hurston, author of Their Eyes Were Watching God, portrays life as a search for love, freedom, and individual identity. In this novel, we see the characters mature emotionally through their many obstacles in life. People spend their whole lives looking for someone to love, when they must first learn to love themselves.…

    • 1939 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Compare and Contrast the Representation of the Figure of the Slave, and of the Theme of Freedom, in Douglass’s “Narrative” and Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”.
    • 1445 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Compare and Contrast the Representation of the Figure of the Slave, and of the Theme of Freedom, in Douglass’s “Narrative” and Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”.

    The two novels that I am studying are “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain, and “The Narrative of Frederick Douglass – Written by Himself”. Both these texts give us an insight into the life of slavery and the societal beliefs of the South in America in the nineteenth century. The theme of freedom and the figure of the slave are two common aspects of the book that I shall be looking at. Frederick Douglass’ text gives us a first person account of life as a slave and in Huck Finn we get an account of a slave’s life through the eyes of a young southern boy. Both leave us with interesting comparisons and contrasts which I will also explore in this essay. Twain and Douglass leave us with much food for thought in these novels and while one may have published for political reasons and the other for entertainment, they are both entertaining and politically challenging. In the south around the time of these writings slavery is a taboo subject. Douglass writes in a time when slavery is common in the south while Twain writes in a time of “second slavery” where slavery is officially abolished in the south but racism and discrimination is common. Both had different impacts on the public at the time and both have often different impacts on us the readers.…

    • 1445 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Their Eyes Were Watching God: Janie Speaks Her Ideas
    • 719 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Their Eyes Were Watching God: Janie Speaks Her Ideas

    or he is not in love. Janie says, "Ah want things sweet wid mah marriage lak…

    • 719 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Their Eyes Were Watching God Reflection
    • 912 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Their Eyes Were Watching God Reflection

    The 1920’s were a highly cultured era, conveying new ideals, in pertainance to the Harlem Rennaissance, a sort of rebirth, bringing upon the concept of racial pride for African Americans in the Harlem community, a rebellion against the oppression brought on by caucasion dominance. The novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, author Zora Neale Hurston describes, Janie, a naive and sheltered young woman, brought up by her preservative grandmother who’s mission is to protect Janie from the harsh realities of the world. Over the course of this novel, Janie is discovering herself and exploring the meaning of love and living, she rebels against her upbringing, launching herself into a risky new world of trial and error, that in which in turn brings her new meaning to life. Zora Neale Hurston’s writing, is both a reflection and a…

    • 912 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    A Gathering Of Old Men
    • 1526 Words
    • 7 Pages

    A Gathering Of Old Men

    “There will always be men struggling to change, and there will always be those who are controlled by the past.” -Ernest J. Gaines. Although Ernest J. Gaines often told stories of the past, he was certainly not a man controlled by it. Through the creation of his own characters, Gaines attempted to change not only his own character for the better, but to achieve his goal of changing the reader’s character for the better. Emerging from the turmoil of racial and socioeconomic inequality, Gaines became one of the greatest and most influential African American writers of the 20th Century. He struggled to change the perspective of the world by shedding light on the poverty and social issues present in his homeland. Inspired by his poor childhood,…

    • 1526 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics