Janie Crawford In Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston

In Their Eyes Were Watching God a novel by African American writer Zora Neale Hurston from the Harlem Renaissance, Hurston shows the development of the character Janie Crawford throughout the story influenced by her marriages. Janie was raised by her grandmother, as she gets older she wants Janie to be happy so she marries her off to Logan. After Nanny's death Janie runs away with Joe thinking he would treat her with more respect. But, finds out that he is very controlling and possessive of her. Once Joe dies she finds her true love Tea Cake with whom she realizes her identity. Throughout the novel Janie changes from being a teenage girl and becomes, a strong independant women, in which her marriage plays a major role.

Throughout Janie’s
Joe is not as perfect as she thought he was, when she went with Joe to Eatonville and as he becomes the mayor he suddenly takes control of his wife. For example in the text it states, “Thank yuh fuh yo’ compliments, but mah wife don't know nothin’ ‘buot no speech makin’. Ah never married her fuh nothin’ lak dat. She’s uh a woman and her place is in de home” (Hurston 43). Joe is very controlive of Janie, he doesn't ask her if she likes to make a speech rather he's deciding for her. She does not have any freedom or choice as a person. When Janie is teased and questioned by the townspeople and Joe, she couldn't take it anymore, so she replies them back and she's being Judged for it, when all the while they did it to her. For example Hurston points out, “So he struck Janie with all his might and drove her from the store” (80). Joe is not what she expected him to be, he abuses her, for speaking up for herself. When others insulted her, she has only insulted him once, yet he gets mad and abuses her to show that he controls her. Joe was possessive of Janie because he felt insecure beside his beautiful wife. He couldn't stand the thought of she getting all the men's attention. For example in the article A quest for identity in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God it states, “Immediately after Jody's death she goes to the looking glass where she told herself to wait
He was understanding, supportive and she finds herself with him. Joe respected her wishes, when he talks to Janie about going shooting, she says she don’t know how and he takes the time to teach her. According to Huston, Joe liked shooting, so he buys some rifles and pistols and along teaches Janie to shoot, and day after day it got better and, “she [even] got to be a better shot than Tea Cake” (131). Unlike her previous husbands, heever limited her from anything. He taught her things that barely any men knew. He treated her as an equal. He understood what she wanted, so he never thinks twice about teaching her to shoot. All her other husbands told her what to do, they forced her to do things. But, with Teacake, she does all those things without being told. When Tea cake asks her about that Hurston notes Janie replying, “Ah naw, honey. Ah laks it. It’s mo’ nicer than settin’ round dese quarters all day. Clerkin’ in dat store wuz hard, but heah, we ain’t got nothin’ tuh do but do our work and come home and love” (133). She loves to do work, when she is not being told what to do. Tea cake does not want her to work, and he’s nice to her. All he asks of her is to be his wife and love him. He doesn't expect much of her. Until she met Tea Cake, she didn’t know her own worth. She realizes how much she has been mistreated in her past life. In the Journal