The Strength of a Woman

The Strength of a Woman Zora Neale Hurston’s famous novel Their Eyes Were Watching God tells the compelling story of an African American woman, Janie Crawford, and her journey to find herself. In the time period of this novel, women are stereotypically seen as inferior to men. They do not speak their mind, they are reliant on their husbands, and they do as they are told. However, this is not true of Janie, the novel’s protagonist and narrator. Janie is a strong female role model who defies the stereotypical role of a woman during that time period. She does this by speaking her mind, striving for independence, and thinking of herself first. Janie Crawford defies the stereotype that women do not have a voice by having an opinion and finding a way to share it. Women in the time period of this novel were not encouraged by society nor their husbands to share their thoughts and opinions and this is true in Janie’s case as well. Her first two husbands, Logan and Joe, attempted to oppress her in this way but she did not comply to their wishes on the matter: “Time came when she fought back with her tongue as best as she could, but it didn’t do her any good. It just made Joe do more. He wanted her submission and he’d keep on fighting until he had it” (Hurston 71). Stereotypically women as a whole are considered dumb, naive, and impressionable, this is a bias and untrue generalization. Janie knows that and wishes to use her voice nevertheless. However, her second husband, Joe, who is the Mayor of Eatonville believes and encourages this stereotype: “[women] don’t think. They only thinks they’s thinkin” (Hurston 71). Janie then decides that she cannot be with a man who does not respect her voice and opinion. So when she meets Tea Cake, who becomes her third husband, she is happy that he accepts her aspiration to speak as she wishes and with whom she wishes, unlike her former husbands: “Sometimes Janie would think of the old days in the big white house and the store and