Their Eyes Were Watching God Analysis
Their Eyes Were Watching God Essay In Their Eyes Were Watching God the characters Janie and Nanny have conflicting viewpoints on life and how Janie should live hers. Nanny is an old fashioned woman who grew up in a completely different generation than Janie. She grew up a slave, and she doesn’t really see things in the same way as Janie as a result of that time difference. Janie is an extremely advanced woman, as far as social standards go, for the time that she lives in. She is far more independent than the average woman of that time is and doesn’t want to be held back by anyone, especially a male. The sources of Janie and Nanny’s conflict stems from the generational gap between them, which is considerably farther than the average daughter
and mother because Nanny is actually Janie’s Grandma. Janie’s Grandma is extremely controlling of Janie. She has a very basic and bland grasp of what life is. This is a result of her being a slave all of her life, she didn’t know anything else. She wants to have Janie get married as young as she can because in her world women are useless without men and can be easily taken advantage of, as she and her daughter were at young ages. From a young age Janie is having the idea that women, especially black women, are mules meant for the sole purpose of carrying others burdens engraved into her mind. Her innate spirit is the complete opposite of this and she just wants to be free and make her own decisions in life and go and do things that she wants to. Throughout the novel Janie is finding her voice and trying to be free, even if she doesn’t realize it until the end. Janie finally realizes how different she and Nanny are and what Nanny’s influence has done to her at Jody’s funeral. This is where she says that she hates Nanny because of how different they were and how Nanny had always tried to suppress her. The conflict between Nanny and Janie is very important to the book because without this conflict we wouldn’t know why Janie is the way she is in the first place. Unfortunately the conflict between Janie and Nanny scarred Janie for a long time and held her back to the point where she had to go through three marriages (two of them horrible), a hurricane, and the death of someone she actually cared about to be able to find her own voice and be a unique person. The conflict between Nanny and Janie is integral to the novel and plays a very big role in the themes of the novel. It contributes to the theme of suppression and especially the theme of the mule.
and mother because Nanny is actually Janie’s Grandma. Janie’s Grandma is extremely controlling of Janie. She has a very basic and bland grasp of what life is. This is a result of her being a slave all of her life, she didn’t know anything else. She wants to have Janie get married as young as she can because in her world women are useless without men and can be easily taken advantage of, as she and her daughter were at young ages. From a young age Janie is having the idea that women, especially black women, are mules meant for the sole purpose of carrying others burdens engraved into her mind. Her innate spirit is the complete opposite of this and she just wants to be free and make her own decisions in life and go and do things that she wants to. Throughout the novel Janie is finding her voice and trying to be free, even if she doesn’t realize it until the end. Janie finally realizes how different she and Nanny are and what Nanny’s influence has done to her at Jody’s funeral. This is where she says that she hates Nanny because of how different they were and how Nanny had always tried to suppress her. The conflict between Nanny and Janie is very important to the book because without this conflict we wouldn’t know why Janie is the way she is in the first place. Unfortunately the conflict between Janie and Nanny scarred Janie for a long time and held her back to the point where she had to go through three marriages (two of them horrible), a hurricane, and the death of someone she actually cared about to be able to find her own voice and be a unique person. The conflict between Nanny and Janie is integral to the novel and plays a very big role in the themes of the novel. It contributes to the theme of suppression and especially the theme of the mule.