Their Eyes Were Watching God Analysis Essay

In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the hardships of being a young black woman in the 1930’s are conveyed through the experiences of Janie Crawford and her self-growth throughout several relationships in her life. Hurston contributes to the theme “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” by exhibiting how the motifs of power, judgment and sexism morphed Janie into becoming a resilient female character that challenged the societal norms set for her. This theme was also shown within the different towns that Janie lived in during the story and how those cultural settings projected their beliefs about dominance and power on Janie, and how Janie’s character grew immensely from the judgements she overcame in her lifetime.

Janie Crawford,
Not only did the men in Janie’s life oppress her self-growth and independence as a women, Janie’s grandmother, Nanny, was also another influential figure in Janie’s life who negatively shaped how she thought about marriage, gender stereotypes, and race. At a young age, Janie was lectured by Nanny when she tried to resist an arranged marriage to an older man, Logan Killicks. Nanny responded to her granddaughter’s refusal by slapping her and then telling her that "Honey, de white man is de ruler of everything as fur as Ah been able tuh find out. Maybe it's some place way off in de ocean where de black man is in power, but we don't know nothin' but what we see…De nigger woman is de mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see" (Hurston 14). This advice, which not only dismissed African-Americans as being equals to people of white decent, but also objectified women, specifically black women like Janie herself, stuck with her for many years of her life. Janie’s hesitation to assert herself sooner in her toxic relationship with Joe Starks can be primarily credited to Nanny’s advice and how that impacted Janie’s character. The cause and effect that Nanny had on her can be shown following the death of