Their Eyes Were Watching God Character Analysis

Their Eyes Were Watching God is a story written by Zora Neale Hurston, told through the eyes of Janie Crawford; a woman in the search of love. Hair is used as a symbol for a wide variety of factors. Throughout the entire course of the novel, Janie can found with her hair up and down, both of which come with their own distinct personalities and feelings. Along with this, it is easy to note that the transitions in her hair styles is not only a physical change, but a mental change as well. Janie's hair is used to provide a glimpse into her background, reveal her character and how she feels towards herself, and shows her adaptation to a male dominated society.
Janie was born the daughter of a white man, which led to the distinct characteristics
In her first marriage, Logan loved her hair, but as they started to grow apart he soon became less interested. Once she had realized she had enough of Logan, she left him for a man named Joe Starks. At first, Joe seems to be the perfect man who won her over with his persuasive words and loving gestures. However, she soon finds that he is not the person he seemed to be. He is very controlling towards her and forces her to put her hair in head rags where no else can see it. This is mostly because of his jealousy he has towards other men and the way they look at Janie's hair. Joe, however, soon becomes ill and passes away from kidney failure. After his funeral the first thing Janie does is come home and burn all of her head rags... "Before she slept that night she burned up every one of her head rags and went about the house the next morning with her hair in a thick braid swinging well below her waist" (Hurston 89). This shows her true thoughts and feelings about the way Joe controlled her. For the first time in a long time, she felt free again as if no one could bring her down. Soon after, she met Tea Cake. He had a different way of looking at her hair than both of her previous men. He loved her hair including everything about it, and just like Janie, he enjoyed showing it off and did not isolate her from feeling free. Over time, as their relationship grew she continued to let her hair hang free without a care in the