Their Eyes Were Watching God Literary Analysis
Their Eyes Were Watching God Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is a story of how Janie, the protagonist, achieves a strong sense of self along with her independence. In order for Janie to be where she is by the end of the novel she embarks on a long journey to find what she really wants in life. That journey is both literal and figurative. Janie literally travels and sees different parts of the world but at the same time going on within her is a journey to find herself. The novel begins in an unspecified town down south. Janie is a young girl at the time and we learn about different aspects of her childhood. Then she grows up and marries a man named Logan Killicks. Janie knows she doesn’t love Logan
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She wants her freedom and independence but at the same time she wants to find someone who can satisfy her both mentally and physically. Due to gender inequality and racism at the time, finding that sense of freedom is a very difficult task for her to accomplish. Every single opposing factor in Janie’s life turns around and adds up to her reaching her goals of independence, first starting with Logan Killicks. During her marriage with Logan, Janie knew from the start that she wasn’t in love with him. The marriage was arranged on what Nanny wanted and what her beliefs were. Janie felt no connection to Logan physically, mentally, or intellectually and that’s one of the main things Janie wanted in life. Then, her second marriage with Joe. The relationship starts off with some hope, but then as Joe becomes more and more powerful and has more responsibilities within the town he starts to treat Janie as an object rather than his wife. Once he passes away and Janie meets Tea Cake, that’s when everything starts changing for her. Tea Cake shows her freedom and what it’s like to be independent. He also treats her as an equal and doesn’t just look down on her, which is what every other male figure in her life as done so far and exactly what she doesn’t want. Then there’s the fact that he is able to satisfy Janie physically. “Kissed her until she arched her body to meet him and they fell asleep
She wants her freedom and independence but at the same time she wants to find someone who can satisfy her both mentally and physically. Due to gender inequality and racism at the time, finding that sense of freedom is a very difficult task for her to accomplish. Every single opposing factor in Janie’s life turns around and adds up to her reaching her goals of independence, first starting with Logan Killicks. During her marriage with Logan, Janie knew from the start that she wasn’t in love with him. The marriage was arranged on what Nanny wanted and what her beliefs were. Janie felt no connection to Logan physically, mentally, or intellectually and that’s one of the main things Janie wanted in life. Then, her second marriage with Joe. The relationship starts off with some hope, but then as Joe becomes more and more powerful and has more responsibilities within the town he starts to treat Janie as an object rather than his wife. Once he passes away and Janie meets Tea Cake, that’s when everything starts changing for her. Tea Cake shows her freedom and what it’s like to be independent. He also treats her as an equal and doesn’t just look down on her, which is what every other male figure in her life as done so far and exactly what she doesn’t want. Then there’s the fact that he is able to satisfy Janie physically. “Kissed her until she arched her body to meet him and they fell asleep