Janie and Jody, Conflict and Freedoom: Their Eyes Were Watching God Essay Example
Janie and Jody, Conflict and Freedom: Their Eyes Were Watching God In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God written by Zora Neale Hurston, the protagonist, Janie, and her husband for a respectable portion of her life, Jody Starks, seek courtship for entirely different reasons. Janie pursues sexual and emotional fulfillment as she journeys to the horizon and to a place of limitless possibility, while the male domineering Jody Starks seeks only after power, control, and a good place in society. These dramatic differences in ideals of love are the source of conflict between Janie and Jody and utterly shift Janie’s understanding of freedom and what it means to be free. Their different outlooks also lead to their downfall as a couple, and the downfall of Jody Starks as a man.
The novel begins at the end of Janie’s journey. She has returned to Eatonville a strong and proud woman who has already been “tuh de horizon and back,” but at the beginning of the story, Janie is completely unsure of who she is and how she wants to live. When she tells her story to Phoeby, she begins with her revelation under the blossoming pear tree, giving the reader an immediate sense of Janie’s deepest desires. Under the pear tree, Janie is inspired by the images of springtime. Sitting under the tree she sees the tree, a representation of the female, passively waiting for a bee, or the male, to penetrate its flowers. Janie resonates with this springtime moment of sexuality, and for the remainder of the book, the pear tree functions as her standard of sexual and emotional fulfillment. She says, "Ah wants things sweet wid mah marriage lak when you sit under a pear tree and think. Ah…" (23).
At this point, Janie knows that she wants to achieve this type of love, but she is unable to articulate what she wants. When first introduced to Joe Starks, Janie is immediately drawn to his grand ambitions. He tells Janie that he is from Georgia, that he has saved up a great deal of
The novel begins at the end of Janie’s journey. She has returned to Eatonville a strong and proud woman who has already been “tuh de horizon and back,” but at the beginning of the story, Janie is completely unsure of who she is and how she wants to live. When she tells her story to Phoeby, she begins with her revelation under the blossoming pear tree, giving the reader an immediate sense of Janie’s deepest desires. Under the pear tree, Janie is inspired by the images of springtime. Sitting under the tree she sees the tree, a representation of the female, passively waiting for a bee, or the male, to penetrate its flowers. Janie resonates with this springtime moment of sexuality, and for the remainder of the book, the pear tree functions as her standard of sexual and emotional fulfillment. She says, "Ah wants things sweet wid mah marriage lak when you sit under a pear tree and think. Ah…" (23).
At this point, Janie knows that she wants to achieve this type of love, but she is unable to articulate what she wants. When first introduced to Joe Starks, Janie is immediately drawn to his grand ambitions. He tells Janie that he is from Georgia, that he has saved up a great deal of