Their Eyes Were Watching God Literary Analysis

Often, during the time period of the early 1900’s, the voice of women was disregarded and treated as a less important force in the community. The novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God exemplifies this in the form of a frame narrative. The story began with the main character, Janie walking in to town looking distraught and exhausted. Janie’s image is symbolic of the idea that she does not have a voice in the community, and is tired of fighting for her right to have a say. Janie then began to tell her story. Janie’s grandmother, Nanny married Janie to a much older man for security and a fruitful life. Janie was very resistant to this marriage, but it happened in the end depicting the absence of her voice in her own life. Janie married a second
Janie however believed in marrying because she loved the man, not because of his wealth and material possessions. Nanny believed the exact opposite. She voiced her opinion to Janie in an argument about marrying Logan Killicks when she said, “’If you don’t want him [Logan], you sho oughta. Heah you is wid de onliest organ in town, amongst colored folks, in yo’ parlor. Got a house bought and paid for and sixty acres uh land right on de big road,’” (18). Janie resisted the marriage, but Nanny forced her to marry. The arranged marriage continued to reveal Janie’s failed attempt to acquire her own voice and have a say in her life. Nanny could not believe the way Janie thought and continually tried to convince her. After listing off the possessions of Logan Killicks, Nanny said that the possessions are the “’very prong all us black women gits hung on. Dis love,’” (18). Nanny believed that marrying a wealthy man is the right thing to do, even if love for the man is not immediate. Nanny’s forceful actions of marrying Janie to Logan Killicks reveals the controlling nature of others that leads to the absence of a voice for Janie. The absence of a voice for Janie is partly due to the controlling nature of Nanny, and Janie’s second husband,