Their Eyes Were Watching God Character Analysis

In one way or another, every person has felt repressed at some stage during their lives. Their Eyes Were Watching God is a story about one woman's quest to free herself from repression and explore her own identity; this is the story of Janie Crawford and her journey for self-knowledge and fulfillment. Janie transforms many times as she undergoes the process of self-discovery as she changes through her experiences with three completely different men. Her marriages serve as stepping-stones in her search for her true self, and she becomes independent and powerful by overcoming her fears and learning to speak in her own, unique voice. Zora Neale Hurston effectively shows Janie's transformation throughout the book by means of language and her development
However, just as Janie is emerging as an individual and as a woman, her self-discovery is crippled by Nanny's fear of this maturity. Nanny desires to marry Janie off as soon as possible, so that she is protected in a financially secure, yet loveless, marriage so that Nanny passes on with the assurance that Janie is provided for and is materially taken care of. Therefore, she arranges for Janie to marry Logan Killicks, a wealthy landowner, who becomes rude and possessive, and begins treating Janie like an object. This oppressive relationship hinders Janie's quest for self-knowledge; her images of love and marriage as she envisioned under the beautiful blossoming pear tree are dashed by the harsh realities of her loveless marriage to Logan. Janie's first marriage and its failure are beginning stages of her seach for self-fulfillment; her voice and identity are still undefined, and she does not progress in her self-development until she becomes free of Logan's restraint. Both the black vernacular and the third-person narrative are used to
In one scene, Hurston’s use of language and its power in expressing Janie's inner feelings is that in which Mayor Starks erects a new street lamp for the town. Janie and her husband first speak to each other using the recognizable black dialect of the region: "Well, honey, how yuh like bein' Mrs. Mayor?" "It's all right Ah reckon, but don't yuh think it keeps us in a kinda strain?" (74). The omniscient third-person narrator then captures Janie's feelings about the prospect of her new life as one of her husband's showpieces, like his new street lamp, in standard English: [a] feeling of coldness and fear took hold of her. She felt far away and lonely. Janie soon began to feel the impact of awe and envy against her, sensibilities. The wife of the Mayor was not just another woman as she supposed. She slept with authority and so she was part of it in the town mind. (74). She begins to realize that, although Joe offered her wealth in terms of material possessions and social status, he, like Logan, left her in utter spiritual poverty, thus ends another dream and another crush in Janie's self-development. Janie spent several years married to Jody in this state of turmoil, but slowly begins to break out of the clay shell that Starks has been molding her into. In time, her voice becomes more and more powerful, and Hurston develops this voice with both the speakerly text and