Preview

Zora Neale Hurston Character Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
459 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Zora Neale Hurston Character Analysis
During the post-civil war era, most “colored people did not know how to be free” (Houston Hartsfield Holloway). The abolishment of slavery was a major event that led blacks to desire fulfillment in life. Zora Neale Hurston demonstrates this through Janie’s life and the people she encounters. Each character provides a different outlook on life and their values are distinct from Janie’s. The novel questions what true happiness is via Janie’s influences and her quest to find love.

The character that heavily influences Janie when growing up is Nanny. Nanny still has the mindset of a slave so her views are much different than what Janie would see. She wants Janie to have a better life than she did, so she arranges the marriage with Logan. She
…show more content…
A prime example of that would be Tea Cake. His happiness redirected from gambling to Janie. He used the winnings to support her. Out of Janie’s three husbands, Tea Cake was Janie’s only true love.

Janie’s quest for happiness wasn’t fulfilled until she met Tea Cake. Nanny made it clear to her that she felt Janie wouldn’t get anywhere in life and would only stop working for white folk if she married a hard working man. Once married to Logan, Janie realized she was unsatisfied with that mindset and the fact that he didn’t care for much, leading a simple life. Tea Cake became Janie’s fulfillment in life. He taught her to live life to the fullest, something that made her happy. He wanted Janie to reach her horizon in life, the happiness she always wanted.

Their Eyes Were Watching God contains the viewpoints of what “happiness” was in the time period and gives feedback on the gratification that should be searched for. During the Reconstruction, people had to adjust to change and found contentment through things such as gambling and love. The ideas of having a certain place in society, or role, diminished once black folk were given their freedom so new ideas came about. Everyone soon became anxious to reach their own horizon, just as Janie

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The theme of the novel, “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston, is the search real love and finding a new form of independence. Throughout Janie’s life, she faced numerous struggles as she searched for unconditional, true, and fulfilling love. Janie seeks an intimate relationship with somebody that lives up to her idea of true love, like that between a bee and a blossom on the pear tree that as child she witnessed while she was sitting under in her grandmother’s backyard. Through the course of this journey, Janie then gains independence, which makes her the protagonist of this novel.…

    • 673 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    high wealth and status. Janie understands that she doesn’t love him but she thinks that after…

    • 710 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Nanny cerebrates that the remarks Janie makes about Logan are vitriolic; She always seems sour when she verbalizes of their relationship.…

    • 431 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Crushing these constraints will help lead to rebirth and racial equality. Richard Wright, a well-known black artist during the Harlem Renaissance stated “In the main, her novel is not addressed to the Negro, but to a white audience whose chauvinistic tastes she knows how to satisfy.” Here, Wright accuses Hurston of her novel being too aggressive and outside of the norm, although her intention was informing the white population of the black community’s struggle in order to reach racial equality, similar to Janie. Both Hurston and Janie take an aggressive and unusual approach in expressing their feelings, furthering Janie in the process of self-actualization. By breaking these societal norms, Janie is reshaping the mold of love and acceptance to fit her needs for that level on the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, as well as fulfilling her needs for attention and therefore boosting her self-esteem. Breaking this stereotype by working outdoors is another part of freedom, and another puzzle piece to reaching…

    • 754 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Janie is married off to Logan Killicks when she is sixteen by her grandmother. Janie has just had her dreams killed by her grandmother. “The vision of Logan Killicks was desecrating the pear tree, but Janie didn 't know how to tell Nanny that. She merely hunched over and pouted at the floor.” (Hurston 14) Janie wanted to be free and explore the world, not be tied down to a man that ran a farm. Killicks also represents the death the of Janie’s Nanny. Her Nanny forced her to marry this man, and soon after she deceases. Nanny wanted Janie to be safe and protected, Logan Killicks was the man to take over that task, therefore she was able to pass on and her presence is killed off in Janie’s life.…

    • 824 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Janie’s relationship with Logan was exactly the opposite of her ideal type of relationship; not only did he treat her as if she was worthless because she refused to work for him, but the overall marriage was totally devoid of all emotion. Initially, Janie believed that her arranged marriage to Logan would eventually bring love, echoing her Nanny’s views in her statement “husbands and wives always loved each other, and that was what marriage meant” (21). However, she quickly learns that Logan, finds her useless, “spoilt rotten” and compares her to his old wife, who did manual labor for him without many…

    • 1704 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    While she is living in Eatonville, there is a mule that dies, for whom Joe later gives a eulogy, “standing on the distended belly of the mule for a platform” (60). The fact that Joe is standing on top of the mule stands to represent the idea that Joe craves power, and will always assume the dominant position in a relationship. Janie will never be able to be respected asi an equal with Joe, but Tea Cake assumes a different approach. During the hurricane, Tea Cake is indirectly characterized as protective when Janie is in danger of being attacked by a “dog’s angry jaws” in the water, and he risks his own life to “[seize] the dog by the neck” and save Janie (166). The protective nature that Tea Cake displays not only qualifies Janie for the safety level of the Hierarchy, but also the Esteem. Joe would not have risked his own life for Janie’s, because he is too involved in his own needs to recognize hers. Tea Cake’s cognizance of what Janie needed shows he respects her as an equal, enough to put his own life in danger. This behavior allows Janie to reach the Maslow Level of Esteem, which she could not ascend to while in a relationship with…

    • 858 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    This entire book boils down into a Weldon happy ending. It involves moral development, spiritual reassessment, and reconciliation. These are all things that occur during Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.…

    • 340 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    After her two marriages had failed, she met Tea Cake who made her feel special and happy again. He’s supportive and respectful of Janie’s beliefs unlike Killicks and Starks. "Naw, it ain't alright wid you. If it was you wouldn't be sayin' dat. Have de nerve tuh say whut you mean" (104). He wants to show her how to speak her mind and be happy and not afraid to say what she wants to say. Although she has had some fights with Tea Cake, she finds someone whom she trusts and loves. In the end, “Tea Cake's rabies-included madness and the fact that Janie shoots her husband in self-defense” (Bealer) is the end of their…

    • 484 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, the main character Janie wants desperately to live her version of the American Dream but she is constantly hampered down and forced to aid others in living out their dreams. She left her first husband, Logan Killicks to run off with Joe Starks, a mystery man who promised an exciting life in a new town in Florida. Things between the two were great until Janie was forced to live a certain way once Joe had become the mayor of the town. Janie’s love for Joe fades as the oppression of her freedoms put on by Joe increases thus causing a rift between Janie and the community. This oppression is the opposite of the American dream for Janie; instead of being able to pursue her dream she is forced to live out someone else’s.…

    • 550 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Zora Neale Hurston is an African American author who uses different styles of writing to describe her characters. In “Their Eyes Were Watching God” she transforms from a colloquial kind of writing to a formal kind of writing using it back and forth to develop the tone towards characters. Hurston develops the theme of the pursuit of dreams and finding oneself through the use of imagery, symbols and diction. The protagonist of this is book Janie who views life as a journey that she’s yet to complete is constantly in a battle of finding the true meaning of happiness through finding true love and trying to make it to the “horizon”. Throughout the book Hurston uses nature to describe her main characters and to create an understanding of her book to the reader. Hurston develops the theme at the beginning of the book with the introduction of “ships at a distance”.…

    • 966 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Janie desired more than security in a marriage, as she explained to Nanny early on in the book, “But, Nanny Ah wants tuh want him sometimes. Ah don’t want him to do all de wantin’”(23). Logan Killicks, Janie’s first husband, had the money, land, and security that many women would have wanted. Janie wanted more than what Logan Killicks could offer. Janie wanted passion. She wanted what most young girls’ dream of, a loving, carefree relationship. Janie wished for the type of relationships that we can only read about. She desired to have a deeper relationship within her marriage, as she continued to describe, “Ah wants things sweet wid mah marriage lak when you sit under a pear tree and think. Ah…" (24). She did not give up on her search, many years later Janie found this type of relationship with a man named Tea Cake. After all of the hardships of finding a decent man it was well worth Janie’s not only happiness, but sanity. Tea Cake was a nice breath of fresh air. He was ready to do whatever he could to ensure Janie’s happiness and most certainly her safety. He did not have much when it…

    • 1369 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Harlem Renaissance was an era of African Americans that resulted in social and artistic culture through literature, music, and art. In addition, African Americans have struggled with discrimination due to the color of their skin, their way of speaking, and how they act. As women have been treated poorly through history from the government to their close relatives, they have made a difference for 20th century women and beyond. In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston utilizes characterization effectively develops the theme of identity.…

    • 1204 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nanny instills the idea into Janie that love was not as important as having a life with a stable husband and income. She does not want to see Janie in the same position that…

    • 1277 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Houston reveals the injustice of life as an African-American female during the early 20th century. Through narration, Houston sheds light upon the ignorance and biased perceptions in the African-American society that help to mold expectations for individuals while also placing limits upon them. Expressing hatred amongst their own elevates the telling of the novels bildungsroman and a woman’s strong desire and belief in her own fate.…

    • 581 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays