A Search for Love and Self
by Lorene Russell
The novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, represents a struggle during the early twentieth century between the idea of a perfect romantic love and what society perceived as insignificant and frivolous. Janie’s grandmother, Nanny, taught Janie that marriage was an established institution for respect and security, not for passionate love. The story follows Janie’s journey through her marriages while discovering who she is, what love really means, and in finding her own voice. She was able to accomplish all of this while challenging society’s traditional ideas of conformity.
As a teenager, Janie was naïve about marriage and love when she was forced by her grandmother to marry Logan Killicks. Her ideals of love were based on what she had understood from her grandmother and others in her community. During Janie’s reflection of her expectations of marriage, she states, “Husbands and wives always loved each other, and that was what marriage meant” (21). After being married to Logan, she soon discovered the harsh facts of her relationship. Her fantasies were crushed with the realization that marriage did not necessarily lead to love, but was just a means to security. Faced with a miserable life of servitude with Logan, she had a chance encounter with Joe Starks that resulted in her abandoning her marriage with Logan to pursue a life with Joe.
When Janie met Joe (Jody), she was captivated with his ambitious drive for life. Jody promised Janie a life of being placed on a pedestal. Jody stated, “You ain’t never knowed what it was to be treated lak a lady and Ah wants to be de one tuh show yuh” (29). However, Janie’s relationship with Jody soon starts to revolve around his needs and desires. Jody was determined to prove to himself and the world that he was powerful. He attained the ability to control everyone around him through money, charm, and intimidation.
Janie’s marriage to Jody reflected much of what she experienced in her marriage with Logan: a determination to keep Janie under control and in her place. Though she struggled with a joyless twenty year marriage with Jody, she continued to hope and dream for a better life belonging and controlled by her. After Jody died due to an illness, Janie soon started discovering her own voice.
After the death of Jody, she no longer had a man telling her who she was expected to be and she no longer required a man to financially support her. Through her circumstances of being a widow, she began to recognize her strength in sustaining her own life through options that she chose for herself. Janie soon found she desired a relationship with a younger man, Tea Cake. He stirred a longing in both her heart and her spirit to experience life in a different way. Tea Cake did not force his own demands and expectations on her, but allowed her to explore life as she so desired.
Through Janie’s relationship with Tea Cake she was finally able to experience true fulfillment and she developed a strong sense of self. Janie summed up her thoughts of love with:
Then you must tell ‘em dat love ain’t somethin’ lak us grindstone dat’s de same thing everywhere and do de same thing tuh everything it touch. Love is lak de sea. It’s uh movin’ thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from de shore it meets, and it’s different with every shore (191).
Janie’s different experiences through her marriages, either in spite of or because of, she was finally able to understand the real meaning of love and develop an understanding of who she was.
by Lorene Russell
The novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, represents a struggle during the early twentieth century between the idea of a perfect romantic love and what society perceived as insignificant and frivolous. Janie’s grandmother, Nanny, taught Janie that marriage was an established institution for respect and security, not for passionate love. The story follows Janie’s journey through her marriages while discovering who she is, what love really means, and in finding her own voice. She was able to accomplish all of this while challenging society’s traditional ideas of conformity.
As a teenager, Janie was naïve about marriage and love when she was forced by her grandmother to marry Logan Killicks. Her ideals of love were based on what she had understood from her grandmother and others in her community. During Janie’s reflection of her expectations of marriage, she states, “Husbands and wives always loved each other, and that was what marriage meant” (21). After being married to Logan, she soon discovered the harsh facts of her relationship. Her fantasies were crushed with the realization that marriage did not necessarily lead to love, but was just a means to security. Faced with a miserable life of servitude with Logan, she had a chance encounter with Joe Starks that resulted in her abandoning her marriage with Logan to pursue a life with Joe.
When Janie met Joe (Jody), she was captivated with his ambitious drive for life. Jody promised Janie a life of being placed on a pedestal. Jody stated, “You ain’t never knowed what it was to be treated lak a lady and Ah wants to be de one tuh show yuh” (29). However, Janie’s relationship with Jody soon starts to revolve around his needs and desires. Jody was determined to prove to himself and the world that he was powerful. He attained the ability to control everyone around him through money, charm, and intimidation.
Janie’s marriage to Jody reflected much of what she experienced in her marriage with Logan: a determination to keep Janie under control and in her place. Though she struggled with a joyless twenty year marriage with Jody, she continued to hope and dream for a better life belonging and controlled by her. After Jody died due to an illness, Janie soon started discovering her own voice.
After the death of Jody, she no longer had a man telling her who she was expected to be and she no longer required a man to financially support her. Through her circumstances of being a widow, she began to recognize her strength in sustaining her own life through options that she chose for herself. Janie soon found she desired a relationship with a younger man, Tea Cake. He stirred a longing in both her heart and her spirit to experience life in a different way. Tea Cake did not force his own demands and expectations on her, but allowed her to explore life as she so desired.
Through Janie’s relationship with Tea Cake she was finally able to experience true fulfillment and she developed a strong sense of self. Janie summed up her thoughts of love with:
Then you must tell ‘em dat love ain’t somethin’ lak us grindstone dat’s de same thing everywhere and do de same thing tuh everything it touch. Love is lak de sea. It’s uh movin’ thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from de shore it meets, and it’s different with every shore (191).
Janie’s different experiences through her marriages, either in spite of or because of, she was finally able to understand the real meaning of love and develop an understanding of who she was.