Violence and Janie
By: Star Bucella
Janie, the main character in Zora Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, is given the opportunity to share her many stories which are embedded within the novel. This novel is full of political, ethical, and many other opinions. An important aspect that connects the reader to the book is that Hurston allows Janie to describe instances in her life that touch on greed, love, work, and violence. All of these ideas are covered thoroughly and are often covered together. This process allows for the “big picture” of Janie’s life to be seen.
The area that I found to be the most interesting was the physical violence that Janie experiences. One interesting factor is that Janie only gets physically abused three times throughout the entire story. Many may think “three times too many,” which is true, but uncommon for the time period. Janie points out, more than once, that the grandmother who raised her was a slave. For example, many people of this time knew a close relative that was a slave who received physical abuse for any reason their owner saw fit. Also, some men in the book mention that they would beat their wives or any other black woman that may cross them. Though these scenes were brief and detached, they pose the significant question, ‘What their purpose?” It seems that these men were expressing their opinion by saying that they would beat any woman that would act like that, which others may have already known, while they were justifying why they beat their wives. Considering the acceptance to physical abuse amongst others, I find it quite surprising that Janie gets physically abused three times.
With every occurrence of physical abuse, Janie seems to be very calm. As discussed in class, Janie seems to accept the abuse depending on the intent behind the matter. For elaboration, if Janie’s grandmother had slapped her and not said, “Yo’ Nanny wouldn’t harm a hari uh yo’ head,” then Janie may have reacted differently. The significance of that line is Nanny’s meaning behind the statement. She is basically saying that she hit Janie for her own good, and not solely out of spite. If Janie would have not been made clear of her intent, then I am sure that they would not have sat there together in the same chair.
Another abusive circumstance that Janie encounters is with Jody Starks. Joe was a constant verbal abuser of Janie out of pure jealously, and it was usually in front of a crowd. The one time that he physically abuses Janie is in the privacy of their home. Janie had been a great cook which meant that Joe had started to expect a great meal. Therefore, when Janie’s meal does not express the best of her abilities, Joe gets angry and slaps her. I believe that Janie was calm about this particular situation for a number of reasons. The first reason I believe she was calm is because of her devoutness towards Joe. Janie knew that all Joe craved was submission, so submission is what she gave nearly every time. Another reason for Janie’s calmness is due to her thought process. She knew that if she said or did anything about Joe’s actions, it would result in a bigger battle not worth fighting. As said before, Janie’s main purpose for standing down is because she knew Joe’s intent behind his violence. Both Janie and Jody knew that she had not prepared the meal badly on purpose, so it is clear that circumstance is not the real problem. After the abuse, “Janie stood where he left her for unmeasured time and thought. She stood there until something fell off the shelf inside her. Then she went inside to see what it was. It was he image of Jody tumbled down and shattered” (72). When Janie is finished thinking, she realizes that the abuse was a result of Joe wanting all of the power and respect that he believed the mayor deserved.
Janie’s final abusive scene occurs with Tea Cake. The couple’s love for each other was obvious to everyone around them, which possibly made this situation the most surprising one. This time, Janie did not give a purpose by saying or doing any type of action that led up to her being slapped by Tea Cake. Mrs. Turner (outspokenly) believed that Janie’s light skin should be paired with another lighter skinned person, such as Mrs. Turner’s brother. Tea Cake overheard Mrs. Turner wanting to pair Janie with her brother and he proved that jealousy can be an ugly thing. Tea Cake slapped Janie in order to leave a mark, so the others could see, but again, Janie knew the abuse was a result of love. Janie accepted this abuse the best out of all three, considering the circumstances. I believe the story happened this way because Janie knew that she had not done anything wrong; she knew Tea Cake’s intent was to prove to everyone (mainly to Mrs. Turner and her brother) who the boss was.
This area also interests me because of Janie’s reactions. Janie seems to be calm in every circumstance that any type of abuse occurs. Despite the fact that slaves did not like the verbal and physical abuse that was used regularly as a way of showing known dominance, black men still carried on the same violence after slavery was abolished. Black men would often enforce rules or show dominance by demonstrating abuse in their households against their own wives. Nanny was aware of this and tried to point it out to Janie when she said, “He [the black man] hand it [work given by the slave owners] to his womenfolks. De nigger woman is de mule uh de world so far as Ah can see.” The difference between some women of that time and Janie was that the others would literally try to fight their husbands off. The act of the other women fighting back is surprising due to the lack of real power that any black woman held, and Janie was aware of that which is why she never chose to fight back because she never saw a point in doing so. As said many times before, I believe that Janie’s knowledge of her lack of power and the intent behind every abuse helped her to accept the situations.
By: Star Bucella
Janie, the main character in Zora Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, is given the opportunity to share her many stories which are embedded within the novel. This novel is full of political, ethical, and many other opinions. An important aspect that connects the reader to the book is that Hurston allows Janie to describe instances in her life that touch on greed, love, work, and violence. All of these ideas are covered thoroughly and are often covered together. This process allows for the “big picture” of Janie’s life to be seen.
The area that I found to be the most interesting was the physical violence that Janie experiences. One interesting factor is that Janie only gets physically abused three times throughout the entire story. Many may think “three times too many,” which is true, but uncommon for the time period. Janie points out, more than once, that the grandmother who raised her was a slave. For example, many people of this time knew a close relative that was a slave who received physical abuse for any reason their owner saw fit. Also, some men in the book mention that they would beat their wives or any other black woman that may cross them. Though these scenes were brief and detached, they pose the significant question, ‘What their purpose?” It seems that these men were expressing their opinion by saying that they would beat any woman that would act like that, which others may have already known, while they were justifying why they beat their wives. Considering the acceptance to physical abuse amongst others, I find it quite surprising that Janie gets physically abused three times.
With every occurrence of physical abuse, Janie seems to be very calm. As discussed in class, Janie seems to accept the abuse depending on the intent behind the matter. For elaboration, if Janie’s grandmother had slapped her and not said, “Yo’ Nanny wouldn’t harm a hari uh yo’ head,” then Janie may have reacted differently. The significance of that line is Nanny’s meaning behind the statement. She is basically saying that she hit Janie for her own good, and not solely out of spite. If Janie would have not been made clear of her intent, then I am sure that they would not have sat there together in the same chair.
Another abusive circumstance that Janie encounters is with Jody Starks. Joe was a constant verbal abuser of Janie out of pure jealously, and it was usually in front of a crowd. The one time that he physically abuses Janie is in the privacy of their home. Janie had been a great cook which meant that Joe had started to expect a great meal. Therefore, when Janie’s meal does not express the best of her abilities, Joe gets angry and slaps her. I believe that Janie was calm about this particular situation for a number of reasons. The first reason I believe she was calm is because of her devoutness towards Joe. Janie knew that all Joe craved was submission, so submission is what she gave nearly every time. Another reason for Janie’s calmness is due to her thought process. She knew that if she said or did anything about Joe’s actions, it would result in a bigger battle not worth fighting. As said before, Janie’s main purpose for standing down is because she knew Joe’s intent behind his violence. Both Janie and Jody knew that she had not prepared the meal badly on purpose, so it is clear that circumstance is not the real problem. After the abuse, “Janie stood where he left her for unmeasured time and thought. She stood there until something fell off the shelf inside her. Then she went inside to see what it was. It was he image of Jody tumbled down and shattered” (72). When Janie is finished thinking, she realizes that the abuse was a result of Joe wanting all of the power and respect that he believed the mayor deserved.
Janie’s final abusive scene occurs with Tea Cake. The couple’s love for each other was obvious to everyone around them, which possibly made this situation the most surprising one. This time, Janie did not give a purpose by saying or doing any type of action that led up to her being slapped by Tea Cake. Mrs. Turner (outspokenly) believed that Janie’s light skin should be paired with another lighter skinned person, such as Mrs. Turner’s brother. Tea Cake overheard Mrs. Turner wanting to pair Janie with her brother and he proved that jealousy can be an ugly thing. Tea Cake slapped Janie in order to leave a mark, so the others could see, but again, Janie knew the abuse was a result of love. Janie accepted this abuse the best out of all three, considering the circumstances. I believe the story happened this way because Janie knew that she had not done anything wrong; she knew Tea Cake’s intent was to prove to everyone (mainly to Mrs. Turner and her brother) who the boss was.
This area also interests me because of Janie’s reactions. Janie seems to be calm in every circumstance that any type of abuse occurs. Despite the fact that slaves did not like the verbal and physical abuse that was used regularly as a way of showing known dominance, black men still carried on the same violence after slavery was abolished. Black men would often enforce rules or show dominance by demonstrating abuse in their households against their own wives. Nanny was aware of this and tried to point it out to Janie when she said, “He [the black man] hand it [work given by the slave owners] to his womenfolks. De nigger woman is de mule uh de world so far as Ah can see.” The difference between some women of that time and Janie was that the others would literally try to fight their husbands off. The act of the other women fighting back is surprising due to the lack of real power that any black woman held, and Janie was aware of that which is why she never chose to fight back because she never saw a point in doing so. As said many times before, I believe that Janie’s knowledge of her lack of power and the intent behind every abuse helped her to accept the situations.