FREE ESSAY ON THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD

THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD

Their Eyes Were Watching God is about a woman named Jaine who learning to find herself and
become a complete women threw lifes trial and tribulations. The novel centers on her life
and the multiple marrages she has to different types of men. She goes threw some tuff
times with her marriages, goes through other relationships and even one that ends in
murder and kind of attempts to explore how a woman who's African American in the 1930s
figures out how to find herself. And part of what she learns is that it doesn't really
work to simply accept the old myth. That even people like one's grandmother can tell a
story that you have to be married to be happy and love will grow in a marriage. Janie
finds that love doesn't necessarily grow after marriage.People grow and develop at
different rates. The factors that heavily influence a person's development are family and
environment. Your ancestry can play a key role in what kind of person you become.
Environment is the factor that most often and influentially affects a person's
development. The people you meet and the experiences you have are very important in what
makes a person who they are. Janie develops as a woman with the three marriages she has.

In each marriage she learns valuable lessons, she has gradually better relationships, and
realizes how a person is to live their life. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora
Neale Hurston, Janie's marriages to Logan Killicks, Jody Starks, and Tea Cake are the
most crucial elements in her development as a woman and a person. Each marriage teacher
her something about hereself and something about how the world works. Janie's marriage to
Logan Killicks was the first stage in her development as a woman. She hoped that her
forced marriage with Logan would end her loneliness and desire for love. After marrying
Killicks for protection rather than love, Janie realizes that she is living Nanny's
dreams rather than her own. She also realizes that with protection comes obligation
Killicks feels he deserves to slap her around. Right from the beginning, the loneliness
in the marriage shows up when Janie sees that his house is a lonesome place like a stump
in the middle of the woods where nobody had ever been (20). This description of Logan's
house is an example of the relationship they have. Janie eventually admits to Nanny that
she still does not love Logan and cannot find anything to love about him. Plus the fact
that Jiane wasn't beging treated like a person but like a prized animal, she worked out
in the field with her husband which she felt it wasn't a women place to do this. She knew
now that marriage did not make love. Janie's first dream was dead (24). Janie's prayer is
her final plea for a change in her life. 
Janie's prayer is answered with her next husband, Jody Starks. Jody is complex he
represents a whole host of things, including the attempt of the black man to gain wealth
and power, his effort to pattern success and failure after the model of the white man and
the false sense of ownership that money brings. He is the man who fills the voids of
loneliness and love, and continues her development as a woman. When they first met, Janie
was convinced that Jody believed she was a very special person because of the compliments
he gave her. For two weeks, before they married, they talked and Janie believed that Jody
spoke for change and chance (28). The problem Janie had with Jody was that he did not
treat her as equal. He would not let her speak in front of people, teach her to play
checkers, or participate in other events. Janie notices the problem early in the
relationship and confronts Jody about it when she says it jus' looks lak it keeps us in
some way we ain't natural wid one 'nother. You'se always off talkin' and fixin' things,
and Ah feels lak Ah'm jus' markin time. Hope it soon gits over (43). Janie realizes that
she cannot be open with Jody and that he is not the same man she ran off with to marry.
Jody has many of his own interests, and none of them are concerned with Janie. She found
out that she had a host of thoughts she had never expressed to him. She was saving up
feelings for some man that she had never seen (68). Jody only gave material goods to
Janie. She knew she was missing something in her life, and that is how she realizes the
next man she meets is perfect for her. 
Tea Cake is the right man for the final stage of development of Janie as a woman. Tea
Cake gave Janie the freedom to be who she was not who someone wanted her to be. Tea Cake
has none of the financial stability of the first two men, but he has an openness of mind
that allows Janie to escape from people's expectations. He makes Janie realize that she
has to decide what she wants out of life, Janie learns to love and what it feels like to
be loved. Tea Cake not only made Janie feel special with his words, but proved it as well
by taking her fishing, hunting, to the movies, dancing, gardening with her, and other
signs of possession (105). For a while, Janie and Tea Cake worked the fields together.
For the first time in her life, Janie is enjoying life. She says ...we ain't got nothin'
tuh do but do our work and come home and love (127). Eventually Tea Cake dies and Janie
goes back to Eatonville. From her marriage with Tea Cake, Janie experienced love. This is
something she believes very few people have experienced. He makes Janie realize that she
has to decide what she wants out of life, and she discovers she hates the limitations
Nanny imposed on self-fulfillment. However, even thought Tea Cake aided in Janie's
growth, he was not to be a permanent part of her life. After his death, Janie ends up
with no men, but a wealth of experience and a self- realization that brings her peace.
Janie's marriage with Tea Cake finishes her development as a woman.
Janie clearly progressed in her development as a woman through the three marriages she
had. Logan Killicks was her starting place. From him, she learned that she was missing
love. Joe Starks gave her what she thought was love. It was only a show to win her over,
which eventually gave way to his ulterior motives of building himself a name. His death
gave Janie a new chance. Tea Cake was given the privilege of being the next to marry
Janie. He taught her what love was. Although Janie became a woman when her first dream
was broken, she completed her growth as a person when she learned about love.