After the Civil War and the emancipation of the slaves, the ex-slaves could not find enough good work to earn a living. Jim Crow laws were installed to push blacks further away from reaching their dreams. These laws were enforced after the Plessy v. Ferguson ruling that blacks and whites could have everything "separate but equal." This included schools, transportation, drinking fountains, bathrooms and more. By 1914 all towns were split down the middle with the blacks on one side and whites on the other (Hoobler 51). The Homestead Act was established in 1862 to help encourage the growth of the family farm and migration to the west by giving land away in exchange for the land being developed. Many bought their own farms or went North and learned to linotype or held other professions such as shoemaking (Hoobler 51). With the movement of blacks to the North came the beginning of the Harlem Renaissance, a black movement in New York in which blacks began to more freely express themselves and their ideas (Rood 38). In illustrating gender roles and the class structure of a black society, author Zora Ne

ale Hurston portrays the changing black society in her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God through characters that follow their dreams, which helps them take possession of their own lives.

Janie slowly begins to break out of the clay shell that Starks has been molding her into throughout their marriage. "She was saving up feelings for some man she had never seen. She had an inside and an outside now and suddenly she know how not to mix them" (Hurston 68). Starks' death makes this transition possible for her. She begins to let herself live, with no boundaries holding her back. She starts going places with the much younger Tea Cake, and stops wearing mourning colors. When questioned about this she replies, "Tea Cake love me in blue, so Ah wears it. Jody ain't never in his life picked out no color for me. De world picked out black and white for mournin', Joe didn't. So Ah wasn't wearin' it for him. Ah was wearin' it for de rest of y'all" (Hurston 108). Janie is through mourning. She was done grieving months ago, so she shouldn't still have to dress the part. Tea Cake helps Janie's soul soar. He helps her be the girl she dreamed of being when she was little. He lets her be free and live lfe as she wants, ans not how others want her to live. One morning while he holds her she watches him as he "drifted off into sleep and Janie looked down on him and felt a self-crushing love. So her soul crawled out from its hiding place" (Hurston 102). She now has room to live. Janie is reaching for her goals and is finally beginning to achieve them. This expresses the black movement from oppression to the freedom of their souls, as seen in the Harlem Renaissance.

The next class consists of rich blacks. Through them the author shows the few black people who have fallen into wealth, and that wealthy blacks aren't as well off as one would think. This includes Logan Killicks and Jody Starks. Although it is unknown how Starks gets his money, we can infer that he gets it through hard work, just as Killicks does. Again there is historical reasoning to this. In the 1920s many blacks had saved up enough money to buy their own farms, stores and shops (Hoobler 51), so it is very likely that this is how Killicks and Starks came into their money. The government had also set out lands in five southern states to black settlers through the Homestead Act in 1866 for rent payments (Hoobler 51). Neither Starks nor Killicks seem to be truly happy with what they have. Killicks is always working outside and is never kind to his wife. Starks' love for Janie seems to wear off right after they marry. "On the train the next day, Joe didn't make many speeches with rhymes to her, but he bought her the best things the butcher had, like apples and a glass lantern full of candies" (Hurston 32). Starks has the money to buy Janie nice things, but not the time, nor the will, to love her. He is too caught up in the idea of the new town that he suddenly doesn't care for her anymore. After Starks dies Janie inherits his fortune. She is now one of the elite members in the black society, but with a twist: she hasn't worked for any of her money, she's just fallen into it through Starks. Hurston uses this example to explain to blacks that affluence isn't easy to come by, so they shouldn't base their lives around this dream, but pursue other dreams which will help free themselves intellectually.

From the slave-driver role of men in society, Hurston moves on to another form of possession for which she uses Jody Starks. Starks is torn between having full possession of Janie and being a good husband. He uses Janie in another form of slavery, an accessory, an adornment that he decorates his title with. Because he doesn't use Janie for slave labor, he does not fall into Killicks' category. He is very important in the community so he doesn't let Janie do anything that may defile his reputation. At the store Janie isn't allowed to play checkers, listen to conversations on the store front

Some common words found in the essay are:
Tea Cake, Harlem Renaissance, Watching God, Janie Hurston, Janie De, Killicks Logan, Turner Janie, Starks Hurston, Starks Janie, Janie Ah, tea cake, black society, jim crow laws, crow laws, harlem renaissance, hoobler 51, black women, jim crow, watching god, follow dreams, eyes watching, eyes watching god, watching god characters, zora neale hurston, neale hurston portrays,
Approximate Word count = 4015
Approximate Pages = 16 (250 words per page double spaced)