Their Eyes Were Watching God
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie battles to find Individualism within herself. Janie, all her life, had been pushed around and told what to do and how to live her life. She searched and searched high and low to find a peace that makes her whole and makes her feel like a complete person. To make her feel like she is in fact an individual and that she's not like everyone else around her. During the time of 'Their Eyes', the correct way to treat women was to show them who was in charge and who was inferior. Men were looked to as the superior being, the one who women were supposed to look up to and serve. Especially in the fact that Janie was an African American women during these oppressed times. Throughout this book, it looks as though Janie makes many mistakes in trying to find who she really is, and achieving the respect that she deserves. Living with her Grandmother and theWashburns', Janie was surrounded and raised with white children. She always believed that she was white herself, and that she was no different than anybody else. As she was growing up, she was told what to do and how to live by her grandmother. Janie's grandmother planned her life out for her. She told her that she must get married right away. "Yeah, Jani
e, youse got yo' womanhood on yuh. So Ah mout ez well tell yuh whut Ah been savin' up for uh spell. Ah wants to see you married right away." Janie's grandmother did want what was best for Janie, but she basically told her what to do instead of letting her know what she wanted for her. Janie's grandmother told her exactly who she was going to marry and who she wasn't even to think about. "Whut Ah seen just now is plenty for me, honey, Ah don't want no trashy negro, no breath-and-britches, lak Johnny Taylor usin' yo' body to wipe his foots on. Brother Logan Killicks, he's a good man.......You answer me when Ah speak. Don't you set dere poutin' wid me after all Ah done went through for you!" She is basically telling Janie that she can't marry Johnny Taylor, the one she is exploring her womanhood with, the one she wants, and that she must marry Logan, for protection. Towards the end of the book, Janie resents her grandmother for "living" her life for her and planning her future. To find out what will happen in a persons future, they need to live their life on their own and not have it planned for them. They can't be told how to live there lives in order to succeed. To succeed, we need to learn from our own mistakes, and live with the weight of our decisions. This is exactly what Janie did in her marriage to Logan. She did as she was told, or rather, expected to do. Janie didn't want to marry Logan, but if it made her grandmother happy, then by all means, why not give it a shot. If it meant that she'd be secure. In her marriage to Logan, she found out that that's not what she wanted. Janie wanted love, happieness, comfort and enjoyment. She didn't want her first marriage to be like a prison sentence. "Did marriage end the cosmic loneliness of the unmated, did it compel love like the sun the day?" This is asking if marriage made love for Janie as the sun makes the day for the world. Is the basis of love marriage...just as the basis for day is the sun. To Janie, this was not true. She did not feel as though she loved Logan,
Some common words found in the essay are:
Johnny Taylor, Janie Logan, Mayor Eatonville, Eatonville Janie, Individualism Janie, Yeah Janie, Tea Cake, Cake Janie, Living Grandmother, Logan Killicks, tea cake, told live, janie's grandmother, leading lady, leading lady town, marry logan, live life, cake janie, johnny taylor, marriage logan, lady town, tea cake janie,
Approximate Word count = 1368
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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