In contrast with the blatant misogyny and objectification of women of women in the past couple books we’ve read, Zora Neale Hearston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God is refreshingly relatable. The ultimate theme involving Janie’s quest for love is not necessarily one only permeating the experiences of women, it’s prevalent for all people. Moreover, coming from a broken home, Janie’s confusion in discovering for herself what love and marriage truly are is familiar to me. Without the primary example within the family, there’s no real fundamental idea which shapes that understanding. For Janie, her grandmother and mother were both raped, far beyond her idealistic hopes for love and the closest she’s gotten to visualizing a marriage before she witnesses the pear tree as an epitome is in the idea that her father wanted to marry her mother, which is why he kept chasing her.
Furthermore, Janie is caught between balancing romantic and platonic love. As Nanny warned, Killicks and even Starks quickly stopped sweet-talking her. Without that romance, crucial conflicts happen between Janie and her two husbands. On top of the repulsion which hinders Janie from developing any real romantic love for Killicks, almost off the bat he seems to treat Janie as a mule, just as Nanny wanted to avoid. Of course, Janie’s circumstances are much different and not as tough as Nanny’s, but her struggle cannot he discredited. Really, the age difference and the suddenness and immaturity of their marriage allow for no real platonic relationship either. Killick’s reaction when Janie leaves him reinforces the idea that he sees Janie as an object and as property. He’s not so much upset with the idea that Janie is leaving, but rather that his woman is.
Starks is a slightly different story. The chance Janie takes in running away, and with Starks at that, creates the possibility for real romance and platonic love, but in the end nothing really sticks again. Sure, Janie is treated “better”, but she’s essentially now leading a pedestal existence. Still, the idea that women are property pervades- as when the narrator describes why Jody forces Janie to wear her hair tied up in the store, she’s there for him to look at. Jody never really allows Janie to speak either, not to the public, as when she’s asked to make a speech, nor in private. He pushes out her interests and thus any real relationship between them is skewed one way.
Between both men there’s another common theme. Neither of them could even consider themselves “friends” with Janie. As created by the American Revolution’s idea of Republican motherhood, there should be companionship, not simply domineering in marriage. There’s little to none for Janie in either of her marriages. Thus, she’s still quelled by the urge, incited by society, to find her “love”, and I’m excited to see what further revelations that brings her upon.
I am also excited to see where Janie ends up, and how her views on society change. With what we've seen with Tea Cake so far, it seems like Janie might actually get what she's looking for in a relationship. But from what I learned with Jody, we can't be too quick to assume that he's "the one."
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, I think it would be a genuine question to ask if the love that Janie is searching for even exists. The moment that she bases all of her ideals of love of was that, a moment. Not a lifetime or even a couple of years. That being said, although Janie romanticizes the idea of love, we cannot blame her at all for not finding love in her previous marriages. Like you mentioned, she was simply an object to further rise Joe's social status, and Logan just used her to work on the farm. I am worried though, that her and Tea Cakes attraction towards one another will fade, and she will be stuck in a similar situation as before.
ReplyDeleteBetween Logan and Jody there is a common theme that you point out. But I do not think this theme extends to Tea Cake. Tea Cake is almost everything that Janie wants. Tea Cake is "friends" with her and he does not treat her as property unlike the other two. That was one thing that Janie hated about her two previous husbands. It was a turnoff that she was held back by both of them and she wasn't allowed to do what she truly wanted. But now it seems that Janie has found a friend as well as a sensual partner in the character of Tea Cake.
ReplyDeleteYou make an interesting point about Janie's origins and a lack of exposure to any sort of romantic connections. So she has unrealistic expectations of love because all she knows is the overly romantic version of love. And she's never allowed to explore that because she is whisked away into marriage before she can explore even her sexuality. In this way I don't think any man will satisfy her unrealistic expectations until those change. The men she has had relationships with were awful, but because they were so awful they did not register to Janie as romance or love. The moment they stopped helping her she dismissed them and didn't try to do anything different in the future. This probably also comes with the misogyny associated with the setting and with women's status in marriage in that setting.
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