In life to
discover our self-identity a person must show
others what one
thinks or feels and speak his or her mind.
Sometimes their
opinions may be silenced or even ignored.
In the
novel Their Eyes
Were Watching God, the main character Janie
would sometimes
speak her ideas and they would often make a
difference. The author, Zora Neale Hurston, gives Janie
many
chances to speak
and she shows the reader outcomes. When
dealing
with all of the
different people Jaine faced, she would find a
way to speak her
ideas, receive a response, and through this
exchange she
developed her sense of self-worth.
When Janie found a way to speak her ideas,
they would have
an impact on
everyone. Though, Janie did not always
speak her
ideas. She would often do something that made an
impression on
someone. The first real action Janie took was to leave
her
husband, Logan
Killicks. By doing this, she has shown
the
community that a
person can not always be happy with material
things when she
or he is not in love. Janie says,
"Ah want
things sweet wid
mah marriage lak when you sit under a pear tree
and
think." She shows her grandma that
she is not happy with her
Janie's next husband, Joe Starks was very
nice to her and
gave her
everything she wanted. When it came to
Janie wanting to
talk or speak her
mind, he would not let her, and that made her
feel like she was
less of a person than he. Until one day,
towards the end
of their long marriage, when Jody made a very
mean comment
about Janie's body. She came back with,
"When you
pull down yo'
britches, you look lak de change uh life."
After
these words came
out, Jody hit her. These harsh words
could
never be forgiven. At the end of their marriage, before Jody
died she finally
told him her feelings. "....And now
you got tuh
die tuh find out
dat you got tuh pacify somebody besides yo'self
if you wants any
love and any sympathy in dis world. You
ain't
tired to pacify
nobody but yo'self. Too busy listening
tuh
yo'own big
voice," said Janie.
Her final and most loved husband was
Vergible "Tea Cake"
Woods. She could talk most openly with him. Once,
she accused
Tea Cake of
having a liking for Nukie. He quickly
reassured her
that he didn't,
and there was nothing to be worried about.
After
Tea Cake's death,
Janie was too upset to wear mourning clothes.
She instead wore
her normal outfit, overalls and boots.
This
shows that her
love for Tea Cake was so strong that she could not
think about
anything or anyone but him.
Janie received many responses from her
family and friends,
when she
expressed herself. When she was young
her grandma hit
her for saying
that she was not interested in Mr. Killicks,
and because she
was kissing another boy under the pear tree.
At
the cost of
Jody's embarrassment, Janie got smacked.
There were
times when the
whole town would not understand her actions,and
she would have to
some how explain herself to the community.
Through speaking her mind to her
different husbands, she
was able to see
who really loved her and was interested in her
opinions and
ideas. Janie would speak her ideas and,
receive a
response and
through this exchange she developed her sense of
self-worth. When she spoke her mind, the people in the
town were
able to reflect
upon what she was saying. Her impact
made people
see her as more
than a simple house wife. Furthermore,
when Tea
Cake let her
participate in the work, it made her feel like she
was worth something more than just a wife. Tea Cake had given
Janie the
self-worth that she needed. He had given
her the
confidence to
pull the whole world onto her shoulders and she
found great
happiness in his memories. She learned a
lot through
Tea Cake's love
and she was very happy being with him.
Janie's
marriage with Tea
Cake was finally like "sitting under a pear
tree to just
think."
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