Women in Dilemma—Analysis of Janie’s frustrations in Their Eyes Were Watching God

畢世穎

Abstract： As a prominent Afro-American female writer， Zora Neale Hurstons masterpiece Their Eyes Were Watching God is considered as the literary classic of black Americans and the literary classic of feminism. This paper tries to analyze the frustrations suffered by the woman protagonist Janie from three aspects and hopes to advocate setting up an ideal world of harmony between human and nature， men and women.

Keywords： feminism； frustration； harmony

Zora Neale Hurstons most important work， Their Eyes Were Watching God， is known as one of the most significant works in American literature of twentieth century. It takes a special place in the history of women literature and reflects womens life especially the black women against sexism and their pursuit of self- realization. It is a forceful affirmation of womens physical and spiritual fulfillment， a reflection of self-assertion and black womanhood. This paper tries to analyze the frustrations of Janie from three aspects.

A. Frustration from nature

Some of the writers held that female and nature were in close connection because of physiological constitution and their interdependent relationship. Therefore， in the book Their Eyes Were Watching God， the protagonist Janie combined herself with nature， which was also the spiritual support of her struggling for life， independence and self-identity. Janie loved nature， praised nature and also learned from the nature for life， harmony and independence. Janie regarded the pear tree as the inspiration of looking for her true love. Her expectation under the pear tree was an important step in the process of her self-awakening awareness.

However， her pursuit of a love-based marriage was destroyed by harsh reality. In the novel， many images of nature such as pear tree， bees， and blooms and so on recurred again and again to indicate the harmonious relationship between Janie and the natural environment. Furthermore， Pear tree not only took on the responsibility as a parent， telling her about the secret of marriage， it also acted as a teacher and a friend in her life. As a matter of fact， Janie suffered in her marriages in contrast to what she had expected under the pear tree. The marriages brought sufferings to her.

Thus， the natural world could not provide the true love and even the simplest marriage that Janie wanted. The author told the readers that Janie wanted to fight against life， but she could not catch it. She could not get the true love， the freedom and the happiness she expected under the pear tree. Natural ecological consciousness could not satisfy the desire of women to pursue true love； there existed huge differences between the natural world and the human world and they were opposite. In a word， Janie was very attached to nature， yet nature neglected her emotional appeal.

B. Frustration from racialism

Janie was born in a society which was dominated by the white people. And she and her grandmother were battered by the slavery when she was a young girl. As a girl， especially a nigger， Janie did not know who she was. Janies coming to the world was a product of two rapes： her grandmother Nanny raped by her slave owner and gave birth to her mother Leafy then her mother raped by her school teacher thus Janie was born. Janie never saw her parents and she was brought up by her grandmother in a back-yard of white folks. Once， Janie looked at a picture taken by her white playmates， but she could not recognize herself. And then， everybody laughed at her for she was colored and called her “Alphabet” because she had many names from different people. Thus it can be seen that the black people were still unable to control their own life after black liberation. Meanwhile， it also implied that the potential risk was too heavy for Janie to integrate into American society as a black. Therefore， she must put herself into an exclusively black community.

Whats more， in Janies childhood， her grandmother， Nanny identified with the view that the status of whites was higher than that of the black. And Nanny hoped nigger women could leisurely stay in their own space and have capacity to do things as white women. However， she knew that it could not come true. So Nanny told her “honey， de white man is de ruler of everything as fur as Ah been able tuh find out. Maybe its some place way off in de ocean where de black man is in power， but we dont know nothin but what we see. So de white man throw down de load and tell de nigger man tuh pick it up” （Hurston 14） and forced her to marry Logan Killcks. Although Janie was firmly opposed to this marriage， her grandmother believed the black women never had the right to pursue their true love. Therefore， under the slaps and tears from grandmother， Janie grudgingly accepted the arranged marriage to Logan by Nanny even though Logan was far from her expectation. She was painful from the influence of racialism.

C. Frustration from patriarchy

In this book， the society where Janie lives is a men-centered world where women were regarded as private properties for men in every aspect.

Nanny forced Janie to marry Logan， an old and ugly but rich Negro， for protecting Janie from the sufferings she had experienced. At first， Logan took good care of Janie and did not let her do labor works. However， shortly after their marriage， she soon found out that life with Logan was nothing like her expectation under the pear tree. As time passed， Logan let her do more and more physical work from the farm. Janie was gradually being silenced and worked as a mule， and she did not doubt Logans actions. In their eyes， women were their accessories and they should not have their own independent space.

With the domination of Logan on Janie going further， Janies self consciousness was becoming stronger and stronger. Later， Janie met Joe Starks and ran away with him in a morning. Then Janie married Joe Starks with new hope and dream. But， as a matter of fact， it did not offer Janie what she wanted. In their marriage， Joe soon became the most important figure in the town Eatonville. However， Joes view towards woman also came from the white society. Women were regarded as inferior to men in white patriarchal society. Actually， Joes attitude towards Janie could be seen from the first sight when he saw Janie： “A pretty doll-baby lak you is made to sit on de front porch and rock and fan yoself and eat ptaters dat other folks plant just special for you” （Hurston 29）. Obviously， in his mind， a woman was like a toy for man to play with. Joe believed that was where Janies value lay and he also had the same idea that woman were someone inferior to men. He expected Janie could act like a mayors wife and kept her place in home to obey her master. And next， he removed Janie into the store to “sell something” and ordered Janie to wear a head rag all the time in the store. It was cynical that Janie was restricted to selling goods in the store rather than share her ideas in the community conversation freely. He hid his wife， and did not allow his wife to speak in public. And the headband concealed and restrained the beautiful hair of Janie， which was a desire to silence her.

Joes unfair treatment of Janie awakened her inner longing for equality and right， furthermore， it filled her with a sense of loss. The voice of Joe was always full of power. Joe refused to give Janie the rights to talk in front of the people in the town. It was a declaration that Janie was his private possession. Joe held that women did not have independent personality， and they relied on men for living. Therefore， as his dependency， Janie was not supposed to have her own idea， which may weaken his powerful voice. It is clear that Joe， in order to ensure his status， confined the freedom of Janie.

[References]

[1]Hurston， Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York： Harper Perennial， 1998.

[2]Johnson， Yvonne. The Voice of African American Women. New York： Peter Lang Publishing Inc.， 1998.

[3]Walker， Alice. “Looking for Zora” In Search of Our Gardens： Womanist Prose. New York： Harcourt Brace Jovanovich， 1983.

（作者單位：沈陽理工大學(xué)，遼寧 沈陽 110168）