Critical Analysis

Love Is Power

A quote by Arundhati Roy says “Power is fortified not just by what it destroys, but also by what it creates. Not just by what it takes, but also by what it gives. And powerlessness reaffirmed not just by the helplessness of those who have lost, but also by the gratitude of those who have (or think they have) gained”. Power either aggravate the rise of pride or the display of humility so is the case with Janie in the eyes were watching God. During the telling of “Their Eyes were watching God”, Hurston confidently engages in appropriating the main character “ Janie” as a symbol of female power throughout the book. Janie grew up through a life of oppression and struggles to achieve autonomy. Janie was raised by her grandmother, who was born a slave and lived with her owners. At the beginning of this prose, Janie was seen dressed in overalls by the town’s people after her encounter in a previous life with Tea cake near Okeechobee (Hurston). Hurston uses the townspeople to challenge her situation by asking about her whereabouts and her new lover; since they knew of her struggles and accomplishments. set the character in the spotlight by introducing the character’s virtue and creating a scene of this sort. Janie was quoted in the book as a beautiful, confident middle-aged black woman, who stands out from the crowd like a black in the daylight. (Hurston) Hurston illustrates the theme of “eroticized nature” and “black female fecundity” as it unveils the character's sense of power or powerlessness through the use of related images of nature from “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by the way, Janie the protagonist, gains the privilege to witness something special; shows her inability to elude the event with the bees and the Corolla in the garden and indirectly compared to Matt Bonner’s yellow mule.

Although it is true that most female writers have been known to incorporate into their works eroticized images by concentrating on the physical features of the feminine protagonist to elicit their claims. “While female authors have been writing about “women’s issues” for centuries, their foregrounding of women’s bodies is a relatively new phenomenon.” ( Bruno). Hurston utilized eroticized nature images like the pear which is similar to the feminine physical features, to elicit her claim on Janie’s desire.In a line in chapter two from the excerpt, Hurston projects Janie’s believes on how her married life would be:

“She was stretched on her back beneath the pear tree soaking in the alto chant of the visiting bees, the gold of the sun and the panting breath of the breeze when the inaudible voice of it all came to her. She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight. So this was a marriage! She had been summoned to behold a revelation. Then Janie felt a pain remorseless sweet that left her limp and languid” (Hurston 11).

According to this natural reference to Janie's feelings, this image projects Janie's sense of power, by expressing the clear idea of Janie's privilege of being exposed to the scene of the visiting bees over the flower bloom. The image presented by Hurston shows Janie's fantasy about the beautiful feeling of copulation and marriage. To Janie, the bee and the calyx connection implies the joining of a man and a woman. This imagery further confirms Janie's sense of power as she fulfills her desires by being exposed to this significant event. Also, this imagery also indicates the event after her life with her grandmother; after being pressured to marry Logan Killicks; Janie couldn't conceive from either of any marriages she has been in.

“All through her journey from youth to adulthood, the pear tree blossoms and its loving bee image become, by permanent retrospection, her true drive and inspiration in a quest for love and marriage, guiding her through the mechanism of the victimizing social forces that are represented by her two first husbands, Logan Killicks and Jody Starks, to the dynamism of her third husband Virgible (Tea Cake) Woods.”( Hajjari). Although being materialized by her previous husbands, Janie's sense of power still lingered within her as she did not conform to them but try to fulfill her desires.

Although Janie felt her desires should be fulfilled, she was witnessed to have tried to conform to a particular form of satisfaction, ignoring other forms that may influence her along the line of her development  “Janie does nothing but pursues an image of contentment in her mind, causing her development into a form of a youth who desires the feel of fulfilling her sexual drives. Janie had spent most of the day under a blossoming pear tree in the backyard. She had been spending every minute that she could steal from her chores under that tree for the last three days”(Hurston). Janie also desires a taste of pure divine satisfaction from the love of someone special. This causes Janie to show her powerlessness to nature's demand for attachment. Hurston association with Janie finding her purpose but defiling other things caused her to lose her sense of power and according to Janie's situation of fecundity which was immensely associated with her infertility, causes the realisation of being powerless compared to the pear tree that gave the opposite of her situation which was from “barren brown stems to glistening leaf buds”(Hurston). Hurston placed this to ironically precede the future for the protagonist. “Nanny believes Janie will soon act more dramatically on these desires and therefore urges her to marry a responsible and conventional man.” (Domina). Domina confirmed the idea of Janie’s powerlessness through identifying her weakness against achieving the state of the pear tree.

According to Hurston’s reference of the mule, Janie was indirectly compared to the mule in chapter 6. Hurston utilizes Joe Starks and Logan Killicks as both symbols of Janie’s oppression. Joe starks has been quoted using his power over Janie for his pleasure and causing Janie to feel inferior to her natural self.

“This business of the head-rag irked her endlessly. But Jody was set on it. Her hair was not going to show in the store. It didn’t seem sensible at all. That was because Joe never told Janie how jealous he was. He never told her how often he had seen the other men figuratively wallowing in it as she went about things in the store. [...] She was there in the store for him to look at, not those others”.(Hurston).

From the previous excerpt, we see a young girl’s development being altered by both of Janie's previous husbands who didn't see Janie for the woman she was, but they both saw her as a possession due to the fact of her innocence. This is also comparable to Janie's grandma words to Janie on how she feels as a slave was,  “ de nigger woman is de mule uh de world so fur as ah can see. Ah been prayin' fah it tuh be different wid you” (Hurston 14). The claim made by Hurston solidifies the idea that every black woman who fall, under that jurisdiction, including Janie, is being lessened by the society to the level of a weak mule.

“Janie identifies with the mule that is so cruelly treated, and, uncharacteristically, she speaks her mind about the men’s behavior.” (Weitzman), which is similar to Hurston's claim.

This imagery also drives towards the direction of the comfort Janie seeks compares with the struggle of any young black female who desires her voice be heard and also what black women would face in an economy not just run by the white population but also by the men. This caused Janie's resilience against being hushed up by joe starks. She replies to Joe Starks after an episode of dispute, "Stop mixin' up mah doings wid mah looks, Jody. When you git through tellin' me how tuh cut uh plug uh tobacco, then you kin tell me whether mah behind is on straight or not."(Hurston 78). Since Janie is realized to be one with nature so being in a marriage with joe starks was a desecration against Janie's feeling of normality which is to discover love instead of just being married.

In conclusion, Hurston's association with nature images induces a connection between her protagonist, Janie and her struggles to fulfill the role of the heroine. Janie finally realizes that after all her experiences with each marriage, she is a significant subject of nature and her independence is her satisfaction.

References

Diane Telgen et Kevin Hile,"Their Eyes Were Watching God." Novels for Students, vol. 3, Gale, 1998, pp. 300-320. Gale Virtual Reference Library, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GVRL&sw=w&u=cuny_ccny&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CCX3124800025&sid=exlibris&asid=a2120a4dc5e4f6e55427dffb6155f1c4. Accessed 19 Nov. 2017.e

Hajjari, Aliakbari Harehdasht, H. & Ghasemi, P. J Afr Am St (2016) 20: 35. https://doi-org.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/10.1007/s12111-015-9312-2

Roy, Arundhati “A Quote from The Cost of Living.” "Power Is Fortified Not Just by What It Destroys...", www.goodreads.com/quotes/854974-power-is-fortified-not-just-by-what-it-destroys-but.

Weitzman, Marla L,  “Understanding Janie: From ‘The Bone of Contention’ to Their Eyes Were Watch...” Studies in American Humor, 1 Sept. 2011, web.b.ebscohost.com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=6758baaf-8a4f-4873-9316-29ddb48cfdf0%40pdc-v-sessmgr01.

Bruno, Elizabeth Casimir. “Speaking Through The body: the eroticized feminism of Gioconda Belli”. Apr. 2006, cdr.lib.unc.edu/indexablecontent/uuid:d06bfb1d-ff66-457d-8aad-466fbf2c2837.