Hurston- View of Treatment of Women

Through her story, "Their Eyes Were Watching God", Hurston obviously attempts to portray the oppression of women in (ironically) a time when Blacks were still overcoming their oppression. The sheer fact that Janie's Grandmother forced her to marry a much older man (mostly because he had a lot of land) demonstrates the view of women during this time. Women were dependent and taught to be obedient. Janie's grandmother didn't force her into the marriage to be cruel, rather, she felt as though she was protecting Janie and ensuring her protection and a "good life". It wasn't so important, though, if the life was what Janie wanted. Janie obviously did not love her first husband and was with him only through obligation to her Grandmother. She had no one else, and felt as though she had no other option. However, she soon felt very confined and realized she could not bear to live a life she had not cosen for herself. She defied tradition when she ran off with Joe Starks, but felt she had to do so in order to make her life her own. This was obviously unacceptable in Janie's time, which demonstrates her lack of conformity. Janie had issues with doing things the way they were supposed to be done and wanted nothing more than to live her life in any way which made her happy yet this was not customary. For 20 years, Janie lived with Joe Starks even though after a while, she knew she was not living the life she wanted. She felt trapped because together, they had established Eatonville, and she had made many friends there and knew no one anywhere else. She felt torn between the fact that Joe had provided well for her yet she still always felt as though something was missing in her life. After Joe's death, when she was finally free, she was criticized, even by her best friend, for not mourning longer. For Janie, she felt as though her life had just begun when everyone around her assumed her life wa supposed to fall apart after the death of her husband. It was almost as though it was unheard of for a women to be independent and able to move on with her life. Hurston is trying to show that even women tended to stick to the traditional roles of women- being dependent on men and not deviating from traditional roles. Janie meeting Tea Cake demonstrated that women are able to be in control of their own lives and make their own decisions so long as they do not give in to the demands of others. Janie could have easily dismissed her feelings for Tea Cake, knowing how the town would react, but she chose to ignore their reaction and do what made her happy. She knew she could not listen to their warnings and that she had to learn to make her own mistakes so that for once, some part of her life could be her own. She never lived until she met Tea Cake. The relationship was not out of obligation or to satisfy anyone else's expectations. It was the one thing she could decide for herself. As we discussed in class, even Tea Cake wasn't the perfect man. he still beat Janie simply to display his dominance over her, but he gave her something no one else could- the chance for her to be free. He allowed her to play checkers, go fishing, work along side him, and she did these things because she wanted to and because no one else had ever given her a chance to lear. Through all the obvious views on the treatment of women, Hurston uses Janie to show the possibility of perseverance and the ability to break free from any oppression. Women were treated as submissive animals but they almost allowed themselves to do so by doing nothing to change the situation they were in. Granted, not every Black woman had a Tea Cake to sweep them off their feet, but many women in Janie's position wouldn't have ran off with him in fear of what the townspeople, family, and friends would say. Many wives felt too comfortable in their submissive relationships (Phoebe), to make any changes, and many felt even if they did make changes, they would fail. Janie refused to allow anyone to take her life away from her and she represents the ideal of how oppression can be changed. Hurston seemed to have more hope for women than most and this is shown through Janie.