Their Eyes Were Watching God Literary Analysis

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Nsikak Ekong November 21, 2015 AP Literature Mr. R. Amoroso Topic #2 Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, shows the growth of Janine Crawford, an adolescent girl of mixed black and white heritage. This young attractive female is obsessed with finding true love after seeing a bee pollenating on a flower. Through the course of the novel her story is documented with her emotional growth and her maturity through three marriages which are dominated by the male. The other side, The Awakening by Kate Chopin explores the life of Edna Pontellier, a wife with an independent demeanor and seeks to find love outside of her constrained marriage. Within the mind set on finding independence Edna encounters men who try to control. Both of these women have been dominated within…show more content…
Through this process she goes through three marriages with men who have very similar character flaws. Janine’s first marriage is with Logan Killicks. Logan Killicks is a farmer who sees Janie as a spoiled child who needs to learn to be a farm wife. As the husband, Logan was old and emotionally destitute, he showed very little aggression to Janie at the beginning of their marriage, and became very aggressive. When he tried to command her, Janie resisted which gave Logan anger and frustration. Logan has the idea that marriage means to dominate the woman and just an object for men to use whenever they want. As both of their marriage progresses Logan’s true colors are shown and Logan treats Janie more like a mule than a wife. This is because Logan wants him and Janie to share the work since he has a 60 acres of land to farm. Logan didn’t want a wife out of marriage, he wanted a pack “mule”. This shows the idea that back in South during Jim Crow, African American women were seen as weak and were made for house wife work. Just like Edna’s time in The
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