Skip to main content

Janie's 3 abusive relationships

For the most part, I think that we can all agree that Their Eyes Were Watching God is an extremely progressive novel that explores female independence in the early 1900s. However, Janie is abused in each of her 3 relationships. Hurston really plays each of these instances down, which raises some questions about the characters and society in the early 1900s.

Janie's first abusive encounter is with Logan Killucks, right before she runs away with Joe. "'Ah'll take holt uh dat ax and come in dere and kill yuh!'", exclaims Logan when Janie is unwilling to help him shovel manure (Hurston 30). It's a really short phrase, and you could miss it if you're not reading carefully. However, Logan's off-handed comment really shakes Janie up, and this is the final straw - that same day, she runs off with Joe towards a new life.

Janie is abused emotionally by Joe, and it has a long-term impact on her view of herself and her role in society. Joe's abusive behavior appears throughout their marriage, as he restricts her behavior and her social interactions. When Janie finally calls him out for it, he tries to guilt her for his insecurities and then dies (seemingly because of Janie).

Lastly, we have the strange scene where Tea Cake hits Janie. This scene feels super out of place, especially considering the behavior we had seen from Tea Cake up to this point. A common thread between all of these abuses in Janie's relationships is her husband feeling insecure. Logan admits immediately after his death threat that he's worried about not being good enough for Janie. Joe is insecure because of Janie's beauty and youthfulness, and Tea Cake feels threatened because Janie has so many suitors.

I think there's a pretty simple message that Hurston gets across by showing us these abuses: jealousy and insecurity can bring out the worst in people, even people who seem perfect (like Tea Cake).

Comments

  1. Anya Kaplan-Hartnett19 November 2019 at 15:26

    I agree that all three of Janie's relationships have abusive undertones, though her relationship with Tea Cake is by far the most solid and loving partnership in the novel. That's why it seems so out of place for Tea Cake to hit Janie. He's supposed to be the one good husband, so why is he physically abusing Janie? However, there are also scenes where Janie tries to hurt Tea Cake (for example, when she finds him with another girl in the fields). Does the fact that they can both be physically violent with each other make the partnership seem more equal or just wackier?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Joshua24 November 2019 at 17:19

    Even though all three of Janie's relationships were problematic, I think Hurston still shows Janie mature as the book progresses. After Jody dies, she doesn't try to remarry at all until she's charmed by Tea Cake. Her relationship with Tea Cake seems to be the most healthy and the one she's happiest in, and I think she learned what she truly wants from a marriage through her first two. So while all of her marriages were abusive, I think Hurston shows how Janie grows from each one and becomes stronger.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Niiico26 November 2019 at 17:51

    I really hadn't thought of the historical implications of these relationships. It is kinda interesting how all of the husbands were insecure about their hold on Janie. I'm not sure whether Hurston did this as a commentary on society at the time, but if she did I think it was a good impression. They all feel threatened by Janie's (independence? ability to do things?) yeah. People were toxic back then

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How Disney perpetuates voodoo stereotypes

In the opening chapters of Mumbo Jumbo , we've been introduced to Papa DaBas, a voodoo priest. In class we talked a bit about the largely negatively perception of voodoo in America. This immediately made me think of the Disney princess film, The Princess and the Frog . This movie is set in New Orleans, and follows a princess who falls in love, blah blah blah...but the villain is a voodoo-practicing witch doctor, Dr. Facilier.  I found it really interesting to look back at Dr. Facilier's character after discussing the American perception of voodoo, because Dr. Facilier is portrayed as a man of pure evil (here's a picture if you haven't seen the movie to show how creepy he is). His soul belongs to evil loas (his "friends on the other side", as he calls them), and he uses their power to achieve his greedy  goals, convincing the loas to continue working with him by feeding them the souls of innocent victims. He's manipulative and extremely powerful.  ...
8 comments
Read more

Paul D and Sethe's shared trauma

Paul D and Sethe have an extremely complicated relationship that constantly morphs and shifts throughout  Beloved . They spent lots of time at Sweet Home together, and therefore have an established emotional bond. Though a more physical aspect of their relationship develops, the glue holding them together is their shared trauma of living at Sweet Home and of their respective escapes. Generally speaking, relationships held together primarily by shared traumatic experiences are fragile and unstable: Paul D and Sethe's relationship is no exception. Though they understand each other's experiences with slavery, they have little else in common. Crucially, they haven't seen each other in eighteen years, and there are significant gaps in their knowledge what has happened in the other's life in the nearly two decades since their last encounter. Most importantly, Paul D is unaware of what Sethe did in the shed on that fateful day when schoolmaster came to 124. With the presen...
9 comments
Read more

Final thoughts

 Before I get into this, I want to start by pointing out that Jill was #1 on my most likely to die list, and she is the one who died. It feels wrong to congratulate myself, but I am a little bit proud. The ending was quite satisfying. It felt almost too good and peaceful for the end of such a wild and tragic novel. Nearly the entire group survived, they moved on from their ghosts of the past, and they have great resources that they can begin their Earthseed community with. I'm a little upset that Lauren is still in a relationship with Bankole, but it's good that there are so many relationships within their community as they plan for the future. The most surprising part of the ending was when Lauren discovered that Greyson, Emery, and their kids are all sharers. I was not expecting this at all, because sharing was Lauren's most unique trait. However, it does alienate her less from the rest of the group, and it makes the former slaves more united with the rest of the group. T...
Post a Comment
Read more