Character Analysis: Their Eyes Were Watching God

My piano teacher once told me to first accept myself for who I am in order for others to accept me. If I did not first accept myself, why should others accept me? In Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie strives to find happiness by living her life the way others want her to live it, but she misses the most important factor, so she is never truly happy. Janie feels empty, and constantly strives to find a way to fill that void. Towards the end of the novel, however, Janie realizes the key to her happiness is being able to make her own decisions based on her values. In order to find true happiness, one has to first live life without being influenced or controlled by others..
In the beginning of the novel, Janie has a gap in her life which …show more content…
She meets Joe Starks, an opportunistic individual with big dreams of becoming mayor of a small, unknown town by rebuilding it into a flourishing one. Janie decides that with Joe Starks, she can start anew and search for happiness. Janie had no influence over her life with Logan, so she flings off her apron binding her to Logan and with this new freedom, runs off with Joe. Joe does not “represent sun-up and pollen and blooming trees, but he spoke for far horizons” which intrigued Janie all the same (29). Little does she realize, being with Joe does not yield happiness. In fact, Joe is both possessive and controlling over Janie’s every action as they are actions that “should” or “should not” be done by the mayor’s wife. Joe expects Janie, as the mayor’s wife, to be set apart from the others. Sitting on a chair of power and authority that Joe placed her on, Janie inspires both “awe and envy” from the townspeople, but she could never “get but so close to most of them in spirit” making her feel “far away from things and lonely” (46). Janie seems like she now has power and influence, but she does not have any over her personal life. Joe controls her, and as a result none of the townspeople truly know what Janie is like and think that she “always did class off” (112). However, it is Joe who classes her off . He restricts Janie and takes charge of her actions, especially …show more content…
With Tea Cake, Janie realizes that he loves her for who she is including her values: adventure, love, and a yearning for happiness. She discovers that she “done lived Grandma’s way” and now “means tuh live” her own life (114). Janie realizes that her “own mind had tuh be squeezed and crowded out tuh make room” for Joe’s when he dictated her every move (86). Janie learns not to let others decide what is significant to her. Only she can decide that.. Tea Cake tells Janie to “have duh nerve tuh say what you mean” (109). He loves Janie and respects her, but above all else, he is the first person to accept Janie and not impose his own values on her. She and Tea Cake “joked and went on” (98), and he let her do so without degrading her in the way Nanny, Logan, or Joe may have. Instead, Tea Cake accepts her for all her strengths and despite her flaws, does not want Janie to change anything about herself especially her resolve to follow what her heart tells her is important. Tea Cake wants Janie to show who she truly is by letting thoughts and emotions be known instead of hiding herself away from others. After Tea Cake’s death, Janie becomes aware of the reason to why she loved Tea Cake. No one treated her as Tea Cake had. Through Tea Cake’s acceptance and encouragement of Janie to be her