Online Dating Websites A Potential For Partners And Dangers

Online Dating Websites: A Potential for Partners and Dangers Almost seven billion people reside on Earth, yet many people strive to find â€Å"the one† out of everyone. â€Å"The one† meaning that apparent person to build memories with, grow with, share forever with – yes, that one. However, finding that one special person is as easy as finding a needle in the haystack, or possibly even harder. On top of that, only a small fraction of the world’s population are the ones people actually meet in person, so how could someone find â€Å"the one† faster? With technological advancements, specifically online dating websites, finding and meeting people online is faster and easier than ever; unfortunately, fast and easy does not always mean good. Online dating websites do allow for easy access for multiple people to meet and form relationships all across the world, but that is the exact reason how these sites can lead to potential danger to all its users â⠂¬â€œ not fully knowing the true identity behind a screen is not fully knowing the true intention of that user. While these sites do help in worldwide interaction, a constant use of them can mean less in-person interaction leading to a decrease in social quality. Online dating websites may not be the best method in finding â€Å"the one† or even â€Å"true love† when it, itself, can be untrue towards privacy, identity, and even other relationships. As the engagement in these types of interactions increase, face-to-face interactions decreases leading to lessShow MoreRelatedWhat Does The Newest Research Tell Us About Online Dating?996 Words   |  4 PagesWhat does the newest research tell us about online dating? Why is the industry so powerful? How does it work? What are the real risks and dangers of online dating? The innovation of online dating did not even enter the vocabulary of romance until the end of second millennium, following the fast advances of the technolo gy and the internet. In the last decade, searching for romantic partners via online dating sites has become a visible and common strategy for those looking for companionship. As ofRead MoreVirtual Proximity Is Important For A Serious Romantic Relationship1668 Words   |  7 Pages Second, physical proximity is important for a serious romantic relationship to blossom, because seeing someone is important to know the truth about the potential partner. Proximity can be defined as how close someone is to us physically and how accessible he or she is to us. Dating sites are considered useful because the user can choose the radius and mileage within which he or she would like to find a match. About a dozen smartphone apps enable people to connect anywhere—sports events, shoppingRead MoreFinding Time For A Love Life1368 Words   |  6 Pagesfirst. In today’s society online dating has become an easy, almost effortless solution to this problem. People of all ages, genders, and sexual orientation are taking to the Internet to find what we feel we all deserve; love. Unfortunately, while online dating is more convenient than traditional dating it also comes with its fair share of dangers. Online dating has become an easily accessible way for scam artists to pray on unsuspecting users. When it comes to dating online there are a variety ofRead MoreThe Online Dating Apps And Websites2035 Words   |  9 PagesDating has always involved an emphasis on physical traits and characteristics, and in this regard, online dating is no different. However, virtual dating takes this emphasis to another level. According to DeVrie’s (2010) report, it super-charges the focus on looks more than in-person dating to encourage superficial judgment of others (p. 539). These online dating apps and websites create a situation where it is built around a sole profile picture, which can be edited by the user to enhance his orRead MoreOnline Dating1706 Words   |  7 PagesOnline dating is a which allows individuals, couples and groups to make contact and communicate with each other over the Internet, usually with the objective of developing a personal, romantic, or sexual relationship. Match making occurs over the Internet using computers or cellphones. In order to use an online dating service, people start by creating a profile with basic information about themselves such as gender, age, location, and interests, and at least one photo. Most online dating servicesRead MorePornographic Videos On Today s Society1605 Words   |  7 Pagesrelationships. Pornography is not the only culprit in this situation; we internalize the messages given to us by media as well as pornography (Simon and Gagon 2003). By internalizing these messages, we distort how we view ourselves and how we view our partner and we then strive to fit the mold given to us by the media. One of the most explicit representations in pornography is the representation of teenage girls. Pornography depicts teen girls as sexually naà ¯ve, powerless, and in a more attractive lightRead MoreModern Romance, By Aziz Ansari1981 Words   |  8 Pagesproject. This is because of its relationship to new media, which relates to the course, and dating, which relates to all of society. The book applies to the course in several ways; first, the overall theme of the book relates to people in younger generations becoming more and more reliant on social media and dating websites to try and find love. Ansari delves deep into different aspects of media used in dating, as well as putting in serious research on social sciences to to analyze the cultural impactRead MoreEssay about The Pros and Cons of Internet Pornography1174 Words   |  5 PagesDating back all the way to the 1980’s, before the internet, pornography was still a very popular and readily accessible phenomenon sweeping the nation. Many groups have tried to shut down the whole institution for the stigma it has of being very distasteful and obscene. These groups, including feminists, religious groups, and even the Reagan administration, for years, have been working toward legislation to outlaw pornography.(Suderman) What they don’t realize is that they are actually trying toRead MoreHave You Eve r Run Into Someone Who Believes In A Silly1771 Words   |  8 Pagessilly dating myth? Do you yourself have a few misconceptions of the online dating world? Maybe you want to set the record straight, or maybe you re just interested to know what most people believe of online dating? Sit back and relax as we uncover the three most popular online dating myths, and stop them in their tracks! Online Dating Myth #1: People Who Use The Internet To Date Are Losers Who Can t Get a Real Date This is one of the most common and disgusting myths about online dating. HowRead MoreEssay on Pros and Cons of Social Media875 Words   |  4 Pagesusing it. Many people devote social media considering of its vast connectivity that anyone can access for free. That’s exactly what a variety of people all over the world want. Facebook is the most detectable in the middle of numerous social media websites. Not only can users leave comments on other peoples’ posts but by doing so, communication can be accomplished. The second perk is that it is absolutely satisfying in long distance relationships. The survey from the Telegraph, told that social networks

Their Eyes Were Watching god Free Essays

The novel â€Å"Their Eyes Were Watching God† written by Zorn Neal Hurst is praised as one of the greatest works of American literature due to the outstanding use of figurative language and presentation of such controversial topics. Such as women empowerment and the true nature of relationships. The main character, Jeanie is heavily influenced by the people around her, and due to such actions, she is unable to reach her dreams, or her horizon. We will write a custom essay sample on Their Eyes Were Watching god or any similar topic only for you Order Now In TWIG, two characters In particular, her grandmother, Nanny, and Joe Starks manipulate Jeanie by abusing their power and sections of authority and respect. Through manipulation, Hurst implies that one must face adversity and struggle through darker paths to truly reach their own horizon. Genie’s life, like many others, is heavily influenced by her family. Her only blood related relative, Nanny, manipulates Jeanie by forcing her perspective of the world upon Jeanie. In the early days of Genie’s youth, she saw love and marriage as natural and beautiful. Genie’s mind wandered to the Idea of love and marriage, and In the spur of the moment, kissed a boy. Nanny saw this and became furious. She rushed UT and made Jeanie promise to never do that again. Nanny even slapped Jeanie out of rage. When Nanny finally calmed down, she explained to Jeanie her misfortunes with men. Telling Jeanie about how her and Genie’s mother were abused by white men, Nanny planted the seed of doubt In Genie’s head. Letting It seep in slowly would be too slow. Nanny needed to force this ideal into Genie’s mind, whether she likes it or not. It is apparent when after Jeanie is married off Nanny says â€Å"Taint no use in you crying’ Jeanie. Grandma does been long a few roads herself. But folks Is meant to cry bout something or other. Better leave things De way dye Is. House young yet. No telling’ what mouth happen beef’ you die. Wait awhile baby, you mind will change† (Hurst 24). Jeanie explained to her grandmother that she was dissatisfied with her marriage, and her thought that love came out of marriage was shattered. No matter how terrible the loveless marriage should be, Nanny urged her to continue. Nanny was already set in the way that her own little girl can never be touched, that she should be kept on a podium and protected. Jeanie accepted the most influential Geiger in her life: Nanny and her opinions and took it to heart. However flawed it may be, she accepted It. The distorted horizon that Jeanie now looked upon was unfulfilled for her, and she felt that it was unfair to force her ideals upon her, later, Jeanie realizes her true feelings for Nanny when she says â€Å"She hated her grandmother and had hidden it from herself all these years under a cloak of pity†¦ .Here Nanny had taken the biggest thing God ever made, the horizon – for not matter how far a person can go the horizon Is soul way beyond you – and pinched It In to such a little bit of a hint that she could tie it about her granddaughter’s neck tight enough to choke her. She hated the old woman who had twisted her so in the name of love† (89). Jeanie feels that Nanny’s actions were unjustified, and that she shouldn’t have been so controlling as to take her own thoughts and dreams and defile them to the point where she thought that the entire world was against her. When Jeanie says â€Å"She hated her grandmother and had hidden it from herself all these years under a cloak of pity,† I OFF her from the start, but she was her only family member she knew, so no matter what ere opinions were, Jeanie had to at least accept them. Nanny used her position as her grandmother to change Jeanie. As the woman who raised her, Nanny had large amounts of influence on Genie’s life. And as her grandmother, she had a emotional connection with Jeanie. Nanny used these two to get a foothold in Genie’s mind, and drop in her idea, no matter how demented it may be. Nanny loved Jeanie, and that was the problem. Nanny loved Jeanie too much. She believed that everything she did was in the name of love. In the name of love, Nanny destroyed Genie’s dream. In the name of love, Nanny decided to strangle Jeanie with her idea that you cannot trust anyone. In the name of love, Nanny hid Jeanie away from the world. In the name of love, Nanny created a void in Genie’s heart. And in the name of love, Nanny slowly consumed Genie’s entire being. Nanny manipulated Jeanie by shoving ideas into her head, whereas Joe Starks, another influential character, forces Jeanie into submission by more direct measures. When Jeanie meets Joe Starks, he appears to be her knight in shining armor, promised a life of love, Jeanie is swept off her feet and rode off into the horizon, or so he thought. When Jeanie and Joe reach a new town, Joey’s ambitions grant him the title of mayor of the new town, Detonative. Joe becomes the alpha male of the town. He runs the town, has the prettiest wife, and has the most money. Joe soon further shows his â€Å"alpha male† status by forcing Jeanie to stay silent and Just smile, be a trophy wife papers. Jeanie initially protests, but to no avail. Joe Starks shoots her down and absolutely dominates every aspect of Genie’s life. Joe forces Jeanie to do his bidding and has her work in the store with her beautiful hair up, because no other an would be allowed to see her hair, but Joe can’t say that, for that would be actually complimenting his wife, and that would mean he wasn’t as manly as everyone else thought! Jeanie becomes more and more passive through the years, as shown when Hurst writes, â€Å"The years took all the fight out of Genie’s face. For a while she thought it was gone from her soul. No matter what Jody did, she said nothing† (76). Genie’s fire that once burned has slowly been choked to death. The relentless verbal and physical assault from Joe took years off of her life, it was no use n fighting back anymore. When Hurst says, â€Å"for a while she thought it was gone from her soul† shows how felt as if she has totally given up all hope of living her dream out. Her life carries on, however, Joey’s health does not. Even in Joey’s weakness, he still desires to be in control. His horizon must stay in sight. He waits for the tides to come in, and does not have a real plan to keep things humane. This is apparent when Jeanie calls Joe out on his failing manhood, and being the alpha male, Joe muss retaliate in anyway possible. Anyway;ay, no matter how taboo. This is shown when Joe struck Jeanie with all his might and drove her from the store†(80). When Joe does this, he is not only physically hitting Jeanie, but he is also dealing â€Å"the final blow. † Joe knows that Jeanie is right about him, and his final struggle to stay in control is all in vain. No matter how much he beats or abuses Jeanie, he knows he will die soon, and Jeanie will live on. When he dies in the next chapter, he has known all along about how he wanted to be in control, how he did not love Jeanie anymore, but only felt the ownership over her. By using his position as the lead male, he is able to morph Jeanie Jody was her hope of having a real marriage, so Jeanie let Joe change her in every way, hoping to cling to her idea of actually living out her horizon. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Genie’s Journey to reach her horizon is riddled with adversity and struggles. The people who appose her are the closest to her, the ones who are supposed to love her the most. Zorn Neal Hurst defines how the struggles are worth it in the end, for no matter how much manipulation, no matter how much abuse, no matter how much hatred others have for you. True happiness with find its way even in the dark of the ugliness. How to cite Their Eyes Were Watching god, Papers Their Eyes Were Watching God Free Essays Hannah Ricci 11. 28. 11 p. We will write a custom essay sample on Their Eyes Were Watching God or any similar topic only for you Order Now 1 Their Eyes Were Watching God Essay 2. In her marriage to Jody, Janie is dominated by his power. At several points, however, it is obvious that he feels threatened by her. Why does Jody need to be in control of everyone around him? How does Janie threaten Jody and his sense of control? Power and dominance are both main themes in the book Their Eyes Were Watching God, and Jody is the embodiment of both of these things. He exerts his power over the town and over Janie in ways that are political, financial and physical. While Janie tends to be submissive, Jody is threatened by the power that Janie holds in her own way, and with this, Jody’s own power begins to deteriorate. Undoubtedly, Jody’s amount of power significantly permeates all aspects of the townspeople, Eatonville, and Janie’s life. Jody puts much care and attention into people’s opinions of him. On one occasion, Jody buys Matt Bonner’s overworked mule and sets it free. The townspeople relate him to Abraham Lincoln and the emancipation of slaves. When Jody refused to allow Janie attend the mule’s funeral, Jody prioritizes issues of polite behavior over Janie’s happiness. He would rather keep her appearance in the town as a perfect lady instead of submitting to her wishes. Jody’s well calculated act of â€Å"humility† accelerates his political power. Jody only feels happy and secure when he’s in control of everything around him. While working in the town store, Janie is forced to keep her hair tucked away and covered. Although she despises doing it, she complies with Jody’s wishes and he continues to feel a sense of control over Janie. Just in the same way, Janie staying quiet at critical times in her marriage with Jody further reinforces his dominance over her. He blames her for her incontinence with handling money and forces her to stay in the store and wait on ladies when she’d rather be outside. Both times she chooses to keep her mouth closed, furthering her resentment for Jody and his need of control. Jody slaps Janie during a tense dinner one night and when Janie would most like to express her anger towards him, she stays silent and keeps a calm exterior. When Janie does speak out against Jody’s wishes, he suddenly feels insecure and threatened by her strong opinions. Hearing his wife disagree with him was an catastrophic blow to his ego. Moreover, Jody’s physical deterioration correlates with his loss of control and power. Janie notices that he’s unquestionably insecure with his changing looks. Jody’s verbal attacks on Janie become more cruel and happen more frequently as his appearance deteriorates as well. He begins to humiliate her in front of the store customers and insulting her looks. Since she knows that Jody is worried about his own waning attractiveness and she is continuing to look youthful and charming, she lashes back out on Jody by insulting his sagging body and stating that he looks like â€Å"de change uh life† when naked. After this verbal attack from his wife, he realizes his newfound lack of power that he once had. He believes that his reputation among the town folk is diminished when other men hear Janie talk back. He violently hits her and she fled from the store. Jody notices for the first time the amount of influence Janie has on his social standing. After the confrontation, he moves into a separate room and refuses to talk to her. As he wallows in self pity, Janie is beginning to feel free for the first time since moving to Eatonville. While power and influence are incredibly important to Jody, this begins to fall apart once Janie starts exerting power of her own. Jody cannot hold on to his power over his wife, the town and eventually over himself. His death exhibits this final loss of his power and in return, the power that Janie gained. How to cite Their Eyes Were Watching God, Papers Their Eyes Were Watching God Free Essays 15 October 2012 A Prospectus: Reading Hurtson’s Their Eyes Were Watching God from a Psychoanalytical Perspective Psychoanalytic theory has shown that infants start identifying themselves and recognize that they are individuals, separate from their mothers, at six months of age. At that age, the individuals’ own identity starts to form as they relate their reflection in the mirror to their own self. This is when texts such as Their Eyes Were Watching God become relevant. We will write a custom essay sample on Their Eyes Were Watching God or any similar topic only for you Order Now The protagonist, Janie Crawford, struggles to construct her own identity and experiences a severe sense of loss in her childhood. Meanwhile, Janie recognizes her African American identity through her projection in the picture in respect to Lacan’s Mirror Stage. The projection of Janie’s identity in the picture as a child not only makes her realize her black origin, but also identify her sexuality as she can only, initially, identify her dress and her hair. This delayed self-recognition disrupts Janie emotionally and explains her inability to maintain a successful marriage throughout the novel. Freud’s psychoanalysis suggests that any disruption in one of the stages of development will negatively result in failure in one or more of the individual’s aspect of life (Bertens 158), which is evident in the novel. Even though Janie goes through the stages of development depicted in both Lacan and Freud’s theories, Janie starts going through these stages later in her childhood, at six years old. According to Lacan’s Mirror Stage (2010), in the first six months, the infant does not distinguish his own self from that of his parents or even the world around him. However, they can only identify that the images in the mirror, or any other projection, like the picture in Janie’s case, when they are about eighteen months old. This delay in Janie’s development is related to the social and familial issues that Janie has experienced in her childhood. The first encounter of the infant with the self in the mirror forms an â€Å"Ideal-I† in which the infant will derive all subsequent future identifications. The infant encounters both attraction to the image and aggression towards it over the difficulty of controlling it, which carries over into future identifications (Lacan 2010). Janie’s misrecognition, or lack of recognition, of herself in the picture is due to her need to construct a sense of reality and make sense of the unusual circumstances in her upbringing. Janie recognizes that her specular self contradicts her real self, or in this sense, the self that she has created through her social environment and identification with the white children. Even though Janie had a delayed recognition of herself, she experienced her first sexual fantasy under the pear tree at the age of sixteen, which Freud identifies as the genital stage of psychosexual development that happens in adolescence when those urges and desires are awakened (Garcia 1995). Janie does not encounter delays in her genital stage, however, she goes through Cathexis in her desperate attempt to let down of her hair, which is a crucial symbol of her sexuality throughout the novel. Most researchers have examined Janie’s sexual orientation and feminine identity through the symbols of the pear tree, the mule, and her hair (Dilbeck 2008). They have also identified her realization of her womanhood and her constant search for love through her three marriages (Bealer 2009, Clarke 2001, and Matos Ayala 2001). Researchers have also pointed out that Janie has successfully established her identity through using her voice, which allowed her readers to visualize the narrative (Burrows 2001, Haurykiewicz 1997, and Lancaster 2009). However, critics have overlooked the development of Janie’s identity throughout the novel in the context of Lacan’s Mirror Stage and Freud’s psychosexual stages of development. Understanding Janie’s delayed identity development, suppressed sexual desires, and her unusual social environment help to better identify her inability to maintain a successful marriage and explain her underlying sexual behavior. The purpose of this paper is two-fold. First, this research suggests that Janie’s incapability of having successful emotional bonds with the males in her life can be understood through the analysis of her delayed identity recognition in respect to Lacan’s Mirror Stage. Second, Janie’s suppressed sexual desires that stems from the patriarchal society can be the reason for her to release these desire into an object that symbolizes her sexuality, in this case her hair. Preliminary Bibliography Ashmawi, Yvonne M. â€Å"Janie’s Tea Cake: Sinner, Saint, or Merely Mortal? † Explicator. 67. 3(2009): 203-206. Web. 0 Sep. 2012. Awkward, Michael. New Essays on Their Eyes Were Watching God. 1. 1. New York: CampridgeUP, 1990. Bealer, Tracy L. ‘The Kiss of Memory’: The Problem of Love in Hurston’s â€Å"Their Eyes WereWatching God. † African American Review. 43. 2/3 (2009): 311-327. Web. 30 Sep. 2012. Bertens, Hans. Literary Theory: The Basics. London and New York: Taylor F rancis, 2008. Burrows, Stuart. â€Å"You Heard Her, You Ain’t Blind†: Seeing What’s Said in Their Eyes WereWatching God. † Novel: A Forum on Fiction. 34. 3 (2001): 434-4. Web. 30 Sep. 2012. Castaneda, Alisha P. Hues, Tresses, and Dresses: Examining the Relation of Body Image, Hair,and Clothes to Female Identity in â€Å"their Eyes were Watching God† and â€Å"I Know Why theCaged Bird Sings†. † Liberty University, 2010. United States — Virginia: ProQuestDissertations Theses (PQDT). Web. 11 Oct. 2012. Clarke, Deborah. â€Å"The Porch Couldn’t Talk for Looking: Voice and Vision in Their Eyes WereWatching God. † African American Review. 35. 4 (2001): 599-614. Web. 02 Oct. 2012. Dilbeck, Keiko. â€Å"Symbolic Representation of Identity in Hurston’s Their Eyes Were WatchingGod. † Explicator. 66. 2 (2008): 102-104. Web. 30 Sep. 2012. Garcia, John L. Freud’s Psychosexual Stage Conception: A Development al Metaphor ForCounselors. † Journal Of Counseling ; Development 73. 5 (1995): 498-502. AcademicSearch Premier. Web. 12 Oct. 2012. Haurykiewicz, Julie A. â€Å"From Mules to Muliebrity: Speech and Silence in Their Eyes WereWatching God. † 29. 2 (1997): 45-61. Web. 30 Sep. 2012. Hinnov, Emily M. â€Å"Modernist visions of â€Å"self† within community in Zora Neale Hurston’s Theireyes were watching God. Selinsgrove, NY: Susquehanna UP, 2009. Print. Ikard, David. â€Å"Ruthless Individuality And The Other(ed) Black Women In Zora Neale Hurtson’sTheir Eyes Were Watching God. † CLA Journal. 53. (2009): 1-22. Web. 30 Sep. 2012. Kaplan, Carla. â€Å"The Erotics of Talk: `That oldest human longing’ in Their Eyes Were WatchingGod. † American Literature. 67. 1 (1995): 115-143. Web. 30 Sep. 2012. Lacan, Jacques. â€Å"The Mirror Stage as Formative of the Function of the I as Revealed inPsychoanalytic Experience. The Norton Anthology of Th eory and Criticism. Ed. PeterSimon. NY: W. W. Norton ; Company, 2010. 1163-1169. Print. Lancaster, Iris M. Bending the Tree, Building the Woman: A Stylistic Approach to Voice andVision in Their Eyes were Watching God. Texas A;M U, 2009. Commerce, TX:ProQuest Dissertations ; Theses. Web. 1 Oct. 2012. Marquis, Margaret. † ‘When de Notion Strikes Me’: Body Image, Food, and Desire in Their EyesWere Watching God. † Southern Literary Journal. 35. 2 (2003): 79-88. Web. 30 Sep. 2012. Matos Ayala, Jennifer. A Feeling Or Something More: Love as a Liberating Force in TheirEyes Were Watching God, Sula and The Women of Brewster Place. U of Puerto Rico,2011. Mayaguez, Puerto Rico: ProQuest Dissertations ; Theses. Web. 1 Oct. 2012. McNulty, Tracy. â€Å"Demanding The Impossible: Desire And Social Change. † Differences: AJournal Of Feminist Cultural Studies 20. 1 (2009): 1-39. Academic SearchPremier. Web. 10 Oct. 012. Meisenhelder, Susan. Hitting a straight lick with a crooked stick : race and gender in the workof Zora Neale Hurston. Tuscaloosa: U of Alabama P, 1999. Print. Minnick, Lisa C. â€Å"Community in Conflict: Saying and Doing in Their Eyes Were Watching God. † Dialect and Dichotomy: Literary Representations of African American S peech. Tuscaloosa: U of Alabama P, 2004. Print. Pines, Davida. â€Å"Love and the politics of marriage in Nella Larsen’s Quicksand and Passing andZora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God. † The Marriage Paradox:Modernist Novels and the Cultural Imperative to Marry. Gainesvillle: UP of Florida,2006. Print. Pipes, Candice Linette. It’s Time to Tell: Abuse, Resistance and Recovery in Black Women’sLiterature. The Ohio State U, 2010. Ohio: ProQuestDissertations ; These. Web. 1 Oct. 2012. Plant, Deborah G. â€Å"The Inside Light† : New Critical Essays on Zora Neale Hurston. † SantaBarbara: Praeger, 2010. Print. Racine, Maria J. â€Å"Voice And Interiority In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were WatchingGod. † African American Review. 28. 2 (1994): 283. Academic Search Premier. Web. 1Oct. 2012. Ramsey, WilliamM. â€Å"The Compelling Ambivalence of Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes WereWatching God. † Southern Literary Journal. 27. (1994): 36-51. Web. 30 Sep. 2012. Sullivan, Margaret Judith. â€Å"Profane and Sacred Imagery in Hurston’s Janie of Their Eyes WereWatching God and Marshall’s Avey of Praisesong for the Widow†. Ethnic News Watch. Web. 1 Oct. 2012. Vasseleu, Cathryn. â€Å"The Face Before The Mirror-St age. † Hypatia 6. 3 (1991): 140-155. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 Oct. 2012. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. The first encounter of the infant with its image in the mirror as a whole that does not correspond with the infant’s present experiential reality. [ 2 ]. Term used by Sigmund Freud to describe the final stage of How to cite Their Eyes Were Watching God, Papers Their Eyes Were Watching God Free Essays 15 October 2012 A Prospectus: Reading Hurtson’s Their Eyes Were Watching God from a Psychoanalytical Perspective Psychoanalytic theory has shown that infants start identifying themselves and recognize that they are individuals, separate from their mothers, at six months of age. At that age, the individuals’ own identity starts to form as they relate their reflection in the mirror to their own self. This is when texts such as Their Eyes Were Watching God become relevant. We will write a custom essay sample on Their Eyes Were Watching God or any similar topic only for you Order Now The protagonist, Janie Crawford, struggles to construct her own identity and experiences a severe sense of loss in her childhood. Meanwhile, Janie recognizes her African American identity through her projection in the picture in respect to Lacan’s Mirror Stage. The projection of Janie’s identity in the picture as a child not only makes her realize her black origin, but also identify her sexuality as she can only, initially, identify her dress and her hair. This delayed self-recognition disrupts Janie emotionally and explains her inability to maintain a successful marriage throughout the novel. Freud’s psychoanalysis suggests that any disruption in one of the stages of development will negatively result in failure in one or more of the individual’s aspect of life (Bertens 158), which is evident in the novel. Even though Janie goes through the stages of development depicted in both Lacan and Freud’s theories, Janie starts going through these stages later in her childhood, at six years old. According to Lacan’s Mirror Stage (2010), in the first six months, the infant does not distinguish his own self from that of his parents or even the world around him. However, they can only identify that the images in the mirror, or any other projection, like the picture in Janie’s case, when they are about eighteen months old. This delay in Janie’s development is related to the social and familial issues that Janie has experienced in her childhood. The first encounter of the infant with the self in the mirror forms an â€Å"Ideal-I† in which the infant will derive all subsequent future identifications. The infant encounters both attraction to the image and aggression towards it over the difficulty of controlling it, which carries over into future identifications (Lacan 2010). Janie’s misrecognition, or lack of recognition, of herself in the picture is due to her need to construct a sense of reality and make sense of the unusual circumstances in her upbringing. Janie recognizes that her specular self contradicts her real self, or in this sense, the self that she has created through her social environment and identification with the white children. Even though Janie had a delayed recognition of herself, she experienced her first sexual fantasy under the pear tree at the age of sixteen, which Freud identifies as the genital stage of psychosexual development that happens in adolescence when those urges and desires are awakened (Garcia 1995). Janie does not encounter delays in her genital stage, however, she goes through Cathexis in her desperate attempt to let down of her hair, which is a crucial symbol of her sexuality throughout the novel. Most researchers have examined Janie’s sexual orientation and feminine identity through the symbols of the pear tree, the mule, and her hair (Dilbeck 2008). They have also identified her realization of her womanhood and her constant search for love through her three marriages (Bealer 2009, Clarke 2001, and Matos Ayala 2001). Researchers have also pointed out that Janie has successfully established her identity through using her voice, which allowed her readers to visualize the narrative (Burrows 2001, Haurykiewicz 1997, and Lancaster 2009). However, critics have overlooked the development of Janie’s identity throughout the novel in the context of Lacan’s Mirror Stage and Freud’s psychosexual stages of development. Understanding Janie’s delayed identity development, suppressed sexual desires, and her unusual social environment help to better identify her inability to maintain a successful marriage and explain her underlying sexual behavior. The purpose of this paper is two-fold. First, this research suggests that Janie’s incapability of having successful emotional bonds with the males in her life can be understood through the analysis of her delayed identity recognition in respect to Lacan’s Mirror Stage. Second, Janie’s suppressed sexual desires that stems from the patriarchal society can be the reason for her to release these desire into an object that symbolizes her sexuality, in this case her hair. Preliminary Bibliography Ashmawi, Yvonne M. â€Å"Janie’s Tea Cake: Sinner, Saint, or Merely Mortal? † Explicator. 67. 3(2009): 203-206. Web. 0 Sep. 2012. Awkward, Michael. New Essays on Their Eyes Were Watching God. 1. 1. New York: CampridgeUP, 1990. Bealer, Tracy L. ‘The Kiss of Memory’: The Problem of Love in Hurston’s â€Å"Their Eyes WereWatching God. † African American Review. 43. 2/3 (2009): 311-327. Web. 30 Sep. 2012. Bertens, Hans. Literary Theory: The Basics. London and New York: Taylor F rancis, 2008. Burrows, Stuart. â€Å"You Heard Her, You Ain’t Blind†: Seeing What’s Said in Their Eyes WereWatching God. † Novel: A Forum on Fiction. 34. 3 (2001): 434-4. Web. 30 Sep. 2012. Castaneda, Alisha P. Hues, Tresses, and Dresses: Examining the Relation of Body Image, Hair,and Clothes to Female Identity in â€Å"their Eyes were Watching God† and â€Å"I Know Why theCaged Bird Sings†. † Liberty University, 2010. United States — Virginia: ProQuestDissertations Theses (PQDT). Web. 11 Oct. 2012. Clarke, Deborah. â€Å"The Porch Couldn’t Talk for Looking: Voice and Vision in Their Eyes WereWatching God. † African American Review. 35. 4 (2001): 599-614. Web. 02 Oct. 2012. Dilbeck, Keiko. â€Å"Symbolic Representation of Identity in Hurston’s Their Eyes Were WatchingGod. † Explicator. 66. 2 (2008): 102-104. Web. 30 Sep. 2012. Garcia, John L. Freud’s Psychosexual Stage Conception: A Development al Metaphor ForCounselors. † Journal Of Counseling ; Development 73. 5 (1995): 498-502. AcademicSearch Premier. Web. 12 Oct. 2012. Haurykiewicz, Julie A. â€Å"From Mules to Muliebrity: Speech and Silence in Their Eyes WereWatching God. † 29. 2 (1997): 45-61. Web. 30 Sep. 2012. Hinnov, Emily M. â€Å"Modernist visions of â€Å"self† within community in Zora Neale Hurston’s Theireyes were watching God. Selinsgrove, NY: Susquehanna UP, 2009. Print. Ikard, David. â€Å"Ruthless Individuality And The Other(ed) Black Women In Zora Neale Hurtson’sTheir Eyes Were Watching God. † CLA Journal. 53. (2009): 1-22. Web. 30 Sep. 2012. Kaplan, Carla. â€Å"The Erotics of Talk: `That oldest human longing’ in Their Eyes Were WatchingGod. † American Literature. 67. 1 (1995): 115-143. Web. 30 Sep. 2012. Lacan, Jacques. â€Å"The Mirror Stage as Formative of the Function of the I as Revealed inPsychoanalytic Experience. The Norton Anthology of Th eory and Criticism. Ed. PeterSimon. NY: W. W. Norton ; Company, 2010. 1163-1169. Print. Lancaster, Iris M. Bending the Tree, Building the Woman: A Stylistic Approach to Voice andVision in Their Eyes were Watching God. Texas A;M U, 2009. Commerce, TX:ProQuest Dissertations ; Theses. Web. 1 Oct. 2012. Marquis, Margaret. † ‘When de Notion Strikes Me’: Body Image, Food, and Desire in Their EyesWere Watching God. † Southern Literary Journal. 35. 2 (2003): 79-88. Web. 30 Sep. 2012. Matos Ayala, Jennifer. A Feeling Or Something More: Love as a Liberating Force in TheirEyes Were Watching God, Sula and The Women of Brewster Place. U of Puerto Rico,2011. Mayaguez, Puerto Rico: ProQuest Dissertations ; Theses. Web. 1 Oct. 2012. McNulty, Tracy. â€Å"Demanding The Impossible: Desire And Social Change. † Differences: AJournal Of Feminist Cultural Studies 20. 1 (2009): 1-39. Academic SearchPremier. Web. 10 Oct. 012. Meisenhelder, Susan. Hitting a straight lick with a crooked stick : race and gender in the workof Zora Neale Hurston. Tuscaloosa: U of Alabama P, 1999. Print. Minnick, Lisa C. â€Å"Community in Conflict: Saying and Doing in Their Eyes Were Watching God. † Dialect and Dichotomy: Literary Representations of African American S peech. Tuscaloosa: U of Alabama P, 2004. Print. Pines, Davida. â€Å"Love and the politics of marriage in Nella Larsen’s Quicksand and Passing andZora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God. † The Marriage Paradox:Modernist Novels and the Cultural Imperative to Marry. Gainesvillle: UP of Florida,2006. Print. Pipes, Candice Linette. It’s Time to Tell: Abuse, Resistance and Recovery in Black Women’sLiterature. The Ohio State U, 2010. Ohio: ProQuestDissertations ; These. Web. 1 Oct. 2012. Plant, Deborah G. â€Å"The Inside Light† : New Critical Essays on Zora Neale Hurston. † SantaBarbara: Praeger, 2010. Print. Racine, Maria J. â€Å"Voice And Interiority In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were WatchingGod. † African American Review. 28. 2 (1994): 283. Academic Search Premier. Web. 1Oct. 2012. Ramsey, WilliamM. â€Å"The Compelling Ambivalence of Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes WereWatching God. † Southern Literary Journal. 27. (1994): 36-51. Web. 30 Sep. 2012. Sullivan, Margaret Judith. â€Å"Profane and Sacred Imagery in Hurston’s Janie of Their Eyes WereWatching God and Marshall’s Avey of Praisesong for the Widow†. Ethnic News Watch. Web. 1 Oct. 2012. Vasseleu, Cathryn. â€Å"The Face Before The Mirror-St age. † Hypatia 6. 3 (1991): 140-155. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 Oct. 2012. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. The first encounter of the infant with its image in the mirror as a whole that does not correspond with the infant’s present experiential reality. [ 2 ]. Term used by Sigmund Freud to describe the final stage of How to cite Their Eyes Were Watching God, Essay examples Their Eyes Were Watching God Free Essays Jasmine Hobbs English 1102 November 2, 2012 Life’s Awakenings In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, there are many reasons why this novel has been referred to as an â€Å"awakening novel†. According to dictionary. com, an awakening is a recognition, realization, or coming into awareness of something. We will write a custom essay sample on Their Eyes Were Watching God or any similar topic only for you Order Now `Janie has major awakenings in her life. Janie is a young lady who is trying to find her own way in society, despite the morals she is raised on. Most women approach relationships by the way that they are raised, but Janie goes about hers in a different way. In Hurston’s, Their Eyes Were Watching God the protagonist, Janie experiences awakenings that lead to her self- realizations, new knowledge, and self -worth. The novel Their Eyes Were Watching God has been referred to as an â€Å"awakening novel†. A lot of events that take place throughout Janie’s life raise her awakening. When her awakening finally began to rise, she realizes she has to find things out for herself. When someone finds their awakening, it means they found something within them that they never knew was there. She cannot find her awakening until major moment has taken place. â€Å"Two things everybody’s got tuh do fuhtheyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin’ fuh theyselves (183)†. this quotes states that Janie has finally realized or is realizing that you cannot live for anyone but yourself. Janie’s first awakening takes place under the pear tree. The pear tree awakens Janie’s self-fulfillment and sexual awakening. The pear tree symbolizes Janie’s emerging womanhood and experiencing new knowledge on love. The tree opens up Janie’s lifelong search for love. The tree helps her fulfill things, this is why she spends so much time under the tree and begins to realize were she stands in her womanhood. â€Å"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. 11)†. This quote is explaining Janie’s first sexual awakening. This awakening changes her life, because she is no longer a child anymore, she is now an adult. This was Janie most important awakening because it opens up her independence in life. It also opens up new knowledge on what love is to her and how it makes her feels. Another awakening that Janie has is when she leaves Logan Killicks. M r. Killicks is a man that Janie married, because her grandmother wanted her to marry a wealthy man that can take care of her financially. Janie does not love or want to be with him. She tried hard to fall in love with him but it does not happen. â€Å"Janie’s first dream was dead, so she became a woman (Hurston, 25). † This quote states that Janie finally realizes her idea of making a loving relationship with Logan is destroyed, and so she no longer has hope that the marriage will become more intimate. This creates personal growth and self-awareness for her. Janie becomes acutely aware of her own desires for love, and realizes that her dreams can only be fulfilled through her own pursuit of them. She also realizes he self-worth and becomes aware that she deserves better. Janie’s third awakening takes place when she marries Jody Sparks. Jody sparks is a politician and businessman; he is very wealthy and takes good care of Janie. Jody treats Janie as a possession rather than a person. Jody starts to beat Janie and make her wear a head scarf to hide her natural beauty from other men. She wasn’t petal-open with anymore with him (184)†. This quote states that Janie will no longer be a just a possession to Jody, and she will no longer put up with his disrespect. As he begins to become controlling, Janie slowly starts to fall out of love with him. Jody passes away with liver failure, and Janie begins to realize who she really. When he dies Janie takes off her headscarf, and begins speaking again. Janie has found herself and now realize she deserves more and will never let another man put her down. Not only did Janie have an awakening, so did Edna Pontillier in the novel The Awakening. They both have very similar awakenings. Just as Janie left her first husband and went through an wakening, so did Mrs. Pontillier. Mrs. Pontillier had her awakening when she left her husband that takes very good care, and moves out into her own home which she calls the pigeon house. These two women are different from each other; they both find their awakening the same way. Janie and Mrs. Pontiller both realized they do not need a man with money to be happy and satisfy them. They also realize their self-worth as woman and begin doing whatever they want to do. Jan ie is a young African American girl brought up just as slavery is declining. She faces a lot of ups and downs in her life. She does not know her worth until she goes out into the real world, and went through new things and experiences. She realizes that no matter what someone in life tells you, you have to find out the truth for yourself. Through all the trials she face, she still finds her self-worth, new-knowledge, and self-realization. Works Cited New York, London, Toronto, Sydney: Zora Hurston; Harper Perennial Modern Classics The Awakening, Classic House Books, New York 2009 How to cite Their Eyes Were Watching God, Essay examples Their Eyes Were Watching God Free Essays Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, shows the development of an African-American woman living in the 1920s and 1930s as she searches for her true identity. Janie was a half-white, half-black girl growing up in Florida in the early 1930’s, living with her grandmother, struggling to find her place in life. Janie’s transformation throughout the book shows a change through language and the development of Janie’s voice through the different stages of her life. We will write a custom essay sample on Their Eyes Were Watching God or any similar topic only for you Order Now Their Eyes Were Watching God is a narrative about one woman’s quest to free herself from repression and explore her own identity; this is the story of Janie Crawford and her journey for self-knowledge and fulfillment. Hurston’s narrative focuses on the emergence of a female self in a male-dominated world, she tells her magnificent story of romantic love against the background of church and extra church modes of expression. Understanding this fact helps to explain those sections of the narrative that have been said to have no meaning beyond their entertainment value (Hemenway 218). Janie’s life is like a sermon waiting to be told to the African-American women, Nanny states this in the beginning of the novel. â€Å"Ah wanted to preach a great sermon about colored women sittin’ on high, but they wasn’t no pulpit for me. Freedom found me wid a baby daughter in mah arms, so Ah said Ah’d take a broom and a crook-pot and throw up a highway through de wilderness for her. She would expound what Ah felt. But somehow she got lost offa de highway and next thing Ah knowed here you was in the world. So whilst Ah was tendin’ you of nights Ah said Ah’d save de text for you (16). Janie transforms many times as she undergoes the process of self-discovery as she changes through her experiences with three different men. Through her marriages with Logan, Joe, and then Tea Cake she figures out who she is and what she wants in life. Every one of her marriages has a different outcome on her capability of finding that voice. Finding her voice was a very difficult thing for Janie Crawford to do. She had spent the majority of her life finding her own voice and this path was not easy for her to do, however, it takes a lot of determination to speak up. Deborah Clarke says, â€Å"Janie seeks for a voice which can picture, which can make you see,† and suggests that Zora Neale Hurston, the author, is more interested in a voice that uses visual imagery to redefine African-American rhetoric, than the presentation of one woman’s journey toward self-awareness (599,611). The power of Hurston in Their Eyes Were Watching God centers on her ability to fix extant cultural values in language and in the work of art. Like the preacher, Hurston’s artistic gift â€Å"consists in discovering the not-yet-discovered subsistent values and meanings that make up [her text] object in the creative act which is the relation of that object in and through language (Vivas 1073-74; Fontenot 38-41). Their Eyes Were Watching God brings the meanings and values of the culture to its participants’ attention. Janie’s early life begins with her living with her grandmother, Nanny. Janie’s mother had left when she was young because her mother was ashamed of having her at a young age. Nanny and Janie were pretty well off and had the privilege to live in the yard of white folks. While Janie was growing up she played with the white children. During this stage of her life, she was faced with disapproval from others and was called numerous names, so many that everyone started calling her alphabet, â€Å"’cause so many people had done named me different names. † She then started putting together what she knew of her eccentric identity. One day she saw herself in a photograph and noticed that she looked unlike everyone else and that she had dark skin, and she said, â€Å"before Ah seen de picture Ah thought Ah wuz just like de rest. From that point in her life, Janie fell into a downward spiral, setting her on the way to discover her own identity in the world. Clarke points out that Hurston uses a symbol of vision in the start of the novel to highlight the significance of visualization starting with Janie’s words to Phoeby, â€Å"Unless you see the fur, you can’t tell a mink from a coon† (599). Clarke sees this as Hurstonâ€⠄¢s way of telling the reader to see the story rather than just hear the story (600). Clarke also sees Hurston as fully establishing the power of the visual because she utilizes â€Å"vision in ways that are self-affirming rather than self-sacrificing† (604). Hurston uses the character of Phoeby to affirm rather than objectify Janie’s visual appearance, as suggested by Clarke in which she says, â€Å"To look like a woman is to look good, a way of visualizing which does not fixate on sexual anatomy but which allows for materiality. Janie shows that her womanhood, a far different sight than that gazed upon by the men† (604). The ability to use voice visually provides a literary space for African-American woman to relate their experiences in a world where, as Nanny says, â€Å"We don’t know nothin’ but we see (14). Clarke states that throughout the novel, Hurston’s use of visual imagery challenges dominant theories about the power hierarchies embedded in sight, long associated with whit control, with Plato’s rationally and logic, and from a Freudian perspective, with male sexual dominance. She recasts the visual to affirm the beauty and power of color and to provide a vehicle for female agency. Chapter two of the book it talks of Janie â€Å"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 (11). I believe this is the point in Janie’s life that she realizes that she wants to be free and able to enjoy things in life. Mesmerized by the bees and the sun Janie experiences her first kiss under this tree by Johnny Taylor. This begins a major point in her life because Nanny seen this inappropriate behavior and says to Janie â€Å"Ah don’t want no trashy nigger, no breath-and-britches, lak Johnny Taylor usin’ yo’ body to wipe his foots on (13). Nanny arranges for Janie to her marry with Logan Killicks, a young black man who had sixty acres of his own and a house, this was security for a young black woman, although, Janie did not want this for herself, she took the advice of Nanny and married Logan. When their relationship starts Janie thinks that she has found the kind of life that she has always wanted. In her mind she thought that marriage meant one would find true love and that her husband (Logan) would take good care of her and shows her the love that she has always longed for. However, Logan reveals his expectations of her, and that he wants her to be basically a slave that answers to his every command. When Janie confronted her Nanny, about her love for Logan was non-existing, she told Janie that she needs to learn to love him because he owns his house and all of the land he has. Nanny also reminds Janie that any young woman would love to have him for this very reason. This is one point of Janie’s life that she realizes that although she is married she is still not treated equal in society or her own life as a wife. When Janie decides to leave Logan, she is under the impression that she has met a man (Joe Starks) who will treat her better and show her what life has to offer. Janie’s decision to leave with Joe is based on the way she has been previously treated by Logan, who wants to make Janie his personal slave who comes to him on command. Janie’s marriage to Joe Starks makes it easier to develop a stronger voice which proves she has never thrown away her vision of an ideal marriage. Janie and Joe arrive in town Joe begins to show his love and protection for Janie by telling her to dress up and stand in the store all that of the first evening. Joe becomes mayor of Eatonville and is just as determined as Logan was to keep Janie in her proper place. Everybody was coming sort of fixed up, and he didn’t mean for nobody else’s wife to rank with her. She must look on herself as the bell-cow; the other women were the gang (41). Janie accepts this explanation of Joe’s love and protection with the faith and obedience in her husband Janie puts on one of new dresses and went to the new-cut road all dressed in wine-colored red. Her silken ruffles rustled and muttered about her (41). The porch of Joe Starks store was treated as a sacred space for the men to gossip about one another and the women (Janie) could listen to certain things that were said but she had better not speak on any such matter. She had become a prisoner of the pretty picture of â€Å"whut a woman oughta be and do† this is what Joe expected of Janie. Joe says â€Å"A pretty doll-baby lak you is made to sit on de porch and rock and fan yo’self and eat p’taters dat other folks plant special for you (28). This all seems to be a dream to Janie because she thinks Joe is treating her with respect and puts her high up on the pedestal within society. However, when Joe slaps Janie for burning the rice and undercooking the fish, she has an internal look at herself and realized, â€Å"She was saving up feelings for some man she had never seen (72). Joe destroys the last hope of potential love inside Janie’s heart; however, this frees Janie to discover what she has never found. Consequently, while Joe is on his deathbed Janie says to her husband, â€Å"Naw, you gointuh listen tuh me one time befo’ you die†¦Ah run off tuh keep house wid you in uh wonderful way. But you wasn’t satisfied wid me de way Ah was. Naw! Mah own mind had tuh be squeezed and crowded out tuh make room for yours in me (86). â€Å"All dis bowin’ down, all dis obedience under yo’ voice—dat ain’t whut Ah rushed off down de road tuh find out about you (82). Sadly for Joe, Janie’s clear thinking has come at an unfortunate time, however she is giving him the possibility of aking things right. However, Joe discards any request for forgiveness to Janie, which only makes Janie stronger as an African-American woman she then tells to the townspeople that â€Å"Mah husband is gone from me (87). She says this after she has taken her head rag off and sees herself as a â€Å"handsome woman (87). Janie goes to the mirror and looks at herself for the first time and realizes that Joe had hidden her beauty in order to gaze upon her on his own; therefore she burns the head rags and takes down her abundant hair. Janie’s voice develops hugely after Joe dies and now Janie is rich and carefree. Janie buries Joe Starks and later she meets her third husband Vergible Woods†¦ aka†¦ Tea Cake. Clarke, states that â€Å"Tea Cake is important for Janie’s progression of self visualization because he wants her to see and think; which in turn brings understanding. † Although Racine does show Tea Cake as an encouraging authority similar to Clarke, she also does not focus on Tea Cake for long before showing Janie as acquiring her strongest voice when she chooses life over death at Tea Cake’s hands. Racine shows Janie’s voice as limited throughout each of her first two marriages because Janie is not able to make the men see her view of the situation. She also gives examples of how Janie’s unhappiness is understood through the narrator and not Janie’s actual voice. Janie killed Tea Cake in self-defense to protect the body of a woman who he had made. Although, this act of love seems to be sad and surrounded by hate from many, I think this may have made Janie a voiceless African-American woman again because of the turmoil that she has endured in her life. However, when she tells her story to Pheoby, she does not worry about what the women of her town think. Is this just a cover up so that no one will know that she is really hurting deep down inside? Tea Cake is different from the past men in Janie’s life and he recognizes that she is different from any woman he has known. Although, he has nothing to offer her but his love and promise to stay with Janie and take care of her this seems to be enough for Janie. Tea Cake starts a new beginning in Janie’s life and he immediately lets her know that she does not have to be anyone but herself. Tea Cake is a man who respects Janie as an intelligent, exciting companion. Janie has finally found the love that she has been hoping for in her past marriages. During the time of Janie’s third marriage she actually loves her husband, she feels free to discover new things in her life which she was unable to do in her other marriages. Janie becomes more sociable and wants to go places with her husband Tea Cake; she enjoys working with other people and being treated as an equal. Janie learns to shoot a rifle and later becomes a better shooter that Tea Cake, however, he compliments her for that. This allows Janie to get her self-respect which she had lost in her previous marriages. Janie’s spiritual development begins when she lives with Tea Cake. Consequently, this allows the reader to see that Janie has a tough life whereas; she had to fight back in order to not become inferior to her husband’s. She succeeds this point in her life when it becomes of Tea Cake, where her inner voice starts to arouse. If Janie was truly upset when she returned home then the people would have snickered behind her back, but instead it â€Å"made the women see visions and the†¦men dream dreams (147). This gives the reader an image of the unity between Tea Cake and Janie. Therefore, Janie is now a woman that wants society to know she is legally owned by Tea Cake. Consequently, this is what Janie wants to be owned by Tea Cake. Janie’s final point in her life involves her voice and vision in the matter of self-defense or malice. When Janie is taken to jail for the murder of Tea Cake and then immediately tried in court with blacks and whites to listen and watch wondering what will happen to this Negro woman who has killed a man. This gives Janie a chance to move forward in her life and telling the truth about the relationship she had with Tea Cake. Janie is a strong African-American woman who survives a horrible hurricane and an attack by a rabid dog resulting in Tea Cake being bitten instead which ultimately causes his mind to examine what’s reality and what’s not. Tea Cake has revealed to Janie that her life is valuable to him as he saves her from the rabid dog, then she must make the ultimate choice of life and death. Although, very reluctant Janie shoots a rifle that kills Tea Cake, this is the same weapon he taught her how to shoot with for protection; however, she does this with strength and courage which makes it peacefully in knowing that she has done the right thing. Janie has searched twenty-four years for a man like Tea Cake relying heavily on her vision beneath the pear tree. Janie has experienced what she has always known to exist, she does have a voice and it now speaks with peace and with power of a African-American woman. Then Tea Cake came prancing around her where she was and the song of the sigh flew out of the window and lit in the top of the pine trees. Tea Cake, with the sun for a shawl. Of course he wasn’t dead. He could never be dead until she herself had finished feeling and thinking. The kiss of his memory made pictures of love and light against the wall. Here was peace. She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see (193). Tea Cake can always remain alive within Janie’s memory, because now she has full control of the â€Å"feeling and thinking† of her mind (193). Janie has hope that inspired her dream to come true, and the completion of an ecstatic and insignificantly delicious pear tree vision. Hurston shows Janie’s most satisfying moment comes after she has experienced the true love of one of the three men, which shows the bee within her blossom. This lets the reader believe in the ultimate power of love and strength within oneself. Works Cited Clarke, Deborah. â€Å"`The Porch Couldn’t Talk for Looking’: Voice and Vision in `Their Eyes Were Watching God. † African American Review. 2001. Fontenot, Chester J. , Jr. , Rev. d The Craft of Ralph Ellison, by Robert G. O’Meally. Black-American Literature Forum 15. 2 (1981). 79-80. Hemenway, Robert. Zora Neale Hurston: A Literary Biography. Urbana U of Illinois P, 1977. Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Wa tching God. Harper: New York, 2006. Racine, Maria J. â€Å"Voice and Interiority in Zora Neale Hurston’s `Their Eyes Were Watching God. ‘† African American Review. 1994. Vivas, Eliseo. â€Å"The Object of the Poem† Critical Theory since Plato. Ed. Hazard Adams. New York: Harcourt, 1971. 1069-77. How to cite Their Eyes Were Watching God, Papers Their Eyes Were Watching God Free Essays Dria Douglas Mrs. Cureton American Literature and Composition 18 August 2013 Writing Assignment #1 â€Å"Two things everybody’s got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin’ fuh theyselves. We will write a custom essay sample on Their Eyes Were Watching God or any similar topic only for you Order Now †(Hurston, pg. 192) The significance of this passage is that it basically sums of the spiritual journey Janie had to go through to find a place for her that is filled with love and understanding in herself. Tthroughout the story, you can clearly comprehend that tthroughout most of her life Janie has been controlled into doing things that others felt might be good for her, but she didn’t necessarily believe it to be alright for herself. However, once Tea Cake began to get involved in her life, she began to feel a new found freedom and she felt that she actually found who she is instead of what someone wants her to be. When she says, â€Å"they got tuh go tuh God,† I believe that her idea of God is the horizon and she feels that’s her freedom. Tthroughout the book, and also the movie, you can see the significance of her looking up into the sky searching for something particular, or as if she’s watching God. I believe that she’s searching up there to find aanswers to her questions. This verse I feel is very important, because not once have I seen Janie’s journey to find what she’s been searching for go to a halt, and I think she put a sthrong faith in God to help her find who she wanted to be. â€Å"They got tuh find out about livin’ fuh theyselves,† explains her experience through three mmarriages and out of all of them, she only found one true love. Her first mmarriage was forced and filled with no love, while her second mmarriage was based off the idea of her loving the idea of being married to a rich man who seeks out power, but she soon finds out that the mmarriage will never have the love that she wants. She actually lives for herself when she’s able to find the independence and compassion in Tea Cake to be able to live off of newly found confidence in her and not being afraid of expressing who she is. That is her way of living for herself. Citation Hurston, Zora Neale. â€Å"20. † Their Eyes Were Watching God: A Novel. New York: Perennial Library, 1990. 192. Print. How to cite Their Eyes Were Watching God, Papers

Their Eyes Were Watching god Free Essays

The novel â€Å"Their Eyes Were Watching God† written by Zorn Neal Hurst is praised as one of the greatest works of American literature due to the outstanding use of figurative language and presentation of such controversial topics. Such as women empowerment and the true nature of relationships. The main character, Jeanie is heavily influenced by the people around her, and due to such actions, she is unable to reach her dreams, or her horizon. We will write a custom essay sample on Their Eyes Were Watching god or any similar topic only for you Order Now In TWIG, two characters In particular, her grandmother, Nanny, and Joe Starks manipulate Jeanie by abusing their power and sections of authority and respect. Through manipulation, Hurst implies that one must face adversity and struggle through darker paths to truly reach their own horizon. Genie’s life, like many others, is heavily influenced by her family. Her only blood related relative, Nanny, manipulates Jeanie by forcing her perspective of the world upon Jeanie. In the early days of Genie’s youth, she saw love and marriage as natural and beautiful. Genie’s mind wandered to the Idea of love and marriage, and In the spur of the moment, kissed a boy. Nanny saw this and became furious. She rushed UT and made Jeanie promise to never do that again. Nanny even slapped Jeanie out of rage. When Nanny finally calmed down, she explained to Jeanie her misfortunes with men. Telling Jeanie about how her and Genie’s mother were abused by white men, Nanny planted the seed of doubt In Genie’s head. Letting It seep in slowly would be too slow. Nanny needed to force this ideal into Genie’s mind, whether she likes it or not. It is apparent when after Jeanie is married off Nanny says â€Å"Taint no use in you crying’ Jeanie. Grandma does been long a few roads herself. But folks Is meant to cry bout something or other. Better leave things De way dye Is. House young yet. No telling’ what mouth happen beef’ you die. Wait awhile baby, you mind will change† (Hurst 24). Jeanie explained to her grandmother that she was dissatisfied with her marriage, and her thought that love came out of marriage was shattered. No matter how terrible the loveless marriage should be, Nanny urged her to continue. Nanny was already set in the way that her own little girl can never be touched, that she should be kept on a podium and protected. Jeanie accepted the most influential Geiger in her life: Nanny and her opinions and took it to heart. However flawed it may be, she accepted It. The distorted horizon that Jeanie now looked upon was unfulfilled for her, and she felt that it was unfair to force her ideals upon her, later, Jeanie realizes her true feelings for Nanny when she says â€Å"She hated her grandmother and had hidden it from herself all these years under a cloak of pity†¦ .Here Nanny had taken the biggest thing God ever made, the horizon – for not matter how far a person can go the horizon Is soul way beyond you – and pinched It In to such a little bit of a hint that she could tie it about her granddaughter’s neck tight enough to choke her. She hated the old woman who had twisted her so in the name of love† (89). Jeanie feels that Nanny’s actions were unjustified, and that she shouldn’t have been so controlling as to take her own thoughts and dreams and defile them to the point where she thought that the entire world was against her. When Jeanie says â€Å"She hated her grandmother and had hidden it from herself all these years under a cloak of pity,† I OFF her from the start, but she was her only family member she knew, so no matter what ere opinions were, Jeanie had to at least accept them. Nanny used her position as her grandmother to change Jeanie. As the woman who raised her, Nanny had large amounts of influence on Genie’s life. And as her grandmother, she had a emotional connection with Jeanie. Nanny used these two to get a foothold in Genie’s mind, and drop in her idea, no matter how demented it may be. Nanny loved Jeanie, and that was the problem. Nanny loved Jeanie too much. She believed that everything she did was in the name of love. In the name of love, Nanny destroyed Genie’s dream. In the name of love, Nanny decided to strangle Jeanie with her idea that you cannot trust anyone. In the name of love, Nanny hid Jeanie away from the world. In the name of love, Nanny created a void in Genie’s heart. And in the name of love, Nanny slowly consumed Genie’s entire being. Nanny manipulated Jeanie by shoving ideas into her head, whereas Joe Starks, another influential character, forces Jeanie into submission by more direct measures. When Jeanie meets Joe Starks, he appears to be her knight in shining armor, promised a life of love, Jeanie is swept off her feet and rode off into the horizon, or so he thought. When Jeanie and Joe reach a new town, Joey’s ambitions grant him the title of mayor of the new town, Detonative. Joe becomes the alpha male of the town. He runs the town, has the prettiest wife, and has the most money. Joe soon further shows his â€Å"alpha male† status by forcing Jeanie to stay silent and Just smile, be a trophy wife papers. Jeanie initially protests, but to no avail. Joe Starks shoots her down and absolutely dominates every aspect of Genie’s life. Joe forces Jeanie to do his bidding and has her work in the store with her beautiful hair up, because no other an would be allowed to see her hair, but Joe can’t say that, for that would be actually complimenting his wife, and that would mean he wasn’t as manly as everyone else thought! Jeanie becomes more and more passive through the years, as shown when Hurst writes, â€Å"The years took all the fight out of Genie’s face. For a while she thought it was gone from her soul. No matter what Jody did, she said nothing† (76). Genie’s fire that once burned has slowly been choked to death. The relentless verbal and physical assault from Joe took years off of her life, it was no use n fighting back anymore. When Hurst says, â€Å"for a while she thought it was gone from her soul† shows how felt as if she has totally given up all hope of living her dream out. Her life carries on, however, Joey’s health does not. Even in Joey’s weakness, he still desires to be in control. His horizon must stay in sight. He waits for the tides to come in, and does not have a real plan to keep things humane. This is apparent when Jeanie calls Joe out on his failing manhood, and being the alpha male, Joe muss retaliate in anyway possible. Anyway;ay, no matter how taboo. This is shown when Joe struck Jeanie with all his might and drove her from the store†(80). When Joe does this, he is not only physically hitting Jeanie, but he is also dealing â€Å"the final blow. † Joe knows that Jeanie is right about him, and his final struggle to stay in control is all in vain. No matter how much he beats or abuses Jeanie, he knows he will die soon, and Jeanie will live on. When he dies in the next chapter, he has known all along about how he wanted to be in control, how he did not love Jeanie anymore, but only felt the ownership over her. By using his position as the lead male, he is able to morph Jeanie Jody was her hope of having a real marriage, so Jeanie let Joe change her in every way, hoping to cling to her idea of actually living out her horizon. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Genie’s Journey to reach her horizon is riddled with adversity and struggles. The people who appose her are the closest to her, the ones who are supposed to love her the most. Zorn Neal Hurst defines how the struggles are worth it in the end, for no matter how much manipulation, no matter how much abuse, no matter how much hatred others have for you. True happiness with find its way even in the dark of the ugliness. How to cite Their Eyes Were Watching god, Papers Their Eyes Were Watching God Free Essays Hannah Ricci 11. 28. 11 p. We will write a custom essay sample on Their Eyes Were Watching God or any similar topic only for you Order Now 1 Their Eyes Were Watching God Essay 2. In her marriage to Jody, Janie is dominated by his power. At several points, however, it is obvious that he feels threatened by her. Why does Jody need to be in control of everyone around him? How does Janie threaten Jody and his sense of control? Power and dominance are both main themes in the book Their Eyes Were Watching God, and Jody is the embodiment of both of these things. He exerts his power over the town and over Janie in ways that are political, financial and physical. While Janie tends to be submissive, Jody is threatened by the power that Janie holds in her own way, and with this, Jody’s own power begins to deteriorate. Undoubtedly, Jody’s amount of power significantly permeates all aspects of the townspeople, Eatonville, and Janie’s life. Jody puts much care and attention into people’s opinions of him. On one occasion, Jody buys Matt Bonner’s overworked mule and sets it free. The townspeople relate him to Abraham Lincoln and the emancipation of slaves. When Jody refused to allow Janie attend the mule’s funeral, Jody prioritizes issues of polite behavior over Janie’s happiness. He would rather keep her appearance in the town as a perfect lady instead of submitting to her wishes. Jody’s well calculated act of â€Å"humility† accelerates his political power. Jody only feels happy and secure when he’s in control of everything around him. While working in the town store, Janie is forced to keep her hair tucked away and covered. Although she despises doing it, she complies with Jody’s wishes and he continues to feel a sense of control over Janie. Just in the same way, Janie staying quiet at critical times in her marriage with Jody further reinforces his dominance over her. He blames her for her incontinence with handling money and forces her to stay in the store and wait on ladies when she’d rather be outside. Both times she chooses to keep her mouth closed, furthering her resentment for Jody and his need of control. Jody slaps Janie during a tense dinner one night and when Janie would most like to express her anger towards him, she stays silent and keeps a calm exterior. When Janie does speak out against Jody’s wishes, he suddenly feels insecure and threatened by her strong opinions. Hearing his wife disagree with him was an catastrophic blow to his ego. Moreover, Jody’s physical deterioration correlates with his loss of control and power. Janie notices that he’s unquestionably insecure with his changing looks. Jody’s verbal attacks on Janie become more cruel and happen more frequently as his appearance deteriorates as well. He begins to humiliate her in front of the store customers and insulting her looks. Since she knows that Jody is worried about his own waning attractiveness and she is continuing to look youthful and charming, she lashes back out on Jody by insulting his sagging body and stating that he looks like â€Å"de change uh life† when naked. After this verbal attack from his wife, he realizes his newfound lack of power that he once had. He believes that his reputation among the town folk is diminished when other men hear Janie talk back. He violently hits her and she fled from the store. Jody notices for the first time the amount of influence Janie has on his social standing. After the confrontation, he moves into a separate room and refuses to talk to her. As he wallows in self pity, Janie is beginning to feel free for the first time since moving to Eatonville. While power and influence are incredibly important to Jody, this begins to fall apart once Janie starts exerting power of her own. Jody cannot hold on to his power over his wife, the town and eventually over himself. His death exhibits this final loss of his power and in return, the power that Janie gained. How to cite Their Eyes Were Watching God, Papers Their Eyes Were Watching God Free Essays 15 October 2012 A Prospectus: Reading Hurtson’s Their Eyes Were Watching God from a Psychoanalytical Perspective Psychoanalytic theory has shown that infants start identifying themselves and recognize that they are individuals, separate from their mothers, at six months of age. At that age, the individuals’ own identity starts to form as they relate their reflection in the mirror to their own self. This is when texts such as Their Eyes Were Watching God become relevant. We will write a custom essay sample on Their Eyes Were Watching God or any similar topic only for you Order Now The protagonist, Janie Crawford, struggles to construct her own identity and experiences a severe sense of loss in her childhood. Meanwhile, Janie recognizes her African American identity through her projection in the picture in respect to Lacan’s Mirror Stage. The projection of Janie’s identity in the picture as a child not only makes her realize her black origin, but also identify her sexuality as she can only, initially, identify her dress and her hair. This delayed self-recognition disrupts Janie emotionally and explains her inability to maintain a successful marriage throughout the novel. Freud’s psychoanalysis suggests that any disruption in one of the stages of development will negatively result in failure in one or more of the individual’s aspect of life (Bertens 158), which is evident in the novel. Even though Janie goes through the stages of development depicted in both Lacan and Freud’s theories, Janie starts going through these stages later in her childhood, at six years old. According to Lacan’s Mirror Stage (2010), in the first six months, the infant does not distinguish his own self from that of his parents or even the world around him. However, they can only identify that the images in the mirror, or any other projection, like the picture in Janie’s case, when they are about eighteen months old. This delay in Janie’s development is related to the social and familial issues that Janie has experienced in her childhood. The first encounter of the infant with the self in the mirror forms an â€Å"Ideal-I† in which the infant will derive all subsequent future identifications. The infant encounters both attraction to the image and aggression towards it over the difficulty of controlling it, which carries over into future identifications (Lacan 2010). Janie’s misrecognition, or lack of recognition, of herself in the picture is due to her need to construct a sense of reality and make sense of the unusual circumstances in her upbringing. Janie recognizes that her specular self contradicts her real self, or in this sense, the self that she has created through her social environment and identification with the white children. Even though Janie had a delayed recognition of herself, she experienced her first sexual fantasy under the pear tree at the age of sixteen, which Freud identifies as the genital stage of psychosexual development that happens in adolescence when those urges and desires are awakened (Garcia 1995). Janie does not encounter delays in her genital stage, however, she goes through Cathexis in her desperate attempt to let down of her hair, which is a crucial symbol of her sexuality throughout the novel. Most researchers have examined Janie’s sexual orientation and feminine identity through the symbols of the pear tree, the mule, and her hair (Dilbeck 2008). They have also identified her realization of her womanhood and her constant search for love through her three marriages (Bealer 2009, Clarke 2001, and Matos Ayala 2001). Researchers have also pointed out that Janie has successfully established her identity through using her voice, which allowed her readers to visualize the narrative (Burrows 2001, Haurykiewicz 1997, and Lancaster 2009). However, critics have overlooked the development of Janie’s identity throughout the novel in the context of Lacan’s Mirror Stage and Freud’s psychosexual stages of development. Understanding Janie’s delayed identity development, suppressed sexual desires, and her unusual social environment help to better identify her inability to maintain a successful marriage and explain her underlying sexual behavior. The purpose of this paper is two-fold. First, this research suggests that Janie’s incapability of having successful emotional bonds with the males in her life can be understood through the analysis of her delayed identity recognition in respect to Lacan’s Mirror Stage. Second, Janie’s suppressed sexual desires that stems from the patriarchal society can be the reason for her to release these desire into an object that symbolizes her sexuality, in this case her hair. Preliminary Bibliography Ashmawi, Yvonne M. â€Å"Janie’s Tea Cake: Sinner, Saint, or Merely Mortal? † Explicator. 67. 3(2009): 203-206. Web. 0 Sep. 2012. Awkward, Michael. New Essays on Their Eyes Were Watching God. 1. 1. New York: CampridgeUP, 1990. Bealer, Tracy L. ‘The Kiss of Memory’: The Problem of Love in Hurston’s â€Å"Their Eyes WereWatching God. † African American Review. 43. 2/3 (2009): 311-327. Web. 30 Sep. 2012. Bertens, Hans. Literary Theory: The Basics. London and New York: Taylor F rancis, 2008. Burrows, Stuart. â€Å"You Heard Her, You Ain’t Blind†: Seeing What’s Said in Their Eyes WereWatching God. † Novel: A Forum on Fiction. 34. 3 (2001): 434-4. Web. 30 Sep. 2012. Castaneda, Alisha P. Hues, Tresses, and Dresses: Examining the Relation of Body Image, Hair,and Clothes to Female Identity in â€Å"their Eyes were Watching God† and â€Å"I Know Why theCaged Bird Sings†. † Liberty University, 2010. United States — Virginia: ProQuestDissertations Theses (PQDT). Web. 11 Oct. 2012. Clarke, Deborah. â€Å"The Porch Couldn’t Talk for Looking: Voice and Vision in Their Eyes WereWatching God. † African American Review. 35. 4 (2001): 599-614. Web. 02 Oct. 2012. Dilbeck, Keiko. â€Å"Symbolic Representation of Identity in Hurston’s Their Eyes Were WatchingGod. † Explicator. 66. 2 (2008): 102-104. Web. 30 Sep. 2012. Garcia, John L. Freud’s Psychosexual Stage Conception: A Development al Metaphor ForCounselors. † Journal Of Counseling ; Development 73. 5 (1995): 498-502. AcademicSearch Premier. Web. 12 Oct. 2012. Haurykiewicz, Julie A. â€Å"From Mules to Muliebrity: Speech and Silence in Their Eyes WereWatching God. † 29. 2 (1997): 45-61. Web. 30 Sep. 2012. Hinnov, Emily M. â€Å"Modernist visions of â€Å"self† within community in Zora Neale Hurston’s Theireyes were watching God. Selinsgrove, NY: Susquehanna UP, 2009. Print. Ikard, David. â€Å"Ruthless Individuality And The Other(ed) Black Women In Zora Neale Hurtson’sTheir Eyes Were Watching God. † CLA Journal. 53. (2009): 1-22. Web. 30 Sep. 2012. Kaplan, Carla. â€Å"The Erotics of Talk: `That oldest human longing’ in Their Eyes Were WatchingGod. † American Literature. 67. 1 (1995): 115-143. Web. 30 Sep. 2012. Lacan, Jacques. â€Å"The Mirror Stage as Formative of the Function of the I as Revealed inPsychoanalytic Experience. The Norton Anthology of Th eory and Criticism. Ed. PeterSimon. NY: W. W. Norton ; Company, 2010. 1163-1169. Print. Lancaster, Iris M. Bending the Tree, Building the Woman: A Stylistic Approach to Voice andVision in Their Eyes were Watching God. Texas A;M U, 2009. Commerce, TX:ProQuest Dissertations ; Theses. Web. 1 Oct. 2012. Marquis, Margaret. † ‘When de Notion Strikes Me’: Body Image, Food, and Desire in Their EyesWere Watching God. † Southern Literary Journal. 35. 2 (2003): 79-88. Web. 30 Sep. 2012. Matos Ayala, Jennifer. A Feeling Or Something More: Love as a Liberating Force in TheirEyes Were Watching God, Sula and The Women of Brewster Place. U of Puerto Rico,2011. Mayaguez, Puerto Rico: ProQuest Dissertations ; Theses. Web. 1 Oct. 2012. McNulty, Tracy. â€Å"Demanding The Impossible: Desire And Social Change. † Differences: AJournal Of Feminist Cultural Studies 20. 1 (2009): 1-39. Academic SearchPremier. Web. 10 Oct. 012. Meisenhelder, Susan. Hitting a straight lick with a crooked stick : race and gender in the workof Zora Neale Hurston. Tuscaloosa: U of Alabama P, 1999. Print. Minnick, Lisa C. â€Å"Community in Conflict: Saying and Doing in Their Eyes Were Watching God. † Dialect and Dichotomy: Literary Representations of African American S peech. Tuscaloosa: U of Alabama P, 2004. Print. Pines, Davida. â€Å"Love and the politics of marriage in Nella Larsen’s Quicksand and Passing andZora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God. † The Marriage Paradox:Modernist Novels and the Cultural Imperative to Marry. Gainesvillle: UP of Florida,2006. Print. Pipes, Candice Linette. It’s Time to Tell: Abuse, Resistance and Recovery in Black Women’sLiterature. The Ohio State U, 2010. Ohio: ProQuestDissertations ; These. Web. 1 Oct. 2012. Plant, Deborah G. â€Å"The Inside Light† : New Critical Essays on Zora Neale Hurston. † SantaBarbara: Praeger, 2010. Print. Racine, Maria J. â€Å"Voice And Interiority In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were WatchingGod. † African American Review. 28. 2 (1994): 283. Academic Search Premier. Web. 1Oct. 2012. Ramsey, WilliamM. â€Å"The Compelling Ambivalence of Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes WereWatching God. † Southern Literary Journal. 27. (1994): 36-51. Web. 30 Sep. 2012. Sullivan, Margaret Judith. â€Å"Profane and Sacred Imagery in Hurston’s Janie of Their Eyes WereWatching God and Marshall’s Avey of Praisesong for the Widow†. Ethnic News Watch. Web. 1 Oct. 2012. Vasseleu, Cathryn. â€Å"The Face Before The Mirror-St age. † Hypatia 6. 3 (1991): 140-155. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 Oct. 2012. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. The first encounter of the infant with its image in the mirror as a whole that does not correspond with the infant’s present experiential reality. [ 2 ]. Term used by Sigmund Freud to describe the final stage of How to cite Their Eyes Were Watching God, Papers Their Eyes Were Watching God Free Essays 15 October 2012 A Prospectus: Reading Hurtson’s Their Eyes Were Watching God from a Psychoanalytical Perspective Psychoanalytic theory has shown that infants start identifying themselves and recognize that they are individuals, separate from their mothers, at six months of age. At that age, the individuals’ own identity starts to form as they relate their reflection in the mirror to their own self. This is when texts such as Their Eyes Were Watching God become relevant. We will write a custom essay sample on Their Eyes Were Watching God or any similar topic only for you Order Now The protagonist, Janie Crawford, struggles to construct her own identity and experiences a severe sense of loss in her childhood. Meanwhile, Janie recognizes her African American identity through her projection in the picture in respect to Lacan’s Mirror Stage. The projection of Janie’s identity in the picture as a child not only makes her realize her black origin, but also identify her sexuality as she can only, initially, identify her dress and her hair. This delayed self-recognition disrupts Janie emotionally and explains her inability to maintain a successful marriage throughout the novel. Freud’s psychoanalysis suggests that any disruption in one of the stages of development will negatively result in failure in one or more of the individual’s aspect of life (Bertens 158), which is evident in the novel. Even though Janie goes through the stages of development depicted in both Lacan and Freud’s theories, Janie starts going through these stages later in her childhood, at six years old. According to Lacan’s Mirror Stage (2010), in the first six months, the infant does not distinguish his own self from that of his parents or even the world around him. However, they can only identify that the images in the mirror, or any other projection, like the picture in Janie’s case, when they are about eighteen months old. This delay in Janie’s development is related to the social and familial issues that Janie has experienced in her childhood. The first encounter of the infant with the self in the mirror forms an â€Å"Ideal-I† in which the infant will derive all subsequent future identifications. The infant encounters both attraction to the image and aggression towards it over the difficulty of controlling it, which carries over into future identifications (Lacan 2010). Janie’s misrecognition, or lack of recognition, of herself in the picture is due to her need to construct a sense of reality and make sense of the unusual circumstances in her upbringing. Janie recognizes that her specular self contradicts her real self, or in this sense, the self that she has created through her social environment and identification with the white children. Even though Janie had a delayed recognition of herself, she experienced her first sexual fantasy under the pear tree at the age of sixteen, which Freud identifies as the genital stage of psychosexual development that happens in adolescence when those urges and desires are awakened (Garcia 1995). Janie does not encounter delays in her genital stage, however, she goes through Cathexis in her desperate attempt to let down of her hair, which is a crucial symbol of her sexuality throughout the novel. Most researchers have examined Janie’s sexual orientation and feminine identity through the symbols of the pear tree, the mule, and her hair (Dilbeck 2008). They have also identified her realization of her womanhood and her constant search for love through her three marriages (Bealer 2009, Clarke 2001, and Matos Ayala 2001). Researchers have also pointed out that Janie has successfully established her identity through using her voice, which allowed her readers to visualize the narrative (Burrows 2001, Haurykiewicz 1997, and Lancaster 2009). However, critics have overlooked the development of Janie’s identity throughout the novel in the context of Lacan’s Mirror Stage and Freud’s psychosexual stages of development. Understanding Janie’s delayed identity development, suppressed sexual desires, and her unusual social environment help to better identify her inability to maintain a successful marriage and explain her underlying sexual behavior. The purpose of this paper is two-fold. First, this research suggests that Janie’s incapability of having successful emotional bonds with the males in her life can be understood through the analysis of her delayed identity recognition in respect to Lacan’s Mirror Stage. Second, Janie’s suppressed sexual desires that stems from the patriarchal society can be the reason for her to release these desire into an object that symbolizes her sexuality, in this case her hair. Preliminary Bibliography Ashmawi, Yvonne M. â€Å"Janie’s Tea Cake: Sinner, Saint, or Merely Mortal? † Explicator. 67. 3(2009): 203-206. Web. 0 Sep. 2012. Awkward, Michael. New Essays on Their Eyes Were Watching God. 1. 1. New York: CampridgeUP, 1990. Bealer, Tracy L. ‘The Kiss of Memory’: The Problem of Love in Hurston’s â€Å"Their Eyes WereWatching God. † African American Review. 43. 2/3 (2009): 311-327. Web. 30 Sep. 2012. Bertens, Hans. Literary Theory: The Basics. London and New York: Taylor F rancis, 2008. Burrows, Stuart. â€Å"You Heard Her, You Ain’t Blind†: Seeing What’s Said in Their Eyes WereWatching God. † Novel: A Forum on Fiction. 34. 3 (2001): 434-4. Web. 30 Sep. 2012. Castaneda, Alisha P. Hues, Tresses, and Dresses: Examining the Relation of Body Image, Hair,and Clothes to Female Identity in â€Å"their Eyes were Watching God† and â€Å"I Know Why theCaged Bird Sings†. † Liberty University, 2010. United States — Virginia: ProQuestDissertations Theses (PQDT). Web. 11 Oct. 2012. Clarke, Deborah. â€Å"The Porch Couldn’t Talk for Looking: Voice and Vision in Their Eyes WereWatching God. † African American Review. 35. 4 (2001): 599-614. Web. 02 Oct. 2012. Dilbeck, Keiko. â€Å"Symbolic Representation of Identity in Hurston’s Their Eyes Were WatchingGod. † Explicator. 66. 2 (2008): 102-104. Web. 30 Sep. 2012. Garcia, John L. Freud’s Psychosexual Stage Conception: A Development al Metaphor ForCounselors. † Journal Of Counseling ; Development 73. 5 (1995): 498-502. AcademicSearch Premier. Web. 12 Oct. 2012. Haurykiewicz, Julie A. â€Å"From Mules to Muliebrity: Speech and Silence in Their Eyes WereWatching God. † 29. 2 (1997): 45-61. Web. 30 Sep. 2012. Hinnov, Emily M. â€Å"Modernist visions of â€Å"self† within community in Zora Neale Hurston’s Theireyes were watching God. Selinsgrove, NY: Susquehanna UP, 2009. Print. Ikard, David. â€Å"Ruthless Individuality And The Other(ed) Black Women In Zora Neale Hurtson’sTheir Eyes Were Watching God. † CLA Journal. 53. (2009): 1-22. Web. 30 Sep. 2012. Kaplan, Carla. â€Å"The Erotics of Talk: `That oldest human longing’ in Their Eyes Were WatchingGod. † American Literature. 67. 1 (1995): 115-143. Web. 30 Sep. 2012. Lacan, Jacques. â€Å"The Mirror Stage as Formative of the Function of the I as Revealed inPsychoanalytic Experience. The Norton Anthology of Th eory and Criticism. Ed. PeterSimon. NY: W. W. Norton ; Company, 2010. 1163-1169. Print. Lancaster, Iris M. Bending the Tree, Building the Woman: A Stylistic Approach to Voice andVision in Their Eyes were Watching God. Texas A;M U, 2009. Commerce, TX:ProQuest Dissertations ; Theses. Web. 1 Oct. 2012. Marquis, Margaret. † ‘When de Notion Strikes Me’: Body Image, Food, and Desire in Their EyesWere Watching God. † Southern Literary Journal. 35. 2 (2003): 79-88. Web. 30 Sep. 2012. Matos Ayala, Jennifer. A Feeling Or Something More: Love as a Liberating Force in TheirEyes Were Watching God, Sula and The Women of Brewster Place. U of Puerto Rico,2011. Mayaguez, Puerto Rico: ProQuest Dissertations ; Theses. Web. 1 Oct. 2012. McNulty, Tracy. â€Å"Demanding The Impossible: Desire And Social Change. † Differences: AJournal Of Feminist Cultural Studies 20. 1 (2009): 1-39. Academic SearchPremier. Web. 10 Oct. 012. Meisenhelder, Susan. Hitting a straight lick with a crooked stick : race and gender in the workof Zora Neale Hurston. Tuscaloosa: U of Alabama P, 1999. Print. Minnick, Lisa C. â€Å"Community in Conflict: Saying and Doing in Their Eyes Were Watching God. † Dialect and Dichotomy: Literary Representations of African American S peech. Tuscaloosa: U of Alabama P, 2004. Print. Pines, Davida. â€Å"Love and the politics of marriage in Nella Larsen’s Quicksand and Passing andZora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God. † The Marriage Paradox:Modernist Novels and the Cultural Imperative to Marry. Gainesvillle: UP of Florida,2006. Print. Pipes, Candice Linette. It’s Time to Tell: Abuse, Resistance and Recovery in Black Women’sLiterature. The Ohio State U, 2010. Ohio: ProQuestDissertations ; These. Web. 1 Oct. 2012. Plant, Deborah G. â€Å"The Inside Light† : New Critical Essays on Zora Neale Hurston. † SantaBarbara: Praeger, 2010. Print. Racine, Maria J. â€Å"Voice And Interiority In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were WatchingGod. † African American Review. 28. 2 (1994): 283. Academic Search Premier. Web. 1Oct. 2012. Ramsey, WilliamM. â€Å"The Compelling Ambivalence of Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes WereWatching God. † Southern Literary Journal. 27. (1994): 36-51. Web. 30 Sep. 2012. Sullivan, Margaret Judith. â€Å"Profane and Sacred Imagery in Hurston’s Janie of Their Eyes WereWatching God and Marshall’s Avey of Praisesong for the Widow†. Ethnic News Watch. Web. 1 Oct. 2012. Vasseleu, Cathryn. â€Å"The Face Before The Mirror-St age. † Hypatia 6. 3 (1991): 140-155. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 Oct. 2012. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. The first encounter of the infant with its image in the mirror as a whole that does not correspond with the infant’s present experiential reality. [ 2 ]. Term used by Sigmund Freud to describe the final stage of How to cite Their Eyes Were Watching God, Essay examples Their Eyes Were Watching God Free Essays Jasmine Hobbs English 1102 November 2, 2012 Life’s Awakenings In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, there are many reasons why this novel has been referred to as an â€Å"awakening novel†. According to dictionary. com, an awakening is a recognition, realization, or coming into awareness of something. We will write a custom essay sample on Their Eyes Were Watching God or any similar topic only for you Order Now `Janie has major awakenings in her life. Janie is a young lady who is trying to find her own way in society, despite the morals she is raised on. Most women approach relationships by the way that they are raised, but Janie goes about hers in a different way. In Hurston’s, Their Eyes Were Watching God the protagonist, Janie experiences awakenings that lead to her self- realizations, new knowledge, and self -worth. The novel Their Eyes Were Watching God has been referred to as an â€Å"awakening novel†. A lot of events that take place throughout Janie’s life raise her awakening. When her awakening finally began to rise, she realizes she has to find things out for herself. When someone finds their awakening, it means they found something within them that they never knew was there. She cannot find her awakening until major moment has taken place. â€Å"Two things everybody’s got tuh do fuhtheyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin’ fuh theyselves (183)†. this quotes states that Janie has finally realized or is realizing that you cannot live for anyone but yourself. Janie’s first awakening takes place under the pear tree. The pear tree awakens Janie’s self-fulfillment and sexual awakening. The pear tree symbolizes Janie’s emerging womanhood and experiencing new knowledge on love. The tree opens up Janie’s lifelong search for love. The tree helps her fulfill things, this is why she spends so much time under the tree and begins to realize were she stands in her womanhood. â€Å"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. 11)†. This quote is explaining Janie’s first sexual awakening. This awakening changes her life, because she is no longer a child anymore, she is now an adult. This was Janie most important awakening because it opens up her independence in life. It also opens up new knowledge on what love is to her and how it makes her feels. Another awakening that Janie has is when she leaves Logan Killicks. M r. Killicks is a man that Janie married, because her grandmother wanted her to marry a wealthy man that can take care of her financially. Janie does not love or want to be with him. She tried hard to fall in love with him but it does not happen. â€Å"Janie’s first dream was dead, so she became a woman (Hurston, 25). † This quote states that Janie finally realizes her idea of making a loving relationship with Logan is destroyed, and so she no longer has hope that the marriage will become more intimate. This creates personal growth and self-awareness for her. Janie becomes acutely aware of her own desires for love, and realizes that her dreams can only be fulfilled through her own pursuit of them. She also realizes he self-worth and becomes aware that she deserves better. Janie’s third awakening takes place when she marries Jody Sparks. Jody sparks is a politician and businessman; he is very wealthy and takes good care of Janie. Jody treats Janie as a possession rather than a person. Jody starts to beat Janie and make her wear a head scarf to hide her natural beauty from other men. She wasn’t petal-open with anymore with him (184)†. This quote states that Janie will no longer be a just a possession to Jody, and she will no longer put up with his disrespect. As he begins to become controlling, Janie slowly starts to fall out of love with him. Jody passes away with liver failure, and Janie begins to realize who she really. When he dies Janie takes off her headscarf, and begins speaking again. Janie has found herself and now realize she deserves more and will never let another man put her down. Not only did Janie have an awakening, so did Edna Pontillier in the novel The Awakening. They both have very similar awakenings. Just as Janie left her first husband and went through an wakening, so did Mrs. Pontillier. Mrs. Pontillier had her awakening when she left her husband that takes very good care, and moves out into her own home which she calls the pigeon house. These two women are different from each other; they both find their awakening the same way. Janie and Mrs. Pontiller both realized they do not need a man with money to be happy and satisfy them. They also realize their self-worth as woman and begin doing whatever they want to do. Jan ie is a young African American girl brought up just as slavery is declining. She faces a lot of ups and downs in her life. She does not know her worth until she goes out into the real world, and went through new things and experiences. She realizes that no matter what someone in life tells you, you have to find out the truth for yourself. Through all the trials she face, she still finds her self-worth, new-knowledge, and self-realization. Works Cited New York, London, Toronto, Sydney: Zora Hurston; Harper Perennial Modern Classics The Awakening, Classic House Books, New York 2009 How to cite Their Eyes Were Watching God, Essay examples Their Eyes Were Watching God Free Essays Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, shows the development of an African-American woman living in the 1920s and 1930s as she searches for her true identity. Janie was a half-white, half-black girl growing up in Florida in the early 1930’s, living with her grandmother, struggling to find her place in life. Janie’s transformation throughout the book shows a change through language and the development of Janie’s voice through the different stages of her life. We will write a custom essay sample on Their Eyes Were Watching God or any similar topic only for you Order Now Their Eyes Were Watching God is a narrative about one woman’s quest to free herself from repression and explore her own identity; this is the story of Janie Crawford and her journey for self-knowledge and fulfillment. Hurston’s narrative focuses on the emergence of a female self in a male-dominated world, she tells her magnificent story of romantic love against the background of church and extra church modes of expression. Understanding this fact helps to explain those sections of the narrative that have been said to have no meaning beyond their entertainment value (Hemenway 218). Janie’s life is like a sermon waiting to be told to the African-American women, Nanny states this in the beginning of the novel. â€Å"Ah wanted to preach a great sermon about colored women sittin’ on high, but they wasn’t no pulpit for me. Freedom found me wid a baby daughter in mah arms, so Ah said Ah’d take a broom and a crook-pot and throw up a highway through de wilderness for her. She would expound what Ah felt. But somehow she got lost offa de highway and next thing Ah knowed here you was in the world. So whilst Ah was tendin’ you of nights Ah said Ah’d save de text for you (16). Janie transforms many times as she undergoes the process of self-discovery as she changes through her experiences with three different men. Through her marriages with Logan, Joe, and then Tea Cake she figures out who she is and what she wants in life. Every one of her marriages has a different outcome on her capability of finding that voice. Finding her voice was a very difficult thing for Janie Crawford to do. She had spent the majority of her life finding her own voice and this path was not easy for her to do, however, it takes a lot of determination to speak up. Deborah Clarke says, â€Å"Janie seeks for a voice which can picture, which can make you see,† and suggests that Zora Neale Hurston, the author, is more interested in a voice that uses visual imagery to redefine African-American rhetoric, than the presentation of one woman’s journey toward self-awareness (599,611). The power of Hurston in Their Eyes Were Watching God centers on her ability to fix extant cultural values in language and in the work of art. Like the preacher, Hurston’s artistic gift â€Å"consists in discovering the not-yet-discovered subsistent values and meanings that make up [her text] object in the creative act which is the relation of that object in and through language (Vivas 1073-74; Fontenot 38-41). Their Eyes Were Watching God brings the meanings and values of the culture to its participants’ attention. Janie’s early life begins with her living with her grandmother, Nanny. Janie’s mother had left when she was young because her mother was ashamed of having her at a young age. Nanny and Janie were pretty well off and had the privilege to live in the yard of white folks. While Janie was growing up she played with the white children. During this stage of her life, she was faced with disapproval from others and was called numerous names, so many that everyone started calling her alphabet, â€Å"’cause so many people had done named me different names. † She then started putting together what she knew of her eccentric identity. One day she saw herself in a photograph and noticed that she looked unlike everyone else and that she had dark skin, and she said, â€Å"before Ah seen de picture Ah thought Ah wuz just like de rest. From that point in her life, Janie fell into a downward spiral, setting her on the way to discover her own identity in the world. Clarke points out that Hurston uses a symbol of vision in the start of the novel to highlight the significance of visualization starting with Janie’s words to Phoeby, â€Å"Unless you see the fur, you can’t tell a mink from a coon† (599). Clarke sees this as Hurstonâ€⠄¢s way of telling the reader to see the story rather than just hear the story (600). Clarke also sees Hurston as fully establishing the power of the visual because she utilizes â€Å"vision in ways that are self-affirming rather than self-sacrificing† (604). Hurston uses the character of Phoeby to affirm rather than objectify Janie’s visual appearance, as suggested by Clarke in which she says, â€Å"To look like a woman is to look good, a way of visualizing which does not fixate on sexual anatomy but which allows for materiality. Janie shows that her womanhood, a far different sight than that gazed upon by the men† (604). The ability to use voice visually provides a literary space for African-American woman to relate their experiences in a world where, as Nanny says, â€Å"We don’t know nothin’ but we see (14). Clarke states that throughout the novel, Hurston’s use of visual imagery challenges dominant theories about the power hierarchies embedded in sight, long associated with whit control, with Plato’s rationally and logic, and from a Freudian perspective, with male sexual dominance. She recasts the visual to affirm the beauty and power of color and to provide a vehicle for female agency. Chapter two of the book it talks of Janie â€Å"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 (11). I believe this is the point in Janie’s life that she realizes that she wants to be free and able to enjoy things in life. Mesmerized by the bees and the sun Janie experiences her first kiss under this tree by Johnny Taylor. This begins a major point in her life because Nanny seen this inappropriate behavior and says to Janie â€Å"Ah don’t want no trashy nigger, no breath-and-britches, lak Johnny Taylor usin’ yo’ body to wipe his foots on (13). Nanny arranges for Janie to her marry with Logan Killicks, a young black man who had sixty acres of his own and a house, this was security for a young black woman, although, Janie did not want this for herself, she took the advice of Nanny and married Logan. When their relationship starts Janie thinks that she has found the kind of life that she has always wanted. In her mind she thought that marriage meant one would find true love and that her husband (Logan) would take good care of her and shows her the love that she has always longed for. However, Logan reveals his expectations of her, and that he wants her to be basically a slave that answers to his every command. When Janie confronted her Nanny, about her love for Logan was non-existing, she told Janie that she needs to learn to love him because he owns his house and all of the land he has. Nanny also reminds Janie that any young woman would love to have him for this very reason. This is one point of Janie’s life that she realizes that although she is married she is still not treated equal in society or her own life as a wife. When Janie decides to leave Logan, she is under the impression that she has met a man (Joe Starks) who will treat her better and show her what life has to offer. Janie’s decision to leave with Joe is based on the way she has been previously treated by Logan, who wants to make Janie his personal slave who comes to him on command. Janie’s marriage to Joe Starks makes it easier to develop a stronger voice which proves she has never thrown away her vision of an ideal marriage. Janie and Joe arrive in town Joe begins to show his love and protection for Janie by telling her to dress up and stand in the store all that of the first evening. Joe becomes mayor of Eatonville and is just as determined as Logan was to keep Janie in her proper place. Everybody was coming sort of fixed up, and he didn’t mean for nobody else’s wife to rank with her. She must look on herself as the bell-cow; the other women were the gang (41). Janie accepts this explanation of Joe’s love and protection with the faith and obedience in her husband Janie puts on one of new dresses and went to the new-cut road all dressed in wine-colored red. Her silken ruffles rustled and muttered about her (41). The porch of Joe Starks store was treated as a sacred space for the men to gossip about one another and the women (Janie) could listen to certain things that were said but she had better not speak on any such matter. She had become a prisoner of the pretty picture of â€Å"whut a woman oughta be and do† this is what Joe expected of Janie. Joe says â€Å"A pretty doll-baby lak you is made to sit on de porch and rock and fan yo’self and eat p’taters dat other folks plant special for you (28). This all seems to be a dream to Janie because she thinks Joe is treating her with respect and puts her high up on the pedestal within society. However, when Joe slaps Janie for burning the rice and undercooking the fish, she has an internal look at herself and realized, â€Å"She was saving up feelings for some man she had never seen (72). Joe destroys the last hope of potential love inside Janie’s heart; however, this frees Janie to discover what she has never found. Consequently, while Joe is on his deathbed Janie says to her husband, â€Å"Naw, you gointuh listen tuh me one time befo’ you die†¦Ah run off tuh keep house wid you in uh wonderful way. But you wasn’t satisfied wid me de way Ah was. Naw! Mah own mind had tuh be squeezed and crowded out tuh make room for yours in me (86). â€Å"All dis bowin’ down, all dis obedience under yo’ voice—dat ain’t whut Ah rushed off down de road tuh find out about you (82). Sadly for Joe, Janie’s clear thinking has come at an unfortunate time, however she is giving him the possibility of aking things right. However, Joe discards any request for forgiveness to Janie, which only makes Janie stronger as an African-American woman she then tells to the townspeople that â€Å"Mah husband is gone from me (87). She says this after she has taken her head rag off and sees herself as a â€Å"handsome woman (87). Janie goes to the mirror and looks at herself for the first time and realizes that Joe had hidden her beauty in order to gaze upon her on his own; therefore she burns the head rags and takes down her abundant hair. Janie’s voice develops hugely after Joe dies and now Janie is rich and carefree. Janie buries Joe Starks and later she meets her third husband Vergible Woods†¦ aka†¦ Tea Cake. Clarke, states that â€Å"Tea Cake is important for Janie’s progression of self visualization because he wants her to see and think; which in turn brings understanding. † Although Racine does show Tea Cake as an encouraging authority similar to Clarke, she also does not focus on Tea Cake for long before showing Janie as acquiring her strongest voice when she chooses life over death at Tea Cake’s hands. Racine shows Janie’s voice as limited throughout each of her first two marriages because Janie is not able to make the men see her view of the situation. She also gives examples of how Janie’s unhappiness is understood through the narrator and not Janie’s actual voice. Janie killed Tea Cake in self-defense to protect the body of a woman who he had made. Although, this act of love seems to be sad and surrounded by hate from many, I think this may have made Janie a voiceless African-American woman again because of the turmoil that she has endured in her life. However, when she tells her story to Pheoby, she does not worry about what the women of her town think. Is this just a cover up so that no one will know that she is really hurting deep down inside? Tea Cake is different from the past men in Janie’s life and he recognizes that she is different from any woman he has known. Although, he has nothing to offer her but his love and promise to stay with Janie and take care of her this seems to be enough for Janie. Tea Cake starts a new beginning in Janie’s life and he immediately lets her know that she does not have to be anyone but herself. Tea Cake is a man who respects Janie as an intelligent, exciting companion. Janie has finally found the love that she has been hoping for in her past marriages. During the time of Janie’s third marriage she actually loves her husband, she feels free to discover new things in her life which she was unable to do in her other marriages. Janie becomes more sociable and wants to go places with her husband Tea Cake; she enjoys working with other people and being treated as an equal. Janie learns to shoot a rifle and later becomes a better shooter that Tea Cake, however, he compliments her for that. This allows Janie to get her self-respect which she had lost in her previous marriages. Janie’s spiritual development begins when she lives with Tea Cake. Consequently, this allows the reader to see that Janie has a tough life whereas; she had to fight back in order to not become inferior to her husband’s. She succeeds this point in her life when it becomes of Tea Cake, where her inner voice starts to arouse. If Janie was truly upset when she returned home then the people would have snickered behind her back, but instead it â€Å"made the women see visions and the†¦men dream dreams (147). This gives the reader an image of the unity between Tea Cake and Janie. Therefore, Janie is now a woman that wants society to know she is legally owned by Tea Cake. Consequently, this is what Janie wants to be owned by Tea Cake. Janie’s final point in her life involves her voice and vision in the matter of self-defense or malice. When Janie is taken to jail for the murder of Tea Cake and then immediately tried in court with blacks and whites to listen and watch wondering what will happen to this Negro woman who has killed a man. This gives Janie a chance to move forward in her life and telling the truth about the relationship she had with Tea Cake. Janie is a strong African-American woman who survives a horrible hurricane and an attack by a rabid dog resulting in Tea Cake being bitten instead which ultimately causes his mind to examine what’s reality and what’s not. Tea Cake has revealed to Janie that her life is valuable to him as he saves her from the rabid dog, then she must make the ultimate choice of life and death. Although, very reluctant Janie shoots a rifle that kills Tea Cake, this is the same weapon he taught her how to shoot with for protection; however, she does this with strength and courage which makes it peacefully in knowing that she has done the right thing. Janie has searched twenty-four years for a man like Tea Cake relying heavily on her vision beneath the pear tree. Janie has experienced what she has always known to exist, she does have a voice and it now speaks with peace and with power of a African-American woman. Then Tea Cake came prancing around her where she was and the song of the sigh flew out of the window and lit in the top of the pine trees. Tea Cake, with the sun for a shawl. Of course he wasn’t dead. He could never be dead until she herself had finished feeling and thinking. The kiss of his memory made pictures of love and light against the wall. Here was peace. She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see (193). Tea Cake can always remain alive within Janie’s memory, because now she has full control of the â€Å"feeling and thinking† of her mind (193). Janie has hope that inspired her dream to come true, and the completion of an ecstatic and insignificantly delicious pear tree vision. Hurston shows Janie’s most satisfying moment comes after she has experienced the true love of one of the three men, which shows the bee within her blossom. This lets the reader believe in the ultimate power of love and strength within oneself. Works Cited Clarke, Deborah. â€Å"`The Porch Couldn’t Talk for Looking’: Voice and Vision in `Their Eyes Were Watching God. † African American Review. 2001. Fontenot, Chester J. , Jr. , Rev. d The Craft of Ralph Ellison, by Robert G. O’Meally. Black-American Literature Forum 15. 2 (1981). 79-80. Hemenway, Robert. Zora Neale Hurston: A Literary Biography. Urbana U of Illinois P, 1977. Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Wa tching God. Harper: New York, 2006. Racine, Maria J. â€Å"Voice and Interiority in Zora Neale Hurston’s `Their Eyes Were Watching God. ‘† African American Review. 1994. Vivas, Eliseo. â€Å"The Object of the Poem† Critical Theory since Plato. Ed. Hazard Adams. New York: Harcourt, 1971. 1069-77. How to cite Their Eyes Were Watching God, Papers Their Eyes Were Watching God Free Essays Dria Douglas Mrs. Cureton American Literature and Composition 18 August 2013 Writing Assignment #1 â€Å"Two things everybody’s got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin’ fuh theyselves. We will write a custom essay sample on Their Eyes Were Watching God or any similar topic only for you Order Now †(Hurston, pg. 192) The significance of this passage is that it basically sums of the spiritual journey Janie had to go through to find a place for her that is filled with love and understanding in herself. Tthroughout the story, you can clearly comprehend that tthroughout most of her life Janie has been controlled into doing things that others felt might be good for her, but she didn’t necessarily believe it to be alright for herself. However, once Tea Cake began to get involved in her life, she began to feel a new found freedom and she felt that she actually found who she is instead of what someone wants her to be. When she says, â€Å"they got tuh go tuh God,† I believe that her idea of God is the horizon and she feels that’s her freedom. Tthroughout the book, and also the movie, you can see the significance of her looking up into the sky searching for something particular, or as if she’s watching God. I believe that she’s searching up there to find aanswers to her questions. This verse I feel is very important, because not once have I seen Janie’s journey to find what she’s been searching for go to a halt, and I think she put a sthrong faith in God to help her find who she wanted to be. â€Å"They got tuh find out about livin’ fuh theyselves,† explains her experience through three mmarriages and out of all of them, she only found one true love. Her first mmarriage was forced and filled with no love, while her second mmarriage was based off the idea of her loving the idea of being married to a rich man who seeks out power, but she soon finds out that the mmarriage will never have the love that she wants. She actually lives for herself when she’s able to find the independence and compassion in Tea Cake to be able to live off of newly found confidence in her and not being afraid of expressing who she is. That is her way of living for herself. Citation Hurston, Zora Neale. â€Å"20. † Their Eyes Were Watching God: A Novel. New York: Perennial Library, 1990. 192. Print. How to cite Their Eyes Were Watching God, Papers