David Ubiera,

Mr. Bayer
English 11, Pd.8
3/19/2015

A life of a Colored Woman in the 20th Century

From the beginning of humanity, language has been the main way to
communicate and express our thoughts, from sounds to paintings to gestures; Through
the use of language humans have been able to define the way they feel, think and act.
In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the author
represents racism and injustice in a way that many black folks at the time did not agreed
on because she not only shows racism between blacks and whites, she also shows
racism within the black community. In Her Novel Hurston illustrates how Janies
conscience lead her to become an independent, powerful, strong-minded woman, in a
time where equality did not exist specially for colored women.
At the beginning of this novel, Hurston uses figurative languages to portray Janie
as a submissive girl that wants to love and be loved (Cairney 1). Janie being a
beautiful, light skin, good looking woman, who had grown up with white folks had an
advantage because of the mentality that men had at the time. Not like any other colored
woman, Janies first husband was Logan Killicks a wealthy colored-man who Nanny
chose because she knew he would have been able to take care of her financially
nonetheless she also knew that he was not going to be able to give her what she had
always wanted Love, her marriage ends up being a loveless one (Cairney 1).
Nannys decision on marrying Janie to Logan shows how some women thought at the

time, they wanted to find someone that was going to be able to take care of them
financially not emotionally, however Janie was different, she was willing to do anything
to find true love, her identity and her independence.
Getting old but still feeling young, Janie meets Joe who Hurston portrays as a
wealthy, poetic, kind, well-educated colored-man who was looking for a fresh start. At
that moment, Janie felt like if god had answer her prayers the perfect man that she was
looking for was right in front of her the one that was going to give her one of the things
that she had always wanted Love (Cairney 1) and even more. Janies desire for love,
independence and a younger man lead her to make a decision that she had already
thought about running away from Joe. After all, Janie felt like if her life was opening just
like a cherry blossom, she felt in control she felt loved but what she could not imagined
was what was yet to come. Just like any other man at the time, Joe believed that that
women and children cannot think for themselves and, therefore, need a man to tell them
what to do (Cairney 1), this goes against all of what Janie believes. Joe also demands
Janie to remain silent. What one day seemed like a dream, now looks like a
nightmare. The little independence that Janie once had is strip from her, however she
manages to gain from that by learning to patience which is one of the things that kept all
her dreams alive.
Although, Janie had been through two marriages during her third marriage with
Tea cake is the breaking point. Janie is already starting to feel what freedom and power
taste like from running away from her first husband to having to live a solitary life that
with her second husband, where she learned to be silent when she had to and to make
her voice heard when she needed to. At one point, Janie meets Mrs. Turner a light skin

woman whose believes came from her skin color, she believes that blacks were at the
bottom, whites were at the top, she was in the middle and that any person who was
lighter should not treat her with respect just like she did to the folks darker than her. Mrs.
Turner once said Ah cant stand black niggers. Ah dont blame de white folks from
hatin em cause Ah cant stand em mahself (Hurston 141). Hurston is showing how
racism existed and still exist within the black community. At one point Mrs. Turner also
told Janie that it was time for her to leave Tea Cake and marry her light skin brother
because he was real smart. Got dead straight hair. and he was a delegate tuh de
Sunday School Convention and he read uh paper on Booker T. Washington (Hurston
142). All that Janie could say was he wuz uh great man because he did not have any
of the qualities that Janie was looking for. Mrs. Turners Vicious comments did not go far
because Janie was with Tea Cake until the day he died.
Their Eyes Were Watching God is a novel with many messages from racism to
equality, finding your identity and keeping your dreams alive. Zora Neale Hurston shows
us that love along with knowledge can be more powerful than money. Furthermore, she
gives us a solution to racism and that solution is that no matter what you do, no matter
how hard you fight and yell racism will only stop once it is contain within its own
community.