Zora had experienced low pay and low economic opportunities because she was an African American woman (Hurston 1991). She refused to let the way she looked define her abilities. She didn’t want to be the typical women of the 1930’s; she wanted to work and be successful. Just like she didn’t believe that being an African American couldn’t stop her, being a woman couldn’t stop her either. Hurston married and divorced three husbands before she had refused to marry the fourth because she "had things clawing inside [her] that must be said." (Zora). She uses Janie in the book, Their Eyes Were Watching God, to show how she had acquired freedom from her relationships and became more independent. When Hurston said no to her fourth proposal, it was similar to when Janie had figured out that she didn’t need a man like her nanny had told her. This new-found independence for Hurston and the mentality that being an African American woman wouldn’t stop her, had given her more motivation to becoming