Analysis Of Janie In Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston

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In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie perseveres through many hardships imposed on her by others and by society as a whole. Specifically, the attempts of Nanny and Jody to mold Janie into a particular character suppress Janie’s true nature and individuality, causing her to experience anger, resentment, and discontent in those relationships. Instead of wallowing in those feelings, however, Janie is able to learn and grow from her negative experiences, which ultimately helps her find peace, independence, and a strong sense of self. As Janie’s caretaker, Nanny attempts to shape Janie into someone who values materialism, which ultimately causes much conflict with Janie’s strong idealistic beliefs. For example, even though Janie wants …show more content…
After moving back to Eatonville, Janie says to her friend Pheoby, “Ah’m back home agin and Ah’m satisfied tuh be heah. Ah done been tuh de horizon and back” (191). Even after Janie is forced to kill Tea Cake in an act of self defense due to his rabies, she is able to look at her life with a positive attitude instead of focusing on the many negative aspects of her past. Janie further displays her resilience and positivity when contemplating her past experiences and thinking about her current situation in the last moments of the novel: “Here was peace. She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net. So much of life in its meshes” (193). Janie has many reasons to be upset about her life: a repressive grandmother acting as her parent, a husband that treated her horribly, and the fact that she had to kill the only man she ever loved in an act of self defense. However, instead of wallowing in self-despair, Janie is able to rise above and grow from her negative experiences, ultimately enabling her to be content, grateful, and