Discussion Topic
Symbolism of Janie's Appearance in Their Eyes Were Watching God
Summary:
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie's hair symbolizes her independence, identity, and defiance against societal norms. Her husband Joe Starks forces her to cover her hair to control her sexuality and maintain his authority, symbolizing her lack of freedom. After his death, Janie unveils her hair, marking her liberation and self-discovery. Her hair's length and straightness also challenge racial stereotypes, reflecting her mixed heritage and subversion of traditional gender and racial roles.
What is the significance of Janie's hair in Their Eyes Were Watching God?
Janie's hair is a complex symbol in Their Eyes Were Watching God. It takes on its greatest significance when she is living in Eatonville as Joe Stark's wife. Joe is the mayor of Eatonville, and even though he and Janie shared a romantic, exciting love affair at first, once Joe gains the position of power in the town, he begins to view Janie as an object. He places her on a pedestal, so she will be out of reach of the townsfolk. Jane resents Joe for this, as she wants to participate in the community's "porch-talk" and get to know her neighbors. Joe also decrees that Janie's hair must be tied up; he is motivated by jealousy because Janie has such beautiful hair that it might attract male attention.
When Joe dies, one of Janie's first acts is to take down her hair and burn the head rags in...
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which she was forced to hide it. The narrator writes,
Before she slept that night she burnt up every one of her head rags and went about the house next morning with her hair in one thick braid swinging well below her waist. . . . She would have the rest of her life to do as she pleased. (85)
The symbolic acts described in this passage are basically Janie's declaration of independence. Never again will she let a man control her body or her mind. Later, she meets Tea Cake, who treats her like an equal most of the time. Though their marriage is not perfect, Janie feels she has more power over her life while she is with Tea Cake. After Tea Cake's tragic death, Janie returns to Eatonville. When she comes home, her hair is again referenced as an important feature of her personality:
The men noticed her firm buttocks like she had grape fruits in her hip pockets; the great rope of black hair swinging to her waist and unraveling in the wind like a plume. (2)
It is clear that Janie is her own woman; she is confident and does not care what the townsfolk will say about her or how they will judge her. She goes directly to her friend Pheoby's house to tell her life story, which makes up the novel. The book ends with Janie feeling at peace with herself and looking forward to living the rest of her live as an independent, content woman.
Because Janie's hair is beautiful, her second husband Joe Starks makes her keep it wrapped, hoping she will be less attractive to the other men who sit on the porch of the store. With Joe Janie must hide her real self, being what her husband wishes her to be, presenting a facade to the town from whom she is somewhat alienated because of her position as mayor's wife.
When, at last, Janie is free of Joe Sparks, she goes with Tea Cake and "her soul crawled out from its hiding place." More self-aware, Janie wears her hair free as a symbol of the freedom of her soul.
What might Janie's hair symbolize in Their Eyes Were Watching God?
Janie's hair symbolizes her independence and identity. When she is married to Joe, Janie's body becomes a kind of threat—Joe, the mayor of the town, is afraid that Janie's beauty will attract other men and undermine his authority. For Joe, Janie's sexuality is dangerous and must be controlled. He exerts this control by making Janie cover her hair.
By submitting to his demands, Janie is not only ceding control over her body to her husband, but effectively conceding that her beauty, which attracted Joe to her in the first place, has become obscene and something shameful that must be hidden—or, worse than that, a kind of temptation that threatens the social structure of the town and Joe's position at the top of that structure. In covering her hair, Janie is made to feel degraded and less than her whole self.
This is why, after Joe's death, Janie immediately takes down her hair and burns her head rags. It is as if she is finally able to inhabit her own body again and be her own person. Her sense of freedom is palpable. She will "have the rest of her life" to wear her hair as she pleases or to love or be loved as she pleases.
In Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, what is the role of Janie's hair motif?
In Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, the
protagonistJanie Crawford is described as having a
super curvy figure and long, heavy waist-length
hair that hangs down in either one "great rope," or braid, or multiple
"long braids" (Ch. 1). The description of her hair is actually very fascinating
because it can be difficult to make an African American's hair naturally appear
that long. Due to the ultra curliness of hair, hair appears shorter than it
actually is. What's also noteworthy is that, as a writer of the Harlem
Renaissance, along with many African-American writers of the time, Hurston was
very interested in breaking racial stereotypes. More
importantly, a central theme in the novel concerns the
relationship between all races and God--all races fall under
the power of God, not just whites. Since Hurston wants to break racial
stereotypes to unite all races under God, it can be said she used
Janie's physical appearance, including her hair, to both break
a stereotype of African-American appearances and to unite both
white and black appearances under one character and, therefore,
under one God.
Early in the novel, Janie is described as having a very full,
"firm buttocks" and very full bust--the type of figure men take notice of. It's
also the type of curvy figure that's not uncommon among African-American women
and less common among white women. Hurston then couples Janie's figure with the
description of Janie's "great rope of black hair swinging to her waist and
unraveling in the wind like a plume" (Ch. 1). Since it is a bit unusual for
African-American women to have waist-length hair, a more common trait in white
women, Hurston is uniquely coupling a common physique for
African-American women with a common physique for
white women. The description not only breaks stereotypes of
African-American women, it also unites descriptions of the two races into one
character, which serves to develop the theme that all races are united under
the same God.
One moment in which the theme concerning the relationship
between all mankind and God is best illustrated is when Janie and Tea Cake are
hit by the severe hurricane. The hurricane is so destructive
that the wind is described as blowing in "triple fury"; the flooding is so
severe "stray fish [were] swimming in the yard" (Ch. 18). The narrator further
describes that "the wind and water had given life to lots of things that folks
think of as dead and given death to so much that had been living things" (Ch.
18). As John K. Roth, editor of Literary Essentials: Christian Fiction and
Nonfiction, points out, the God Janie sees on the night of the hurricane
and in the book in general is the terrifying and powerful God of the Old
Testament (eNotes, "There Eyes Were Watching God: Christian
Themes"). Hence, as Janie and Tea Cake stare out into this dark, devastating,
destructive storm, they feel like they are watching the wrath of
God, waiting to see what He'll do next, as we see in the following
lines:
They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God (Ch. 18).
More importantly, no one is exempt from the power of the God they are observing, neither whites nor blacks. Hurston is showing us that all races are unified under the power of God.
What do Janie's clothes symbolize in Their Eyes Were Watching God?
You will want to think about Janie's clothes and appearance as part of the novel's overall theme of a woman's search for self-identity and independence. I will talk about Janie's hair in this answer and that should hopefully give you a few ideas to think more widely about her appearance in the overall context of the novel.
Janie's hair and in particular her way of wearing her hair acts as a symbol of her strength, determination and power, but also of her unconventional identity. This can be argued on the basis of two points. Firstly, it shows that she is not going to be a woman who will "fit in" and change her appearance to suit cultural norms. We see at the beginning of the novel that the town thinks it unsuitable for Janie to wear her hair down at her age. Her refusal to change her appearance based on this disapproval shows her strength of spirit and rebellious nature.
Secondly, her hair is straight, and not curly, and thus functions as a symbol of whiteness. Mrs. Turner in the novel has a very high opinion indeed of Janie because of her "white" hair and her other "white" characteristics. Her hair therefore contributes to her ability to disrupt the status quo in power relationships throughout the novel (male vs female, white vs black).
Another point you might want to consider is the way Janie's hair is described and explained. Some critics argue that in its braided form it is described in phallic terms, which further serves to blur gender boundaries and which some male characters find threatening.
In Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, how does Janie's hair motif connect her gender and race?
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, one stereotype Zora Neale Hurston
wants to put an end to concerns the inferiority of the African-American race, a
stereotype that also makes African Americans look very
vulnerable. As a woman, Janie has a
double vulnerability because women are treated as just as
inferior as African Americans and are, therefore, just as vulnerable. More
importantly, not only is Janie a woman, she's also an exceptionally beautiful
and desirable woman, something that Hurston captures through the
motif of Janie's long, thick hair and curvy
figure. Janie's beauty makes her even more vulnerable than the
average woman. Yet Hurston strives to disprove Janie's vulnerability.
Throughout the novel, though it takes her a long time and though she must
undergo many hardships and abuses, Janie throws off the
stereotype of vulnerability by finding her
own independence.
The theme concerning the vulnerability of
women, particularly evident in the cases of African-American women, is
first expressed in the very first chapter through the thoughts of Janie's
grandmother, called Nanny Crawford. Nanny has observed Janie
grow into a beautiful woman and, when she sees Janie kissing Johnny Taylor, a
man Nanny considers to be "trashy," she fears for Janie's protection. She knows
very well that Janie is in danger of being mistreated, especially sexually
mistreated. But more than that, as an ex-slave, Nanny has witnessed
African-American women being even more oppressed than African-American men.
Nanny uses an extended metaphor to explain the oppression
commonly endured by African-American women:
... So de white man throw down de load and tell de nigger man tuh pick it up. He pick it up because he hav to, but he don't tote it. He hand it to his womenfolks. De nigger woman is de mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see. (Ch. 1)
Since Nanny fears for Janie's safety, she wants her to marry Logan Killick, a very successful farmer, as quickly as possible, a marriage Nanny sees as being able to provide Janie with "protection." However, once married, Janie does not feel as secure and protected in the marriage as she would wish to feel and leaves Logan for another man, a man who also turns out to be abusive. In her third marriage to Tea Cake, she finds true happiness, but even Tea Cake becomes abusive. When Janie returns to her hometown Eatonville, she returns ultimately defeated but happy--she is happy because she has found her true self and experienced the world. In experiencing the world and surviving the experience, she has proven that she is actually not weak and vulnerable; she is strong.