Zora Neale Hurston's Struggles In Their Eyes Were Watching God

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Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God reveals the many struggles and injustices that African-American women faced during the early 1900s. Throughout the book, Janie marries three different men. Each relationship brings about its own set of struggles and helps to shape Janie’s horizon. Her first marriage, to Logan Killicks, holds particular significance. This marriage highlights the hard choice Janie’s grandmother, Nanny, makes in arranging Janie’s marriage to Mr. Killicks. In efforts to protect Janie from the possibility of being raped by white men, a fate experienced by both Janie’s mother and Nanny, Nanny forces Janie into a loveless and passionless marriage. Both Janie and her mother are products of rapes, in particular, rape committed by white men. The fear that Janie will fall victim to …show more content…
However, these shackles do not hold Janie forever. She slips through the shackles chasing her own horizon. Although her imagined horizon is not reached immediately, Janie still has hope and courage alive within her. She takes a chance and runs off with Jody Starks in search of something Nanny never thought was possible. Janie searches for her “blooming pear tree,” her own idea of love and marriage. Even Logan’s last name “Killicks” suggests the killing of love and freedom. Safety and respect alone do not provide fulfilment for Janie. Janie searches for the passion that makes life worth living. Nanny’s vision for Janie is not what Janie needs to complete her journey. Janie needs “a dust-bearing bee” and its passion for flowers (Hurston 11). Impossible choices must be met with impossible courage, the will to break free and rise above. Janie’s actions illustrate the will to chase a horizon with passion for passion no matter the risks. Passion is the driving force in life. Fear, history, adversity, and injustice may impede passions progress, but passion will always find its way to the blossom of
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