So, you've probably heard of the idea of self-fulfilling prophesy that we become who we think we are, for better or for worse. This question of identity-of understanding and defining who you are-is yet another gigantic life question that shows up in Hurston's novel and in life. One major issue that surrounds questions of identity is who defines it? Do I get to decide who I am in life or do others decide that for me in various ways? This seems like the most obvious question in the universe. Of course, everyone should get to decide their own identities! But, when we look into the hallways of the high school, into the conference rooms of the business world, around the family dinner table, is this always the case? Do we have friends, family members, and co-workers that influence the way we think or feel about ourselves? Are they, in some ways, helping to shape our identities, in negative and positive ways? Or, do they provide feedback, and it's up to us to accept or reject it into our self concepts/identities like a really good peer edit in writing workshop?
As far as Janie is concerned, how does she define herself in the beginning of the novel? Are there points when she lets others define her? What are the consequences of this? How does this change as the novel progresses? What realizations does she make?
Throughout the novel, Janie’s outward identity changes many times. As an adult, much of her life is determined for her by her husbands; Logan, and Joe. Logan makes her into his perfect dream wife; waiting on his every need and helping out with the labor when he needs it, outwardly, Janie accepts this role and embodies it, but on the inside she remains the stubborn self-determined woman that she wants to be. Janie loathes her servile position and leaves with someone who she thinks better suits her identity as a strong woman. Joe seems to fit Janie perfectly for a while, but slowly and surely he takes over her life just as Logan did and molds her into the perfect trophy wife. While in this relationship, Janie realizes how little say she has in the world. After Joe’s death, Janie stops letting others define her, she ends her mourning period early because she no longer feels grief, she doesn’t choose a new husband even though the men presented are acceptable suitors. Instead, she takes Tea Cake as her partner, who is the least supported among mainstream society. In the novel, Janie realizes that letting others define your personality isn’t fair because they will turn you into something that they desire, with no regard for your happiness. She learns that being true to her identity can lead to happiness and a greater, more enjoyable life that others will want to share.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of the novel Janie wasn't really given the opportunity to learn and discover different qualities about herself. I believe she was married at an age where most people are still trying to figure out who they're and have trouble defining themselves as individuals. Throughout her marriages she molded her personality into what her husbands expected. How they believed a woman like her was supposed to act. Janie was obeying what these men wanted, I believe, only because they were the only things closest she had to a family at the time. Her Mother was nowhere to be found and her Nanny eventually passes. By doing this, she is not allowing herself to learn more about who she is as an individual and what she truly desires. As the novel progresses she starts to accept herself more as a woman and feels the courage to break down the walls her husbands have built trying to obscure her true identity since they're no longer there to prohibit her.
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ReplyDeleteAt the start of the novel, Janie begins to grow up and mature, and her emotions begin to mature as well. What she wants is to find love; she wants to marry because she loves her spouse. She allows her grandmother to change the definition of what love is. She was taught that she should marry someone who is respectable and wealthy, later on she'll learn to love them. She also lets Joe Starks define who she is. Under Joe's authority, she was forcefully placed on a pedestal above the other towns people. Starks wanted Janie to believe that she was better then the others in the town, therefor she shouldn't mingle with them. This resulted in her becoming lonely, because she wasn't allowed to be friendly with the others. To the townspeople she appeared detached and even cold, even though she desperately wanted to share in their discussions. As the novel progresses and she becomes older, she finally realizes that its okay for her to think for herself. She shows this by confronting Joe Starks on his death-bed. Even though he didn't want to see her, Janie came to him anyway; finally she told Starks what she truly thought of him. In the end she made her own choices for better or for worse. She did what she wanted, and not what was expected of her. An example of this is when she runs off with Tea Cake, even though this is controversial among the towns people.
ReplyDeleteThroughout our lives, we come across many different types of people. Each person, whether it be subtly or significantly, changes or affects our lives negatively or positively. Our peers do, indeed, shape us and guide us. We seek some guidance and we reject some. In Hurston's novel, Janie ultimately discovers happiness through Tea Cake after experiencing two other marriages. In the beginning of the novel, Janie's life decisions are carried out by Nanny. Consequently, Janie feels out of place and unhappy for the majority of the book. She meets and marries two different men, both of which do not fit correctly in Janie's life. When being around these two men, Logan and Jody, she feels powerless. The turning point is Jody Starks' death. After her husband's death, Janie meets Tea Cake and breaks through into a new life. Marriage ensues, and she begins to make her own decisions instead of submissively obeying others' orders. As she grows old with Tea Cake, Janie realizes that making her own decisions is a more reliable choice because she knows herself better than anyone else. Despite others' disapproval and criticism, in the end, Janie has no regrets from running off with or falling in love with her final husband Tea Cake.
ReplyDeleteDuring our lives, our outlook on different things change. The way we view ourselves does have a lot to do with what other people say and do. The way they influence us plays a major role in our outlook. Nanny is one person who shapes and guides Janie. Nanny set her up with an arranged marriage and shows her how her life as a women is supposed to end up. Janie doesn't really like how her life is going until she eventually falls in love with Tea Cake. Her outlook on her own life changes in which she doesn't let others define her anymore. She eventually becomes her own person.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of the novel, Janie was influenced early on by her grandmother and her peers. When she was young Janie never thought of herself as different from the other kids until she saw the photo of herself and realizes she is African American. Many of the kids tease her because she lives in a house in someone’s backyard. Early on, Nanny even influences her to marry Logan Killicks, a rather wealthy man who Nanny thinks will be able to provide for Janie. By letting people influence her early on in the novel, Janie is set up for failure in her first marriage because she never could love Logan, and therefore running off to marry Jody who seemed to be better at first. After the death of Jody, Janie tries to find someone who will always be true to her and not marry her for money. When Janie was with Tea Cake she felt like she could be her own person unlike what happened in her other two marriages. Janie discovers what it means to really love and care for someone when she was with Tea Cake. By the end of the book Janie discovers that she doesn’t need to be held down by other people’s opinions, she is her own person, and no one can change who she is or who she will become.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of the novel Janie is told by Nanny that she needs to settle down and marry Logan to be stable and have some wealth for once in life. When Janie finally marries Logan she starts to realize how unhappy she is because he wants her helping out in every way on their land doing hard labor when she feels she belongs inside cooking and cleaning where she is most comfortable. One day Janie meets Joe Starks and they develop a relationship that makes her feel like she never has before. Joe promises Janie a fresh start and new horizons that are to be reached and this entices Janie because she wants to discover the person she really is so she leaves Logan to start a new life with Joe. Throughout Janie and Joe's marriage Joe will not let her make any major decisions and wants to call all the shots of his life and Janie's. Joe won't let her wear her hair down and forces her to keep it up in a wrap because it is so beautiful and he does not want other men to be gauking over her. In addition, Joe is constantly yelling at her in the store over little mistakes that don't even really matter because he expects her to be perfect in every way. Janie starts to realize that it is not her that is the problem, that it is Joe and his own insecrurities. Due to the fact that Janie is such a gorgeous woman at any age and men are very attracted to her, he feels the need to keep her as far away as possible from them and ridecule her looks to make himself feel better as he is aging badly. While Joe is on his death bed Janie comes to the realization that she was and always will be a beautiful woman who can be strong and independant without her pitiful husband.
ReplyDeleteAs a young child Janie is blind to the facts that set people apart. She didn't see people or things as certain distinct definitions until she saw how she was dark skinned while the other children were white.By discovering this, she then is labeled as an African American and is expected to live her life a certain way. This often happens in our lives. People are often worried about living up to a certain personas that they are given. Later in her life,when nothing but love is on her mind, she lets her grandmother define her. Janie’s grandmother constantly states that she is an African American woman and that she'll be treated like a mule her whole life if she doesn't marry into a secure home where she can be protected. Janie believes in love but she chooses to ignore her beliefs by marrying Logan to make her grandmother happy. Though it's good to have guidance in ones life it is easy to have too much to the point where you're really not living your own life. By not practicing her own beliefs Janie winds up in a unhappy marriage. When Janie meets Joe Starks she is reminded of the love she was once moved by and decides to runaway with him to start a new life. Though Joe is marvelous and brilliant he also gives off a demeanor that is very intimidating. Janie is soon oppressed and tries to live by her husbands standards instead of her own. She begins to realize that the people around her try and to mold her into their own perfect image which is unfair.
ReplyDeleteIn the very, very beginning, we are introduced to a crazy, rich woman wearing dirty overalls. This crazy woman is absolutely content with being unacceptable to society. Then, she starts to tell her life story and all the aspects of her identity unravel. She was defined as a black woman. She was defined as a "light-skinned." She was defined as a female. She was defined as incapable to care for herself. She was defined as a trophy wife. She was defined as a pretty picture. This society surrounding Janie attempted to put a square peg in a round hole. As a result, Janie was unhappy with her life and was forced to break away from conformity. It seems that throughout her marriages, she kept a part of herself true to her original design. That's what she held onto, and that's what defined her every action. I agree that life taught Janie to be true to herself for ultimate happiness. Although, I do have to add that perfection is impossible to achieve, but a perfect picture in the eyes of the beholder is possible.
ReplyDeleteThroughout her whole life, Janie was constantly being shaped by stereotypes and other people's expectations of her. Even though she wants to marry who she loves, she agrees to marry Logan to please her grandmother, who expects her to marry into a stable family. By doing this, Janie goes against her own beliefs and lets her grandmother define her as a helpless woman who needs a capable man to strive. When Joe comes along, Janie believes that he is her ticket out of the boring and submissive life she is living. She marries him, and he ends up defining her as nothing more than a useless trophy wife who is nothing but a pretty face. After being molded and shaped into other people's expectations all her life, Janie finally cannot handle it anymore. She eventually stops conforming to others and marries Tea Cake, setting herself apart from others and their impossible visions of what a woman like Janie should be. By the end of the novel, Janie realizes that it is important to be who she wants to be: a strong, independent woman who makes her own choices and doesn't let society form her into something she is not.
ReplyDeleteAt a young age Janie faces the world hoping to find love and define herself as a woman. Instead, she falls into a marriage with Logan who doesn’t allow Janie to be her own person. He tries to change her and she eventually comes to her senses and runs off with Joe Starks. Unfortunately, Joe makes Janie his trophy wife and once again she is forced to be someone she is not. All of this changes with the passing of Joe. Finally, Janie realizes that she needs to ignore others and make her own decisions. With this new outlook she finds Tea Cake; her perfect partner.
ReplyDeleteAt the beginning of the novel Janie is dependent and sees herself like she sees everybody else. At some points Janie lets her grandmother define her and lead Janie in her idea of the right direction. When Janie falls in love with Logan she has the mind set of being independent but Logan does not feel the same way. He does not want Janie to be her own person. When Janie meets Joe Starks she thinks things will be better for her. But she seems to be more controlled by Joe. When Joe passes away Janie finally realizes what independence feels like. Then when Janie finds Tea Cake he lets her express her independence and things look promising for Janie.
ReplyDeleteThe novel begins with Janie in the present retelling her life as it happened. In her younger years she was as a handful of unshaped clay; easy to mold and manipulate. Nanny shaped her into what she had wanted. A woman all of the world sees fit is exactly what Nanny had influenced Janie to become. She was far from a finished pot when she had met and married Logan. Although Janie was outwardly content with the way Logan had molded her she had not had a happiness that was fulfilled. Nearly the same scenario had occurred with Joe in the end of their relationship, also. Janie makes the realization that she mustn't search for something that makes others happy when trying to find her own happiness.
ReplyDeleteSociety defined her in the beginning when she was doing what everyone else told her do. In her relationships she had to act a certain way for her husbands. Such as when she was married to Jody and she had to uphold an image to please the people and therefore she wasn't at all herself. She was stuck trying to please everyone else and she couldn't get to her full potential. That changed dramatically when she fell in love with Teacake because she could be her own person and not be trying to live up to everyone else's expectations.
ReplyDeleteAt the start of the novel, Janie’s identity changes many times. As Janie marries Logan and Joe her identity is determined for her. When she marries Logan, she has the security of his wealth and she complies with his every need and also helps him with some of the labor. On the outside, Janie accepts her role, but on the inside she remains stubborn and wants to pursue as a determined woman. Janie then leaves Logan for a man named Joe Starks who she thinks will better suit her ambitious determined self. Joe and Janie’s relationship seems to be going great until Joe begins to take on more power in Eatonville. Joe forces Janie to work at the town store and to tie her hair up in a rag. Janie’s outward identity appears as the rich mayor’s wife who complies with his every need with no say. On the inside, Janie realizes that she has no say in the world and begins to lash out at Joe. Next, Joe dies and Janie has a six month mourning period where she doesn’t choose a new husband even though some of the men presented to her are acceptable suitors. Janie stop letting others control her identity and ends her mourning period early. Janie then takes Tea Cake as her partner, who does not follow the typical guidelines of mainstream society. Janie realizes in the end that she cannot let others control her identity. She learns that being true to her own identity will overall lead to a far happier lifestyle and to many lifetime friendships.
ReplyDeleteIn Hurston's novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God", Janie doesn't know what to think of herself for the first 40 years of her life. When Janie marries for the first time, it is out of the recommendation of her grandmother because of that her grandmother thinks about Janie as a person. The marriage doesn't turn out well. This is one of the first instances where Janie allows someone to define her, but it doesn't stop there. When she moves away with Joe Starks, she allows him to lead the way which led to him telling her what to do. As Joe builds the town, Janie is assigned to working the store, without her opinions and expressions. This resulted in a negative response as Janie got angry with Joe and in public spoke out about Joe's age after he had put her down and called her old for so long. This is one of the first realizations that she should define herself, and she quickly gets the opportunity soon after Joe passes away. While moving on with Tea Cake, Janie realizes that she should express herself, her thoughts, and her concerns much more often to feel like she is her own person. This transition changes her person from a working woman that has no big heart and no voice of her own to a person that stands up for themselves and expresses their concerns with others around them.
ReplyDeleteWhen growing up you decide who you become, how you act, and who you want to be. However, you are not the only one weighing in on this decision. Those around such as your family, your peers, and even your teachers help to define who you are because they are the ones who have helped you grow and learn throughout life. The experiences you have lived through with them may not have always been positive, and this is where you decide who you truly are because you can either learn from your mistakes or continue repeating them. One is always surrounded by different influences throughout their entire lives, and it is up to them to decide whether they should accept or reject the concepts and ideals that surround them. One’s identity is ultimately defined by one’s own-self, but it is influenced by those that surround them.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie defines herself as someone who wants to be true to who she is and who wants to do things for the right reasons. However, Janie lets others define her from the very beginning. She allows her Grandma to define the person whom she will grow up to be and as a consequence she ends up marring Logan. Janie also allows society to define who she really is. As a result of bowing down to the influences of society she did not become the person she wanted during her first two marriages. However, as the novel progresses she begins to realize that unless she makes her own decisions and does what is not originally expected, she will not be happy with who she is. In the end, she becomes the ruler of her own identity and decides who she is.
I believe that other people in your life, especially your family and friends, influence who you are. You can make your own choices in life, but others will also influence those decisions depending on what they are. It is good to accept/deny others advice or influence, depending on what it is. I think taking others advice makes you a stronger, smarter person. Janie defines herself as a strong, independent woman in the beginning of the novel. I believe that Janie lets Joe Starks define her when she is married to him. She is known as Mayor Starks’ wife and nothing else. I feel like she loses sight of who she is as a person and gets lost in Joe’s shadow during her marriage with him. After Joe’s death, Janie realizes that she needs to find someone that will let Janie be herself and be happy with that. Tea Cake loves Janie for who she is and lets her be her own person.
ReplyDeleteAt the very beginning of the book, the neighbors criticized Janie for leaving and then coming back and not telling them her life story, but she just ignored their comments. As a child, she bullied because she was an African American growing up on land owned by a white couple and she was friends with the couple’s children. While she was married to Joe Starks, she was looked up to, not for what she had done but for being the Mayor’s wife. Once Joe died, she was still looked at as the most powerful women in that part of Florida, and was told by society that she wasn’t mourning her husband’s death the way she should have. When she was married to Tea Cake, she was forgotten as Mayor Starks wife and was finally allowed to be who she wanted and was known as Janie, not Tea Cake’s wife. I feel that as time passed and she was given opportunities to start over, she took them to her advantage and finally she figured out what she wanted to be known for.
ReplyDeleteSelf-definition is something that everyone tries to find throughout the course of their entire lives. In the beginning of the novel, Janie never really had the chance to define herself. I feel that she never really knew what she wanted, and that is why she was always chasing after things (or in her case, really, running off with different people). She WANTS to be an independent woman, but her grandmother convinces her to marry. Her grandmother is, essentially, defining Janie’s to-be role in life. Her second husband Joe also defines Janie by the behavior he wants her to portray. She isn’t allowed to do particular things; she must never stoop herself to the same level as anyone else in Eatonville. He tries incredibly hard to define her role as a traditional woman, despite her clashing personality with this idea. The consequences of these errors are constant unhappiness and confusion for Janie, therefore she always seems to want, or even need, something that she isn’t allowed to have. Freedom and acceptance. This all changes when she meets Tea Cake, who lets Janie define herself. He doesn’t give her any rules or regulations. In the end, Janie finds herself, but she was really only able to do that by the interactions she had with society and her past husbands.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the beginning of "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston, Jeanie ceaselessly attempts to "define herself" without any external influence, despite what those around her think or feel about her current situation. In a situation similar to the situation of Janie's at the beginning of the novel, Boz Scaggs once said that his greatest influences were things which he had heard in his home. This is quite evident in how it applies to Janie's situation and relationship with Nannie as she continuously finds herself defending her actions against a very traditionalistic mother figure who simply wants her to "live a good life," regardless of the cost, whether it be mental, emotional, or physical. This situation becomes quite enthralling and conflicting for Jeanie because she doesn't believe that love can be arranged, nor forced, while Nannie is forcibly perpetuating her to stop second-guessing herself because her judgment is, and always will be, wrong, in her eyes.
ReplyDeleteIn the first chapter of the novel, Janie didn’t care what others thought. She let them believe what they want, say what they want, and she just ignored them. It’s as if Hurston is trying to foreshadow the changes Janie went through to get to that mindset and become that type of person. Later on when she starts telling her story it seemed like that was the point in which she let others, like Logan, define her in a way. For a year he treated her extremely well and after that it went downhill. He started to use her for work as if he owned her. Obviously, she is not a piece of property but that is how Logan saw her. After that, Jody was no better. He treated her like an object instead of a person and for awhile she wouldn’t say anything about their travelling/moving. She just sat back and let it happen and as the first chapter shows, is not how she is in the present. When she let others define who she was she was unhappy. Anyone would be. As the novel progresses more you can see she’s starting to become her own person. She gains faith in God. I think that was a really big turning point for her because that’s when she realized no one can control her like the way those other men did. She finally became completely independent and nothing held her back from being herself.
ReplyDeleteIn the start of Janie's life she wasn't as pressured to be a certain way. She was who she was. But when she was married to Joe especially she was defined by him. She was what he wanted her to be. Same with Logan on a smaller scale, he saw her more like an object. All that did was leave her confused about what she was doing and upset, she was unhappy in her marriage to both of them. Through the story though she begins to realize why she's unhappy and what she needs to do to to stop it from happening again. She gets smarter. She realizes men like the two she had been married to aren't ever going to be what she wants or work out. Meeting Tea Cake showed her what was right and that was what she wanted.
ReplyDeleteI think that each person struggles to define themselves their whole life so we may not know who we are till later in our lives. but society defines you relatively quickly because individuals watch your actions and make an assessment of who you are but only talk about some of what they think and the most agreed upon thoughts become what society thinks you are. It may differ from what you see in yourself because it only includes your actions because that all people see they dont know your thoughts and rationalizations. Society judges you on what they see. this happens to jane when she decides to go off with tea cake, society always saw her as the obedient toy of a rich man who has power. when they realize that she has feelings emotions and even thoughts society is shocked because he actions didnt show that before.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of the novel, Janie has very few opportunities to define herself because Nanny corrects and guides her before she makes a mistake. Janie lets Logan define her after they get married. Logan said she is too spoiled and needs to start doing work. When Janie starts talking to Joe she leaves Logan to marry Joe. Joe becomes they mayor of the town, and now Janie is defined as the mayor’s wife. Since Joe is the mayor he wants control over what Janie does so he can make himself look good in front of people. After Joe died Janie married Tea Cake. The people in the town didn’t like the fact that Janie didn’t wait long enough to fall in love again after Joe died. Janie realizes that she has spent enough of her life doing what others told her to do just to make them happy. She has learned that she needs to do things that make her happy.
ReplyDeleteAs a child, Janie defines herself by the people around her. This is made apparent when she recalls her childhood with the white family. She did not even know she was black until she saw a picture of herself. As a teenager, Nanny defines her and constantly tells Janie how a woman should and should not act. She also arranges for Janie to get married because it was what Nanny believed should happen. As an adult she is defined by her first two husbands. The first, Logan, treats her very well in the beginning. Eventually he starts telling her what she should be doing, where she should be, and how a wife should act. The second marriage with Joe starts off very much like the first. Janie thinks that everything is going great. Once again her husband starts taking over and defining what a “Mayors Wife” should dress like, who she should associate with, and what to do with her body. At the end of this marriage is when her life starts to turn around. She meets Tea Cake and decides that she likes him no matter what others say about the relationship. She defines their love by what she feels inside. Her life with Tea Cake changed drastically from the beginning. She realizes that it is okay for her to do the things she wants because it makes her happy. Janie does not need to please anyone but herself. This all relates to our lives because everyone has friends and family that can change who they are. What we all need to realize is that the final decision lies in our hands.
ReplyDeleteI feel that people largely decide for themselves who they are. A person’s identity comes from within, and only that person has the right to decide how it’s shaped. However, sometimes our identity can be influenced by outside factors. The mean girls in the hallways, the relationship you never recovered from, and the most obvious one, our families. Sometimes these influences are good, sometimes they are bad. But in the end, we are the ones who ultimately decide how things change our identity, for better, worse, or not at all. In the beginning of the novel, Janie is a young woman trying to figure out who she is, but before she can really begin to do that, her grandmother insists that she is married to Logan. As a result of this, she spends the next few years in an unhappy relationship. Next she allows herself to be controlled by Joe Starks. He degrades her and makes her feel worthless and incompetent. After he dies and Janie meets Tea Cake, Janie can finally find herself, and really shape who she is. She discovers that being happy and true to herself is the most important thing.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie is not quite sure how she wants to go about living without her Nanny guiding her. Because of this, her grandmother tries to find her a husband who will take good care of her after she passes on. As the story progresses, her first two husbands, Logan and Joe, tell her what she can and can’t do. While Logan doesn’t really promise her anything, Joe finds her on Logan’s farm and tells her to come along with him, and promises that things will be different. However, she goes along with him, and finds that things were not as she had expected, and he stills sets expectations for her. Because of the expectations that are set for her, she can’t do as she pleases, and is involved with many disputes with her husbands, sundering their relationships apart. When Joe passes on however, she meets Tea Cake, who never promises her anything, and lets her do as she pleases. Since she is able to make more of her own decisions, she is a lot happier with Tea Cake, and feels safer on her own after Tea Cake passes on.
ReplyDeleteI think that while you should have the largest part in deciding who you are, you should also partially rely on others . If you had a negative quality that you didn't recognize, how could you fix it without other's help? But you also shouldn't be someone who takes all criticisms into account whether they are valid or not. We don't know what mix of self and others teenage Janie uses in her self-identification, but we know how she identifies herself.
ReplyDeleteTeenage Janie identified herself as someone waiting for love. She thought the way to get there was marriage. Then, over the course of her first marriage with Logan, she learns that love does not equal marriage. She then meets Joe Starks, and is eager to have actual love. She then learns, over the course of her marriage with him, that loving someone at first sight isn't loving the whole person, because who Joe turned out to be wasn't who Janie thought he was. Also, Joe drills into her head that she is an old woman, though she is much younger than him. She lets that shallow, down-putting comment define her for the rest of the book. After Joe dies, Janie wants to show herself around, until others tell her that she is in a vulnerable position to be doing such a thing. She uses that to help identify herself as someone who just wants to be alone for a little while. Then she meets and marries Tea Cake, and has an experience with true love. After his death, she identifies herself again as someone who's satisfied to be alone.
I think that a person plays a large role in deciding what type of person they want to become. But, outside factors definitely influence our actions and decisions. We become who we are based on how we react to situations that come upon us. Also, family and friends play a major role in shaping the person we are. Family members help us make decisions and support us. Friends are always there when we need help and usually we act the way our friends do. We also become the person we are by absorbing the critiques from others and changing from them. During the novel Janie defines herself by the people living around her. She conforms to what is acceptable during her first two marriages and she really isn't allowed to be herself. In her marriage with Tea Cake, she experiences true happiness and finally finds out her true self.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, Janie goes along with whatever Nanny defines her as. Nanny sees her as a young girl who needs protection. Janie’s lack of knowledge when it comes to how she should confront her emotions is seen throughout the novel. This lack of knowledge leads to an unsuccessful marriage with her first husband; a negative consequence. As the plot progresses, Janie starts to realize that she can have her own thoughts and feelings about anything she wishes. This is a major breakthrough for Janie and as she continues to grow in character she starts defining herself more as the independent woman she always wanted to be. She may not have known about it when she was younger because she always listened to what others told her.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of the novel Janie lets other people define who she is. Her grandmother, Logan, and Joe gave her rules and guidelines to follow and she would always comply with them. Because of this Janie sort of shoved her true personality to the back of her mind. As the years went on she began to resent that so many people in her life made her feel like she had to do that. Janie realizes that she really wants to be independent. As Joe gets more and more sick Janie starts to look forward to being independent. When Joe dies this makes Janie discover how much she likes being independent. She doesn't even care that the people in the town say that it is disrespectful to stop wearing black for grieving early. When Tea Cake comes along he treats her as an equal and doesn't try to mold her into the perfect woman, is when she is able to define herself as a fully independent woman.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the person who decides who you are, is mostly yourself. If you want to change, you can make a change. On the other hand, every person you meet has an impact on you in some way, no matter how large or small. I believe that others trying to make Janie into a certain type of person, made her realize how much she really just wanted to be her own person. In the beginning of the novel, Janie is not really sure who she is. Therefore, she lets other help to mold her into the kind of person they want her to be. Such as her nanny trying to get her to marry, and the other children making fun of her. Janie is very confused about what she wants and needs when it comes to "love" in the novel because she's always let others decide what she was supposed to want or do. Eventually, she realizes she does not need anything and she loves being her own person more than anything.
ReplyDeleteI personally believe that the person who decides who you are, is yourself. People are going to come into your life and every single one of them is going to impact you. Some may impact you greatly while others will make a much smaller, less noticeable impact. People are always going to try and tell you, you have to be a certain way, act a certain way, live up to others expectations, but honestly, the only expectations you need to live up to are your own. In the beginning of the novel Janie lets her grandmother form her into someone who she thought she was suppose to be, not who she wanted to be. Janie lets her two husbands walk all over her, and shape her into the "perfect wife" and suppress her opinions. After Janie's second husband, Joe, passes she realizes that she only needs to make herself happy and that she is her own person with her own opinions and begins to love herself.
ReplyDeleteFriends and family have a huge impact on how people are. You grow up with your family and pick up the same views or thoughts, or have totally opposite opinions, but your family helped you decide how to think. Your friends will always be there and are society’s influence on you. Whether you think you are conforming to society or not, you’re being influenced by it. either live how others do, or rebel against normal views. Everyone and everything can have a positive or negative influence on your life, it is all up to you to decide how you’re going to use the experience. No matter what happens, you are the only person that really decides who you are. Janie let her grandmother tell her who to marry, her first two husbands told her how to act, and Tea Cake showed her what true love was, but in the end it was Janie who made her decisions and turned out happy. She had her own thoughts and lived her own life, and she didn't care what anybody said.
ReplyDeleteI believe that others in your life help define who you are; especially people you are close to like your friends and family. They help guide you to make the right decisions and give you advice when you need it. You will make your own decisions in life, but others will be there to influence or even change those decisions based on what they are and what they have to deal with. It is good to take others’ advice because it may lead you to a better decision, but it is also good to deny it as well because in the long run it might make you a better and smarter person. At the beginning of the novel Janie defines herself as a strong and independent woman but Logan, her first husband, starts to change that. He tells her what to do and expects her to do it willingly. Then in her next marriage to Joe Starks it is even more controlling and Janie doesn’t get to be herself at all. Finally when she meets Tea Cake he lets her be herself and be independent like she wanted to all along, and that’s when she is finally happy.
ReplyDeleteSelf-definition is something people long for their entire lives. Others will come and go while leaving behind memories and experiences to help shape you and make you who you are. Although the decisions you make in your life are ultimately up to you, hearing and learning from others advice may develop your thoughts to aid in the choices you make. At the beginning of the novel, Janie is unsure of who she is. She hopes to define herself through love, but as she is pushed into a marriage with Logan, that is not case. He tries to make her someone she is not and leads her to run off with Joe. Unfortunately, Janie did not discover herself in the love of Joe either. She was too controlled and not given the freedom to be her own person. After his death, Janie finally begins to find herself. She marries Tea Cake who gives Janie the space she needs to become her own independent person. She becomes a woman who is confident in herself and her decisions despite what other people may think.
ReplyDeleteThe people that come into your life help define who you are, but ultimately, you are the one who has to apply the changes to yourself. Janie was not sure who she was, and it seemed as if she was trying to discover who she was with each decision she made and each person she brought into her life. With Logan, she was trying to force herself to feel things she simply didn't feel. She tried to force love, and tried to be a wife as was expected of her but she couldn't bring herself to do it. That wasn't who she was and she fought it for too long. With Joe, she tried to love again and adopt a personality where she was quiet and supportive of her husband no matter what, but even that didn't work out for her. When Joe passes, she discovers that she has the freedom to search for herself again. When she marries Tea Cake, she finally has the chance to become Janie. She turns out to be a confident woman who has self-pride and makes her own decisions based on what she wants and not what others want her to want.
ReplyDeleteMany times, we set out to achieve something with specific intentions. Our mind seems to be entirely set on our goal. Janie was set on falling in love. Along the road to finding her love, Janie's actions are influenced by the people in her life. Janie had the idea that when, and if, she married, it would be for love. But Her Nanny had more to say about the subject and Janie ended up marrying and settling for someone for whom she had no feelings. Jody was presented to Janie and his charm and suave attitude caused her to run off with him. During her second marriage,she was inclined to act according to her high social standard by the community of Eatonville. But most importantly, all of these circumstances led and influenced her to run away with Tea Cake and fall madly in love.
ReplyDeleteSo, though I wholly agree that the influences of others in your life can be significant, the impact of others can be negative or positive. In Janie's case, she had many small negative instances of persuasion that converged to form a greater outcome.
Throughout the entire novel it seems like Janie is trying to define herself as Janie not as someone’s wife or property. Janie just seems to want to find herself and when she meets Teacake she is finally able to become the person she wants to be without fear of having to change. Janie has definitely been shaped by the people around her; these influences have been both positive and negative, but have shaped her into the person she feels more comfortable with being at the end of the novel. She has been shaped through her ideas of falling in love, being forced into marriage, running away with another man on impulse, living through a hurricane, and watching people she loved die just to name a few of the things that had a large impact on her life. Janie realizes that you cannot control other people’s feelings or thoughts and sometimes you just need to roll with the punches to get through a rough time and eventually that tough time will end. She also realizes more and more that it doesn’t matter what other people think about you it’s not their life to live.
ReplyDeleteIn life you have the right to be your own person. The person you are is shaped and molded in various ways by your surroundings, that being family, friends, enviroment, nuturing, and nature. So you do have the power over who you become but not in some cases all of it. This is the case in the novel when Janie marries different guys becasue her peers and family want her to. She then takes controll of her own life by marrying the man she loves. She takes controll and makes her own desicions and controlls her destiny.
ReplyDeleteWhen Janie was young she was raised by white people and she thought she was just a normal child, but she soon realized she was different than the other kids. This helped define her. When she starts to become of marrying age, her grandma's expectations for her soon force her to marry and live with Logan, whom she doesn't truly love. She is not happy or satisfied with how marriage turned out with Logan and realizes that she wants something better. She then leaves Logan for Jody who she thinks is exactly what she wants. She soon realizes that Jody's power starts to get to him. When he ends up forcing her to be the town's store keeper, she is no longer in control of her life. Jody eventually gets sick and dies. That is actually good for her. She is free to be herself and Tea Cake lets her be herself and brings it out in her. She let all these people define her but she realizes that she doesn't need them, she is her own person.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it is hard not to believe that your surroundings do not play a major role in who you grow up to be and how it shapes your identity. I whole heartily think that under many circumstances anyone can over come events in your life. You choose whether it makes or breaks you. Fortunately, I grew up in a wonderful home surrounded by those who love me, so I may be wrong when I say this. I would like to add that things such as peer pressure and conformity will always exist but it is up to us whether we accept or reject it. In this novel Janie actually begins to frustrate me on multiple occasions because she allows those around her to shape her identity. I feel as if toward the beginning of Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie allowed the people around her to mold her identity immensely making her unhappy at many times. She conformed to the idea of men being more superior to women therefore thinking that without a wealthy husband she would not be able to live out a happy life. Toward the ending she realizes that the things she was taught growing up was not true. Being happy did not mean marrying a man with higher class. In the ending of the book I would have to say that Janie did more identity molding herself than she ever had in her life. She always listened to the ones around her. In the end, identifying, and shaping herself by herself could have been the best thing for her and it was the only way for her to be truly happy. I just thought she could have done it much sooner.
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ReplyDeleteUltimately, self-definition is chosen by the paths in life one chooses to take, but each path one may choose is usually associated with different people and places; these are the people who help define oneself. Different people influence individuals in many different ways, and so the outcome of who that person is could change based on the people they are around in their life. That is why I think that others play the largest role in self-definition, regardless of our own feelings about ourselves. Janie’s life resembles this because she is constantly being defined by others no matter where she went. As a child, she was defined as a black girl, different from the rest. As she married, she allowed her grandmother to define her as a woman who is vulnerable and needy for a husband. After Logan was gone and Joe came along, he defined her as a trophy wife who was to do no more than to sit and look pretty. She constantly allowed others to define her. When Janie decided to stop conforming to other’s definition of who she should be, even that was because of other’s influences because if people weren’t constantly labeling her, she wouldn’t feel the need to break away and become her own person for a change. Janie learned that breaking away from conformity was the only true way to find her happiness.
ReplyDeleteI am a firm believer that we are products of our environment. When we are younger, our parents shape much of who we are based on their own morals and beliefs. As we grow up, we meet different people with different lifestyles and pick up on some of their habits, thus drifting away from our parents' beliefs and becoming our own person. Some of the people we meet will not always be right or good, but it is up to ourselves to make the decision not to become them. So in a sense, we do get to choose who we become by learning from the mistakes and achievements of others, but at the same time, there are some things that are out of our control. In the novel, Janie wants to be able to make her own decisions and think for herself, but her first two husbands oppressed her thoughts and turned her into a submissive, loyal wife. This is not the person Janie wants to be, but she conformed anyways because it was easier. In the end, she learns that she doesn't need people in her life that think they have the right to define who she is, and becomes her own person instead.
ReplyDeleteAs Janie lives her life she allows the people around her to shape and mold who she is. Janie makes the mistake of allowing other to define her and realizes it and ultimately fixes it. In the beginning of the novel Janie lets her grandmother shape the definition of love to something that it's not. During her first marriage with Logan he forces Janie to be someone that she is not and it makes her unhappy to the point that she leaves him for Joe. At first everything seems perfect until Joe stars to do the exact same thing. He tries to mold and shape her into his trophy wife and doesn't give her the chance to be who she truly is. Janie finds that as she ends her grieving period early that she didn't truly love Joe. When Tea Cake comes along everything changes. Tea Cake allows Janie to be who she truly is and define herself. This allows Janie to fall in love with him and finally be happy with herself and her marriage.
ReplyDeleteI firmly believe that the people around affect your "world" and life styles. This however, doesn't mean that you should allow the people in your life to mold you as you see fit. Take Janie for example. In the early parts of the novel, Janie is molded by her grandmother into what she believed was a woman, someone who is weak, fragile, and needs nothing more than a husband to take them away. This leads to her first relationship with Logan, where Logan only wants Janie to be his perfect wife. This leads to Logan trying to shape Janie's whole life, leading to her leaving Logan for Joe. Sadly, Joe ends up treating Janie the same, trying to make her be someone she wasn't. This leads to her, once again, leaving her husband and finding another man, this time Tea Cake. Tea Cake however, is different from the others. Tea Cake is accepting of Janie and let's her be who she wants to be. In doing so, Janie finally learns what it means to be her own person.
ReplyDeleteSociety defined her in the beginning when she was doing what everyone else told her do instead of what she believed. In her relationships she had to act a certain way for her husbands like when she was married to Jody and she had to uphold an image to please the people and therefore she wasn't at all herself. She was stuck trying to please everyone else and she couldn't get to her full potential. That changed dramatically when she fell in love with Tea Cake because she could be her own person and not be trying to live up to everyone else's expectations.
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