In
Their Eyes Were Watching God, how does gender (society’s vision of what it means to be male and female) affect characters’ identities, decisions, and/or lives? In the society presented in the novel, what does it mean to be a man? a woman? Do the society's expectations of masculinity and femininity affect Janie's life in any significant ways? Are there any other characters that seem driven by societal expectations of gender (say, Joe Starks, for instance)? How has society's concept of gender roles changed over time? How has it not changed?
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, gender controls much of Janie’s life. For example, Janie is expected to marry because if she doesn’t there will be no one to take care of her after her grandmother passes away. I believe that first decision to marry Logan Killicks set Janie on a path she might never have followed otherwise. I believe if society hadn’t demanded Janie to marry Killicks she might never have been so desperate as to run away with Joe Starks. However, Janie did run away with Joe, who just happened to be a man that put a lot of stock in the traditional roles of men and women. He believed he was there to take care of Janie and that Janie was there to sit and look pretty for him while doing everything he ordered her to. Fortunately, these traditional roles for men and women have changed over the years. While many men still choose to work for their families and many women still stay home with their children and cook and clean, it’s a choice.
ReplyDeleteThe society portrayed in the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, strongly suggests that men are expected to be the one's that provide the most for their families and handle all of the more masculine duties that life presents them with. I have found so far into the novel that one of a man's most important tasks is to resemble somewhat of a "shield" to protect their wives. In the novel, instead of being urged to fend for herself and brace her own independence, Janie is encouraged by her Grandmother to seek a man that will provide for her not only basic necessities but protection. Her grandmother doesn't believe that Janie has the potential of fending for herself and without a good husband she will suffer. When it comes to women in the novel, they're expected to follow customs and traditions by nurturing their families and maintaining a prominent role in the house regarding cleaning and cooking which is very stereotypical. When Janie marries Logan Killicks, at first he is considerate towards his new wife and does anything to please her but overtime he starts to demand her assistance with things that a man would typically do. Now when Joe Starks sees her taking part in more "masculine" tasks he smothers her with the idea that no woman should ever be getting their hands "dirty" and that they should be stress/care free while a man does all of the hard work. In my opinion I think there has been a great improvement in the gender roles of society today. We see more women taking on traditional male roles/jobs. In some scenarios it is almost as if we switched gender roles. However, although women have retrieved many praiseworthy accomplishments and continue to do so today, they're still instances where they're still not treated equally amongst men. Whether it be income,jobs etc. There are also many close-minded people who believe women should only follow traditions and customs by being "stay at home wives" and letting men accomplish more. I do not agree whatsoever. So hopefully society will continue to grow and women roles in it will too.
ReplyDeleteI don't think gender had anything to do with Janie marrying Logan first but as more as a traditional thing and maybe even out of guilt that her grandmother placed on her by telling her that she raised her and she wasn't even going to be able to see her married. Gender does play a factor in the book though as you can see that after Starks dies the men come from all over and try to take advantage of her because they think that she is a poor helpless women but in the contrary she is a very independent and strong minded women because of all the things she went through with starks.Yes it seems like in the book that men are the ones who are too provide for the family but in the case of Janies grandmother you see that she has raised Janie and her mother all by herself with the help of no man she provided for them with her own two hands but she did Janie wrong by telling her to marry when she wasn't ready because it just led her to be dependent of logan and not want to help out when in a marriage you are suppsed to come together, work together, and be there for eachother. Yes the traditonal gender roles are filled in this book where the man is the bread winner and the women are supposed to cook and take care of the house as the instance you see that Starks tells Janie that she can't go outside and talk to other men because she has to take care of the store.
ReplyDeleteGender stereotypes are not shown as greatly in Janie and Logan's relationship as it is with Janie and Joe's. Joe, for instance, wants to be the more masculine figure and wants to have control over his wife. He wants to portray the stereotype that society has given man. Janie, however, does not want to be dependent on Joe, yet she does not want Joe to become bitter when she does not follow societies views on women. Societies in older days were more favorable for males. Women were seen more as maids than anything else, meaning they were meant to cook and clean and obey their husbands willingly. This effects Janie because when she does something wrong in the shop, like cut a piece of tobacco sloppily, she is punished and ridiculed in front of a crowd of men. Society still views women as cooks and maids, but they are starting to realize that women can take on the role that only men have taken in the past.
ReplyDeleteIn Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie's expectations as a wife to Logan are very different to those of Joe's when they run off to a small colored town in the Florida. In the small town where Janie is living with Logan she is expected to work alongside him plowing fields and working on all the land they live on when she would rather just be in the kitchen and being a domestic homemaker. However, when Janie is residing in Eatonville with Joe all she is expected to do is be the "model wife" because they are always seen in the public eye due to the fact that Joe is the mayor of the town. Soon Janie realizes that her marriage with her husband is turning very cold and lonely because his main priority is being the big voice of the town and he puts her second. Janie starts to feel like her life is being governed by Joe and she is expected to be his version of the ideal wife for him. Today, women are more proactive in deciding what they will do in their lives. For instance, most women today go to college and get careers rather than staying at home as homemakers while their husbands are working like it was back in Janie's time.
ReplyDeleteIn the novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God", gender plays an important role throughout the story. The men overpower the women and expect them to do anything they say. The men in the novel are expected to keep complete control of their wives, work, and provide a financially stable life for their entire family. The men ‘owned’ their wives. They expected them to cook, clean, and do anything they were told to do without any hesitation. Janie follows her role in her first two marriages to Killicks and Starks. She was forced to marry Killicks because Nanny wants to see her in a good and secure situation and Logan Killicks can provide that, before she dies. Logan tells Janie to stay inside and cook and clean. She is told what to do, and is looked down upon if she does something wrong. During her marriage with Joe Starks, he treats her like an object and not a person. This society is affecting the way she lives. Joe Stark is very controlling when it comes to Janie, by following the gender roles that society has made for women. Today, men and women are treated more equally. Women are now able to work outside of the home and the men are less controlling. Their opinions and choices are valued more and they also play a key role in helping support their family.
ReplyDeleteIn Hurston's novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, gender plays a major role in society. Women are expected to be the perfect, silent, stay-at-home wife. Multiple attempts were made by Joe to put Janie "in her place", as was expected of her. Joe tried forcing Janie to be submissive by silencing her during conversations, beating her, and treating her as his possession rather than his wife. "...sometimes she thought up good stories on the mule, but Joe had forbidden her to indulge." (53) At another point, Joe sees her completely as his property, even going so far as to dictate the exact way she was to have her hair. "She was there in the store for him to look at, not those others." (55) Joe shows that he believes that Janie's sole purpose is only to please him. He also implies that all women need to be thought for because they have the same amount of brain power as a chicken or cow. Janie is expected to be obedient and silent because she is a woman. If that doesn't show the separation in gender roles in society, I don't know what does.
ReplyDeleteAs I got farther in the book I started to change my view on the gender sterotypes. When she is with Starks he doesn't let her socialize with the other men outside the store because he doesn't think she belongs there with him because she is a women. He kind of treats Janie like a slave because he doesn't let her do anything fun she wants to do and he even hits her he thinks that Janie is only there to serve him. After he dies all the other men come around and try to take advantage of her because they think that hse is a women she'll just stand there and be quiet while they take over the empire Starks left behind. When she meets teacake everyone thinks that he'll take advantage of her just because she is a women. In reality though Hurston portrays a strong African American women who has overcome many challenges and adversities and still has her happiness through the gender roles that society ha sput on her.
ReplyDeleteIn Hurston's novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, gender affects Janie's life in many ways. Janie is forced to marry a man she doesn't love, Logan, because her Nanny thinks that she needs safety. Her Nanny, like the rest of society, believes that a woman needs a man to be safe and secure in life. For a man, his gender means that he must be the top dog and assertive in his marriage. This is demonstrated in Janie's marriage to Joe. Joe believes that she shouldn't speak to the crowd because she is just his wife, and she doesn't have her own thoughts. Joe doesn't want her joking with all of the men because she is just a woman. For a man, he must be the provider of safety. In this society, a woman's gender means that she is submissive and she does the menial chores that come with being a woman. They believe that it is necessary to abuse a wife when she makes a simple mistake, such as cutting tobacco sloppily, to keep her in her place and to show dominance. Society's expectations of gender have changed in the way that women are now not as submissive as they used to be. Women are typically considered the equals of men. They have not changed in the way that men still expect women to be in the kitchen and doing the cleaning. Although these things are changing, it will take a while to eradicate the ideas totally.
ReplyDeleteIn Hurston's novel, Janie's Nanny tries to teach her about the differences in gender. She attempts to convince Janie that she needs to marry a man as soon as possible in order for her to have a stable life. Nanny told her that since she is now a woman, she must marry a decent man so that she doesn't end up like her mother. Gender stereotypes are not shown in Logan and Janie's relationship. Logan believes they should equally help out. When he doesn't think she's helping out enough, he brings it up. She doesn't even love him, so she leaves him. Joe and Janie's relationship is totally different, though. Joe doesn't want Janie to say what's on her mind or voice her opinion to anyone. He corrects every little mistake she makes. The way Joe treats Janie affects the way she feels about him. Nowadays, people still say that women should do all the housework, like cleaning and cooking, while men go out to work. I think that overall women are considered to not be as servile as they were back then.
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ReplyDeleteIn the novel the female is seen as weak and fragile. In the beginning Janie's grandmother wants her to marry so she will be protected.When she moves to the colored town with Joe she confined to the store. Joe is believes that he has to keep Janie's image as a mayor's wife as a high position. Janie's first husband had expectations of Janie to serve him. He wanted Janie to do physical work with him. Joe wanted Janie to work in the store where she would be seen as good mayor's wife. Joe wanted Janie to moral by keeping her from joining in with some of the events that happened. Teacake had little expectations of Janie and saw her as equal. In the society the male role is seen as the strong. Joe believes he is able to handle the crude jokes of the citizens while Janie is not able to. Teacake is seen as strong because he is able to provide for Janie.
ReplyDeleteIn the novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God", Zora Neale Hurston made the gender roles very obvious. She wants the reader to really know how it was then. The woman were expected to find a man that is stable and can take care of her. She is supposed to tend to the home and basically appease her husband. The man is expected to make a suitable home for his wife and care for the land. Janie marries Logan because that what her Nanny told her to do. However, Janie realizes that her Nanny was born into slavery and marrying a man with money and land would've been awesome if the opportunity was there in her time. Janie doesn't love Logan and when he tells her to help him outside she runs off with Joe. It's not a woman's job to do work outside. When she runs off with Joe, everything seems wonderful but eventually she begins to feel lonely. Joe is doing his job by providing Janie with a good home and wealth and Janie is doing hers by caring for the home. So why aren't they happy? Janie wants more. She looks beyond what the gender roles are, she doesn't care about that. She wants to be genuinely happy and love her husband. In this society, something like that is difficult to find. Today gender roles are very much different. Women and men are, for the most part, equal. Women are able to have a stable home without a man in their life. Both men and women work in today's society. Although, women are still typically supposed to tend to the inside of the home while men tend to the outside. Even that is changing, many women will work outdoors and many men will work indoors. Several do both.
ReplyDeleteGender affects the character's lives in many ways. Because Janie is a women she is expected to marry a nice man, and take care of a house and a family. Because of wanting to please her grandmother, and inadvertently society, Janie marries the man that her grandma chose for her. Tea Cake is also affected by gender roles. Husbands are supposed to have authority over their wives, they are supposed to control women so they become obedient. Tea Cake beats her, not because he was angry, but because he wanted to show that Janie belonged to him. To be a man in society he must control his wife, provide for his family, and protect them. Women are supposed to stay at home, they are expected to have hot meals ready when their husbands get home from work; lastly, they are to keep quiet in public, unless their husbands give them permission to speak. Society has changed quite a bit. Women can hold high skilled jobs, and are equal or more equal to men. In a strong marriage men aren't expected to own or have authority over their wives. However, women are still thought of as the main caregivers of a family.
ReplyDeleteIn Hurston's novel, gender plays an important part in Janie's life. In the beginning Janie was expected to marry right away because her grandmother wanted someone to watch after her after she was gone. This begins to show how gender is going to influence Janie's life because she was forced to marry someone she didn't love because she was a women and it was assumed she couldn't care for herself. Gender also plays a big part in Janie and Joe's marriage. Joe expects Janie to sit around, look pretty, and do whatever he says and nothing more. He wants to be the masculine husband and take care of Janie which causes Janie to start and push away from him since he won't allow her to do what she wants. Today gender roles have changed dramatically. Men and women are now allowed to share the same jobs and it's not thought of as weird to be a single man or women. One thing that hasn't changed about gender roles however is the idea of women staying in the kitchen and taking care of the kids and men working, fixing, and protecting the family.
ReplyDeleteIn this novel, to be a women means you are to be controlled by your husband, cook, clean, take care of your kids, and be taken care of by your husband; while to be a man you have to bring in income to support your family, tell your wife what she is and is not to do, be the man of the house. This societies expectations of men and women play a huge part in Janie's life. Because her grandma wont be around much longer to take care of her Janie must be married off to a man she doesn't even like, so he can take care of her. If Janie had lived in todays society she would have an actual say in her life and things would have played out much different. Joe is especially influenced by their societies expectations of men and women by how he thinks Janie should be. He wants her to be the traditional women doing as he says and not much more. Gender roles have changed a lot up until today. Now, gender roles are ignored by many people and both men and woman are free to do as they please, but at the very same time theres still that social stigma that men work to put food on the table while women cook/clean/and care for the children.
ReplyDeleteIn Their Eyes Were Watching God, gender controls many aspects of young Janie’s life. Her grandmother expects her to marry a man not based on love but on how he can provide for her. This leads her to marrying Logan Killicks. Unlike traditional marriages expected from society during this time, Logan makes her to do more work than what it typically required of a woman. The life she lives as Mrs. Killicks is not the kind of life she expected to live which leads her to run away with Joe Starks. Joe has a more stereotypical perception on what a marriage should be the woman should stay inside where she should cook, clean and look pretty while the man should go out and work to provide for the family. This proves that men believe that women are in superior to them. The male dominance in the book affects Janie’s life by keeping her from doing thing that men would find socially unacceptable, which limits her to a very unexciting life.
ReplyDeleteIn the novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God", gender roles are very apparent. During the time period the book was written women were seen as objects. The men went out and worked while the women stayed around the house to cook and clean. Nanny sets up Janie to marry Logan because he can provide her with a comfortable life. Janie had male figures telling her what to do throughout the novel. During Janie's marriage to Joe, he treated her as if she were a trophy wife. This shows a lot about what Joe thinks about the gender roles in his society. Gender roles have changed over time in the way that men and women are now seen as equal. Things such as equal wages for men and women have been seen as a problem, but it is slowly moving to complete equality.
ReplyDeleteIn the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, gender roles influence the major changes in Janie's life. She is originally married to Logan, he being a man who can provide for a young women. She becomes unhappy when Logan asks her to do work that is outside the normal shpere of womenhood, and she leaves him. Joe Starks, on the other hand, has a very domesticated ideal for women, and he confines Janie to the store. In this part of her life Janie allows society's idea of women to control her life. She is unhappy with her life again and instead of speaking her mind she allows herself to comply to Joe's wishes. this is when Janie is the stereotyipical"weak" woman. Even today, though we don't like to talk about it, there is still the stigma that women are weaker than men, but we have come quite a long way from when this book is set.
ReplyDeleteIn the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God gender roles play a big roll in the main character, Janie's, life. For example, Janie is expected to marry a man who is well off and can provide her with a home and food. Though Janie has different dreams and expectations from her life than her grandmother, she obeys her grandmother's wishes and marries the man of her grandmother's choosing. Janie is expected to keep quiet about her opinions as a woman, and basically let her husband do and say whatever he wants. It's not very different the second time Janie gets married either. Joe expects her to look pretty, and stay out of his business because it is no place for a woman. In the novel, being a man means to provide a home for their family's, be the "bread winner", and to take care of all the heavy hard work that a small, fragile woman would not be able to do. Being a woman means to bear children, make sure there is a warm meal on the table nightly and to look pretty.
ReplyDeleteOver time women have grown stronger and have a lot more rights than what woman have in the novel. Yes, they're free to dress as they wish, look as they wish, and do as they please, but that's not the case everywhere. From personal experience I know that in many countries women are still expected to marry young, bear children, cook for the family, and clean after their family. In many places woman don't have the right to speak up and vocalize their opinions because if they do they're disobeying their husbands, or fathers and that can result in a variety of punishments. I guess my point is that yes, women have come very far in breaking out of the stereotypical rolls, but that's not the case everywhere.
The difference between a man and a woman has played a role in societies all across the timeline of civilization. Even as far back as the Romans, women were treated like property. In relativity to all of history, women have just recently begun to gain more rights. Just within the last one hundred years, women in the U.S. were given the constitutional right to vote. The novel takes place in a time period before this. Janie is constantly struck down because she is a woman. Joe Starks is the fictional personification of this striker. Yes he provides her with many luxuries, but he expects her to keep quiet and sit silently. Also, he never lets her play checkers, because he believes she does not have enough of a mind too. She does the house work, while he takes care of the important business of being mayor. For a long time, society believed women could not think for themselves, and needed a man to do that for them. This separated them, giving men the important jobs as doctors, lawyers, and political leaders while most women resided at home taking care of children. Though the gender roles have become more equal, is some ways they are still biased. For example, many jobs are labeled as jobs for women such as teaching. Also according to recent studies and statistics, there is still a fairly significant wage gap between men and women. Finally, still in other countries such as Afghanistan, still don’t have a full respect for women. Hopefully, women will be able to overcome these obstacles and truly be equal to their male counterparts.
ReplyDeleteIn Their Eyes Were Watching God, gender roles play a strong role in character identity. In the beginning, Janie's grandmother was afraid that if Janie did not marry right away, there would have been no one to take care of her once she passed away. Marrying Logan Killicks right away affected Janie because she did not love him and she claimed that she did not know how to love him. She was stuck in a loveless marriage with a man that tried to make her do what was considered to be "mans work." So when Joe Starks came into the picture, Janie was swept away by his intentions of not having her work. This marriage affected Janie because she was robbed of all the things that she felt a woman should be doing. In the novel, females are expected to marry, listen to their husband, and take care of their family and home. Males are expected to bring order to the household and be the provider for the family. Joe Starks was influenced by society's expectation of being a male by ordering Janie around the store and preventing her from things such as finishing a speech and going to a funeral. Once Joe passed away and she was quickly married to Tea Cake, society's expectations of masculinity and femininity start to affect Janie. She is no longer found wearing her best dresses anymore, but rather wearing overalls and working out in the fields with Tea Cake. Over time, society’s concept of gender roles have changed because there are less and less marriages. This is because women have been starting to feel more independent without a husband to take care of them. Many women are wanting to take the role of being the primary breadwinner for themselves. Society’s concept of gender roles have not changed over time however in the sense that even though women can have full-time jobs, they are still expected to keep the house in line.
ReplyDeleteIn Hurston’s novel, gender plays a big part in the main character, Janie’s life. In the beginning her grandmother wanted her to marry this man Janie did not love because she wanted someone to take care of Janie after she passed. This just shows you how gender already plays a role in this novel. It showed that because Janie was a woman who needed to get married and have someone take care of her because she couldn’t take care of herself. Later on in the novel Janie marries Joe Starks, which is another marriage that gender plays a role in. Joe expects Janie to sit around, look pretty, and do whatever he tells her to do but Janie doesn’t like that. Joe expects to be this great masculine husband that can take care of his wife and house which causes Janie to get irritated because Joe won’t let her do what she wants. Now in this day and age it’s all right to be a single man or woman because society has realized that we can take care of ourselves. Women can now do jobs that back then men were only allowed to do and vice versa. Some things have not changed though, like how women are usually the ones that cook in the kitchen and take care of the kids while the men fix things, work, and take care of and protect the family.
ReplyDeleteIn Zora Neale Hurston's novel, "Their Eyes Were Watching God," Janie's gender takes a significant role in Janie's life. Janie's grandmother pushes Janie toward marrying Logan Killicks. This marriage seemed like a good idea to Janie's grandmother because Janie would be taken care of after her grandmother passes away. This just proves that in this society, women, mainly younger women, are viewed as fragile individuals and unable to take care of themselves. Men are expected to be the producers and caretakers. This general belief on how society should function ends up having a lasting affect on Janie's life.
ReplyDeleteIn the novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God" gender roles play a huge part of defining a person. But for Janie, she tries not to be defined by these characteristics. She is 100% her own person. It took her a few marriages to figure all of that out. Janie was influenced by Nanny whose values were to establish yourself, have security, and be with a man to make your life meaningful. So that is exactly what Janie did by marrying Logan Killicks. But she realized she didn't want to fall into that role once she was unhappy with Logan. She understood that her role as a wife is not what it was all cracked up to be. Janie breaks free of the gender role of being a wife that does all the usual house chores and waiting on her husband's every need. The way that gender roles define you hinders your ability to venture off and experience the happiness that you could feel. Luckily, gender roles have changed quite a bit since then. Now there are many independent woman who aren't married, may or may not have children and can completely take care of themselves and others. There are still some of the traditional roles, but now they can be done by man or woman and have become more androgynous than previous times.
ReplyDeleteIn the novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God", the way people perceive gender stereotypes is greatly shown. One example of this is when Janie is married to Jody; he feels the need to boss her around because he is the ‘male’ and the ‘dominant figure’. This is a stereotype that said that the man in the house is ‘in charge’ thus leading to Janie having to do everything Jody wanted her to and not letting her make her own decisions such as where to work. Another example is when Jody did not let Janie talk to the folks of Eatonville or better yet even partake in an argument and state her side, depriving her from expressing herself. In the Society presented in the novel, what it means to be a man is to work, bring in the money and keep safe the wife and kids, while the wife’s job is to prepare the food, and to look presentable for the husband. The way all this affected her life was she never had the chance to be herself, and whenever she did she would be punished or looked down upon. A big surprise to all this is how Tea Cake handled gender roles. It seems throughout the book that he is a little more unrestricting on all the stereotypes. Such as letting her work in the fields with him, and letting her come out to social events. I believe society has changed a lot regarding gender roles. Just a little bit ago was a reform where women were allowed to see combat in war, also most, if not all, jobs are not legally allowed to turn down anyone due to gender. Watching TV, you realize a lot of great cooks are men, whereas back then men would not cook at all. I would say gender stereotypes have greatly diminished.
ReplyDeleteIn “Their Eyes are Watching God”, gender stereotypes are greatly shown. This greatly affects decisions Janie and other characters make throughout the novel. In the novel, men are supposed to be the providers. They are the ones that are supposed to go out and do the outdoor chores. Even though Jamie wants to be treated equal, she gets upset and offended when Logan asks her to try and help with some chores outside of the house. (This very precisely shows the gender roles of women in the house wanting equality, but doing very little to achieve it.) This causes her to run off with Joe. Once with Joe, she’s back into the same, passive, lifestyle she just got out of. Joe feels the need to be the big-shot in the town. He does all these projects to better the community as mayor. He’s driven to the extreme by the stereotyping in the time. This makes him feel good, because he is doing his ‘job’ as a male. He keeps Janie in the shop and running things there. Though, he is always critiquing how she does everything and acts controlling over her. He plays a dominate, male figure, how society thought he should be. This makes Janie almost resent him. But, once he dies, she finds Tea Cake, who openly treats her as an equal. Society, I think for this reason, disapproves of their courting. Tea Cake doesn't suppress her and lets her speak and be heard to him.
ReplyDeleteGender roles have changed so much from this time. Women are now allowed to speak out; even publicly. Women are now treated more equal and allowed to do the same jobs as men, without it being a big deal to the rest of society. Though in some ways, gender roles have hardly changed. Majority of stay-at-home parents are still women. Yes, more men are starting to take over this role while the women work, but majority are still living in the same ways as it has always been
In "Their Eyes Were Watching God" Hurston greatly shows gender stereotypes. Women are suppose to tend to the house and her husband while men are in charge of the house and work. While Janie is married to Logan she gets very offended when he asks her to help outside, which is an example of a women gender stereotype. So Janie got married to Joe who treated her like the typical woman back then. Joe always criticizes Janie on how she does things just like men typically did back then, but she got really annoyed with Joe because she still wanted to be her own person which made her resent him.
ReplyDeleteGender roles have changed from this novel. Women are treated more equally,and they are aloud to have the same jobs as men. Also the gender roles for men have changed as well men are now aloud to stay at home and cook. But at the same time gender roles have not changed because typically women are still are the stay at home parent and men still are the main provider in the family and tend to fix things when needed. But over all I think gender roles have come along way from this novel.
As I was reading the novel, I actually got very frustrated with the characters and their beliefs and expectations of females. Janie's grandmother perceives Janie as a helpless young woman who cannot take care of herself, which is why she pushes Janie towards marrying Logan Killicks. Janie has a stable life with Logan, but does not love him, which leads her to marry perhaps the most sexist character in the novel, Joe Starks. Joe treats Janie like a toy that is his to play with. She is not respected by Joe and is treated like she is his property instead of another human being. This somewhat reveals the view that men have of women in Janie's society; women are thought to be useless possesions that anyone can throw around. Men in the society are supposed to work and put the bread on the table, while women are expected to stay at home and do whatever their husband wants them to do. Tea Cake is the exception to this perspective that men have on women. When Janie eventually marries him, Tea Cake accepts Janie as the strong, determined woman that she is and treats her the way most women are treated in the present day. He allows her to work with him and lets her speak her mind on every subject she wants to. The gender stereotypes and expectations have changed throughout the years from what Joe's attitudes are to Tea Cake's point of view.
ReplyDeleteJanie's journey to find herself as an independent woman was challenged because of her gender. The way that her husbands treated her reflected what they expected of her. Back then the common way a wife should act was look perfect all the time, acquiesce to their husband's every need, and they aren't treated as an equal but more like a dependent slave. Times have changed in that the women have more responsibilities than they used to. Gender stereotypes have changed too but some still exist such as the women should do the cleaning and the cooking and the taking care of the kids, but now men can take part in some of those roles and it is completely normal and accepted.
ReplyDeleteIn Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie is not the only character affected by gender. Nanny wants Janie to get married so she will have a protector and a provider. Logan Killicks is able to give Janie both of these things that a man is expected to give a woman when they marry. To be a man in this novel means to provide, protect, and be the boss of the marriage. Shortly after Logan and Janie get married, Janie finds that she is not happy because Logan wants her help doing work on the farm that is not fit for a woman. To be a woman in this novel means to be obedient and take care of the home. When Joe Starks comes along, Janie leaves Logan to marry Joe. Like Logan, Joe is able to provide a home for Janie. Joe believes that since Janie is his wife now, she should not be out on the store porch joining in the conversations with the other men. Joe has control over Janie, and she doesn't get to say what is on her mind without Joe putting her back in her place. Masculinity affects Joe because he believes that he has control and power over Janie. Femininity affects Janie’s life because Nanny wanted Janie to get married to have someone to protect her. In this novel society thinks that women should be protected and have someone to provide for them. Society’s concept of gender roles have changed overtime because women are able to protect and provide for themselves without the help of someone else. The concept of gender roles have not changed in some ways because there are women who are stay at home mothers that cook, clean, and take care of the house.
ReplyDeleteIn novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God", gender plays a significant amount throughout the story. Gender stereotypes are shown greatly in Janie's and Joe's relationship. Joe was a very traditional man who thought that the man had to protect his women while the women was to do whatever the man told them to do. Janie on the other hand did not think this way until she ran away with Joe and he taught her to act as a traditional woman and do as he says. Janie does as he says because she fears that if she doesn't, it might anger Joe. Today the gender roles have not changed that much. Women are still suppose to be mothers to their children, cook and clean. Men are suppose to be the protector of the house and suppose to provide for their family. But in some circumstances the roles are reversed and women take on the masculine roles and men take on the feminine roles.
ReplyDeleteIn Hurston's novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, gender affects Janie's life in numerous ways. First of all, Janie’s Nanny forces her to marry Logan, a man she doesn’t love. Nanny thinks that Janie needs to marry Logan because in her eyes all women need a man to keep them safe and secure. Nanny, as well as the rest of society, see marriage as the man having dominance over the woman. Society’s view on marriage is demonstrated when Janie decides to marry Joe Starks. As Joe becomes the mayor of Eatonvile, he is looked upon as a powerful and dominant man. Joe and Janie’s relationship begins to die as Joe orders Janie around everywhere, does not let her attend the funeral for the mule, and forces her to tie her hair up in a rag. Over time, society’s views on gender have definitely changed. Today, many woman and men share the same jobs and women are also more involved in the military. Although there are still some gender stereotypes around today, I would definitely say that they have decreased.
ReplyDeleteIn Janie's society, being a man or woman greatly affects the choices you make in life. Women are expected to be meek and to accept what their husbands tell them. Women are handed from their parents to their husbands, never really knowing what it is like to have the freedom to choose their fate. They are not allowed to make important decisions and ultimately live at the mercy of the men in their lives. Men, on the other hand, have a much freer rein. They are the breadwinners, meaning it is their responsibility to have a job and to provide for their families. But being a man also gives them more freedom. It is socially acceptable to see a man gambling or drinking, whereas if a woman was seen in those situations, she would be an outcast. Much of Janie's life is shaped by society's expectations. First, she marries Logan Killicks because her grandmother wants Janie to have someone to provide for her. Then, after she runs away with Joe Starks and they settle down, Janie is often not allowed to partake in the interesting discussions on the front porch of their shop, because Joe does not deem it acceptable. She is instead sent back into the store to wait on customers, and berated by Joe when she messes something up. Other characters in Hurston's novel are shaped by gender roles, also. Janie's female neighbors (the ones gossiping about her), for example, do exactly what society expects of them. They marry a man, cook and clean, and never do anything to change the status quo. Luckily, our society has largely changed its views about women and their "place." It is now a common thing to find women having lucrative careers and being the providers for their families. Although we have come a long way, some people still wish to see women put back in their place, and often a man will be chosen for a job over a women simply because of gender. Changing society is still an ongoing process.
ReplyDeleteIn the novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, gender affects character’s lives in many ways. In Janie’s case, gender holds her back most of her life. Her nanny urges her to marry a man not for love, but for wealth and protection. Janie does so and pays the consequences. In addition, Janie loses her ability to share her opinion with the men because it is not seen as acceptable for women to partake in men’s business. Fortunately, Janie overcomes society’s role laid out for her as a women and chooses to follow her own heart. Joe Starks struggles with his gender role as well. Men are supposed to hold all the power and ambition. Any signs of weakness will be looked down upon by society. Constant pressure to maintain masculinity becomes too much for Joe and his fight for power and fortune eventually leads him to his downfall. Overtime, male and female roles have shifted dramatically, but there are still gender stereotypes present in today’s society.
ReplyDeleteIn the society presented in the novel the men have complete dominance if they choose. The men are the providers, the thinkers, and most importantly they are stronger than the women. Not only are they physically stronger but they are supposed to be emotionally stronger. This is demonstrated by how Joe Starks takes the responsibility upon himself to shelter Janie. He does this by keeping Janie back and creating rules to protect her from the common folks, as they are too rough for her, and the other men who fancy her because she would not be able to handle them herself. As for the women, they are the house keepers, the chefs, and the ones who raise the children despite the fact that they are treated closer to the way a child would be than an adult. The expectations of masculinity and femininity definitely affect Janie's life significantly. A successful woman is one who is married to a man who can provide for her, is good in the kitchen, and can keep a clean house. Janie's ideal, love, is not part of that success recipe so she often feels discouraged and lonely in her first two marriages. Masculinity is a factor in her life because men are the ones in charge and women are the followers. This is why Janie puts up with Joe's ridicule and unreasonable rules. Over time gender roles have for the most part evened out, there is nothing "off limits" to either gender. Even though that statement is true, there are still certain jobs and tasks that when mentioned, bring to mind one or the other genders.
ReplyDeleteZora Neale Hurston's novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God" really brought out society's views about women back in the early to mid 1900s. Janie runs into these views about gender roles very early on when her nanny points out that the threshold of time for her to find a man to take care of her was closing quickly. Janie's nanny was like most of society back then, they thought a woman couldn't take care of herself and needed a husband to make the money and look after her. As far as men go in the story and in this era, I feel like they thought only a man could make the money and do work. That you were only a man if you could tell your woman what to do and boss her around like she was no longer her own person and belonged to her man/husband now. We saw a lot of the bossing around approach in Janie's love life with Logan Killicks and Jody. They both thought Janie didn't know what was good for her and had to help her make decisions. But when she was married to Tea Cake he didn't boss her around much, he let her be her own woman but still protected her and made it imperative she would never spend any of her own money. You can only catch a glimpse of how society viewed women and men in the past now. Many women now hold jobs and bring in money, there are single mothers and men don't boss women around too much anymore. Society now views women and men much more equally than in the past, which is great because that is how it should be.
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ReplyDeleteIn "Their Eyes Were Watching God", the gender of each character defines their role in the novel. Janie tries several times to express herself to others but because she is a woman it is not her place. Women in this society are viewed almost as property to their husbands, where it is the job of the male to keep their wives in check and to beat their wives if they were to get out of line. The female role in this society is viewed as a supporting role to the male to do the meals and clean as the man takes on the difficult tasks and earns money. When Janie tries to express her feelings towards Joe Stark, she fails because of how uncommon it is to do such a thing for a husband. Which is also why Joe was wounded so deeply when Janie spoke publicly about Joe's age because it is not a woman's place to speak about those things in front of other people. Over time we have learned to see women as equals to men and deserve equal opportunities in modern day society. We also still consider women to be the "mother" role to stay home and take care of the children and prepare meals.
ReplyDeleteIn Their Eyes Were Watching God gender controls many aspects of society. Who you were supposed to be and how you were supposed to act all depended on whether you were a man or a woman. For example, Janie could not always speak her mind when she was married to Joe Starks because it was not what was expected of her. She was expected to cook the meals, take care of the house, and wait on Joe because that was the job of a woman. While Joe could do as he pleased without having to question what others would think of him. Joe was also expected to do the all of the work, be a leader, and be in charge. Due to the standards set by their society Janie was unable to show the world what she was capable of when married to Starks and Logan. She had an intelligent mind and was full of energy but was held back by society. Also because she was expected to marry someone who was of a higher ranking she did not marry for love until her final marriage. Society’s concept of gender roles has changed over time by men and women now being able to work together in the same profession and everyone being able to speak their mind. However, society is still full of stereotypes, prejudice, and some still do not consider women and men capable of achieving the same goals in certain areas.
ReplyDeleteSociety’s vision of what it means to be male/female affects Janie’s life. When she is married to Logan, she is expected to be in the house/kitchen all day, just like society’s so called “housewife”. During her marriage with Joe, the male/female traditional roles are the greatest. Janie does whatever Joe wants her to do and nothing else. Society roles have changed greatly over time. Men do still work outside of the home, but women do as well. Some women do still stay at home, but it is because they want to or because the man is bringing in enough money for the woman to be able to stay at home.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of gender roles is portrayed by Janie’s first two husbands, Logan Killicks and Joe Starks, and they both want Janie to do as she is told and take care of the house. Janie’s third husband, Tea Cake Woods, is much like today’s society and he wants Janie to do what she wants, and he allows her to help in the field and make decisions for herself. In today’s society, people are free to be who they want to be, and not have to conform to gender stereotypes such as women staying home to cook, clean and take care of the children while the men are out working to support the family. Although that does happen, women have jobs and it is rare that one person stay home to be the ‘homemaker’.
ReplyDeleteGender roles affect Janie throughout the novel. Janie’s grandmother wanted her to marry a wealthy man, it was already decided who Janie was to marry before Janie could think about it. Gender roles affected Janie in every marriage too. While married to Logan Killicks, Janie was expected to stay in the house and cook and clean. He didn’t want her to lift a finger; she was supposed to be a housewife. Logan took care of the fieldwork and doing things that required strength. Janie was married to Joe Starks and turned into a submissive woman. Joe was especially prone to the gender roles; he didn’t allow Janie to speak her thoughts or do what she wanted. Joe ordered Janie around and told her everything she had to do, like wearing her hair up in the store so no men would look at it. Joe expected Janie to complete all the womanly chores while he took care of the manly tasks, like being the mayor and lifting heavy supplies in the store. When Janie married Tea Cake, he let her do what she wanted, and the gender roles that restricted her throughout her life were gone. Nowadays the gender roles aren’t as prominent, but in some occupations it is uncommon for women to take a job, or in simple house or life tasks men will always volunteer because they think its their duty.
ReplyDeleteIn the novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God", Janie was greatly affected by society's idea of gender roles. Early in her life, Janie's Nanny wanted her to be well-off and marry a man who was credible. She convinced Janie to marry Logan Killicks, a man who she didn't even love. Nanny wanted her to slip into the role as a wife as soon as possible. During that marriage Janie cooked and cleaned and did everything a housewife did, because that was her role. During her marriage with Joe Starks, Janie was expected to do the womanly tasks, she wasn't allowed to lift anything heavy or do any real physical work. Joe had his own thoughts about gender roles and he thought that women should stay quiet. Joe perceived women as too dumb to even play a game of checkers. Joe Starks was more than happy about his gender role because he was the masculine mayor who told his wife what to do and when to do it. As soon as Janie entered her third marriage with Tea Cake, all gender roles were gone. He didn't feel the need to over-power her in every situation. He enjoyed taking her fishing and shooting guns. Tea Cake even let her work on the bean fields. In today’s society, I believe the concept of gender roles has changed. Women are now being seen as more powerful individuals whose roles have expanded to places outside of a kitchen. Men are still thought to have greater roles as women in today’s society, but looking back to the 1930's woman have come a long way.
ReplyDeleteIn "Their Eyes Were Watching God", everything in daily life revolved around gender roles. In the era in the novel, women are expected to work at home, look after the family, and tend to the man of the house. While this was the way for most back then, this was not the way for Janie which is why she ran away with Joe. While Joe was suppose to be Janie's escape, she still found the traditional role of having someone care for her and order her to do things. While our society has changed immensely over the years, gender roles are far from what they were but still have similarities. Today, everyone is expected to find a partner to help them live a happy life and be cared for in the future. In a way, but not as much so, women are still seen as always looking after the men in relationships while the men themselves are allotted the "heavy duty" work. Although this is not the case for a good majority of society today, the remnants of these ideas are still in the back of many minds.
ReplyDeleteIn Their Eyes Were Watching God, gender controls many aspects of Janie’s life. There are countless examples of what is basically sexism. For example, Janie’s grandmother wants her to settle down with Logan, a man who can provide and protect her. Now, I understand that many old timers are set in their ways but with being oppressed all her life, wouldn’t she want Janie to be strong and independent? Wouldn’t she want her to be free to make her own choices instead of settling down with this guy who doesn’t treat her well? More examples include what is expected of the gender roles in this society. Essentially, men are the hunters and women are the gatherers. To be a man means to provide and protect the women while the women must abide by traditions “feminine” tasks such as cooking and cleaning. The way men and women are viewed affects Janie is many ways like how she wants her own independence and wears overalls. I know overalls are a small detail but it really shows how much societies views affect people. You don’t see any other women in the story behaving like her.
ReplyDeleteOver time we have just barely overcome stereotypical gender roles. It may seem like we’re all equal but we’re very far from it. When was it that women gained suffrage? About 1920 right? We still haven’t gotten very far since then. Look at the facts, if you were to take the numbers from a man and a women with the same exact job and the same exact hours you would realize that women make around 77 cents less than every dollar a man makes. That sounds really equal doesn’t it? Let’s not forget that men make up most managerial positions (but there are more women than ever before recorded to be in managerial positions as well), and it’s actually a nearly endless list. But there are positives like the fact that there are more women going to college and becoming things like doctors and engineers and wrestlers. Things that were predominantly male occupations. So it’s not that we’ve taken any huge jumps in equality but we’re getting our feet wet. And with our generation I see more open minded people than close minded and soon it’ll count for something.
I think Janie really represents a typical woman from the 1930s in the sense that she is expected to be married so she will have someone to take care of her once her grandmother died. In this society woman are treated as if their only purpose is to have children and to raise their family. They have no real freedom because they are expected to take commands from their husbands and do only as their husbands tells them to do. males on the other hand get to make all the decisions and protecting their wives. I think the character Joe very well represents the typical male because he provides for Janie, makes all the decisions, and he treats her as if she is property. I find it nauseating that a person could treat a person like they are their property. Janie is treated with no respect but she is expected to obey all of the commands of her husband. This novel really shows how different times are now, at least a woman can be treated with respect nowadays.
ReplyDeleteIn the novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God" gender stereotypes are relevant. For instance, when Janie married Logan she took up some of the "male" roles. On the other hand, when Janie married Joe she was the typical women of that time. Joe played the "male" role and was the provider. All Janie had to do was cook, clean,and look pretty. This novel shows that you shouldn't stereotype people based on their gender.
ReplyDeleteGender roles play a major part in the novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God". It is displayed in the very start of the book. Janie was forced to marry Logan Killicks so that she would have someone to take care of her when her Nanny passed away. Janie would have been able to care for herself because she was an independent woman, but society made it out to be that if she didn't have a man then you couldn't have a life because the jobs that brought in money were men's jobs. The set up between Janie and Logan started Janie off on the wrong foot to learning how to love. This situation lead her into a hard life that could have easily been avoided if it weren't for society saying she must have a man at her side.
ReplyDeleteIn Their Eyes Were Watching God, gender roles affect people's lives greatly in the novel. Women were to be the caretakers of the home. Men needed to provide for the women, since in that society women need to be feminine and men need to be masculine. They couldn't have it any other way. When Janie came back to her hometown, they were so shocked to see her in overalls instead of a dress, which is unusual for a women to not be in a dress. Society's views on gender roles have changed a lot since then. Single mothers are more common, a lot of women work and provide for their family, and men can also be stay at home dads or any other career that used to just be for women. Gender roles unfortunately still exist, some people can't accept that some women are more masculine and some men are more feminine.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, gender roles were a main part of "Their eyes were watching god". The men needed to be powerful, independent, and always asserting their dominance. On the other hand the women were meant to be feminine and were belittled by males. Janie wanted things to be equal between genders and when she found that Tea Cake treated her with the equality she craved the town of Eatonville was filled with gossip. People couldn't accept a change in the way things were supposed to be between men and women. I believe that gender roles have come a long way and are very different from what they used to be. Not saying that they are completely equal, but men and women are now viewed much more equally in many different aspects. For example, there are tons of stay at home dads or more independent women in the business world. Our society is still changing and becoming more and more open minded than before.
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ReplyDeleteIn the novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God", gender roles are a big concept. During the time period women were meant to be homemakers. It was told that a woman always needed a man to take care of her because they couldn't take care or think for themselves that it was too hard. Men were supposed to be the breadwinners and by doing so they would belittle or hit the women to show dominance. Joe Starks was a believer in this and kept Janie on a tight leash. He made sure that Janie knew he was in charge by making her bound her hair up so others couldn't see what to him was only for him to touch and see. He would hit her when something wasn't right or she got a little backbone and spoke her mind. We still have gender roles today maybe not has many black and white one they had back then but we have still have them they have just been disoriented.
ReplyDeleteSociety's thoughts on how a woman should act affects Janie several times throughout the novel. For example Janie is forced early in her life to marry a man because her grandmother thinks that she can't take care of her self. This changes her life forever because she eventually leaves this man. To be a man in this society in the novel you have t show you have power over your wife and that you can fend for your self. Women are supposed to make there husbands happy, cook, and clean. Janie is affected by the expectations of femininity when she is looked at differently for wearing overalls when she shouldn't be. Janie looks at Logan differently after she sees him crying which is breaking an expectation of manliness. Joe Starks seems to be very driven by social expectation. He wants to show his power all the time through being mayor of the town. He is always showing that he is smarter than others and flaunts his money on things like the light post. He also shows his dominance over Janie by not letting her have much freedom. He embarrasses her in public several times and always makes her cover her hair up. Over the years women have shown that they have equal power men through the types of jobs they work at. They are now not only stay at home moms. Women are still seen as not being able to do manly jobs though. They are still seen as belonging in the kitchen to some sexist men.
ReplyDeleteIn the novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, society’s vision of what it means to be male and female controls everything. Women are beneath men, they are to be in the kitchen and to be home cleaning the house and taking care of children. Men believe that they should be the ones to control the household and everything outside of it. They are to be pampered by their wives when they get home, being given dinner warm, and having the house spotless. Men tell the women what to do, rather than asking them. Women are expected to keep their mouths shut and do what their told. A defiant woman is one that is not accepted in society by men. Women cannot make decisions without their man’s approval; their personalities may be put down and crushed because they can’t stand up for themselves. While this makes women unimportant it makes men feel masculine to be in control. It makes their personalities over bearing and unbearable. Society’s expectations of masculinity and femininity affect Janie’s life in many ways. She feels like she shouldn’t have to run the store, she shouldn’t have to be yelled at. She feels like Joe belittles her and puts her down most the time. The major way her life is affected is nothing turned out the way she assumed it would have. She had high hopes and dreams and everything had been crushed. Joe Starks is also affected greatly by society’s roles. He puts his wife down and begins to beat her. He feels like if the mayor’s wife is not in her place it shows him as a failure. Society now allows women to be more independent and work outside the home. Men do not control them. Women still make less money than men and some people still stand by traditional roles.
ReplyDeleteIn Hurston’s novel, Janie is affected by the gender roles in the first portion of the book with her first two partners. Since she was so lost at the beginning of the book, her grandmother set her up with Logan to take care of her. In her relationship with Logan, her duty was to cook for him and do whatever he wanted around the farm. After she left Logan and went off with Joe, he believed even more so in that type of role than Logan did. He bossed Janie around a lot more than Logan did, and he restricted her in almost anything she could do. Nowadays, however, most couples take equal role in the decisions they make, and don’t boss each other around as much as the novel portrays. There are some things that haven’t changed, however most of these things that haven’t changed are choices that are made that involve responsibilities of the couples.
ReplyDeleteIn the novel it is clear that basic gender roles are a huge part in the everyday lives of the characters in the story. Men are typically suppose to be smart, successful,and strong while the women are suppose to be fragile, dumb, and obedient. Janie often tries to live up to these expectations until it gets to the point of almost total suppression. In the efforts to look tough Joe often degrades Janie on her work around the store. Even though Joe doesn't like making Janie upset at him and actually does care about her he still tries to live up to his image. Janie could have had a very pleasant life with Joe if he wasn't worried about his masculinity. Janie knows she is more than just a pretty face but tries to live life peacefully by obeying Joe. The gender roles are obvious when Janie wants to play checkers but Joe says no because she is just a stupid woman. Janie’s grandmother also talked about gender roles quite a bit. She always made sure Janie knew she was just a black woman who would one day need a man to look after her. I think Janie knows there is more to life and more to her. Gender roles affect her entire life. There are many rules for women that Janie feels unjust yet takes caution of. In our society women have gained a lot more status over the years. Women now work in jobs that are more typically associated with men. Women aren't expected to just be stay at home mothers, they can be whatever they choose. However women still have many problems. For example rape blame is a serious issue still being dealt with today. Though I think women have come a long way I still feel it is important to have women activist groups fighting for more equality so we can keep pushing the boundary.
ReplyDeleteIn the novel "their eyes were watching god" janie took many roles of gender. when she was with logan she typically took the male roles. On th eother hand, when she was with Joe she was the classic wife that you know, how she obeyed Joe and how she cooked and did not work besides the store. And when she was with Tea Cake it was kind of in the middle with everything because she cleaned and coooked but she also helped Tea Cake With his work.
ReplyDeleteDuring Janie's first two marriages, society's idea of male and female roles affected her life completely. While married to Logan and Joe she is expected to be the conforming housewife. This consists of staying at home, cooking, cleaning, and doing exactly what she is told. During her third marriage with Tea Cake Woods, the ideals of today's society were used in the relationship. She was allowed to make her own decisions and she is able to partly support herself by getting a job in the field. In the twenty-first century the role and men and women are beginning to mesh together. Husband and wives share roles of earning money for the family and taking care of the children and house. Also, the idea of men and women sharing responsibilities is acceptable.
ReplyDeleteIn this novel, defined gender roles are obviously present. The women are treated more like property than anything else. They rely on their husbands for almost everything, even though they might feel perfectly capable of handling it themselves. In the novel, Janie would love to speak out and have a voice, but Jody doesn’t seem to be okay with this. From this example, I see that the women are supposed to sit back and take orders while the men do what they please. Today, women are seen as equals in many people’s eyes. They are holding the same jobs, earning similar wages, and continually challenging what society throws at them. I think the stereotypes are always going to be present, but they will become less apparent as time goes on.
ReplyDeleteJanie's gender in the novel gets in the way of her human (not specifically man or women's) desire of happiness. When Janie runs away from her first husband Logan, Janie is looking to be happier, and when she leaves Eatonville with Tea Cake she is chasing the horizon line, to be in perfect harmony with herself, to find perfect happiness. Janie is unhappy with her second husband Jody because he tried to shape her into his idea of who the mayor's wife should be and who the town expected her to be because of Jody, silent and submissive, someone to be seen and not heard. Janie throughout her live has been trying to find her voice but because of Nanny, Logan, and Jody's oppression she is not able to find. Jody's need to posses and control Janie crushes her individuality and her voice, and his ideals smother her. But this doesn't make Jody a bad person who intentionally tried to ruin Janie. His flawed way of seeing the world misguides him and unintentionally hurts their relationship, not because he is evil but because he thought that was how Janie should be. Fortunately, most people now a days do not see woman as submissive lower class beings to be kept in the home like men back then did. Woman are now considered strong and capable human beings. Our society has embraced feminism and now accepts that both men and women have the same heart and the same brain and therefore should have equal rights.
ReplyDeleteGender roles play a large part in the novel. A man is looked to be the supporter of the family; men must have enough money to feed and support their wives and children. While the wife stays home and looks after the children. Women are also expected to look and dress a certain way. These things do affect Janie especially in her second marriage to her husband Mr. Stark, who expected her to act and look just how society wants. Janie became a prime example of how a woman should act during her marriage to Stark, because Joe Stark was greatly affected by social expectations. However, once Janie meets T-cake she no longer let society effect how she lived her life. As time goes on gender roles begin to change. Almost all of them come to except how Janie looks and the activities she takes up with T-cake. Though women are still looked at as the weaker sex throughout the novel and seen as needing protection from a man. Today, women for the most part are looked at as equal. There is still some stereotyping today, but for the most part women have proved to be just as capable as men.
ReplyDeleteGender plays an enormous role in Janie’s actions in the novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God.” Gender Stereotypes are greatly shown in the novel because society then and even now thinks men and women have certain roles they have to play. For example, Joe Starks and Janie are the perfect representation of this societal role that men and women have to play. The men are traditionally the breadwinners and the women work around the house and stay at home. Joe and Janie are the prime examples of this role men and women play. Yes Joe provides her with many extravagant things but yet he expects her to do her own things like chores and to keep quiet. Janie takes care of the housework while Joe does the important things of being Mayor. Overall, the gender affects the identities of everybody involved in this novel because that is how people thought in this time period. Traditional values were of great importance in this time period. Yes, the expectations of masculinity and femininity affect Janie’s life in significant ways. The male figure in Janie’s life whether it is Joe Starks, or Tea Cake, has to always feel like they are in control. That is just the nature of the man unfortunately for Janie because sometimes she would get beaten. In Positivity, society’s concept of gender roles has gotten to be more lenient, and less traditional than in the time period of this novel. I feel like society is becoming more tolerable of men, and women’s roles in society. However, people still look for the women in the house to do the housework, and the men to do the hard labor. Hopefully women will be able to overcome these obstacles, and be equal with men.
ReplyDeleteSociety’s vision of what it means to be male/female had a large role in Janie's life. For example, during Janie's marriage with Joe she is told to do only what Joe wants/tells her to do. I think that Joe's character is very controlling and he feels that women have to listen to the man of the house. Another example of this is in Janie's marriage with Logan. He specifically says in the book that Janie is a "Housewife" and should take care of things inside while he works outside. In today's society, gender roles have changed slightly. It is socially acceptable nowadays for both men and women to work either inside or outside of the house. Of course there are some people who still follow the whole "Men work outside, Women work inside" but for the most part society is becoming balanced with gender roles.
ReplyDeleteGender is an extremely important role in the novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God." The males are thought to be the leaders, workers, and just support the whole family. The females are thought to be in the stereotypical kitchen cooking for the family, cleaning the household, and dressing up nice for the husband when he comes home from work. In Janie's life she ends up having three husbands, which two of them thought that she was basically an object and ended up treating her like dirt. However; sometimes the male is at home, while the female is out doing the work and fulfilling the financial needs of the family. It seems to be quite rare. But I feel that if these stereotypes ever change, it will be a long time from now.
ReplyDeleteGender roles are a major part of the society in "Their Eyes Were Watching God" and it is very obvious. The reader can tell just from the first chapter when the women are sat on the porch, gossiping about Janie has she walks home. They whisper about how she's wearing men's overalls instead of a dress and has just come from a long day of work instead of spending the day at home cleaning or baking. They also comment on her hair being down, like its a sin for a woman to not wear it down. They finally criticize her for being covered in dirt for her job, implying that a woman is dirty if her clothes are. The women of the novel are expected to be home-makers; prepare a dinner for their children and husband when they come in for the day, keep a pretty appearance, keep the house clean, and always been on their feet ready for their next job. The men are expected to do the outside work; like bring home money and put food on the table. Janie's first two marriages were nearly like this, though her first marriage to Logan was less about gender roles than with her marriage to Jody. When Janie first wed Logan, he allowed her to stay in the house and clean as well as make dinner. However, a couple months after they got married, he wanted her to come work in the field with her. Jody coaxed her away from that marriage by promising her that he'd spoil her rotten and she'd never have to work in a field if she were with him. So in that marriage, Janie experienced a life where she sat around and played the stereotypical role of a woman by remaining quiet and supporting his work in whatever he did.
ReplyDeleteIt today's society, many roles have swapped. Sometimes, it's because there's only one parent around. Or it might just be because the gender doesn't approve of their "society-assigned" role. I do think that stereotypes still linger, but are on the road to change.
Gender has a significant affect in Janie's life. Societies view of gender roles really come to fruition when Janie is married to Joe Starks. This is because Janie is not allowed to do things that men can do. This includes, playing games like checkers, hunting, fishing, or even speaking to the regular men. This really affects Janie's life because she is just sick of watching the store all day, and wants something more. Gender roles also affect Joe Starks because he is expected to be in control of Janie's life. Gender roles have changed significantly today because women are independent and have equal rights as men. But,in some ways their hasn't been much change in that women are expected to look out for kids and cook more than men.
ReplyDeleteThe gender roles in "Their Eyes Were Watching God" are the very traditional roles, because the book takes place pretty early in American society. Back then not very many people challenged the roles that society had laid out for them. The men were supposed to go to work, make the money, and be the leaders of basically everything. The women were supposed to have and raise the children, keep up the house, and of course cook. However, in todays society many people don't follow the traditional roles. We have stay at home dads, and more and more we see women out working and becoming leaders of society. The stereotypes are not quite gone but we are definitely on the track to making a great change in the way society works and thinks.
ReplyDeleteMost of the characters in this novel seem to abide by the standard gender roles in their society. Men in this society are looked on as the only gender that can think for themselves and can make wise decisions without consulting other males. Men are the dominant gender in the society. Women however are only looked upon as objects for marrying and for status. Women are looked down upon if they think for themselves. Janie’s life is affected significantly by the feminine and masculine rules by being forced to marry someone just so she can have a status as a wife she is also affected by the gender roles when she lives in Eatonville her husband Joe does not let her make her opinions known when other men are around or even when the two of them are alone for that matter because he thinks his opinion is superior and doesn’t feel like she should waste her breath with her “worthless” opinion until the day he dies. Our society today has come a long way since then because women’s opinions are more valued and women hold higher positions in jobs now. However, there are still some people who try and stick to old “traditions” a way the concept has not changed because some women are still being paid less than a man is in the same job and workplace which is not right.
ReplyDeleteGender roles have always and continue to play a major role in society. This book especially portrays the magnificence of the difference of male and female. Reading this novel especially made me feel quite privileged to be a female in today's era rather than way back then in the south. Although sexism has definitely came a long way, I believe that it still remains slightly. For instance, today males continue to be portrayed as more superior to women as well as holding certain jobs. Even though there continues to be some sexism, it has came a long way. Today, we see women in all fields of work (maybe not being the majority sex, but still major step), stay at home dads, and even female bosses. In Janie's era men where seen basically as the only one with a voice. They were much more superior than women. Instead of being independent, women were always taught even as young children to marry a wealthier man with a steady job so that they can be supported. Instead of in today's society, I being a female, have always been taught to be independent, and to work for my earnings. In this novel I feel that Janie is especially effected because she is a female. Also, I believe that this fact makes her more scared to leave her first two husbands because women didn't have much of a chance to survive on their own and support their selves back then without being married to a man.
ReplyDeleteThe gender roles presented in "Their Eyes Were Watching God" are very stereotypical in the sense of men as the "breadwinners" and women as the house tender with a hot meal ready for him at any time. Gender very severely has an influence on lifestyle choices such as if a woman does not do as she is told, her husband has permission to beat her. Therefore influencing the decisions he/she will make to avoid this from happening. To be a man in the society is to have land, a way to provide for your family, and to have dominance over the female. But to be a female you have to cook, clean, raise children, and participate in consumation for children. Gender roles today have changed quite drastically compared to the neanderthal ways of life less than 100 years ago. Women now have jobs that only men use to be able to have, while men have women jobs. Some of the most powerful voices in the world come from a female ruler or just a high positioned female in a governments system (like congress or secretary of defense). Although a lot has changed there is still much more that needs to change to be completely equal. In today's time there are still many reports of domestic violence, women being mistreated, raped, and still many people like to think in the ways that they did back in the time period of the book. Gender today still can and does play a huge role when in search of jobs.
ReplyDeleteGender roles play a significant part in "Their Eyes Were Watching God". Janie is continually thought of as a woman who is present to do nothing other than serve the man she is married to. Part of being a woman in this book is looking presentable yet doing every task she is asked to perform. The men, such as Logan or Joe make the money, and they are the stronghold of the household. This currently still holds true in today's society. Fortunately it has calmed down and these traditional roles are by choice of the man or woman. Finding a suitable occupation that does not discriminate against women is difficult today. Men get paid an average of 33 cents per dollar more in the workplace than women.
ReplyDeleteGender vision held Janie back from so much from the time she was a teenager through her marriage to Joe Starks. Being a woman gave her the identities of a helpless, needy-for-a-husband teenager, to a submissive wife, to a pretty-faced mayor’s wife who does nothing but sit at home so she can “fufill her duty”. By taking on these roles, it forced her out of opportunities she may have had as a woman, able to do as she pleased. Living as a submissive woman was the cause of her running away with Starks and eventually moving on to be her own person after being sick of the fact that men should be the workers and providers and that she, as a woman, was stuck at home keeping away from money, politics, and the like. Fortunately, gender roles have changed some to become what they are today. Yes, women have just as many rights as men now, but women are still looked down upon in some ways such as being told that they are weaker, and less capable than men.
ReplyDeleteGender is a very important factor in Their Eyes Were Watching God, as it dictates much of what a person can and cannot do. Women are essentially born and raised to please the man they are married to, and are expected to be polite and ladylike while doing so. Men are expected to be able to provide for their wives and take care of their possessions, but they are given much more personal freedom than women are allowed. Men are allowed to be heard and get involved with finances, politics, and the like, while women are expected to stay silent on topics that matter and cook and clean instead. They are treated much like possessions and are raised to believe that they need a man to find purpose in life. This is evident in the novel, where Janie is forced into marrying Logan. It can also be seen largely through Janie's and Joe's relationship, where it is obvious that Joe doesn't see Janie as a human at all, but rather another one of his many possessions. He is also influenced greatly by society's expectations of man and tries to be as masculine and loud as he can be, as that is apparently a sign of power. Had the expectations for the male gender not been so high, I think Joe would have treated Janie a bit kinder, though probably not drastically.
ReplyDeleteFortunately, our society's concept of gender roles isn't as terrible as it was back then. Women have several more rights and are nearly equal to men, though the differences are still there. I could go on for ages about the inequalities in the work force, where men clearly dominate over women, but that's one of the more obvious differences that most people are already familiar with. There is also the fact that many men still think they are entitled to make important decisions that solely affect women, which is evident with all the controversy over abortion and birth control. Fortunately, it seems that our generation is much more open-minded than the last, so hopefully societal perception of gender roles will change for the better in time.
Gender plays a large role in society in Their Eyes Were Watching God and in the real world. Many people allow stereotypes to define and limit their views of a gender or race. During Janie's marriage with Joe they live a very stereotypical life. Joe does all the hard work and doesn't allow Janie any freedom or independence. Although Joe protects and provides for Janie, she was limited in their relationship and was not happy. Women are often limited by society and are capable of much more. Janie finds happiness with Tea Cake as he does not try to control or limit who she is and what she does. Janie is allowed independence and is respected. As time goes on women have been given many more opportunities and have continued to prove that their gender has no limitation on what they can accomplish.
ReplyDeleteGender does play a large role in the way lives are lived in the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. The stereotype of the old days where the man does all of the work, and the woman does whatever else he says to do really came into play in Joe And Janie's marriage. This is why in the novel, Tea Cake is able to make Janie so much happier. She is allowed to do what she wants, and he supports it, and the biggest thing, respects it.
ReplyDeleteGender plays a very important role in Their Eyes Were Watching Gods. When it comes to women like Janie, they are expected to be the perfect companion for their husbands. Women were also expected to be ladylike and leave all physical tasks to the men. Men were typically meant to provide and protect the women, an age old stereotype. The definitions of masculinity and femininity leads to Janie being raised to be reliant on the fact that she must marry and find a husband to protect and provide for her. Other characters affected by the society's definition of a man and woman are Frank and Joe, in the sense that they feel, as men, that they can mold Janie as they see fit. Over time, gender roles have drastically changed. In many households, the husband can be considered the cook, while the wife does all the work outside of home. In a sense though, they have slightly stayed the same, due to people still having sexist beliefs towards either end of the spectrum.
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