What is love? When my technological skills advance, I will certainly add links to a multitude of quality pop and country songs (as well as rock ballads) that explore this very question. You may have a Heart ballad stuck in your head right now just from reading the title (or that might just be me, '80s lady...).
Again, Hurston and O'Brien have struck a major chord with all of human existence when they each attempt to present a vision of love within their novels' pages. One of the questions that seems to come up when attempting to define love (or really anything, for that matter) is: what is it not? How does Hurston define love? How does she show what it is not? Do you agree or disagree? We'd love to hear your thoughts...
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, in chapter 3, Janie and Logan Killicks got married. Hurston then continues to write, "But anyhow Janie went on inside to wait for love to begin. The new moon had been up and down three times before she got worried in mind." (22) It seems as though Janie did not love Logan, but she thought since she married him the love would come to them. She expressed her concerns to Nanny about how she did not have feelings of love towards Logan, and Nanny says "You come heah wid yo' mouf full uh foolishness on uh busy day. Heah you got uh prop tuh lean on all yo' bawn days, and big protection, and everybody got tuh tip dey hat tuh you and call you Mis' Killicks, and you come worryin' me 'bout love." (23) It seems as though Hurston might think love is just about what a man can provide for a woman (protection, money, things to feel stable), or she could mean it is the exact opposite, and that stability is just comfortable, and not love.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the novel, Hurston expresses her definition of love as acceptance of another for who they are without gaining the need to change them so that society will accept them. She explained that marriage is not love through Logan. She showed that mystery and greatness and suppression were not love through Jody. Then finally, Hurston depicts this unacceptable relationship - at least in society's view - through the embodiment of Tea Cake and everything he offers Janie, including the freedom to think and choose for herself. Janie, in turn, awakes from the previous beliefs put in her mind from everyone in her life before and falls in love. Love, in my book, is the combination of extreme trust, vulnerable moments, and overall individual happiness of each person. For the most part, I do agree with Hurston and her position on love, but I do also have to add that true love should bring out the best in the individuals and shouldn't completely lose the people they once were before they met.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Hurston tries to imply various approaches to what exactly love is. It really comes down to how people as individuals perceive love and their experiences with it. Some may have a negative history with it and never get to experience the positive aspects of it. In the beginning Janie doesn't really get a positive explanation of what love really is. She is forced to believe that love is when a man will be there to provide for a woman and makes sure she is safe. Although these may be kind gestures they don't make up for the absence of a true connection between two individuals. This is mostly prominent when she marries Logan. He expects her to view him as the main authority just because he provides for her whatever she desires. Joe also has a similar outlook on his marriage to Janie. He expects her to listen to whatever he has to say and that she should be satisfied with the life she now has, reaping the benefits of him being The Mayor, reveling in the fact that women would love to be in her place. But all she really craves is for a man to treat her as reflection of himself and not something any lower. Someone that will show as much as an interest in her as she does them. Someone that is willing to contribute as much if not more than she is in the marriage. She spends so much of her life married to these men and she is so upset with the fact that she hasn't even been able to open up to these men and give them a chance to know who she really is. These men have tried to allure her with the idea of a "care free" life when it seems she wants more, perhaps excitement. This is when Tea Cake comes in to engage her more in life and experience it in a way her previous marriages never allowed her. He tries to break down barriers she has built from her previous marriages. He encourages her to speak for herself and grow as an individual. I agree with the fact that love should be a deep connection between two individuals where there are no barriers and insecurities should rarely if not ever be present. The acceptance of each others mistakes and flaws. I think that not everyone will approach love in the same way. It may take people time to discover what love truly means and that not everything turns out the way you want it to at first.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading the novel I see Hurston not necessarily saying exactly what the definition of true love is, but rather what love is not. When Janie marries Logan primarily because of the fact that Nanny deeply wants her to see she gets a sense of stability in her life. This act of marrying Logan to please Nanny leads to Janie being deeply unhappy in the relationship being forced to do manual labor on their land when she would rather be in the home cooking and cleaning. When Janie leaves Logan and runs off with Joe she has this vision of them starting a perfect life together and living an adventurous life together. However, this is not the case because after settling down with Joe and him establishing himself as mayor of Eatonville their marriage starts to lose much of its love and passion. Janie soon finds herself not having any say in decisions in their relationship and as the mayor's wife. Joe feels he is entitled to tell Janie what to do such as making her confined to the town store and not allowing her to wear her hair down. In addition, Joe begins to hit Janie making her feel even more weak as an individual. I believe with Janie becoming clearly unhappy in yet another marriage is just Hurston's way of showing what isn't love and what doesn't work in a marriage between two people.
ReplyDeleteHurston defines love in her novel by first explaining to the reader what love is not. She shows what love is not through Janie's first two marriages. When Janie enters her first marriage with Logan, she is naive. She expects that love will come with marriage, as Nanny always said. After a couple months of being married to Logan, she realizes she does not love him. Logan is always asking her to do outdoor chores when she really would prefer to be doing house chores. She finally understands that she is bored with Logan and doesn't love him when Joe comes along. Oh Joe, so much promise and courting...in the beginning. When Janie runs away with Joe, she expects him to show her what the meaning of love is. Joe has a lot of promise in him, and she thinks things will be different in this second marriage. After Joe starts the town of Eatonville and is elected Mayor, they lose their initial spark. Joe only looks at her as his trophy, not as her own woman. Joe thinks that he possesses her and that he can scold her in front of the whole store to make himself look better. When Joe dies, Janie doesn't feel the grief that the town believes she needs to feel for a certain amount of time. Everything changes when Tea Cake comes into the picture. At this point in the novel, Hurston begins to explain what she thinks love is. Tea Cake immediately sweeps Janie off of her feet and he is different than the other 2 men from the beginning. He doesn't own 60 acres like Logan and he isn't the Mayor of a town like Joe. In all honesty, Tea Cake doesn't have a penny to his name, but he makes Janie laugh like none of the other men have been able to do. Janie is willing to risk everything and take a chance with Tea Cake because of the way she immediately feels about him, and they end up extremely happy until his end. I agree with this definition in love in certain ways. I believe that in love, money and possessions aren't everything. If two people are happy together, they will be happy doing anything or being anywhere. The only way that I don't agree with their love is that Tea Cake feels the necessity to assert his dominance at one point by smacking Janie. He didn't mean it in the way that her other husbands did, but I don't believe in that method regardless. Altogether, Hurston does a great job painting a picture of what love isn't, but ultimately what love is.
ReplyDeleteHurston defines love through Janie's error in judgement. Just like marking off the wrong answers in a multiple choice question she shows that love cannot be forced. Although Logan took care of Janie and provided for her she could not bring herself to love him. Because she did not marry for love she eventually grew to resent him. Love is also an emotion that cannot be bought. This is expressed through Joe Starks who treats Janie like a queen. Together they reside in a big house, where Janie lives in a comfortable environment. But because Janie is expected to be royalty she is placed above everyone else, Starks wants her to stay away from "common folk". In the end she feels like a trophy wife and is oppressed, and prevented from making her own decisions. Finally, Hurston gives us her idea of what love is through the character Tea Cake. Tea Cake gives Janie freedom to keep whatever company she chooses. He even teaches her how to shoot and work in the fields like everyone else. Hurston shows that love is equality. You cannot look down on your significant other because then you could never respect them for who they truly are. I am not really sure how to define love but I believe respect and equality are the first steps to loving someone.
ReplyDeleteIn “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, Hurston showed many examples of what love is and what it is not. Janie is forced into her marriage and thinks that as time goes on, she will begin to love her husband, even though that doesn't happen. Love isn't something that can be forced. Love is an unconditional feeling of a strong attachment to a person. It’s spontaneous and an intense feeling of deep affection. The narrator of the story states, "She knew now that marriage did not make love. Janie's first dream was dead, so she became a woman." (Hurston 25). After this statement, she marries Joe Starks. Starks treats her as more of an object than person, and is very controlling over her. Janie likes him but doesn't have and unconditional felling of deep affection, which is love. Later in the novel she marries Tea Cake. During this marriage she falls in love and is much happier with him than her last two marriages. This marriage had love between the two people and Janie discovered a whole new love for herself. When you find love, it can be a beautiful thing; it can also be heartbreaking if one person is not committed to the relationship.
ReplyDeleteIn this novel, "Their Eyes Were Watching God", Hurston defines what love is and what it is not through Janie's experiences. She views fulfilling relationships based on respect for one another, which is presented in her relationship with Tea Cake, and brings Janie into an equality obviously missing from her previous marriages with Logan and Joseph. Love is not about property or competition, or given that one person may have something that the other person wants. None of that really matters if one person in the relationship is not happy. Clearly, Janie marries Logan only to please her grandmother, and since then she barely even befriends the man. Janie practically became his little decoration or tool used to help with daily chores. However, Jody comes around announcing his love, his accomplishments, and the basic necessities a married couple should acquire. She had much respect him, for he was a great man of power and achievements, and that's why she stayed with him as long as she did. Unfortunately, Jody did not see the same respect for Janie, at least not in the end of their marriage. Yet there was still hope when Tea Cake came along, for he loved her as much as she loved him, and there was a deep connection between the two friends. I agree with Hurston's definition of love, of mutual respect for one another. I also believe one could love someone, even in a friendship, and not have the other love them back, as shown in Janie's relationship with Jody. Of course, you would wish the other person loved you back, but it is all about one caring for the other, even if it is not reciprocal. When Jody lost his respect for Janie, she still cared for him no matter what, and when Tea Cake reacted violently from the rabid dog's bite and tried to hurt Janie, she still loved him and tried to help him. Either way, mutual love or not, everyone deserves to be loved, even if it is very difficult to.
ReplyDeleteTo me, Hurston's message associating love is that it is not planned and sometimes it is forbidden. Hurston defines love in her novel through Janie's latter relationship with Tea Cake. The two unlikely individuals hold an honest, steady love for each other, and their relationship shows that even if it is socially frowned upon, love can not be snuffed out. Hurston shows what love is not directly through Janie's first two marriages - either love was forced, or love was not respected. Hurston is implying that love takes its own time, and strikes unexpectedly. I completely agree with the author's opinions regarding the topic of love.
ReplyDeleteIn “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, Hurston shows a few examples of different types of "love". There is forced love, when she is married to Logan and cannot love him even though she knows Nanny had good intentions for her. When Janie married Joe, she felt a spark but later realized that she was only a trophy wife. She doesn't get the same respect from Joe that she gives to him. Eventually she runs off with Tea Cake. Even though their love for each other was frowned upon, Janie finally became her own person. Tea Cake treated her as an equal rather than a trophy. Hurston definitely does have great opinions on love.
ReplyDeleteDuring the novel, Hurston describes love through Janie’s marriages. The forced marriage to Logan Killick failed due to the fact that Janie cannot be forced to love someone she never really cared for. At first when she ran off with Jody she felt happy and truly started to feel like she could love somebody. That is until Jody thinks that he could be the most highly respected man in town and expects Janie to be the women that she knows she is not. Ultimately their marriage ends with the death of Jody and it is not long until she meets Tea Cake. She loved Tea Cake because he treated her like every other man. She loved Tea Cake because she found someone who could really love her and not care about what others thought of them together. Love can’t just be forced on someone, they have to experience it for themselves. Hurston does a great job on what love really is.
ReplyDeleteIn Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston doesn’t define love for what it is but for what it is not. As Janie’s grandmother had explained to her, she will learn to love a man who can provide for her and give her the things she wants in life. This proves to not necessarily true when she marries Logan Killicks. Unlike traditional marriages he expects her to help with outdoors work when it is usually the woman’s job to stay inside and cook and clean. Realizing that she will never learn to love Logan she runs away with Joe who she quickly marries. Janie expects more from this marriage then she had in her last. Joe is a determined man and wants to make his mark on the world which leads to the building of Eatonville. After being elected mayor, Joe and Janie’s relationship begins to diminish. No longer does she feel the spark between them as she did when they first met. Once again she finds herself in another unhappy marriage. When Joe passes away she is not devastated like a wife should be when her husband dies. When Tea Cup comes into Janie’s life he sweeps her off her feet. Although he has nothing to his name and can’t provide for Janie as Logan and Joe could, he still manages to win her heart. He teaches her how to shoot and work in the fields like everyone else. I believe that Tea Cup wins Janie over because he treats her as an equal instead of a slave or a brainless trophy wife. Love is based on the feelings you have for another person not based of the things they give you.
ReplyDeleteIn "Their Eyes Were Watching God", the meaning of true love is shown through Janie's marriage experiences. Janie's Nanny forced her to marry Logan. She couldn't make herself love Logan. Janie left Logan when she met Joe. She believed that being with Joe was what love was all about. Janie thought that until she married Joe. She came to realize that Joe didn't appreciate anything she did or said. He never let her speak to the men who sat on the porch of the store they owned in Eatonville, because he didn't want her to express her feelings or opinion on the topics they discussed. Joe would always criticize Janie on any little mistake she made. That's not what love is. Love is not pointing out the flaws in a person. Love is accepting the fact that no one is perfect and being able to forgive the person you love for the mistakes they may make. Everyone makes mistakes. Joe was also always quite bitter to Janie. A month after Joe passes away, Janie meets Tea Cake. She is not devastated by Joe's death, and the whole town notices. If Janie really did love Joe, she wouldn't be able to bring herself to have feelings for another man so quickly. Tea Cake wins her over quickly, and they run off to get married. Tea Cake and Janie's relationship is the meaning of love. He wants to teach her everything and learn from her as much as he can. He treats her with respect, and not like a slave. She is not his servant. She is his best friend and lover, and I think that's what love is all about. It's about finding someone who is willing to stick with you through bad times and having someone who will always care for and protect you. Love is not an emotion you can gain for someone based on the items they give you. It's about how they treat you as a person and how they look after you.
ReplyDeleteHurston through the story goes to show what love is not through how Janie expects love to come after marriage to a man. When Janie came to her grandmother after she married Logan she expressed her confusion on why she hadn't felt in love with him yet. With that, her grandmother didn't see that as an actual concern because Janie was provided for and taken care of. Because of that Janie was taught that love is what a man can provide for a woman and thats what really matters. When Janie left Logan for Joe she again had gone for someone because he could provide well for her and she would live a comfortable life. Both of which Joe could do, but he controlled her and treated her terrible. Love isn't what that person can do for you. Its more than that, it's what Janie has with Tea Cake. Thats how Hurston defines love. Tea Cake cares about Janie and treats her with respect, he treats her as an equal human being and is there for her. Thats what love is.
ReplyDeleteIn "their Eyes Were Watching God" love is defined as being happy with someone. Throughout the book Hurston shows this through Janie's relationship with Logan, Joe, and Teacake. Logan and Joe offered money and wealth but that only made Janie happy for a short time. She wanted more out of the relationship than just wealth. Also Joe treated her differently form others and kept her from what she wanted to do. With Teacake, Janie was truly happy. She was happy because Teacake wasn't after her money and treated her almost as equal. He spent time with her and didn't just give her wealth to try to please her.
ReplyDeleteI almost completely agree with how Hurston portrays love. With Janie it shows that she isn't completely happy until she is independent first. She finds herself, then she can be independent, but together with someone. Which is Teacake. He doesn't try to change her and he accepts her for everything that she is. I really like the idea of being happy in a relationship once you find yourself and do what makes you happy, then you can be with someone else who loves you for all of you. Teacake and Janie truly loved each other at the purest level of loving someone for who you are. Not treating you as an object or a spectacle for everyone else to see. This idea is what I loved most about the novel.
ReplyDeleteIn Their Eyes Were Watching God love is portrayed as personal happiness at first. At the beginning of the novel Hurston showed that Janie was more immature when she married Logan and when she found that she wasn't happy, she left him for her personal happiness and independence. Love is also portrayed as an understanding between two people and it was clear that Logan and Janie didn't fully understand each other. When Janie married Joe it was more about his happiness and well being than it hers. She worried what Joe would think and there was still misunderstanding between Joe and Janie. Janie was not truly happy and independent when she was with Joe. Then, when Janie met Tea Cake she found that there was understanding and everything seemed to balance itself out because for once Janie was happy and independent at the same time. To me, Hurston shows three different types of love. When Janie thought she loved Logan it was more of an immature love that was not quite developed. Although Janie did not love Joe for his money, there love was more of a stereotypical love where Joe wanted Janie to do what every wife was expected to do. But Janie and Tea Cake had a love that was more real than any other love. They saw each other for who they truly are.
ReplyDeleteIn “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, I feel like Hurston defines love as being with someone who wholeheartedly loves you regardless of materialistic things along with making compromises. Before Janie meets her true love Tea Cake, she must go through challenging relationships for her to first understand what love is not in order for her to later understand what love is. Nanny forcing Janie into her marriage with Logan was only based off of possessions, not love. A large amount of land and a promise to take care of Janie was a lot more appealing to Nanny for her granddaughter than someone she would love to spend her life with. On top of being stuck in a loveless marriage, Janie was completely offended when Logan would order her to work outside of the house when she knew that she wanted to stay in the house. Janie’s first marriage with Logan was completely loveless even when Nanny said that the love would eventually come. Her second marriage with Jody was also based off of possessions but unlike her marriage with Logan, Janie felt like she was in love with Jody because of all his promises to take care of her and to never let her do a mans work. Janie had no idea that with these promises, she would have been robbed of all the things that any other woman would do. Although Jody had many promises of a perfect marriage, however, just like Logan, he did not make any speeches with rhymes. Both men had many materialistic things, but in the end Janie knew that those things would never be enough. Through Logan and Jody, Hurston shows what love is not. Soon after the death of her second husband, Tea Cake comes along: A man with no home and no belongings but with all the love in his heart. Once Janie is married to Tea Cake, she is not ashamed to be out working in the fields with her husband doing “mans work”. Janie was able to compromise doing “mans work” with her husband. She was not ashamed of working outside with her husband mainly because she loved him and Tea Cake did not force her work outside or order her to stay inside. In Janie’s third marriage, she was able to freely make her own decisions. Hurston shows her definition of love through Tea Cake. I agree with Hurston’s definition of love because I think love should never be based off of possessions. I also agree that love is all about compromising in order to make the relationship last.
ReplyDeleteI think Hurston’s interpretation of love is pretty right on to what I think. She depicts that love should be natural and happen on it’s own. She also shows that you shouldn’t have to change and be a different person for someone to love you. In the novel, Hurston doesn’t directly describe what love is. Instead, she shows what love isn’t. Hurston’s description of what love is not is shown through Janie’s marriages. Janie’s first marriage is with Logan was set up by Nanny. Janie was always told you will learn to love him, because he provides for you. Janie soon realizes that she doesn’t love him, and can’t learn to. He starts asking her to do outside chores, that she feels she shouldn’t do because she’s a lady. This shows that being married to someone doesn’t guarantee love. She runs off hoping to find independence, happiness, and love with Joe. But Joe wants to make himself a big deal. He is elected mayor, and he has Janie start running the store. She doesn’t like being told what to do and how to do every little thing. She soon realizes she mistook her freedom and independence feeling as love for Joe. But no matter what, she stays by his side until death. A short time Janie then finds Tea Cake. Tea Cake is the first guy that hasn’t made Janie change to fit the norm. Janie falls in love with him, even though the rest of society disagrees with it.
ReplyDeleteLove is present throughout the entire novel. The relationship between Logan and Janie is not real. They have no real compassion or any common interests that could inspire a passionate relationship. This is shown by the fact that they never had decent conversations and I feel like if he really loved her he wouldn't beat her. Then when her relationship arises with Jody, he only uses her for show and she realized she wasn't happy only being there to please the people and help him win elections and the popularity of the people. She realizes that this isn't what love stands for. Finally when she enters a relationship with Teacake, she finally finds the real meaning of what love is to her. He treats her well and likes her for who she is. Teacake only beats her once and feels gravely sorry because he truly respects and loves her. She forgives him because she truly loves him.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Hurstons idea of love is something that comes to you, you will not find it easily and it will be hard to truly find. Also along the way you will come by many times when you are tricked into thinking you’re in love when in reality your in a ‘moments high’ such as with Joe Starks. He greatly explains the dangers of love and also peoples’ tricks with love. In the novel, when Janie is about to run-off with Tea Cake, many of her friends warn her of how young men take old women who are ‘well-off’ and take their money. Then when time comes they leave them. This to me is a way of Hurston showing how love can be a scam at times. Something that caught my attention in the book was when Janie said, “Cause you told me ah mus gointer love him, and, and ah don’t. Maybe if somebody was to tell me how, ah could do it.” This here brings a point that love comes to you and you can’t force it onto anyone, even yourself.
ReplyDeleteLove is not dull. It may hurt, humiliate, or excite but it is never dull. Love is not easy, it is something that must be continually worked at or it will be lost. Hurston uses Logan and Joe to define what love is not. This was extremely obvious with Janie's first marriage because Janie knew from the beginning that she did not love Logan. It was extremely dull and that is why Joe Starks appealed to her. Their marriage was great in the beginning but as time went on Joe began to stifle Janie and eventually she shrinks back inside herself and keeps her thoughts in her head. In the novel, Hurston uses a pear tree to represent love. She uses analogies like a bee pollinating a blossom to symbolize how two people can complete each other. She also just plain uses pollen to describe feelings of happiness, hope and life that go along with love. Her definition of love is completely portrayed by Tea Cake.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the novel, I feel as though Hurston portrays love as acceptance of another person just for who they are and not needing to change them for society. Hurston shows that true love comes to us when we embrace our true identity. In the novel, Janie has to overcome some obstacles where she marries men that determine her outward identity for her. Janie married Logan because she thought love was only about being under the security of a man’s wealth. Also, when Janie thought she had discovered true love with Joe, he ended up becoming a dominant mayor who forced her into complying with his every need. In the end, Janie finds her true love when she meets Tea Cake. Although Tea Cake may not meet society’s high standards, he accepts Janie for who she really is and allows her the freedom to think and choose for herself. My definition of love involves two people being able to be open and trusting with each other. If a person does not express their true identity, then they will never be able to have an honest relationship. Love should involve two people who share similar interests and beliefs. Most importantly you should love someone for who they are on the inside.
ReplyDeleteHurston really portrays what love should be in this novel. When Janie marries Logan she believes that love will come with the marriage. She thought that the idea of havin a stable home would be enough. Obviously, it was not. With joe, they had an immediate connection. Janie thought this man was the man of her dreams. She loved him.. Or so she thought. It was more lust, if you ask me. Maybe if Joe hadn't become mayor and was there for Janie more things would've been different. Anyway, Janie knew that this relationship was not going to work after a while. Joe could've given her anything but all she really wanted was his attention. Once she met Tea Cake, she knew it was true love. Tea Cake didn't have money or wasn't a mayor but he had what Janie was looking for. He had love. The love that she wanted all along. She can be herself around Tea Cake and he doesn't stop her. I completely agree with Hurston on the idea of love. Love isn't about the money or the label, it's about the degree of trust and interest two people have for each other. If you truly love someone, the money won't matter. You should genuinely want to be with that person through thick and thin. In other words, "until death do you part" for the rest of your life.
ReplyDeleteIn this novel, I believe Hurston defines love more of what it is not. In the beginning of the novel Janie marries Logan because of the idea of needing a man to take care of her according to Nanny. Janie expects love to come eventually with Logan and after a few months she realizes she doesn't love him and love won't come just because of marriage. Then Janie meets Joe and he is filled with promises and adventure so she follows him to Eatonville where Joe becomes mayor. After living in Eatonville and being married to Joe for awhile Janie starts to realize she is more of an object to him rather than his wife. She has to do everything he says and can't enjoy herself. Hurston uses Tea Cake to portray true love. He allows Janie to have the freedom to do the things she pleases and accept her how she is. Despite society's disproval of their relationship, Janie and Tea Cake are truly in love with each other and doesn't let anyone get in their way.
ReplyDeleteHurston defines specifically what love is not and should not be. Hurston describes the first two marriages of Janie's life to show readers what love is definitely not. Janie is suggested to marry Logan Lillicks by her grandmother, Janie has no idea what love is. Janie thinks love is what she had felt under the pear tree on a summer day, but she has no idea how to find it and so when she trusts her grandmother and marries Logan, she realizes she is not happy. That this marriage is not love, and that love is not found when you marry someone for security and safety. She runs off with Joe Starks and marries him for over twenty years. While married to Joe, she feels abandoned and lonesome because Joe is off running a town, and only depends on her to run the store and post office from time to time. Nearly a year after Joe's passing she finds out what love is for the first time. Janie understands what it is like to love someone after two marriages defining what love not is. Janie runs of with Tea Cake and lives a wonderful life with him which ends shortly but despite all the problems they went through, Janie knew she was happy and knew she was in love. Janie understood that you find love in nature and nature may fight you (the hurricane), but Janie can only experience in nature what love is and I completely agree with Hurston.
ReplyDeleteLove is a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection for another person. However, in Their Eyes Were Watching God Hurston’s definition of love goes much farther than that. She shows through Janie and Tea Cake that love is when you’re willing to go to the end of the earth for someone without a second thought, when you’re willing to give up your entire life and not look back, and when you enjoy spending every minute with that person and never wanting to be away from them. Hurston shows that real love is much more than just a feeling of attachment; she shows that it is bigger than the sea and is something that cannot be contained.
ReplyDeleteLove is not an item out for sale, love cannot be forced, and love is not a one-way street where there is only one way to go but is a field that is open to discussion. Hurston shows what love is not through Janie and Joe. Joe never listened to Janie and always made the decisions, and instead of being the man he first promised her to be, he turned into a man who always brought Janie down instead of allowing her to blossom. Joe tried to force love and in the end he was loved more by Janie when he was gone then when he was alive. The relationship between Joe and Janie was not love. I agree with Hurston on her view of love because love is something that is hard to explain because it is forever changing, and because love is definitely something that cannot in any way be bought or forced upon another.
Hurston shows us what love is by telling us what it is not. Janie marries Logan because her Grandma wants her to, and she never finds love in the marriage. Hurston is telling us that love cannot be forced,and on the flip side she is telling us love should be spontaneous. Jody woos Janie then she marries him and her marriage is boring, repressive, and most of all unhappy. This shows that Hurston believes love should be lasting, self-fulfilling, free for expresstion, and love should include happiness. When Janie finally marries Teacakes she finds true love; someone who makes her happy, and complements her high spirited nature. For the most part i agree with Hurston's ideas of love.
ReplyDeleteSince I am only 16, I do not really think that I know exactly what love is yet. However, I think that when you are in love with someone, you think about that person all day and all night and you can’t imagine your life without that person. I believe that Hurston shows what love is not through Janie’s first two marriages. In Janie’s marriage with Logan, Hurston shows that you cannot force yourself to love someone. During the marriage with Joe, Hurston shows that being rich, popular, and in power cannot make you love someone either. Hurston shows that love and happiness go hand in hand. If you are really in love with someone, you will be happy with that person.
ReplyDeleteWhile Janie was married to Logan Killicks, she feared that she would never him, so she went to talk to her grandmother to ask her for advice on how to make herself love him. Nanny told her since Logan bought her 60 acres of land right on the road, which is what every black woman should want, that that is love. Janie told her that she wants the type of love that is sitting under a pear tree and the physical attraction. Janie’s second husband, Joe Starks, didn’t believe in love, and that marriage was only for the man to have someone to look after them and feed them. Being with Logan and then Joe, Janie knew what love isn’t and she still wanted the passionate love she never had. While with Tea Cake, she finally felt that love that she had always been longing for. Tea Cake wanted what was best for her and promised that he would do anything for her, and that’s what Janie had always been looking for. That’s what love is, where you don’t have to think twice before acting if it would help that person.
ReplyDeleteFrom my perspective, I do not have any idea of what love is. I do believe that love is when you find a person that completes you like they were the missing piece to your life. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston shows what love is not supposed to be through Janie's first and second marriages. In her first marriage with Logan it is shown that you can't be forced to love someone that you don't have feelings for and expect for it to work. In her second marriage with Joe, the struggle of money and power overcome the relationship. It shows that to be in love you cannot be materialistic. Through these examples of Janie's failed marriages it is shown that you have to be happy with yourself and your partner to be in love and to have a successful relationship.
ReplyDeleteAfter Janie’s first marriage, she began to realize that love is something that can’t be forced. Nanny wanted Janie to marry Logan because he had a place for her to live and could protect her. Joe Starks came along and told Janie about his dream of running a town. Janie felt happy with Joe and they got married. Later in their marriage, Joe treated Janie like she was his property and told her what she could and couldn’t do. Hurston defines love as a feeling that makes both people in the relationship happy. Hurston showed what love is not through Janie’s marriages with Logan and Joe. I agree with Hurston that love can’t be forced. A person is more likely to be happy with love if it is not forced.
ReplyDeleteIn Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston defines love in a few different ways. At first, Janie really does not know what love is. She tries to believe that you learn to love someone; that you will become blind to someone’s imperfections over time. However, Janie decides that that is not the case. I think Hurston sets up two main ideas for love – that effort and acceptance are critical to maintaining a relationship. Janie finds that her first two husbands really don’t put in much effort to make her feel loved, and they are constantly trying to mold her into what they need her to be. It is hard to agree or disagree with the way that Hurston portrays love because love is different for everyone and changes with every relationship. As Janie says at the end of the novel, after her experiences with love have come and gone, “Love is lak de sea. It’s uh movin’ thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from de shore it meets, and it’s different with every shore” (191).
ReplyDeleteIn "Their Eyes Were Watching God", Hurston portrays love in a different manner that may bring light to a few lost minds. Janie's perception of love can still be referred to the pear tree and the symbolism it has. Marriage and love coincide and so she perceives their is a love between the bee and the tree. Janie is able to see love and marriage as something that should give and take, but not too much, and that should also make each other happy. This is the kind of love Hurston wanted to portray that Janie wanted to find but Janie found almost none of this love. Janie found the love that was pretend just to get by in life. In today's society, girls will admit to loving someone all too soon just because of their lust for said boy. Janie finds that this false love changes with each person. She is able to see that love is not trying to change a person to be up to standard but to love said person unconditionally not because of what they aren't, but because of what they are. Although this may not be many people's thoughts of what love is from the Hurston's novel, but from what is shown, this is a pretty accurate depiction of love. Many people today wish to find love; they give it away all to easily. The person therefore changes just to keep false love. To a lucky few, love is being themselves with flaws and all, yet still being able to love one another unconditionally. Is that not what love is suppose to be?
ReplyDeleteHurston shows the reader what love is in her novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God", through Janie's first two failed marriages. She shows us what love is by telling us what love is not. Janie's first marriage to Logan was set up by her grandmother to ensure Janie's safety and security. She doesn't actually love Logan. Janie thinks she may have found love after she runs off with Joe Starks, but later realizes that after twenty years of marriage, she felt alone. She knew love wasn't just obeying your husband. The true portrayal of love in this novel was Tea Cake. Janie was allowed to be herself and do what she wanted without worrying about what society had to say about it. She didn't care that Tea Cake wasn't the richest person around. Janie stayed with Tea Cake until his death because she loved him.
ReplyDeleteHurston defines love as being something that should fulfill you and make you happy. Love should make you selfless. Hurston shows this through Janie and Tea Cake’s relationship. They do everything together and would die for each other. Janie does everything she can to take care of Tea Cake especially when he is sick, and Tea Cake would do anything for Janie like when he jumped in the water to save her from the mad dog even though he was exhausted. They both are always so happy when they are together. Whenever Janie thinks of what love should be like she thinks back to the tree blossoms and the bees and how the two work together and both do things for each other. Hurston shows what it isn’t through Janie’s other two marriages. The marriage with Logan was just to fulfill her grandmother’s wishes and she really didn’t want to marry him. That marriage didn’t make her happy at all so she left. She thought she would find happiness with Joe but he just made her do what he wanted her to do and he was always putting Janie down and ridiculing her in front of the others that lived in the town. This is not what love should be like. I agree for the most part with Hurston’s definition of love.
ReplyDeleteWhat is love? Love is a feeling you get about a person that cannot be explained but only by a deep passion and wanting to be with them. Love is not something that can be forced upon some one or even "learned". When Janie and Logan got married she knew that she did not love him, but she loved the security his wealth brought her. She thought that she would eventually learn to love him. As time went on, Janie still did not love Logan. When Janie met Joe, she thought she loved him too, but then her tried to force his love upon her. Love is not a thing that can be forced upon someone, nor can it be bought with wealth. Love is something that happens when two people genuinely care about one another and they are willing to go through any obstacle for them. I do believe that Janie and Tea Cake really loved each other and it was shown by Janie because she stayed with him up to his last breath.
ReplyDeleteZora Neale Hurston shows love in her novel , "Their Eyes Were Watching God," in a very "unique" way. She shows how Janie learns from her past failed marriages, with Logan and Joe. Janie's marriage with Logan was forced upon her by her grandmother, and she did not love Joe. Janie learned from this experience and learned to not let third parties decide her love life. Then with Joe, Janie thought that she was in love, but she rushed into things and she regretted it because Joe was not who Janie thought he was. Janie learned from that experience to be more careful with her relationships and not to rush into marriages. When Janie met Tea Cake, she was careful with him and tried to maintain a friend basis with him until she was sure about the person that he really was. So, to get down to my point, Hurston's definition of love is something that must not be rushed, but must be nurtured.
ReplyDeleteIn the novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God", Nora Neale Hurston shows what love is compared to was love isn't. She shows this through the main character Janie and her struggle to find someone who makes her truly happy. The novel starts off by showing the reader what love isn't. When Janie is set up with her first husband Logan Killicks, it is only for the comfort of her Nanny. As Janie and Logan move forward in their marriage it is easy to tell that Janie isn't with Logan because she loves him. This is proven when Janie leaves Logan one day for a man she met in the street, Joe Starks. In the beginning Janie is fooled by his charm but quickly realizes that his ambitions of being a big time mayor would get in the way of their relationship. Janie is smothered by her own "lover" and comes to the conclusion that again she is not genuinely in love. Just when the reader thinks Janie will never experience true love Hurston throws Vergible Woods into the novel. Janie is uncertain at first but quickly looks past the impolite comments being made about Woods by her acquaintances in Orange County. She goes out on a limb and leaves with her new friend Tea Cake. As their relationship progresses Janie starts to comprehend that she feels different towards Tea Cake than she felt towards her other partners. Hurston shows how a relationship is meant to be through Janie and Tea Cakes love. Overall, Zora Neale Hurston made love out to be something that you feel, and as something that takes time.
ReplyDeleteIn "Their Eyes Were Watching God", Hurston explains what the meaning of love really is by conveying what it's not and Janie's first two marriages serve as the examples of Hurston's explanation. In Janie's first marriage she was set to marry Logan Killicks to please her Nanny. She eventually comes to the conclusion that she doesn't love Logan and that she never will. Next, she meets an ambitious man named Joe Starks on the street and is quickly taken by him. They move to Eatonville and Janie discovers that it is hard to be with a busy rich man driven by the public opinion. After Joe dies Janie seems to be content with her new independence until she meets Tea Cake. In the book, Tea cake is the example of Janie finding real love. Janie feels differently about Tea Cake than she did with the other men and she is finally happy for the first time. Hurston explains the idea that love is genuinely caring for and respecting someone that truely makes you happy.
ReplyDeleteHurston defines love as not always being with someone that people expect you to be with. She showed this through Tea Cake being younger than Janie. The whole town thought it was strange that they were together, they even made up rumors that Tea Cake was just trying to get Janie's money. Janie and Tea Cake didn't care though because they didn't care what others thought they only cared about what they thought. She shows what love isn't through Janie's relationship with Logan and Joe. Logan and her relationship was forced it wasn't true love. Joe and her relationship was spontaneous at first which showed it was somewhat forced like her and Logan's. Later Joe wouldn't let Janie do much and he thought of her as a trophy of sorts. I agree with Hurston's thought that love can be with anyone as long as you're happy.
ReplyDeleteIn Hurston’s novel, she shows the difference between false love and true love. Love is knowing you are with the right person, versus being told you are with the right person. Love is not a relationship in which both partners get into constant arguments, and only one of the partners is in control of all the decisions. For a true relationship, both partners should be able to equally share in the decisions being made, and also be happy with one another. Hurston shows what love is not by putting the kinds of traits she disagrees with for a true relationship into the characters that Janie loses in the beginning of the novel. I agree with what Hurston was thinking, both partners should be able to do what they want in a relationship, and both partners should be able to agree on most things they do together.
ReplyDeleteIn the book "Their eyes were watching god" Hurston shows us many different meanings of love. She showed us the love that everybody belives in, except for you. I am describing the marrige that she had with Logan and how Nanny was greatly satisfied but Janie was not feeling the love so she left him. Hurston shows us the dependent love that janie needs, which is a man named Joe Starcks who is very wealthy. The two love birds got married quick and later in their marrige Janie discovered the true personality and was not a big fan of it. And finally Hurston shows the love that nobody sees except for the people involved. Tea Cake was young poor man which raised the eyebrows of many towns people and many of them disaprooved of it. Janie and Tea Cake knew how it felt to them and that is the true love Hurston showed her readers
ReplyDeleteIn Hurston’s novel she describes love as acceptance. It is obvious when Janie gets involved with a man named Tea Cake. This is her happiest relationship because he doesn't try to make her feel inferior because she is a woman. He treats her with respect and praises her individuality. Hurston also explains love as friendship. Tea Cake establishes a friendship with Janie first before pursuing her by visiting the store, teaching her checkers, and sharing cokes. Their relationship is playful and pure. Hurston tries to make it clear that love is not objects by Janie’s relationship with Joe. Joe continually tells Janie that she she is ungrateful for being unhappy in their relationship. He doesn't understand that it takes more then things to create love. Another thing Hurston exclaims about love is that you shouldn't enter into it because of duty. Love should be passionate not just something that is obligated.This is shown through Janie’s first relationship with Logan. Janie marries Logan because of her Grandmother’s wishes however the relationship is mostly hostile and drives her to run away. Love is something that takes over you. I think it’s overwhelming and gives a person fulfillment. Hurston is spot on when it comes to love in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteHurston shows the true meaning of love by providing multiple examples of what love is not. Janie’s relationship with Logan shows her that she needs the person to be considerate and that the relationship cannot be forced. She doesn’t want someone who is going to make her do manual labor when she would much rather be in the house. While Janie is with Joe she realizes that she wants to make her own decisions, be more independent, and to be equal. She doesn’t want the person to think they are better than anyone else. Hurston’s final attempt at defining love is Janie’s encounter with Tea Cake. Tea Cake is willing to sacrifice things and trust Janie and in the end that is what she wants. I agree with all the examples Hurston gives when trying to define love, but because the word “love” in interpreted in so many ways I don’t think Hurston has a straight forward definition to provide the reader with.
ReplyDeleteI think that love is different in some way to everybody. Hurston shows love as, what everybody always says, just being yourself. Janie wasn't happy in her first marriage because she wasn't doing it for herself, she was doing it for her Nanny. In her second relationship, she finds herself happier being her own person, and being independent than being with him. Eventually, with Tea Cake, she is finally happy. They both genuinely respect each other, and are together just to be together. Not because he was trying to buy her love like Joe. So in the end, I believe Hurston was trying to explain that looking for love isn't going to find you true love, when its time, it will find you.
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ReplyDeleteIn the novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God” Hurston represents love by providing examples of what love cannot be. This is true when she gets into a relationship with Logan, which was practically set up by her grandmother. This proves the point you cannot force love, true. She does not want someone to force her to do manual labor, when she would much rather be in the house cooking or cleaning. In this relationship she found self respect for herself, and Logan was not the man for her. Next the relationship with Joe was about the luxuries, and goes to show you cannot buy love, you have to earn it trough self respect, trust, and loyalty. She realized she wanted to be more independent as an individual, and did not want someone to boss her around. Gender stereotyping comes into play here. Lastly her relationship with Tea Cake seemed like it was the one for her until a terrible tragedy struck them both, and Janie had to pull the trigger. Love can be interpreted in so many different ways but I don’t think Hurston suggests one simple definition of love to the reader.
In the novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God", I personally believe that Hurston displays what love is not with Janie's first two marriage, and what love is when Tea Cake comes into her life. At the beginning Janie lets the men that she was married to control her and belittle her, thinking that's how love was suppose to be. I think love should be unconditional, and very accepting. Janie finds that when she finds Tea Cake, but a tragedy comes between them.
ReplyDeleteThere isn’t a right way to define what love is not because love is different for everyone. Janie married Logan and knew being a housewife wasn’t love, but Logan thought treating her like a housewife was love. Janie wanted to find real love even though Logan loved her; it just wasn’t the right love to her. Janie married Joe and their love filled with power and fancy things. Joe thought love was keeping Janie under close watch and making sure she didn’t do anything wrong, but Janie wanted an equal partner and sweet rhymes. Both men loved Janie; their ways of showing it were confused with control. Once Janie marries Tea Cake she finds that they have the same love for each other, and no matter what happens everything works out. Tea Cake loves Janie unconditionally, just as she loves him. Their love lets each of them grow as a person and create a stronger bond. Even though their marriage ended in tragedy, Janie comes out of the situation with a better love for Tea Cake and herself.
ReplyDeleteOne of the first ideas about what love is not is presented in Janie's marriage to Logan. During that marriage, it is explicitly said that Janie learns that marriage does not equal love. Before the marriage, Janie had thought that once she got married to Logan, she would start to love him. This did not happen. I agree with this; marriage comes out of love, not the other way around. In Janie's second marriage with Joe Starks, Hurston shows the opinion that love is not fleeting affection. When Janie met Joe, she immediately fell for him and his ambition. When she had lived with him for a while, she found out what kind of a person he really was. I also agree with this statement. Know who your partner is before you make a big decision like that. In Janie's third marriage to Tea Cake, Hurston shows us one type of legitimate love: when the partners make each other happy. After Tea Cake dies, Janie flat-out says what Hurston thinks love is: a force that is different for each person it touches. I agree with both of these statements, and I'll add a third: true love is not when a couple doesn't have problems, but when they can get past those problems easily. This is shown in all three marriages. In the first, The main problem is that Janie never loved Logan. This is "solved" by her running away with Joe. She doesn't handle it well, since Logan never knew about this truth. The main problem in Janie's second marriage is that Joe kept trying to keep himself above Janie, to convince everyone that he could control her. This problem goes unsolved, because every time Janie brings it up, Joe shuts her down. In Janie's third marriage, there is no "main" problem: there are a bunch of short problems that get solved quickly. In the truest and "best" of the three marriages, all problems get solved quickly and without much arguing or violence. There is some, but it still goes more smoothly than the other marriages.
ReplyDeleteHurston shows what love is and isn’t threw Janie’s three marriages. In Janie’s first marriage Hurston shows that love can’t be forced, and real love lasts forever. In her first marriage she forced to marry by her grandmother. Her grandmother tried to tell her that love will emerge. Though the love never did, and soon the relationship she had with him changed. After time passed her husband began to treat her different. In her second marriage Hurston showed that love should not be based on societies views of what love should be, only on your own happiness. In her marriage to Mr. Stark, she let him make her societies views of a perfect woman. She was completely unhappy and it wasn’t till her third marriage where Janie found true love. Hurston shows true love as endless. Janie loved T-cake even as he became sick and died. Also, that love is found when to people are completely comfortable with each other and never want to separate. Most of all he showed that love knows no age. I also agree with how Hurston shows what love is and is not.
ReplyDeleteDefining love: In “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, love is an idea at first. Janie marries Logan purely because she is encouraged by her grandmother and she becomes in love with the idea of love. She assumes that she will marry him and learn to love him. Her grandmother tells her that he is begging for her hand, that he will be the perfect man. Logan in the beginning showers her with many things but as things begin to change, and we all know that things change, his emotions and attitude towards her change as well. He bosses her around and puts her to work. This makes Janie realize that what she thought was possible in forcing herself to love him was really an illusion in her own heart and mind. This in the story shows me what Hurston thinks love is not it is not a mere idea; it is not an illusion or an assumption. Love is not something that you can be forced into or grow upon. As she shows us what it is not, all in the same pages she shows us what it is. I believe love is a feeling that you receive deep inside, it is an emotion so overwhelming that it is indescribable. You cannot force yourself to love someone or assume that you will grow to love them. Either you love them or you don’t. There is no in between and no middle man. I agree with Hurston on what love is not. I also agree with her when she has Janie leave Logan. Sometimes you have to pack up your bags and move on with your life although you do not really know if the grass is greener on the other side.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree with how Hurston portrays love in this novel! She shows a different kind of relationship with each man Janie is with. For example, Janie's relationship with Logan shows that you can't love someone that you don't have feelings for and think that everything is going to work out. In Janie's marriage with Joe, it shows that the struggle of power between two people can destroy a relationship. Through these examples of Janie's marriages, it is shown that in order to have a successful relationship you have to accept that person for who they are and if things don't work out after that then you need to take a step forward and move on to find someone that will make you happy. We all know that love is not something you can find/feel overnight. Love is a very strong emotion that can be so powerful between two people and once you find it with the right person your love will only grow for each other.
ReplyDeleteLove is scattered all throughout "Their Eyes Were Watching God". In such ways as Janie going through three marriages! Her first marriage wasn't love at all, she was forced to marry by her grandmother. Her grandmother thought she needed a strong voiced man to help guide and protect her, this man was Logan Killicks. This marriage didn't last long, saying that she quickly ran off and got married to a second man named Joe Starks. Janie felt good with Joe, but his hunger for power ended up getting to him and it began to affect her. he eventually becomes very ill and ends up passing. She then meets Tea Cake, and they marry only 9 months after Joe's funeral. Tea Cake was Janie's first "true love". Two years into the marriage, a hurricane hits and as they flee from the flooding waters Tea gets bit by a rabid dog. The couple didn't realize the dog was rabid and Tea ends up going crazy and fires gun shots at Janie. Janie had to do the hardest thing in her life, kill her own husband. This shows how being desperate for life and independence can break down any relationship.
ReplyDelete“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. That is my basis of the idea of love and I think Hurston portrayal of love in the novel is similar. Hurston shows that you have to love yourself before you can love someone else. I whole heartedly agree with that and with the ideas that love consists of compromises, sacrifices, and being able to accept peoples differences. She also gives us a good grasp of what love is not through Janie’s relationships with Logan and Joe. Love is not trying to change someone, but instead allowing them to change you and make you into the best person you can be.
ReplyDeleteLove is something that can be an emotion of a strong affection and personal attachment or may describe compassionate and affectionate actions towards other humans.In “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, Hurston approach of the different times of loves seen through Janie's multiply husbands. In her first marriage to Logan, Janie's was forcing herself to start loving him but she never could. When she shared this concern with Nanny she told her love was stability and that's what he gave her. Her love to Joe was about the money and power he gave her and she loved that about him. Tea Cake gave the type of love she always wanted. He loved her for her personality and she loved him in the same way. Hurston showed many of the different types of love that we feel. I agree because love doesn't have just one definition its has many that all mesh together with each other.
ReplyDeleteJanie has three shots at "love" in the novel, though many mislabel marriage as love. Janie doesn't love either of her first two husbands, and she realizes this. Even before she marries Logan, she knows she does not love him and chooses to ignore this by telling herself that the emotion will come in due time. However, she only makes matters worse by forcing it to come and waiting on it. Like the saying "a watched pot never boils", Janie would never love Logan as long as she waited for herself to. Love isn't something you can force, and Hurston has clearly expressed that. Love is unconditional, love is surprising and can take you off guard. It may not always be pleasant, but it isn't something to take for granted. Janie knew about her troubles with the emotion, even when she left her husband for Jody. Though she didn't leave Jody, she knew she didn't truly love him. She shed her mourning clothes faster than she should have, and was ready to move on when she did. Tea Cake was her savior; he had what she had been looking for all along. He wanted her for who she was, not because society said for him to like her marriage with Logan had been or for her looks like Jody had wanted her for. They loved for their personalities, the loved for who the other ones. I agree that love doesn't have one definition, because one never knows when it will hit or who you will love. It's surprising, wonderful, and hurtful all at the same time. Yet, everyone loves and there's always more for us to love.
ReplyDeleteIn the novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God", Hurston shows what love is and is not throughout Janies realtionships. She was forced into her marriage with Logan and realizes that there is no real emotions towards him and she is only forcing herself to love him. She then leaves Logan and runs off with Joe. She envisions a perfect life with joe, when in reality it is nothing like what she hoped for. There was a love that was blooming but when he became mayor, the feelings between them died down. The relationship between her and Tea Cake was everything she dreamed of. She found true love and compassion between them. Their relationship to mean was the true meaning of love. Love can never be forced, it is something that comes natural between two people. When love happens, it can be a beautiful thing.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, Their Eyes Were Watching God, was a story mainly about a woman searching for love throughout her life in "all the wrong places" so to speak. The novel begins with Janie wanting to fall in love with a man she had no interest in. She figured that it came with the territory and that if she married Logan, they would eventually fall in love. However, that was not the case. Her second marriage began with what seems to be Janie mistaking wealth and success in a man for love, resulting in yet another fetal attempt at finding her one true love. Finally Janie meets a man that treats her right, makes her laugh, and she finds all of these feelings that she had never felt before welling inside of her.
ReplyDeleteI do not know much about love through experience, but I have learned by example. Love is not something that can be made or sculpted to meet the needs or wants in a relationship. It isn't something that can be substituted with material possessions such as fame or wealth. "Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone - we find it with another." (Thomas Merton)
To me Hurston has defined love in this novel as not just as a good feeling you have when you are with someone special and they make you feel happy, but as something that makes you feel like you could and would do anything in order for the other person you love to survive any struggle they may face and that you would never leave them no matter what. To me at first Janie’s idea of love is somewhat juvenile with her butterflies, but I believe Hurston is just showing the reader that this is not love even though that is what many people think it is. She also shows this through the relationship between Joe Stark and Janie. When Janie leaves her first husband for a guy she has received some attention from. This shows us that attention is not love it is just infatuation and as the novel continues we realize that the infatuation runs out and they just go through the motions as a couple and barely speak to one another. I agree with Hurston’s idea of love. Not everything about love will always be happy you have to be able to work through the challenges together and communicate. You also should feel like you would be willing to risk your life for the other person. I also believe this love is applicable to other relationships that you have with your family and friends not just limited to a romantic relationship.
ReplyDeleteIn Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston allows various perceptions of love to develop, all of which were vividly different from the next. It becomes apparent that Nanny views love as the ability of a man to support a woman. For others to respect her for marrying such a man. For her financial and social stability through Logan. Janie is stable in nearly every way but emotionally when she marries Logan. During the relationship she believes that love will come to her with time being with Logan. This love never arrives, and she becomes worried. Nanny is only angered by Janie's worry as she sees that she is not grateful for such a blessing as Logan. I believe that love occurs when you prioritize a person over other aspects of life subconsciously. Yet, love is elusive, it is not one thing. Love occurs with family, friends, pets, neighbors, God and so many others than just your significant other. As a Benedictine nun passionately states, "Love is free yet binds us", as apparent in theological terms.
ReplyDeleteIn the novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God" Hurston demonstrates love as a unique feeling with one person that nobody else can make you feel. It's not from buying expensive things or being a big shot to everyone. It's about being treated right and loving someone for their personality. The first relationship with Logan was forced, although he had feelings for her she had none for him. The second marriage was too good to be true at first. Jody talked the talk to her but never treated her as an equal. Stark would talk for her and forced her to do things she didn't know how to do. But when she met Tea Cake, he was the one. He treated her the way she wanted to be treated, as an equal. More passionate than forcing or having more important things to do than spend time with her. It was true love that Janie felt for the first time.
ReplyDeleteLove is not marriage. This is one thing that Hurston stressed through Janie’s marriage through Logan and Joe both. The marriage to Logan was not her choice and she waited for a love to happen that never would. Hurston also showed what love is not through a different type of person, and that is Joe; He promised Janie so much that she was absolutely positive that this second marriage would be different. It was, actually, but not in the ways that she had hoped. Once again, the love wasn’t there because just like the first, Janie had to conform to the role of being a woman. The only difference was that Joe treated her like a trophy wife, and yes she wasn’t forced to do the work she had to in her marriage with Logan because she wasn’t allowed to do anything at all. After Joe passed and Janie didn’t feel much grief, it was obvious to the reader that once again, the love wasn’t there, even in a marriage she chose. Tea Cake, however, is completely different from the others. He makes Janie truly happy, and not through money but through the way he treats Janie and makes her smile. Through this character, Hurston describes what she believes what love really is. I do agree that this is the way a marriage should work. Love happens when two people put aside their own needs and feelings to help the other with theirs; someone who you feel different about and who makes you feel different than anyone else. With Logan and Joe, that wasn’t the case on either side which, in my opinion, is why there was no love in either relationships.
ReplyDeleteTo know the true meaning of love, one must be able to experience it first. It is an emotion too strong to fathom in order to be fully be able to understand it. However, it doesn't take experience to know what love should never be: forced. Hurston makes this evident through Janie's marriage with Logan. Though Janie hoped to fall in love with Logan in time, it was just not meant to be. Once she realises this, she leaves Logan to marry Joe Starks. She initially believes she is in love with him and feels he reciprocates the same feelings, but she learns that he only values her as a trophy wife. Their relationship stifles Janie and limits her personal freedom, as Joe merely views her as one of his possessions. Her relationship with Joe shows that love should never belittle or degrade a person. Finally, Janie meets Tea Cake, a loving man who treats her as his equal. He never commands her or forces her to do things against her will, unlike her first two husbands. Janie and Tea Cake both respected each other as equals, which is necessary to make love last. This is what I believe Hurston defines love as: mutual respect.
ReplyDeleteIn Their Eyes Were Watching God Hurston portrays love as what it really is through Janie's marriages. Love isn't something that you can force yourself to feel. Janie hopes that she will develop love with Logan through her marriage with him. Janie's second marriage with Joe is another example of what love isn't. Joe simply uses Janie as a trophy wife and doesn't show her the love and respect that she deserves. Love can't be bought through money or earned through power. Janie knows she didn't truly love Joe as she doesn't grieve for him long after his death. Hurston uses a strong example of what love is with Tea Cake. Tea Cake sweeps Janie off her feet. He makes her laugh, respects her, and loves her for who she is and not for what she has. Janie falls in love with him and knows that he is the one for her. Hurston uses this as an example to show that love is something that's felt and not forced or bought.
ReplyDeleteLove is expressed very differently in the novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God". Love can either be forced or unexpected. When Janie was with Logan she wasn't in love with him. She felt that maybe she might be able to teach herself but that doesn't work. So when she married Teacake it was very unexpected. She finally found somebody who truly respected her and loved her for who she really is. True love is unplanned and can happen at anytime. luckily for Janie she finally found Teacake to be her prince charming.
ReplyDeleteIn the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie proved that love wasn't something that you knew about, and that was forced upon you, love was an unexpected thing. While Joe and Janie's "love" was forced, you could tell it wasnt real due to the fact that when he died, her grieving period was very short. However, the unplanned love with Teacake was real, and she expressed this in the book.
ReplyDeleteHurston defines love through the marriages of Janie. During Janie's first two marriages with Logan and Joe, the men try to mold Janie into who they want her to be, rather than who she truly wants to be. This is Hurston's way of showing what love is not, when you have to change in order to be with someone. This is the complete opposite of the relationship between Tea Cake and Janie, where Tea Cake allows Janie to be who she wants to be. I agree with Hurston that love is when someone accepts you for who you are, rather than try to change you. My view of love is that you shouldn't have to change yourself in order to be with someone, however; someone who WANTS to make you change is completely different, in a positive way.
ReplyDeleteThroughout Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston defines love in a myriad of ways, predominantly of which is through Janie's many marriages. For example, Janie's marriage to Logan was forced, and therefore, the attraction was simply not there and thus providing the reader with a prime example of what love is not. Hurston exemplifies quite clearly that love is not two people who merely reside together and have a mutualistic relationship, and that it is rather two people who benefit off of each other and thrive around each other, this example is proven by the marriage of Janie and Tea Cake because he doesn't force Janie to be something that she is not, he merely loves her for who she is.
ReplyDeleteLove is not marriage. It is an emotion of a strong affection and personal attachment. In “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, Hurston has defined love in this novel as not just as a good feeling you have when you are with someone who makes you feel happy, but as something that makes you feel like you could and would do anything for the other person you love.
ReplyDeleteHurston defines love through Janie's error in judgement, it shows that love cannot be forced. Although Logan took care of Janie and provided for her, she could not make herself love him. Since she did not marry for love she eventually grew to resent him because it was forced.
Love cannot be bought. This is shown through Joe Starks who treats Janie like a queen. Together they reside in a big house, where Janie lives in a nice environment. However, because Janie is expected to be royalty she is placed above everyone else. Starks wants her to stay away from "common folk" and in the end she feels like a trophy wife and is oppressed, and prevented from making her own decisions. Finally, Hurston gives us her idea of what love is through the character Tea Cake. Tea Cake gives Janie freedom to keep whatever company she chooses.
Hurston shows that love is equality. You cannot look down on your significant other because then you could never respect them for who they truly are.