Zora Neale Hurston “Their Eyes Were Watching God” shows and describes various themes such as speech and silence, love and hate, but above all the roles of gender. Hurston does an exceptional job of establishing what men like Joe Starks believed were the standard roles for African American women and how they were treated based on social norms. Hurston described Janie pertinently through her relationship with Joe and the metaphorical value of the mule. Her dialogue as a strong woman, not interested in the ideals of her white female counterparts, sitting in a high chair and looking out onto the world. Janie wanted a bigger purpose and call to action. We say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God," men and women fill separate roles. Not only are women portrayed as fragile and weak, but Hurston focuses attention on how men define their relationships, rather than going both ways. The message sent here is that women only gain power by marrying men who are powerful or at least motivated to wince what little power they may have. According to tradition, women are limited to the boundaries of positions of piety, passivity, domesticity and, of course, sexual objectivity. Men consistently silence women's voices, limit their actions with notions of ownership, and insult their appearance and sexuality. Conversely, when women exhibit traditionally masculine characteristics such as authority, intelligence, or ambition, men view them as unattractive and masculine. Male characters try to prove to their peers that they are masculine by showing their wives who's boss. This was not always due to personal desire, but also to society and in general, as well as environmental pressures. In “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” Zora Neale Hurston reveals the importance of gender roles and their place in African American culture in the 1930s. . In Chapter 6, Hurston shows the importance of males showing superiority towards female partners and their attempts to force them into submissive roles. In this chapter, Joe Stark's attempts to push Janie into a passive role by silencing her in conversations, physically abusing her in their home, and treating her like an object in his possession. The author establishes this early in the novel to serve as a catalyst for Janie to make the decision that her personal growth and development as a strong woman will only materialize when she breaks out of the mold that Joe has forced her into. Hurston shows that Janie should have the right to do what white women do on a consistent basis; perch on the high stools on the porches while they relax. “Everyone enjoyed chasing mules. Everyone except Janie” (56). This demonstrates how Joe points out that Janie gives the impression of living the white woman's dream of relaxing at home and being civilized, as this is the role dictated by her gender and because it furthers her portrayal as a powerful leader of the city. Even when Janie begs, “Nothing that important, I made Tuesday, Jody. How come I can't last much longer without dragging you out?" This confirms her desire to abandon the pre-set and generalized gender roles that women faced during this time. Janie wishes to forge her own path and do what takes her personal satisfaction as a woman and not what the perception of fulfillment is for all women. Janie's idea of ​​pleasure, however, is not present in the old-fashioned roles that women of the 1930s were expected to accept. let's continuewitness the outward manifestation of the superiority that men feel over women. If their spouses do not obey or follow rigid gender roles, it is common for them to endure the beatings, not unlike the mule in chapter six. Even something as small as an unwanted meal could lead to physical abuse. Many men believe that women need guidance in every aspect of their lives, constant instruction in basic tasks. This feeling consolidates the belief of the male gender that their sex is greater and superior than women. Many men believe that women are completely ignorant and need men to tell them what to do at all times; a feeling that adds fuel to the sense that their gender is greater than their female counterparts. In chapter six Janie objects: "You like telling me what to do, but I can't tell you anything. Ah see!" He replies, “It's because you need to say it.” It would be merciful if Ah didn't. Someone has to think about the women, the chillun, the chickens and the cows. My God, they themselves shouldn't think anything." Here, Joe alludes to the fact that women have intellectual abilities similar to those of a chicken or a clumsy cow and that they should embrace their role as a lesser companion. Ultimately, Janie escapes her traditional feminine mold of speaking only when spoken to and obeying without thinking. She finally finds her voice at the end of chapter six when she tells Joe, “Sometimes God gets familiar with us women and talks about His internal affairs. He told me how surprised he was... and how surprised you all will be if you ever find out you don't know half as much about us as you think you do. It's so easy to turn into God Almighty when you have nothing to fight against but women and chickens." Janie communicating with Joe in this way serves to inform Joe that she believes God speaks equally to both genders. He is opposing the city leader. Janie wants Joe to understand that he is not the god of the city because she too can be in touch with God. Furthermore, she wants Joe to know that he is aware that his gender does not make him a supreme being over her or any woman. This marks both an evolution and a revolution for Janie as a character. Now we begin to see his inner thoughts. Now she is ready to fight for her equality and liberation. As the chapter concludes, we witness a woman who refuses to allow men to continue to remain silent and demands equal treatment. Janie's metamorphosis from a passive woman to a woman eager to take an active role in defining the rights and duties of the female gender is established. “Now he knew that marriage did not make love. Janie's first dream was dead, so she became a woman." No longer afraid to defy her grandmother's fervent expectations, Janie realizes that her grandmother's archaic views of the role of women as pathetic, weak beings with the inability to survive without male protection - even with the absence of love in the relationship, represent limits for her. full potential. He hated his grandmother. “…Nanny had taken the greatest thing God ever created, the horizon.” However, Janie is undaunted and follows her instincts, including leaving her first husband and marrying her second, absent a divorce. “Janie ran out the front gate and turned south. Even if Joe wasn't there waiting for her, the change would certainly have been good for her." The chatter and gossip that permeates her town when she takes a younger man and leaves with him, widowed following the death of her second husband, do not hinder her path even in the slightest. The happiness she finds in her relationship with Tea Cake is all the sweeter because she has decided to face it alone. The, 21(1), 99-113.