Janies Search for Identity in Their Eyes Were Watching God :: Their Eyes Were Watching God Essays

Janies Search for Identity in Their Eyes Were Watching god         In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, there are many lessons on a persons search for identity element.  Janies search for identity end-to-end this book is very visible.  It has to do with her search for a name,and freedom for herself.  As she goes through bearing her search takes many turnsfor the worse and a fewer for the better, but in the end she finds her trueidentity.  Through her trades unions with Logan, Joe, then afternoon tea Cake she figures outwhat is for her and how she wants to live.  So in the end, she is where shewants to be.         In Janies early life she lived with her grandmother, Nanny.  Nanny andJanie were pretty well off and had the privilege to live in the yard of smockfolks.  While Janie was growing up she played with the white children.­  Whileshe was in this stage, she was faced with much criticism and was called manynames, so many that everyone started calling her alphabet, cause so manypeople had do named me different names.  Soon she started piecing togetherwhat she knew of her odd identity.  Then one mean solar day she saw herself in a photographand noticed that she looked different, that she had dark skin, and she said, in the first place Ah seen de picture Ah thought Ah wuz just like de rest.  From thispoint, Janie fell into slimly of a downward spiral, setting her off of thepath toward finding her own identity in society.  Finally when she was olderNanny saw her doing somethings under the pear tree tree that she thought wereunacceptable.  Nanny quickly arranged a marriage between Janie and a well-offlocal man, Logan Killicks.  In this marriage Janie resisted.  She felt up as if shewas losing her freedom was well as her identity, she wasnt Janie anymore shewas now Mrs. Logan Killicks, and she was so mewhat obligated to do what he wanted. Not long into this marriage, Janie has had enough, and when the chance to goaway with a smooth, romantic man, she takes the chance.         The man Janie left Logan for was named Joe Starks.  Joe was a insolent manwho started his own town, Eatonville.  In the beginning of her relationship with,Joe, she felt loved, something she neer really felt while she had been withLogan.  At first, when she ran away with Joe, she felt as if she was finding hernew identity, but all there was for her to find was a great maze not always