Clothing Representation in Their Eyes Were Watching God
Summary:
This essay is about the representation of clothing in Zora Neale Hurstons "Their Eyes Were Watching God." Throughout the novel Janie is allowed various levels of freedoms given to her by her various husbands and this freedom is shown by the different ways she is allowed to clothe herself.
Throughout the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, follows the story of a young woman named Janie Starks throughout her life of love. She marries three different men that all treat her differently throughout her marriage with them. Janie marries each man for different reasons and she is given different freedoms with each of them. The first man she marries is Logan Killicks whom she only married because it was an arranged marriage by her grandmother. The second man she marries is Joe Starks and she marries her for a love at first then once she lives with him for a while the love she thinks she has is wasted away and she only stays with him for security. Her third husband a man known as Tea Cake she married for love that sustained throughout his life. These men allowed her to have different freedoms throughout their marriages and that is shown through what each man allows her to wear while they are married.
Janie first marries Logan Killicks a man whom she does not love at all and it is just a marriage to satisfy her grandmother's obsessive behavior that Janie needs to marry rich and be well off for the rest of her life. While Janie is married to Logan she is forced to do manual labor in the kitchen and around the house and she is not allowed to do anything for fun. Therefore she is forced to wear such clothes as aprons and clothes worn to work without the freedom of wearing what she wanted. The clothing such as aprons represents the fact that she must work to earn her living around the house. It also represents the fact that Janie was just an object to Logan because he forced her to work and do everything he wanted her to do whenever he wanted her to do it. For this she is forced into a life of unhappiness forced upon by this marriage, which in turn was forced upon her by her grandmother. Therefore, when she leaves Logan she tears off the apron and throws it away to the side of the road to represent her freedom from the tyrant that had been taking control over her for so long.
While Janie was married to Logan she was flirting with Joe Starks and finally when she decides she has had enough of the torment from Logan she runs away to marry Joe Starks. Janie and Joe go to a new city and Joe begins to take control over the city. This theme is recurring throughout the marriage between Janie and Joe in many instances while they are married. Joe continually makes decisions for Janie right from the beginning of their marriage such as when Joe takes over the position mayor of the city and the people want Janie to speak but Joe does not allow her to address the crowd. Joe makes Janie wear her hair up and not let it flow because he thinks that she is his and he should be the only one allowed to have any part of her including her hair. This shows that Joe has complete control over Janie and she has no personal freedoms because she is not even allowed to decide what she can do with her hair. Although Janie perceived that she married Joe for love the love eventually fades slowly from existence as he slowly takes her freedoms away. This is represented through Joe's persistence that Janie is never allowed to wear her hair down even though everyone else in the city is allowed to by their husbands. Throughout the dwindling love felt for Joe Janie meets another man called Tea Cake whom begins to befriend her. After the death of Joe Janie decides it is time to move along with her life and runs away with Tea Cake.
Tea Cake is a poor man who loves Janie for who she is not what she has and for this reason he allows Janie to do anything she wants to do whenever she wants. This is the first time in her life that Janie has felt true freedom while living with someone else. This is shown when one of the first things Tea Cake does is tells Janie to remove her hair from the bun it has been in for so long and wear it whichever way she wants to wear it. This shows begins to show the freedoms allowed by her newest husband, this freedom that she has never been allowed in her life. This oppression from freedom that has always haunted Janie during her various marriages has finally been released and Janie has finally been set free. She is finally allowed to wear whatever she wants to wear and she can do whatever she wants to do.
Throughout the novel Janie is allowed various levels of freedoms given to her by her various husbands and this freedom is shown by the different ways she is allowed to clothe herself. She is only allowed to choose what she is allowed to do for herself when she truly finds love in her life. Janie lives her life in varying levels of freedom given to her by her different husbands throughout her life.
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