Master

Anthony Hernandez
Professor Mathes
Black Novel
19 October 2011

Autonomy vs. Voice: The Journey of Janie Crawford

There is no denying the growth ascertained by Janie in the progression of Zora Neale Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God.” From the opening pages that has readers peering out to a seemingly unattainable horizon, to the closing pages of Janie’s self-discovery of herjourney there and back, we as readers are captivated by the growth of Janie Crawford’s character. However, the interpretation of that growth is, to say the least, shaded in gray. The implicit meaning of the Hurston’s language often pour beyond the edges of a simple understanding, and that same truth is evident when attempting to uncover where Janie stands by the end of the novel. Is she a blackwoman who by novel’s end has a grasp on voice; one that is confident, wise and respected? Or alternatively, is she a woman who, through experiencing a varying spectrum of intimate relationships, gains independence and an ultimate autonomy, but not a sense of voice? In accordance with passages depicting both Janie’s growing independence and suppression of voice, the latter becomes more realistic. Thereality of Janie achieving a voice is not realized, as she relies on action to portray her autonomy. By novel’s end Janie is alienated by her own people and glorified by her oppressors for the accidental killing of her third husband, Tea Cake. Therefore, as Janie is content with “living by comparisons” after reaching the horizon and returning in the waning pages of Hurston’s work, all she canreally compare is her newly realized independence and former lack thereof (Hurston, 191). The only place in which Janie’s voice is respected is in the Muck of the Everglades, but in comparison to the rest of society, the Muck is a harmonious Utopia, one that does not embody to the larger composition of American society. Thus, how we understand the symbolic meaning of Janie’s journey is altered.Her first showings of independence begin quite early on in the text, with the earliest coming in her eventual rebellion against her grandmother’s demands. Janie is married to Logan Killicks, much to her dismay and at the request of her Nanny, and it does not take long before she realizes “marriage did not make love,” (Hurston, 25). At this revelation and in meeting Joe Starks, Janie questionsher marriage to Logan, takes matters into her own hands, and plants the seed of leaving into her husband’s mind. In conversation with Logan, Janie states, “‘S’posin’ ah wuz to run off and leave yuh sometime?’ There! Janie had put words in his held-in fears. She might run off sure enough. The though put a terrible ache in Logan’s body, but he thought it best to put on a scorn,” (Hurston, 30). Thethought of leaving her husband and going against her Nanny’s orders reflected independence in itself, but relaying those words into her husband’s known fears made it more empowering. As was expected, Logan dismisses her proposal as nonsense, but in a show of autonomy, Janie does indeed leave her unappreciative husband. From this action, readers gain a sense of what is to be expected from Janie lateron in the novel as she grows more rebellious and more autonomous. We learn of her Nanny’s desire for Janie avoid becoming a typical “Nigger woman,” and “mule of the world” and it does not take long following her stated aspirations for her granddaughter that Nanny, and those guidelines of love and marriage, die (Hurston,14).
Nevertheless, the birth of Janie’s independence is not articulatedthrough her voice but through her actions, as is the case countless other times in the text. This is also the case when examining Janie’s proceedings immediately following the death of her second husband, Joe Starks. Hurston takes us through her actions following Jody’s death, and writes, “Years ago she had told herself to wait for her in the looking glass. It had been a long time since she had...