Gibson: HUM2020: Final Essay Spring 2021
Option B: Hurston Janie’s American Dream is a Dream fundamentally linked to her realization
of selfhood and an organic union with another in a period when women, especially wome
...
Gibson: HUM2020: Final Essay Spring 2021
Option B: Hurston Janie’s American Dream is a Dream fundamentally linked to her realization
of selfhood and an organic union with another in a period when women, especially women of
color, are forced to accept traditional expectations of womanhood both confining and subservient
In dealing with the female search for self-awareness in “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, the
author has created a “heroine” in Janie Crawford. The female point of view is introduced
instantly. For example: "Now, women forget all those things they don't want to remember, and
remember everything they don't want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do
things accordingly". The first page of “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, the difference between
men and women is made. That’s when Janie's search for her own dreams and implying the
"female quest" theme of the rest of the novel. Uncovering Janie's quest for self-discovery and
self-definition, the author glorifies Janie as a role model for all by recognizing her understanding
of life's pure value. In finding life's true meaning, Janie undergoes self-definition.
It’s ironic that an African-American female author of the late 1930's was able to write a novel
confirming this theme especially because it well before its time. Although Hurston had Janie go
through three marriages and plenty of misfortunes, the novel's protagonist reached the climax in
human existence. Janie had been a part of the loving unity she had recognized really early in her
childhood. Janie was unbroken and wanted for nothing. Janie Crawford is an African American
woman who claims herself beyond prediction, with a determination that describes her search for
the love that she wanted as a girl. After noticing the relationship of a bee and a flower, it became
known that there is much more to life and love than she had once thought. Soon after this
discovery, Janie meets a young boy, Johnny Taylor and she lets him kiss her over the fence. But
Janie's grandmother, Nanny also sees the kiss. After hearing her grandmother's judgment, Janie
understands the social status that her life has handed her. But she is determined to conquer this
obstacle. But her grandmother is determined to have Janie marry a more dependable man. "So de
white man throw down de load and tell de nigger man tuh pick it up. He pick it up because he
have to, but he don't tote it. He hand it to his womenfolk's. De nigger woman is de mule uh de
world so fur as Ah can see," Janie's grandmother in a shot to validate the marriage that she has
fixed up for her granddaughter.
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