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 graven image         In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, thereare many lessons on a persons search for identity.  Janies search for identitythroughout this book is very visible.  It has to do with her search for a name,and freedom for herself.  As she goes through life her search takes many turnsfor the worse and a few for the better, but in the end she finds her trueidentity.  Through her marriages with Logan, Joe, because 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 glowering and had the privilege to live in the yard of whitefolks.  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 done named me different names.  Soon she started piecing togetherwhat she knew of her odd identity.  Then one day she saw herself in a photographand noticed that she looked different, that she had dark skin, and she said,before Ah seen de picture Ah thought Ah wuz just like de rest.  From thispoint, Janie fell into somewhat 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 that she thought wereunacceptable.  Nanny apace arranged a marriage between Janie and a well-offlocal man, Logan Killicks.  In this marriage Janie resisted.  She felt as if shewas losing her freedom was well as her identity, she wasnt Janie any longer shewas now Mrs. Logan Killicks, and she was somewhat obligated to do what he wanted. Not lo ng 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 smart manwho started his own town, Eatonville.  In the beginning of her relationship with,Joe, she felt loved, something she never 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