Violence Against Women - Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.

Straying away from the theme of Scottish writers, here we have Zora Neale Hurston. Hurston was from Alabama and was not only an author but also an anthropologist and filmmaker. Hurston mainly wrote about the African-American experience and the struggles of African-American women. Though she is noted as a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance her novels were underappreciated and went unrecognized by the literary world for decades. Interest in her writing was revived in 1970s by the author Alice Walker who searched for Hurston's unmarked grave and bestowed upon it the inscription of"A Genius of the South". This subsequently sparked new interest in Zora Neale Hurston work and her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, published in 1937, became her most popular work.

Their Eyes Were Watching God focuses on our protagonist Janie who has an unpredictable, tumultuous and often dangerous love life. Unfortunately, she is the victim of domestic violence in the novel. The use of domestic violence symbolises the ultimate obstacle for Janie to overcome in order to reach a point of self-discovery and achieve freedom. Though the abuse she suffers does negatively impact Janie initially, it ultimately changes her for the better and acts as the catalyst for her true character progression. In the text, domestic violence depicts the oppression, subjugation, and objectification of women. This mistreatment stems from the masculine desires for power and ownership over women.

Zora Neale Hurston - Image from Wikipedia

Barbara L. Fredrickson and Tomi-Ann Roberts state that “objectification theory posits that girls and women are typically acculturated to internalise an observer's perspective as a primary view of their physical selves. This perspective on self can lead to habitual body monitoring, which, in turn, can increase women's opportunities for shame and anxiety, reduce opportunities for peak motivational states, and diminish awareness of internal bodily states” (Fredrickson and Roberts). While Janie begins her journey as a relatively independent-minded girl, she becomes a victim of this objectification under Jody, Janie's second husbands, subjugation. His point of view becomes her priority and so she begins wearing the dresses he chooses and purchases for her and always keeps her hair tied up just as he likes. By taking away elements of her free will and choice, Jody lays the framework for further abuse. This illustrates the accuracy of the apologue of the boiling frog who will jump out of a pot of boiling water instantly but when placed in tepid water that is brought to a boil will be boiled alive. This initial psychological abuse means Janie is not so taken aback by it when it escalates to physical violence, much like the frog being boiled alive. Initially, Jody refrains from violently assaulting Janie because he "did not feel like fighting" but instead made a backhanded attack on her to at least inflict some harm(p. 71). The fact that his initial desire was to commit an act of domestic violence shows Jody’s need to oppress Janie in order to reaffirm his power and influence.

Following Jody's death, Janie meets a new man named Tea Cake who seems much better than her late husband. Janie even remarks that "Tea Cake ain't no Jody Starks", but the function of domestic violence within the novel shows that all men are capable of abuse towards the women they are supposed to love. According to Janie, "he [Tea Cake] looked like the love thoughts of women" (p. 121) and perhaps it is this adoration of him that blinds her to his true vicious nature that comes to light. When Tea Cake physically assaults Janie, he does not merely slap Janie to begin with; he whips her - "being able to whip her reassured him in possession" (p.167). This once again reflects the oppression and subjugation of Janie at the hands of men and the male desire for power. Not only that, but the assault becomes romanticised, with the beating arousing "envy" in men and women who heard about it. The character of Sop- de-Bottom remarks that he would "love tuh whip uh tender woman lak Janie! Ah bet she don't even holler" (p.168). Janie is once again objectified as she becomes little more than a pretty punching bag not only to Tea Cake but in the eyes of many other characters too. This incident of domestic violence is further romanticised as it is seen as passionate, and, as a result, the encounter is minimised completely and Janie is invalidated.

The climax of the novel leads to Janie herself committing the ultimate act of domestic violence by killing her spouse. However, it is decided by the jury that it was a murder committed in self defense to protect herself against Tea Cake. Janie returns to her home town, where her story began, and here she explains everything to Pheoby. Parmis Tasharofi writes that Janie’s reasoning for recounting her troubles to Pheoby is so that “Pheoby will relay it to other women and that in this way the women of her community and other communities will learn to live for themselves…Her story is indeed not a love story, but a story about love, its ups and downs, and all types of violence’s she confronted in her marriages. Neither giving in to them nor running away from them but battling them” (Tasharofi). Janie's story is a cautionary tale that shows how cruel men can be, even the ones you think love you most and who you believe love you back. The novel shows that though the issue of intimate partner violence was prevalent in Janie's marriages, it did not stop her from achieving freedom in the end.. Janie was threatened, objectified, oppressed and abused by men who were supposed to care for her. These men only used her to feel powerful but, in the end, Janie came out on top and outlived them as well.

Though I haven't watched it yet there is a 2005 television drama based on the book starring Halle Berry as Janie. I think it would be interesting to compare the depiction of domestic violence within the novel verses how it is visually portrayed on the screen.

Click here to watch the trailer:

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Works Cited

Fredrickson, Barbara L., and Tomi-Ann Roberts. "Objectification Theory: Toward Understanding Women's Lived Experiences And Mental Health Risks". Psychology Of Women Quarterly, vol 21, no. 2, 1997, pp. 173-206. SAGE Publications, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-6402.1997.tb00108.x.

Neale Hurston, Zora. Their Eyes Were Watching God. Virago Press, 1986.

Tasharofi, Parmis. "Domestic Violence In Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God: A Feminist Reading". International Journal Of Applied Linguistics & English Literature, vol 3, no. 4, 2014, pp. 120-127. Australian International Academic Centre, https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.3n.4p.120.