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Kun Kim
Mr. Harris
ENG 102
03 December 2011
Janie Crawford’s Being Classed off
Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God describes the main character, Janie
Crawford, and her effort not to be classed off from other members. Janie wants to be friendly
with other people, but some factors in the story disturbed her relationship with others. “Classed
off” means to let someone be isolated or separated from others. Hurston’s description of Janie’s
characteristic is friendly, talkative, and kind, and these characteristics emphasize Janie’s effort
not to be classed off. When Hurston was young, she realized how hard a life of an African
American woman is, and she displays the hardness through Janie Crawford. Hurston was
sometimes classed off: “Still, Hurston never received the financial rewards she deserved” (Boyd).
Nevertheless, Hurston was eager to study in a poor circumstance: “Zora worked a series of
menial jobs over the ensuing years, struggled to finish her schooling” (Boyd). In the story, Janie
Crawford is classed off by some factors which she cannot overcome.
First, Janie is classed off because of her skin color. Her grandmother is raped by a master,
and her mother is also raped by a school teacher. Janie’s appearance is different from others
because she is mixed with white’s blood. However, Janie does not think that she is different, and
she wants to be friendly with others. In the same case, Mrs. Turner’s appearance is not like other
black people. Turner wants Janie to be classed off from other black people. Turner said that Tea
Cake is completely black so Janie should meet her brother; “She didn’t forgive her for marrying
a man as dark as Tea Cake, but she felt that she could remedy that. That was what her brother
was born for” (Hurston 140). Turner tries to class Janie off, but Janie resists against Turner’s
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opinion. Turner is proud of being lighter and she wants to be classed off. Thinking of how
Turner and Janie become lighter, it is ridiculous that Turner is proud of her lightness: “but the
fact that Janie’s lightness is attributable to her slave owner grandfather and her
rapist/schoolteacher father explicitly mocks class distinctions based on such troubling lineage
and implicitly critiques the value of formal education” (Hathaway 181).
Furthermore, Janie is classed off by Jody as a mayor’s wife. Jody watches Janie with a
jealous eye when she is with other people in the porch. Then, Jody let Janie stay away from the
porch. Jody gives emphasis to her attitude as a mayor’s wife. It is exactly to class Janie off from
townspeople; “They’s jus’ some puny humans playin’ round de toes uh Time” (Hurston 54). She
resists against him, but she has to follow him. Janie wears a rag on her head which is Jody’s way
of confining Janie. Even though Janie tries to improve her relationship with Jody, he makes a
barrier to Janie and townspeople: “She strives fruitlessly to make the hierarchical marriage
relationship work for her. She recognizes that both she and Joe are harmed by the distance Joe
keeps between himself and the community” (Simmons 186). After Jody’s death, Janie expresses
her feeling about Jody; “Jody classed me off. Ah didn’t Naw, Pheoby, Tea Cake ain’t draggin’
me off no where Ah don’t want tuh go” (Hurston 122). Under Jody’s domination, Janie loses the
freedom through being classed off. Janie wears her hair down as a symbolism of freedom, but the
aftermath of Jody’s influence makes Janie pretend to be sad for Jody’s death.
Janie’s life is different from other black people. She is an attractive woman and her long
hair deserves attention. That’s why Janie is an apple on many men. Even though Janie suffers
from the oppression, she is not poor. When she gets married with Logan, he has sixty acres of
land. Her grandmother, Nanny, forces Janie into a marriage because of his wealth. However,
Logan considers Janie as a mule, and Janie cannot feel love from Logan. He let Janie stay at
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home when he goes out. Logan’s wealth is power to confine her. Janie’s second husband, Jody,
thinks that she and he are different from townspeople, and isolated Janie from others. Jody trifles
with townspeople; “gum-grease from folks dat don’t even own de house dey sleep in” (Hurston
54). Jody is rich and powerful enough to make the town and townspeople thank him, but his
wealth affects Janie’s relationship with townspeople. Eventually, wealth makes a barrier between
townspeople and Janie: “Her wealth and status as Joe Stark’s widow only increase the class
distance between her and the townspeople” (Hathaway 181).
In conclusion, Janie resists efforts to be classed off, but she cannot overcome. Because of
Janie’s status, she is classed off by some factors even though she is eager to meet and get along
with people. This story shows what the role of an African American woman at that generation is
through Janie Crawford’s being classed off.
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Works Cited
Hathaway, Rosemary. “The Unbearable Weight of Authenticity: Zora Neale Hurston’s Their
Eyes Were Watching God and a Theory of “Touristic Reading.” Journal of American
Folklore. 117 (2004): 464. ProQuest Research Library. Computer Lab, GMC, Valdosta,
GA. 05 Dec. 2011 http://search.proquest.com
Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York. HarperperennialMordern
Classics, 2006. [Novel]
Simmons, Ryan. "'The Hierarchy Itself': Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God And The
Sacrifice Of Narrative Authority." African American Review 36.2 (2002): 181. Academic
Search Complete. Computer Lab, GMC, Valdosta, GA. 05 Dec. 2011
http://web.ebscohost.com