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06/08
Word Count: 3, 307
English
Mr. Campbell
CT International Baccalaureate Academy
Research Question: How does Zora Neale Hurston develop her female characters, and
how do they gather power and independence through their reactions to such things as
social mores, love, and relationships?
Title: “Zora Neale Hurston’s development of her female characters, and how the grow to
be powerful, individual, and independent women due to their response to the social mores
around them, as well as their involvement with love, either discovered, or lost.”
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Table of Contents
Abstract ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- pages 3 - 4
Essay ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- pages 5 – 15
“Zora Neale Hurston’s development of her female characters, and how the grow to be
powerful, individual, and independent women due to their response to the social mores
around them, as well as their involvement with love, either discovered, or lost.”
Works Cited --------------------------------------------------------------------------- page 16
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Abstract
Research Question: How does Zora Neale Hurston develop her female characters, and
how do they gather power and independence through their reactions to such things as
social mores, love, and relationships?
This essay examines how Zora Neale Hurston develops female characters within
her literature. This examination focuses in on the use of love, relationships, and rebellion
against social mores within the development of female characters created by Zora Neale
Hurston. These specific aspects are the focus of this examination of development,
because Zora Neale Hurston develops her female characters within societies much like
those that she herself grew up in. Thus, this close interaction between characters and
society creates a backdrop of women trying to break the mold of society and gather
authority over their lives.
Also, Zora Neale Hurston utilizes relationships a great deal when developing her
female characters. This can be seen in how she often uses a backdrop of love, either
discovered or lost, in order to promote change within many of her characters. Some
specific characters that show these patterns are specified and focused on within this
examination. These characters include such main characters as Janie from Their Eyes
Were Watching God, Missie May from “The Gilded Six Bits,” and Delia from “Sweat.”
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Some minor or bit characters are also mentioned as well in order to draw overall
connections.
Throughout this examination, specific trends can be seen. Among these trends are
the accomplishment of independence through the discovery of true love, the discovery of
self-love through the abandonment of brutal relationships, and the power of women
demonstrated by male love and requirement of them. Thus, through these specific points,
the power of women can be seen, consequently demonstrating the significance of Zora
Neale Hurston’s development of female characters.
Word Count: 261
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“Zora Neale Hurston’s development of her female characters, and how the grow to be
powerful, individual, and independent women due to their response to the social mores
around them, as well as their involvement with love, either discovered, or lost.”
Within her lifetime, Zora Neale Hurston has created numerous pieces of literature,
many of which revolve around specific types of women. These women are developed in
such a way that stresses their resistance towards the social mores of their time, their
growth within themselves through their relationships, as well as their discovery or loss of
love. Within such novels and short stories as Their Eyes Were Watching God and
“Sweat,” a growth and development within the female characters becomes apparent. This
growth often originates with an initial obedience to the social mores within their society,
and ends with them starting to defy these mores. However, there are numerous examples,
such as within the short story “The Gilded Six Bits,” demonstrating a different trend
where the women actually coincide with the social mores, but instead demonstrate their
significance through the love they have for the men in their lives, and the power that love
gives them. Therefore, Zora Neale Hurston demonstrates how the female characters
within her pieces of writing experience a significant change due to their corresponding
male characters. Conversely, she also demonstrates how the male characters are affected
due to their coinciding female characters. Thus, Zora Neale Hurston develops her female
characters either in a way that broadcasts their struggle for a voice and independence, or
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in a way that demonstrates their affect on the men in their lives, but either way Hurston
does this using a background of love, either discovered or lost, and relationships.
One way that Zora Neale Hurston develops the female characters within her
pieces of literature involves a growth from obedience to rebellion. Thus, one common
trend among her pieces of literature involves her female characters starting off as
submissive women or girls obeying their societies’, families’, or partners’ commands.
Thus, at first, the females obey the social mores within their societies and act as they are
expected to. This soon begins to change due to a variety of reasons ranging from
mistreatment by the men in their lives to a search for love on equal terms. However, in
order to completely understand a character’s growth, a reader must first completely
understand the character’s beginning.
In order to fully demonstrate this trend among feminine characters, examples of
such characters that fit this pattern can be found and utilized. Two very prominent
examples are the main characters Janie in Their Eyes Were Watching God and Delia in
“Sweat.” Both characters initially attempt to be obedient and hard working to as well as
for their husbands, Delia to Sykes and Janie to Logan Killicks along with Joe Starks. This
can be seen in how Delia puts in hard work night and day in order to provide for Sykes,
and constantly ignores his insults near the beginning of the story. This habit of providing
for her husband and ignoring his flaws, displays how Delia tries to be a respectable wife
to him. As well, Janie tries to be the loyal and complacent wife that Logan Killicks and
Joe Starks desire her to be. In spite of this, as her relationships with both men progress,
Janie starts to find it impossible to be the passive wife that they expect her to be.
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Therefore, as both stories progress, these prominent female characters, in the
absence of love, start to realize that they desire something more. Through this desire they
begin to change and develop into strong, independent women who do not require
husbands to make them happy. Some readers may not believe this to be true concerning
Janie, because she leaves Logan Killicks in order to marry Joe Starks, and then finds Tea
Cake shortly after Joe Starks passes away. However, Janie initially leaves with Joe Starks
in hope of finding love and opportunity, not just another stifled marriage. Also, when
Janie accepts and marries Tea Cake, she in actuality accepts love, not just another man to
rule her life. Thus, Janie accepts Tea Cake on her own terms, not on the terms set forth by
society.
A vast difference between Janie’s marriage to Tea Cake compared to those with
Logan Killicks and Joe Starks can be seen in how Janie leaves Logan Killicks because
she feels as if she could never love him, and that he clings too much to his present
lifestyle to ever change. Thus, because Janie does not find herself capable of molding
herself into the kind of wife that Logan demands, she runs off with Joe Starks due to his
youth, and his drive to accomplish his dreams. Thus, it appears as if Janie runs off with
Joe in hope of finding love, because she feels as if his youth and dreaming quality may
open up the door for true acceptance and the ability to be loved for her true person. With
Tea Cake, however, Janie does not focus on dreams and possibility, because she finds out
more about him beforehand, and she solidifies his acceptance of her before she agrees to
marry him.
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This clear difference between Janie’s marriages to Logan Killicks and Joe Starks
in comparison to her marriage to Tea Cake can be seen extremely well as shown by
Shawn E. Miller who, in his essay, “Some Other Way to Try,” states:
Her first two marriages fail because Logan Killicks and Joe
Starks insist too severely on Janie’s obedience to them and to
conventional sex-role and class-role stereotypes. Janie heroically defies
the roles imposed upon her, and eventually finds the love she had fist
envisioned under the pear tree when she marries Tea Cake Woods. Their
marriage, unlike her first two, is egalitarian and liberating. (Miller 75)
This quote confirms that Janie marries Tea Cake subsequent to going through a
journey where she finds herself and her independence by fighting against the social
mores, which were enforced by her first two husbands. In addition, when Janie marries
Tea Cake she enters a marriage that is, “egalitarian and liberating,” as stated in the quote,
which demonstrates how the marriage is equal between her and Tea Cake, which allows
her to finally release herself completely from the boundaries given to her within the
society.
This liberation from the restrictions put against women in society can be seen in
how Janie and Tea Cake move away from Eatonville to Jacksonville. In Jacksonville,
Janie gathers the ability to work alongside Tea Cake in the fields. This concept of Janie,
as a woman, working the exact same job as her husband, a man, reveals how Janie fights
the typical mold given to women, especially colored women, during this time period.
Therefore, Janie establishes herself as an equal within a world in which men dominate
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over almost ever fraction of society. This, as a result, drapes her with a backdrop of
disobedience, consequently pushing her into the role of a rebellious female.
This sort of liberation and rebellion through marriage can especially be seen in a
quote from Tea Cake stating, “Nobody else on earth kin hold uh candle tuh you, baby.
You got de keys to de kingdom,” (Hurston 109). By telling Janie that she has the, “keys
to de kingdom,” Tea Cake somewhat places the power within the relationship into Janie’s
hands, because she posses the key, and only she can unlock the potential of their
relationship. Therefore, Janie completes her journey for independence through Tea Cake,
and the equality he offers her.
Delia in “Sweat,” however, is not so much trying to find love for another person,
as much as love for herself. Her husband, Sykes, constantly beats Delia and degrades her
by saying such things as, “Yo’ rawbony laigs an’ arms is enough tuh cut uh man tuh
death. You looks jes’ lak de devvul’s doll-baby tuh me,” (Hurston 36). As clearly seen,
Sykes constantly insults and degrades Delia in a way that breaks down her selfconfidence and paints an extremely unsightly picture of her. Also, the greatest harm to a
wife’s self-esteem often concerns knowing that her husband no longer sees her or desires
her as a woman. In the beginning of the novel, however, Delia fails to defend herself
against this assault to her ego, and instead still tries to be the complacent wife as expected
of her. Delia even continues to clean laundry for money in order to provide for Sykes,
and still performs domestic chores on his behalf, such as cooking meals.
As the story goes on, however, Delia starts to fire back, and she begins to fight for
her self-respect through insulting Sykes in return and telling him the things she has
wanted to say for years. Thus, through releasing her anger, Delia starts to realize how
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wrong Syke’s statements always were, and she begins to respect and love herself again,
instead of letting her husband bring her self-assurance down. As a result, Delia starts to
find her independence, because she realizes that she does not require her husband, and
has no reason to support him if he does not support her or give her the respect that she
finally feels she deserves.
Therefore, both of these stories depict women searching for love, either for
themselves or another person. Still, this theme could potentially be taken in other ways,
as demonstrated by Carla Kaplan in an article called “That Oldest Human Longing,”
which states, “Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God is a story of a
young woman in search of an orgasm,” (Kaplan 115). This concept may appear ludicrous
at first glance, but after deeper inspection and thought, it reveals a very vital concept of
sexuality. This incorporation and search for an orgasm can be seen in a quote from Their
Eyes Were Watching God stating, “Oh to be a pear tree—any tree in bloom! With kissing
bees singing of the beginning of the world! She was sixteen. She had glossy leaves and
bursting buds and she wanted to struggle with life but it seemed to elude her,” (Hurston
11). This quote demonstrates how Janie has a desire to bloom as a female, and a desire
for new beginnings, but she says it in a way that correlates with a completion with
another being. This completion, however, seems to be beyond her grasp, which correlates
with her search for an “orgasm,” which many see as completion.
On the other hand, this, “search of an orgasm,” also appears to be a small piece of
a much larger puzzle. It seems more accurate to say that Janie is searching for true love
throughout the novel, which she often associates with sexuality and the “orgasm.” This
can be seen in how Janie and Stark’s sexuality dies as they begin to realize the falsehood
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concerning their supposed love for each other. This connection between love and
sexuality can also be seen in the relationship between Delia and Sykes, and how their
lack of love for each other can be seen in how they no longer feel any desire for each
other. Therefore, any factor concerning sexuality, including the search for an “orgasm,”
consequently has connotations with love and a search for true love.
A search for love, however, is not the only way that Zora Neale Hurston develops
and creates changes within her characters. Hurston also uses the fight for love as a way of
changing and developing characters. This coincides with how women do not just change
themselves, but also the men in their lives. It also coincides with how men require and
depend on women as well, thus giving the women a sort of power. An example of this
can be seen in “The Gilded Six Bits,” through how Missie May cheats on her husband,
and yet he refuses to completely leave her. Her husband, Joe, even returns to her after a
span of time, once he knows that she has no prolonged connection to anyone but himself.
For example, at first, just after Missie May cheats on Joe, he starts to ignore her
and simply treats her as somewhat of a servant. Thus, he avoids anything that involves
emotion, but refuses to cut her out of his life altogether. This sort of “servant,” role given
to the wife can easily be seen as a commonality during those days, and thus Joe pushes
Missie May into the standard wife role as somewhat of a retaliation. Despite this, Joe
eventually goes back to Missie May, but he only does this after his mothers tells him that
Missie May’s baby resembles him, thus demonstrating his desire to be the only man
involved in Missie May’s life. The fact that Joe then returns to Missie May demonstrates
how he truly does love her, even if he finds it difficult, and that this love makes him need
and require her, despite his attempts to ignore that fact.
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Another way that Zora Neale Hurston helps develop her female characters outside
of male influence is through their fellow female characters. For example, Nanny in Their
Eyes Were Watching God, who is actually Janie’s grandmother, can be seen as a large
supporter of feminine rights, and a hidden feminist deep inside. This can be seen in a
quote from Their Eyes Were Watching God, stating:
Ah wanted to preach a great sermon about colored women sittin’ on
high, but they wasn’t no pulpit for me….Ah said Ah’d save de text for you.
Ah been waitin’ a long time, Janie, but nothin’ Ah been through ain’t too
much if you just take a stand on high ground lak Ah dreamed. (Hurston
31-32)
Therefore, this quote is stating that Nanny wants to preach about black women
gaining influence within society. However, Nanny talks about how the black women
during her generation were too ignorant and, “sittin’ on high,” to listen to Nanny’s beliefs
and fight for equality. This statement gains support by another writer, Carla Kaplan, who
states, “She is not simply an accommodationist or conservative. In fact, more than
anything else, Nanny wants to be an activist and spokeswoman for the rights of black
women,” (Kaplan 125). Thus, Kaplan supports the idea that Nanny wants there to be
equality between black women and everyone else within society, but other black women
and the society as a whole during her lifetime were not ready to accept this kind of
equality.
This is why Nanny is hoping to pass on this drive and hope for equality to Janie,
because she feels that her own attempts will be worth it if Janie continues this dream of
equal opportunity. Therefore, Nanny attempts to persuade Janie into accomplishing what
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she never could, and as Janie gets older it appears as if she starts to realize the importance
of Nanny’s words. This can be seen in how Janie goes from having a controlling husband
like Joe Starks, to having a husband that accepts her as an equal like Tea Cake. Therefore,
by marrying a man who accepts her as an equal, Janie is in actuality trying to acquire
equality in the only way that she sees possible. This is because, even in Janie’s generation,
people, including black women themselves, are not all prepared to face the problem of
inequality within society concerning race and sex. This can be seen through the porchsitters in Their Eyes Were Watching God who consist of black women who frown upon
Janie for wearing overalls and going off with a younger man, while they themselves talk
about preparing food and doing chores willingly for their husbands. Thus, it is apparent
that black women, even during Janie’s generation, are not fully prepared for change or
equality.
Zora Neale Hurston even develops less significant characters in imperative ways.
For example, in Their Eyes Were Watching God Hurston develops a diminutive character
with the name Mrs. Bogle in a way that marks her as a woman with power. This power
can be seen in how Mrs. Bogle makes the men in her life toil and work in order to win
her over, thus giving her power in how her men have to deserve her instead of the men
having all the power of choice. This is because, ultimately, Mrs. Bogle is the one who has
the choice to either accept or reject the men in her life, not the other way around. A quote
that demonstrates this power can be seen in Their Eyes Were Watching God stating:
Her first husband had been a coachman but ‘steadied jury’ to win her. He
had finally become a preacher to hold her till his death. Her second husband
worked in Fohnes orange grove—but tried to preach when he caught her eye. He
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never got any further than a class leader, but that was something to offer her. It
proved his love and pride, (Hurston 65).
This quote demonstrates how Mrs. Bogle’s husbands all worked hard in order
to win her over and get her to marry them, thus giving her control within the
relationship because it is up to her to say yes to them. Therefore, their relationships
start as a result of her decisions. The writer Shawn E. Miller wrote something much
similar to this, which can be seen in a quote stating, “Mrs. Bogle commands their
notice because two men had already worked hard to be worthy of her […] Mrs.
Bogle’s husbands had sought for and won her approval,” (Miller 88). Thus, Miller
supports this idea that Mrs. Bogle has power through such statements as how her
husbands had to work for her “approval,” and that she “commands” notice, when
giving out orders is usually a deed left for those in power. Also, the fact that Mrs.
Bogle’s husband has to search for her approval, reveals a significant difference in
their relationship compared to most others, because it is usually the women that are
expected to work up to their husbands’ standards.
Another less significant character that Zora Neale Hurston develops in an
important way is Sykes’ overweight mistress, Bertha. Throughout “Sweat,” it is clear
that Sykes’ actions are primarily a result of Bertha and her commands. Delia even
states that Sykes has had other mistresses, but they have never caused him to divorce
Delia, because none of them have ever asked him to before Bertha. Thus, Sykes plans
on getting rid of Delia and taking the house that she paid for because Bertha says that
she wants the house for herself. Therefore, Bertha has power over Sykes because he
does her bidding without second thoughts. This gives Bertha a certain type of
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authority because Sykes is obeying her, instead of the female being the one pushed
into the obedient role. This thus demonstrates how Zora Neale Hurston does not just
create significant connections between the main female characters within her pieces
of writing, but also does so through the minimal and bit players within her writing.
Overall, Zora Neale Hurston develops her female characters in a way that
represents the strengthening of women. Also, through such characters as Delia in
“Sweat,” Janie in Their Eyes Were Watching God, and Missie May in “The Gilded Six
Bits,” Hurston demonstrates how the relationships and endeavors in love, as well as the
social mores that these women come across within their lives help them to find
themselves as well as their potential as powerful and independent women. Even though
some others may disagree, it could easily be said that these women are all reacting to love,
either found or lost, and reacting to the boundaries put around them by society. These
female characters lived in a time when they could not make huge leaps and bounds
towards independence due to the strict social mores that were pushed on them. However,
Zora Neale Hurston developes these characters so that these were the women that opened
the door for their future generations of women to walk through. This door is the door to
equality, independence, and mutual love.
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Works Cited
Hurston, Zora Neale. “Sweat.” New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1997.
Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York: Perennial Classics,
1990.
Kaplan, Carla. "The erotics of talk: `That oldest human longing' in Their Eyes Were
Watching God.” American Literature 67 (1995): p.115-143.
Miller, Shawn E. “‘Some Other Way to Try’: From Defiance to Creative Submission in
Their Eyes Were Watching God." Southern Literary Journal 37(2004): p.74-95.