(Prompt is study question #35 -- written as an in-class essay by a BHS AP Lit student in about 45 minutes
– not perfect but astonishing in many ways)
To attain enlightenment, an individual must sacrifice one’s source of validation
and self-definition. When a person destroys self-definition, she develops the ability to
transform herself. “Real gods require blood” because true self-knowledge demands a
perilous journey to reach it and a sacrifice to fulfill it. This idea is one of the most
profound themes in Their Eyes Were Watching God.
When Janie returns to Eatonville, she appears as though she has nothing. She is
dressed in overalls and her hair is down; Janie does not look like a sophisticated, mature
woman in her forties. The porch-sitters scrutinize Janie, yet she ignores them. Janie is
not bothered by the men gawking at her and women demeaning her character. She has
such a complete understanding of herself that the porch-sitters’ comments have no effect
on her. Janie’s past challenges have taught her about the limits of her abilities and the
measure of her strength; she does not need validation from any person other than herself.
This conviction is the first evidence that Janie has received enlightenment.
Despite Janie’s inner strength, she has to sacrifice and suffer for her quest. Janie
is not always strong; her first two marriages are with men who abuse her, oppress her,
and use her as a trophy-wife. Janie has to see past the security of a financially stable
marriage and understand that unless she takes action she will become emotionally and
spiritually stagnant. She must make a choice or sink into her husband’s background.
Janie embraces her inner power to take control of her life and destiny.
This quest for enlightenment and self-actualization is a search for destiny. Janie’s
desire to achieve beyond a mediocre emotional and spiritual intelligence, which Hurston
suggests is her search for true love, displays a thirst for a higher state of being.
Throughout the book lies visual imagery serving not just as a link between two
(Prompt is study question #35 -- written as an in-class essay by a BHS AP Lit student in about 45 minutes
– not perfect but astonishing in many ways)
counterparts, but as a marriage unifying the counterparts. When Janie is sixteen, she sits
under a pear tree in springtime. Just like her surroundings, Janie too is blossoming into
maturity. However, Janie lacks a mate to grow with her. She wants to be recognized for
her new womanhood for she wonders where are her “singing bees”? Janie does not
crave a simplistic, animal desire—she seeks completion through love. As she searches
for her destiny, she follows it as a pilgrim would follow divine will. Janie’s destiny
becomes her deity.
However, Janie mistakenly believes that she can realize this destiny without effort
at all. At a young age Janie marries the much older Logan, but she does not experience
true marriage with him. Janie is not united with Logan—he uses her as a servant. Janie
learns that being married in no way satisfies her desire for unity. This harsh
understanding that she will never love Logan brings her dreams crashing down. With
this knowledge Janie embarks on her quest to obtain enlightenment.
When Janie marries Joe, she does so because he represents horizons, opportunity.
Yet, Janie does not find love here either. Joe controls her by limiting her participation in
the community and commands her to be the perfect trophy-wife. During this marriage
Janie allows herself to be subordinate but gradually she strengthens. After twenty years
Janie conjures on Joe, humiliating him in front of his friends with the devastating truth
about his manhood. Once Joe dies, Janie is free to pursue her destiny once again.
Janie finally meets someone who does represent “pear trees” and “singing bees”
to her—Teacake. This marriage appears to be unifying and equalizing —Teacake
teaches Janie to fish, hunt, and play checkers. Janie has found love and unity, but her
(Prompt is study question #35 -- written as an in-class essay by a BHS AP Lit student in about 45 minutes
– not perfect but astonishing in many ways)
journey is not yet complete. Janie, after all her years of marriage, is still an object
controlled by men. Even Teacake uses violence to display his ownership of her.
When Janie is faced by her ordeal of blood, she must choose to live or to die at
Teacake’s hand. She must ask herself: is her life worth fighting for? This question
forces her to realize what her journey truly is. Janie is really on a quest for selfactualization. She must decide what truly defines and validates her existence: will she
rely on other people or on herself? Janie finds the strength to live in the “meanest
moment of eternity” and pulls the trigger on Teacake. Janie’s action declares that her life
is worth fighting for and that her life has value, showing that she follows her destiny and
fulfills it. Her sacrifice is not to kill her beloved Teacake but to refute men objectifying
her. If she had allowed Teacake to kill her, her death would make Teacake’s object and
not the subject of her own life. She sacrifices her old, subordinate self in order to be
reborn as her own master. Janie sees that her life is worth the sacrifice and receives her
newfound identity as a strong, independent woman. Janie suffers beyond imagination to
receive her boon, yet necessarily so. Her deity, her self-empowerment, requires real trials
before bestowing upon her the enlightenment and self-knowledge she seeks.