Modern times Essay

Janie Crawford, a free spirited individual, is the main(prenominal) character in the book Their Eyes Were Watching divinity which was written by Zora Neale Hurston. It should also be noted that Hurston was an anthropologist because of the books historic totallyy accurate perception of the expectations black wo workforce lived up to during that time. The story unfolds nigh Janies life and how she fought against the male oppression she endured in her two matrimonys all the while trying to define herself as her own person. This oppression she endured with her marriages shows the influences and ideas that men had over women during that time period.If someone was to look at this novel in the perspective of an anthropologist you would have to say that it is a fictional novel with diachronic merit of how life was for women in the South during the 1920s. The story scenes centers on a town and its citizens that was created as a black community. Not only was at that place oppression but also exploitation that Janie had to endure. In her archetypical marriage to Killicks this was shown when he intended to put his married woman in the field working(a) the plows. Janie is powerless and without free will. Aint got no subdivisionicular place. Its wherever (31), Killicks claims.Killicks always was able to shut her up when he snarl she was trying to assert herself. A good example was when he utilise derogatory flagellums against her family when she tried to talk about their marriage while shoveling manure. indeed when the scorn wasnt enough to keep her quiet the threat of corporeal violence began to be used. Dont you change likewise galore(postnominal) words wid me dis mawnin, Janie, do Ahll take and change ends wid yuhAhll take holt uh dat ax and come in dere and kill yuh (31). Joe grims, her second husband, also exploited Janie by working her in his store. He seemed to silence her voice all too often.There were many times he would point out that she was in force(p) a trophy wife of someone in authority. Janie seems to be bothered by the high stool that Joe insists she sit on and when I first read that part I envisioned a child macrocosm punished. For this marriage silence is golden, on the part of the wife. The first time Joe quieted her, Janie state it left her feeling cold. When he refused to allow her to speak at his option for mayor she felt that it took, the bloom off of things. At the elections Tony Taylor wanted Janie to speak, uh few words uh encouragement from Mrs.Mayor Starks, that is when Joe takes the floor and says, mah wife dont know nothin bout no speech makin. Ah never married her for nothin lak dat. Shes un woman and her place is in de home (42). A belief that held on-key for sometime even in to twenty-four hour periods world. It was interesting that Stark used verbal cues to make Janie shut up and be subjection using her looks or intelligence as tools for his oppression. If you were to ask any batter woman today they too would say how insults and put downs helped in breaking their self esteem in order for their oppressor to gain control.In Janies first marriage violence was always just a threat in her marriage to Stark it became real. Stark beat her over a poorly cooked dinner once (68) and for insulting his sexual abilities he stricken Janie with all his might driving her from the store (77). Killicks on his last day with Janie threatens to kill her, Stark when bedridden and helpless wishes thunder and lightnin would kill her (83). effect goes hand and hand with oppression and exploitation. The threat of violence physical or verbal has consequences that follow the victim throughout their lives.Janie was basically just attribute in the eyes of her men. To do whatever their bidding and was often idea of as no better than a mule. There was one part of the book where it talked of a man that did not like to beat his wife because he felt it was just like stepping on baby chicks. He used em pathy instead of moral rights as to why men shouldnt beat their women. Are women thought of as just baby chicks or mules? The answer is yes and still can be applied in innovative times.