Facts about Sexism

A central theme in the book revolves around the gender discrimination Janie experiences as a woman. From a young age, she was aware that societal expectations dictated she must fulfill certain roles, such as marrying someone not of her choosing. “She realized that marriage doesn’t equate to love. With her first dream shattered, Janie came of age,” (Huston 25). During this era, women were generally expected to marry men selected by their families. Although Janie harbored the dream of marrying for love, her grandmother had other plans, desiring a spouse for Janie who could provide the life she had never been able to attain herself.

Janie came to understand that for many women, marriage was not about love but practicality. When she wed her first husband, he disrespected her and believed she had no voice or agency. “Upon being prompted to let ‘Mrs. Mayor Starks’ speak, Joe intervened to say, ‘Thank you for your compliments, but my wife isn’t skilled in public speaking. I didn’t marry her for that. She’s a woman; her place is at home,'” (Hurston 43). Joe held conservative views, seeing women as property and believing they should be controlled by men. After his death, Janie relocated to a new town and met Tea Cake, a new character in her life.

While he generally treated her with respect as a woman, he failed to do so in this particular moment. “Just like a little girl in her Easter dress. You look nice! He locked the door securely and gave her the key, saying, ‘Come on, I’ll see you to your door and head on down the road'” (Huston 98). Despite Tea Cake’s efforts to treat both genders equally, he unconsciously regards women as weaker than men.

He assumes that women require a man’s assistance to get home safely. He likens Janie to a little girl in her Easter dress, subtly undermining her agency and maturity. While his offer to escort Janie home may be well-intentioned, it could also be interpreted as sexist, or as a ploy to gain entry into her house. A recurring theme in the book is the pervasive sexism, and even a character who seems to be an exception ultimately perpetuates it. The book makes Janie’s struggle with sexism abundantly clear, enabling readers to understand her ongoing battle to live life on her own terms.

In the twentieth century, many believed that woman only belonged in the house and not in the outside world. Many women wanted to be more than a housewife and tried their best to rise above that title.

“Vessels far off at sea carry every man’s hopes with them. For some, these ships arrive with the tide, while for others, they perpetually float on the horizon—never out of sight but never docking—until the observer finally turns away, his aspirations crushed by the passage of time. Such is the life of men. Women, however, selectively forget what they don’t want to remember and hold onto what they can’t forget. To them, dreams are reality, and their actions reflect this belief” (Hurston 1). According to the narrator, society places a greater value on men based on their aspirations, even though these dreams often prove unattainable, symbolized by the ships that seldom reach the shore.

When men realize their aspirations are unrealistic, they get back on their feet and go about their daily lives. Women, on the other hand, close that figurative gap by failing to differentiate between dreams and reality. Their fantasies become realities, and they lead more realistic lives. It also introduces the genie’s determination to pursue and fulfill her dreams. Women in this southern society have little possibilities for what they can achieve in life. Men continually tell them what they are capable of, and being a black woman is even more difficult. “So de white man drops the load and tells the nigger man to pick it up.” He picks it up because he has to, but he does not carry it. He hands it to his ladies. The nigger woman is the mule of the globe as far as Ah can see.” 14 Hurston.

From Nanny’s viewpoint, life is particularly difficult for black women. While white men occupy the highest rung in the social hierarchy and look down upon black men, black men in turn often transfer this burden onto their women. Black women are commonly treated as if they are less than human and don’t belong. In the society where Janie lived, women—especially women of color—were seldom valued. Instances of sexism are prevalent in the communities depicted in the book.

Towards The end of the book, Janie began to gain her independence and separate herself from the sexism that filled her community’s. After Tea cake died, Janie was able to show the knowledge she gained as being a strong independent woman. “Dey gointuh make ‘miration ‘cause mah love didn’t work lak they love, if dey ever had any. Then you must tell ‘em dat love ain’t somethin’ lak uh grindstone dat’s de same thing everywhere and do de same thing tuh everything it touch.

Love is lak de sea. It’s uh movin’ thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from de shore it meets, and it’s different with every shore.” (Hurston 191) Janie lectures Phoeby that love is not a fix thing that is the same for everyone who experiences it. And said it is as food and changing as the sea, only shoot by the shores of me in it meets, society has a normative in and flexible idea of what love is, when actual true love is different for everyone.

Jenny has had many chances that lab but I always lose them somehow. She always seem to have hope for a future love. After losing Tea Cake, Janie was able to find her own independence, bringing the story full circle back to its beginning theme of the horizon, which makes the conclusion gratifying. Tea Cake became mentally unstable and delusional after being bitten by a rabid dog. The first significant decision Janie made on her own was to put an end to Tea Cake’s suffering. “He braced himself against the doorframe, and Janie thought about rushing toward him to grab his arm. However, she noticed him taking aim and heard the trigger click. Seeing the intense look in his eyes, she was overtaken by the same kind of terror she had felt in the water before.

She threw up the barrel of the rifle in frenzied hope and fear. Hope that he’d see it and run, desperate fear for her life. But if Tea Cake could have counted costs he would not have been there with the pistol in his hands. No knowledge of fear nor rifles nor anything else was there. He paid no more attention to the pointing gun than if it were Janie’s dog finer. She saw him stiffen himself all over as he leveled and took aim. The fiend in him must kill and Janie was the only thing living he saw. The pistol and the rifle rang out almost together. The pistol just enough after the rifle to seem its echo.

Tea Cake crumpled as his bullet buried itself in the joist over Janie’s head. Janie saw the look on his face and leaped forward as he crashed forward in her arms. She was trying to hover him as he closed his teeth in the flesh of her forearm. They came down heavily like that. Janie struggled to a sitting position and pried the dead Tea Cake’s teeth from her arm.” (Hurston 184). Death seems inevitable for both Tea Cake and Janie; one must die for the other to live. In the end, Janie chooses to shot Tea Cake wity the intent of killing him.

However, Janie is not completely out of danger; Tea Cake uses his last ounce of strength to try to make a second attempt to kill Janie by biting her. This is a similar to when her first husband, Joe, used his last words before he died to curse Janie and wish death upon her. If Janie did not kill Tea Cake first, he may of killed her. On her own she was able to make this decision with no influence from a man or even her grandma. She was able to rise above the notion of people telling her she could live on her own.

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