Complex Characters Their Eyes Were Watching God Analysis

In literature, an author uses different characters to tell a story, and these characters have diverse character traits depending on the context the author aims to elicit. Character analysis is an essential part of understanding literature. It allows readers to interlay themes. "their eyes were watching god" is a novel written by Zora Neale Hurston and initially published in 1937. The book is a classic and often referred to as the classic of the Harlem renaissance. It revolves around the main character Janie Crawford as she grows from a naïve teenage girl to a woman in control of her destiny. The novel explores several themes, including gender roles, race, masculinity, feminism, and women's liberation. Hurston successfully creates complex characters in "their eyes were watching God" by creating characters with conflicting motivations, undergoing extensive changes as the plot progresses, and experiencing a range of emotions.

Janie Crawford is the main protagonist in the novel, and she presents as a complex character. Still, the most dominant one is through her progressive growth from being subjugated to male dominance. Still, as the plot continues, she becomes the subject of her narrative as she finds enlightenment, fulfilling love, and self-identity. Her dynamics in experienced self-growth is an example that signifies a complex character.

As a woman of mixed ethnicity, Crawford is the novel's main protagonist, full of beauty and vibrancy. Since her childhood, Crawford experienced the harmony of life and its creations in the blossoms of a pear tree. Just like a pear tree grows, it symbolizes her passions and dreams as she finds the meaning of life (Washington & Mary Helen, pp. 9-23.). The theme of gender roles powerfully resonates with her marriage life experiences. Janie Crawford was married to her first husband when she was just sixteen years old. During her first marriage, she is naïve, and she feels like she is just a piece of property to her husband. She feels she has no value to her husband, who isolates and belittle her existence, and she struggles to find content in her marriage.

Janie Crawford finally gets the true love she has always yearned for since her teenage years when she gets married to Tea cake. Tea cake and Janie Crawford have a mutually inclusive relationship where they both respect each other, and she feels desired. Janie Crawford can develop her voice and find her self-awareness through her relationship with Tea cake. Unlike in previous marriages, she chooses to be silent when she wants to, out of her own will and not due to any submissiveness. "What she doin' coming back here in dem overhalls? Can't she find no dress to put on". When Janie's neighbors start questioning her sudden reappearance in town, she does not bother to explain herself to them, showing her independence and self-worth.

Joe starks is Janie's second husband, and he is also presented as a complex character due to being multi-faceted and having various motivations that are self-conflicting. At first, he is shown as a very charismatic character and has bigger plans for his future. Joe convinces Janie to leave Logan and be with her in Eatonville. Janie is effortlessly confident because she is young and inexperienced.

Joe is characterized as a strong and organized man who wants to make a name in the African American town. His desire to be with Janie is not a result of love but a woman to be displayed as a pedestal. Joe's charisma conflicts with his other characteristics, including being over-ambitious, lacking communication, and overly jealous of Janie. Joe's overzealous ambition is self-conflicting, making his character complex. From the onset of the story, he desires to be significant in society, but he takes it too far and sometimes silences his wife and others "She's uh woman and her place are in de home." His authoritative characteristic extracts a toll on him as he ages, and in the end, his body shuts down.

Tea cake is Janie Crawford's third husband; his complex character lies in that he cannot be fully categorized as a good or a bad man. Tea cake characteristics vary, ranging from cruelness to tentativeness, sometimes being independent and loving, and other times showing seriousness or playfulness. Of all her three marriages, Janie feels contented in her marriage to Tea Cake.

Janie finally feels loved and appreciated in her marriage to Tea cake. He does not command her around and treats her as his equal by asking her to work with him. Unlike Janie's previous husbands, Tea Cake's reason for asking Janie to work is to spend more time together (Daniel & Janice, pp.66-76). Tea Cake's complexity is portrayed when he becomes very jealous "Well, whut didja slip off from de house 'thout tellin' me you wuz goin'. You ain't never done dat befo". When a dog bites him, he gets jealous. Once a loving and compassionate character is consumed by jealousy.