Their Eyes Were Watching God: Controling Partners

The novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God" is a novel about a black woman's journey through life in the south during the early 20th century. Throughout her life, she has relationships with three men. All of the relationships are very different dynamically. However, one constant theme in all of her relationships is control. Janie is controlled by most of the men in her life, but she has a unconscious control over these men that she is not aware of.

From the first few sentences of the novel, it is evident that there is clear difference between men and women. For example, Hurston speaks of the differences of the way men and women dream:

"Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in
with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight,
never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams
mocked to death by time. That is the life of men. Now, women forget all those
things they don't want to remember, and remember everything they don't want
to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly"
(Hurston 1).

This shows the distinct difference between men and women. Thus, we can understand the different ways of control pertaining to Janie and her husbands.

Janie's first marriage is at a young age to Logan Killicks. He is a man that her Nanny insists that she marries because he has land and a house. Logan's land gives him power and control over Janie because he has more than she does. This is how Logan exercises control over Janie. In this relationship however, Janie has control over Logan via her looks. By her being light skinned and having long flowing hair, it makes Logan take notice of Janie and how beautiful she is. Later in the marriage, Logan begins to tell Janie she is lazy and that she will be handling one of the mules in order to plow for potatoes. This is symbolic of control because a mule is run into the ground and is used as a work horse. This is how he believes Janie should act and how she should contribute to the household. This is another way that Logan intends to take control over Janie.

Ultimately, Janie is the one who has the control and power to end the relationship. She says to Logan, "S'posin' Ah wuz to run off and leave yuh sometime" (30). Logan is shocked that Janie feels that she has the power and control over the relationship to actually end it. Once she leaves, Logan yells to Janie, "God damn yo' hide"! (32). Logan has lost control of Janie and she has run off with another man. This shows how Janie holds some control over Logan.

The man who Janie runs off with is Joe Starks. He's a career and goal driven man who tells Janie that he's going to start up a town of black folks. Joe gains control over Janie early in their relationship due to the fact that Janie is currently in a relationship with Logan, who she is not happy with. This makes her vulnerable to Joe. Joe complements her by saying that, "A pretty doll-baby lak you is made to sit on de front porch and rock and fan yo'self and eat p'taters dat other folks plant just special for you" (29). Janie marries Joe Starks but soon finds out that his sweet-talking and promises are not the life that Janie will live.
Joe opens up the general store in the town of Eatonville, of which he is the mayor. He makes Janie run the store and do as she is told. She is not allowed to join in conversations with the customers, as ordered by Joe. Joe is by far controlling Janie more than she has ever been controlled in her life. Joe's suppression of Jamie is symbolized in two places. First at the lamplighting Joe prevents Janie from speaking. His big voice stifles her and she feels cold and unloved. This feeling is described by the bloom metaphor: "Joe spoke out without giving her a chance to say anything and it took the bloom off of things" (43). The second symbol of Janie's suppression is the fact that he makes her tie her hair up in a bonnet. Janie's hair is a symbol of her freedom and her character. These factors clearly indicate the control that Joe Starks has over Janie.
Joe does many other things to exude control over Janie. For example, Joe smacks Janie after she has cooked a meal that was not good enough for him. Janie is also growing tired of having to wear scarves to cover her hair, this shows Joe's possessiveness and control over Janie. Janie eventually ends up speaking up for herself against Joe. Joe comments on her looks while they are in an argument. Instead of keeping quiet like she always did, she stands up to him by saying, "Stop mixin' up mah doings wid mah looks, Jody. When you get through tellin' me how tuh cut uh plug uh tobacco, then you kin tell me whether mah behind is on straight or not" (78). This shows how Janie is taking control of the situation that was originally Joe's attempt to drag her down emotionally and to put her in her place.

Janie eventually has control over Joe when he dies. She is the one left with the house, the store, and the land. This is symbolic because it is similar to Janie having the last laugh. Once he dies, she burns the rags that she used to wear on her head as ordered to by Joe.

Tea Cake is the first man that Janie is actually attracted to, which initially gives him control over Janie via his aesthetics. When Tea Cake walks in and asks for a light for his cigarette, he asks Janie, "got a lil piece of fire over dere, lady" (95)? Literally of course, he means that he needs some fire to light his cigarette. But metaphorically, he seems to be recognizing the fire and the spark that Janie has inside her. This is the unconscious control that Janie has over men, as aforementioned earlier. Tea Cake also loves her hair, he embraces it. He loves to touch it. Tea Cake even planted flowers in her yard, which possibly shows some sort of control that Janie might have over him. However, this is the first relationship where there is not a real control issue. This is the first time Janie has been in love, therefore, the fact that they are respectful of each other and do things for each other is evident that they are equal partners in this relationship. Thus, there is no real control issue here with the exception of a few things.

Tea Cake wants Janie to come work with him in the fields. He wants her to work with him not because he will work her like a mule, like Logan did, but so that he can spend time with her. He also encourages her to play checkers and to participate in conversation. One of the only times that there is a control issue is when Mrs. Turner tries to convince Janie that she should consider dating her brother. Tea Cake over hears the conversation and gets mad, even though Janie defends her relationship with Tea Cake. Tea Cake whips Janie to show Mrs. Turner's brother that Tea Cake had full control over Janie. "Being able to whip her reassured him possession. No brutal beating at all. He just slapped her around a bit to show he was boss. Everybody talked about it the next day in the fields. It aroused a sort of envy in both men and women" (147). This incident shows why Tea Cake did what he did to Janie, to show control over her.

Another incident with Tea Cake that deals with the issue of control is when Tea Cake falls ill with Rabies. Tea Cake falls into a jealous rage when he finds out Ms. Turner's bro is back in the Glades. He asks her why she left the house w/o telling him; is she interested in Turner's bro? Janie tells him that he is sick and he is taking everything the wrong way. She went to get him meds. He becomes more controlling with his sickness, but when he is not in a rage, Janie is in control because she has the power and control by taking care of him.

Ultimately, the men in Janie's life have generally had control over her. But Janie attains a certain degree of control with her good looks, and intelligent mind. This is most evident in her relationship with Tea Cake. So the question that remains might be this: Does full, reciprocal love mean that there is control? The answer, in regards to the relationship with Tea Cake and Janie especially, is no. The love and respect that they had for each other shows that there is no one particular person in control, as was prevalent in her previous marriages. Love, it seems, is what broke the control pattern in Janie's life and opened her eyes to what a non-controlling life could be like.