A bildungsroman, or coming-of-age novel, recounts the psychological or moral development of its protagonist from youth to maturity, when this character recognizes his or her place in the world. Select a single pivotal moment in the psychological or moral development of the protagonist of a bildungsroman. Then write a well-organized essay that analyzes how that single moment shapes the meaning of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot
According to Joseph Campbell’s archetypal hero’s journey, the hero must complete a series of tasks to develop psychologically on a spiritual or physical quest, in order to achieve self-actualization. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston’s protagonist, Janie, sets off on her own quest for true love through a series of three marriages in order to reach her own version of self-actualization, only to explore the binary opposites of the powerful and the powerless. Although Janie is technically an adult throughout Their Eyes Were Watching God, the trials and tribulations Janie faces throughout the novel document Janie’s coming of age. Ironically, it is only when Janie kills her “true love”, Tea Cake, that she is able to ascend into self-acceptance through taking the power in her relationship, demonstrating her true loss of innocence and complete change of perspective on the world. Through this pivotal moment, Zora Neale Hurston asserts that in order for black women to achieve maturity, they must ironically break out of their societal gender and racial stereotypes by achieving the paradox of being powerful in their own will but realizing that they are trapped in the power of God.
Janie’s first call to adventure in her quest for true love occurs when her mentor, Nanny, pushes Janie into marriage with a wealthy farmer, Logan, for financial stability despite her objections that she “‘ain’t no real ‘oman yet’” (12) and that she “‘don’t love [Logan] at all’” (15). In this marriage, Nanny and society act as the powerful external forces, coercing Janie to comply with societal racial and gender roles that mark the black woman as the “mule uh de world” (14), the lowest place in society. Although Janie attempts to love Logan, she cannot because of their power imbalance; Janie is not willing to work with Logan, and Logan is not willing to “talk in rhymes” (26) with Janie. Janie crosses her first threshold when she realizes that “marriage did not make love” (25). Janie leaves Logan to continue her quest for true love with her second husband, Joe, whose innate power gives her hope that she can reach her “horizon” (32). Janie is attracted to Joe’s god-like, “white” (48) power as the mayor of Eatonville and the power she garners by being his wife. However, it is evident that this is not the type of power or love Janie desires as the symbol of the mule and the oppression of the black woman persists. Joe’s obsession with power “squeezes and tramples” (86) Janie’s voice, independent will, and individual power, isolating her from the society she longs to identify with. Through a series of tribulations and power struggles in which Janie “wasn’t petal-open” (71), Janie finally seizes back her voice by voicing her opinion in public, taking back some of her power, in a way killing Joe. Everything that Joe has built in Eatonville had been a representation of his power. When Janie speaks out and ruins this representation by sharing a vision of herself that Joe didn’t want to comply with, Joe’s overarching voice was silenced and it “cut off his breath and left his hands in a pose of agonizing protest” (87). From this point onwards, the image of the mule and oppressed black woman begin to fade, replaced by the powerful image of a blossoming flower.
By the time Janie crosses the threshold again in her third marriage with Tea Cake, she is able to achieve a marriage with a balance in power. Tea Cake is the first man willing to allow Janie to “play checkers” (96) with him on an equal playing field, symbolizing Tea Cake’s willingness to let Janie strategize their life together. Janie is finally able to freely voice her opinions and display her innate sensuous beauty, allowing her to reach her own version of true love. Still the power-couple realizes how powerless they are in the face of God, as “their eyes [watch] God” (160) when a hurricane strikes their town in an unfortunate ordeal. As a result of this unfortunate series of events, Tea Cake contracts rabies when he saves Janie from a rabid dog during their struggle. Both Janie and Tea Cake are powerless in the face of this disease and mother nature. Janie comes to accept her weakness in the face of a greater force when Tea Cake tries to kill her in a rage, still loving Tea Cake, but also loving herself enough to seize her power by killing her husband. Ironically, it is the murdering of her true love that fully results in Janie’s coming of age. In this action, Janie is able to reach emotional security. Although Janie murdered her husband, she is able to acknowledge her potent grief in which she could spend “eternity… [weeping]” (184), but is emotionally secure enough to tell society in her court proceedings that she doesn’t regret killing her husband; the powerful action had to be done. This is a stark contrast to the fake, pandering mourning Janie held after Joe’s death. It is clear that when Janie brings back the elixir to share the story with her friend Phoebe, her perspective on life has changed significantly. She no longer sees herself as the “mule” (14) of the world but a powerful, strong, independent, black woman.
Janie doesn’t end up happily-ever-after and married to the love her life like in her original
quest for an idealistic version of love. However, she is able to break imposed, societal stereotypes of being the “mule of society” (14) by seizing her power in her doomed relationship with Tea Cake. Because of this instance, Janie is able to assess her new mature place in society as a woman who has realized two things: the power of “livin’ fuh [herself]”(192) and the power of “God” (192). This paradox of freedom and entrapment, displayed when Janie “draped [the fish-net] over her shoulder” (193), draws attention to the Janie’s divided self after Tea Cake’s death.
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