Jenny Campbell Mr.

Rodbro Honors English II 14 August 2010 In 1967, John Lennon told the world that, all you need is love. With the exception of food, water and shelter, he is right. Sharing these beliefs is Janie Crawford, from Zora Neale Hurstons, Their Eyes Were Watching God, who lives her life assuming that she needs to find love in a man to be happy. Throughout the novel, Janie faces love and lust, both of which help her character develop. Janie Crawford lives her life in search of love but realizes that the only person she needs to love is herself. Janies second husband shows her that lust is only temporary. Because Janies teenage years are filled with daydreams about finding someone to spend her life with, she is eager to find a man she can settle down with. Her parents were not around when she was growing up, so she has never felt like she has received unconditional love. Janie is rejected in school for having long straight hair and a light complexion. This could have prevented emotional growth in Janie. With little social interaction as a child, Janie meets Joe Starks and rushes to marry him. When Joe treats Janie poorly, gradually, she pressed her teeth together and learned to hush(71). She gives up her voice. Janie realizes what kind of person Jim is forcing her to become and she doesnt like it. She finally understands that her marriage to Jim is superficial. In the novel, it states that It was her image of (Joe) tumbled down and shattered. But looking at it, she saw it never was the flesh and blood figure of her dreams. Just something she had grabbed up to drape her

dreams over (72). She finds peace within herself after his death. Janie recognizes that love is out there and that she just needs to keep looking. Janie finally finds real love in her third husband, Tea Cake. He is 16 years younger than her, but that does not bother Janie. This shows that she follows her heart and peruses what she truly wants. When Tea Cake gets rabbis and threatens Janies life, Janie is forced to kill him to save herself. This ultimately shows that throughout the novel, she learns to love herself. Instead of trying to find love in other people, Janie finds satisfaction in loving who she is as a person. When Janie comes back to town after Tea Cakes death, she is wearing dirty overalls. However, when she leaves town (many years prior to her return), she is wearing a beautiful silk dress. By the change of wardrobe, we know that Janie has been changed by everything that has happened in her past. Janie reaches spiritual enlightenment when she, pulled in her horizon like a giant fish net (192). She is finally aware of who she is and realizes that Tea Cake will always be with her. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie finds herself. In the beginning, she believes that the only way to be happy is to find love. Yet in the end, Janie learns how to primarily love herself. She evolves and becomes content with her life. She is constantly looking for love and eventually, Janie finds it inside of herself.