A Life With Three Marriages English Literature Essay

A Life With Three Marriages English Literature Essay In the book Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Hurston, marriage plays a big role in the story. The main character, Janie, get married three times in her lifetime. Janie is a very attractive woman and practically can get who she wants, but she is looking for a special somebody. Most people get married once, but Janie just couldn’t find the right person to spend the rest of her life with. Janie uses a peach tree as her symbol for a perfect man. Janie lives a life of uncertainty. She wishes to be married to her peach tree, but she cannot seem to run into him. Janie isn’t afraid of waiting for her ideal husband. Janie goes from marriage to marriage trying to find not only the perfect soul mate, but she also wanted to find herself. Janie had a hard time trying to be who she really is when she had her grandmother choosing her husband for her. Janie’s mother and grandmother had such a difficult life. Janie has her grandmother to take care of her, but she cannot do t hat forever. Janie’s grandmother pushed Janie to limits because she wanted Janie to have a life that wasn’t like her own or her mother’s. The theme of this story is love comes with compromise and honesty in a relationship. Marriage promises change, but it will remain loveless without equality and respect. Janie’s first marriage with Logan Killicks fails because Logan and her grandmother neglect to display any respect for what Janie wants out of a marriage. Janie’s grandmother’s selfish act contributed to the marriage because she forces Janie to marry Logan for the sake of her own comforts rather than Janie’s. As stated in the book, â€Å"So you don’t want to marry off decent like, do yuh? You just wants to hug and kiss and feel around with the first one man and then another, huh? You want me to suck the same sorrow yo’ mama did, eh? Mah ole head ain’t gray enough. Mah back ain’t bowed enough to suit yuh!â € (13-4). This quote shows how much her grandmother doesn’t want her to have the marriage she wants. Janie wants the hugs and the kisses, which is what makes her dream marriage seem so incredible. Janie wants to marry because she loves that person, she doesn’t want to marry out of convenience. Janie’s grandmother lived in a time where love didn’t exist and that is what makes her push Janie to marry Logan. During those times it was hard to find a marriage between African American women that contained love. Logan further aggravates the marriage because he expects Janie to show her appreciation for what he has done for her. Logan feels that he does Janie a huge favor by marrying her, but in all actuality, Janie is miserable. Logan has no respect for Janie’s feelings. Although Logan tries to be polite to her there is no sincerity in what he does because he just doesn’t care. Again Logan feels he’s doing Janie a favor. As Boston Globe s taff member, Renee Graham, writes about an interview by Valerie Boyd, she reveals that Hurston writes from experience, â€Å"She often worked as a maid and may have endured an abusive common-law marriage to a man who, Boyd posits, may have provided bitter inspiration for the cruel Logan Killicks in â€Å"Their Eyes Were Watching God.† (Hurston, who married not wisely but often, officially had three husbands. Writes Boyd, â€Å"Zora was afraid that matrimony would only widen her hips and narrow her life.†).