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Dragana Custic
Dr. Verrone
EN 410
20 October 2015
The Places and Spaces that Shaped Janies Life
Janie Crawford from Hurstons novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, represents a
character who longs to find her space and self-worth within a society that criticizes her every
move and eventually silences her. When Janie returns to the town of Eatonville, she becomes the
talk of the town. She is silenced by male authority and becomes isolated from others in the
community, losing her ability to participate in any of their activities. Jodys grocery store
resembles a space in which Janie lost her independence. The space of the store symbolizes a
confinement where the oppression of women was brought to light. The porch outside of Pheobys
house is a public and private space that enables Janie to engage in her storytelling and escape
from the imprisonment of the white community. The porch outside of Jodys store is also a place
where men and women gather to pass time and gossip. The Everglades, in contrast to Eatonville,
become a place where Janie regains the ability to communicate verbally; she indulges in the
freedom of self-expression and the empowerment of her African American culture. In Their
Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston fuses spaces and places such as the store, the
porch, Eatonville and the Everglades to communicate the segregation of the black and
white communities, invoke gender roles, and reveal how these restraints were anchors for
Janie Crawfords self-construction and journey toward womanhood.
Jody Starks store becomes a space where Janies inner thoughts must remain hidden, her
voice must be silenced, and her hair must remain in a head rag; this store represents the absolute

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authority of mens voices over womens, characterizing the lack of independence that women
faced. Jody Starks becomes the mayor of Eatonville and opens up a grocery store. The other
members of the community ask for Janie to give a speech after his, but he never gives her the
opportunity to let her voice be heard, believing that a womans place in society does not lie in
giving speeches. He strictly forces Janie to keep her hair tied up and wear a head rag at all times
while she is in the store. His jealous obsession of other men staring at her or even touching her
drives him insane. She must put on a false act and pushes her feelings to the side, leaving the
space of the store a place where she is unable to be her true self and where her freedom is
abolished. Jody's big voice captures the totalizing language that silences her. In addition to
preventing Janie from speechmakin,' Jody tells her to shut up, and she, therefore, gradually
pressed her teeth together and learned to hush. (docs.lib.purdue.edu). Janie is confined in the
space of the store in which she believed she could be free, both physically, as well as figuratively
by Joe. His voice reigns over hers, and his authority becomes too much for Janie to handle,
leaving her voiceless. It is evident that Joe has more care for wealth and power than Janie. He
maintains a strong hold over her, trapping her in a cage that leaves her emotionally and socially
secluded. She plays the role of a trophy wife who Joe parades around town, who must abide by
his every command, and this weakens Janies vision of her horizon. In this particular situation,
the authority of men over women has left a young woman like Janie in search of voice; the
constraints of the store have taken away Janies ability to express her true self.
The porch served as a gathering place for the men and women of Eatonville; to Janie, the
porch was a space where she experienced endless freedom and engaged in storytelling, gaining

the privilege to allow her voice to be heard. The porch was another space of segregation. The
men
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typically gathered on the porch by Jodys store, while the women would sit on the porches
behind peoples houses and gossip. The porch sitters function as a chorus, using what they see
and hear to describe the actions of the characters:

It was time for sitting on porches beside the road. It was time to hear things and talk. These
sitters had been tongueless, earless, eyeless conveniences all day long. Mules and other brutes
had occupied their skins. But now, the sun and the bossman were gone, so the skins felts
powerful and human. They became lords of sounds and lesser things. They passed nations
through their mouths. They sat in judgement (Hurston 1).
The above quotation explains the life of the porch sitters and how they each gain a voice
when they enter the space of the porch. During the day, they are described as mules who work
long hours. When the sun sets, they all gather on the porches and allow their voices to be heard
loud and clear. They judge what goes on around them and tells stories about the lives of other
people in the community, such as Janie. These people spend their lives working for others and
never get to fulfill their own hopes and dreams, causing them to gossip about other people
instead.
For Janie Crawford, the porch serves as a place where she experiences the solitude she
does not have during the day, but also as a place where she is able to let her thoughts soar and
explore the layers of herself. Dale Pattison stated that she uses the physical space of the porch to

understand the interior and exterior dimensions of her character. By demonstrating control of
her own voice and using it to tell stories, the porch is a physical space that lets Janie come to an

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understanding with her inner and outer potential. This space brings her closer and closer to the
realization of her true self-worth. Over the course of the novel, Janie finally recognizes the
individuality of her mixed race and learns to find comfort in her own body. Janie has never
envisioned herself having a unique space in society; it is only through realizing who she truly is
that Janies image of herself changes from negative to positive. Her inner and outer self was
liberated from the restrictions imposed upon her; the color of her skin makes her feel beautiful
and gives her a sense of empowerment over the rest of society.
The Everglades is a transition from Janies lack of voice and powerlessness to finding a
voice and identifying the empowerment within herself and her culture. She is able to see the
lifestyle of those in poverty who work in the mucks of the Everglades. The sight of this place
manages to bring Janie in contact with her African American culture. The culture is described in
two contradictory ways; on one hand the African American life is exhausting and difficult, but on
the other, it is lively and peaceful:

Permanent transients with no attachments, and tired looking men with their families and dogs
in flivvers. People ugly from ignorance and broken from being poor. All night now, the jooks
clanged and clamored. Pianos living three lifetimes in one. Blues made and used right on the

spot. Dancing, fighting, singing, crying, laughing, winning and losing love every hour (Hurston
131).
The quote depicted above demonstrates the different qualities and aspects of African
American culture. In Eatonville, Janie never had the chance of connecting with her cultural
roots
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like she did in the Everglades. Janie learns that something positive comes out of every bad
experience. Although African Americans worked like mules and experienced endless amounts
of exhaustion every day, they learned to look past the ignorance that was imposed on them and
enjoy the beauty of their culture. This is what makes the Everglades such a significant place. If
Janie had never witnessed this with her own eyes, she would have had a difficult time escaping
the restrains that surround her and never come in touch with the beauty that lies within her. The
Everglades provide Janie with the sense of empowerment that she has been searching for; by
entering this place, she transforms from a voiceless character to one who will never forget the
potential that exists in the power of her voice.
Janies quest towards self-love and the true power of her voice is reawakened through her
movement through the places of Eatonville and the Everglades, along with the spaces of the
store and the porch. She has suffered the restraints of male authority and was a victim of
objectionable silence. Despite these obstacles, Janies experiences with each place and space
shape her metamorphosis into a woman who loves and respects herself, wholly and truly. She
appreciates all the beauty that is prevalent inside and outside of her; the bumps in the road that
each space and place constructed for her, not only affected her emotionally, but she has

physically learned to love the body she is immersed in. Her voice is now louder than it has ever
been.

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Works Cited
Bernard, Patrick S. "The Cognitive Construction of the Self in Hurston's Their Eyes Were
Watching God." CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 9.2 (2007): 1-13.
Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God: A Novel. New York: Perennial Library,
1990. Print.
Pattison, Dale. "Sites Of Resistance: The Subversive Spaces Of Their Eyes Were Watching
God." Melus 38.4 (2013): 9-31. Academic Search Premier. Web. 17 Oct. 2015.