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Gender Roles
The novel explores traditional gender roles and the relationship between men and women. Nanny believes that Janie should marry a man not for love but for 'protection'. Janie's first two husbands, Logan Killicks and Jody Starks, both believe Janie should be defined by her marriage to them. Both men want her to be domesticated and silent. Her speech, or silence, is defined by her physical locations, most often. For example, Joe forces her silence in the store, a public—and therefore, male—space. Joe says, "...Muh wife don't know nothin' bout no speech-makin'. Ah never married her for nothin' lak dat. She's uh woman, and her place is in de home." Janie is also forbidden from socialising with the men on the porch. Her place is seen as in the home and not out on the porch, a public space that can be defined as male. Tea Cake is Janie's last husband, who treats her as more of an equal than Killicks and Starks did by talking to her and playing checkers with her. Despite his equal treatment in the beginning, Tea Cake does hit Janie in order to show his possession over her. Thus, Janie's life seems defined by her relation to male-centric spaces.

Masculinity vs Femininity
In “Their Eyes Were Watching God” the role of masculinity is portrayed through the subordination and objectification of women. In a reflection of post-slavery Florida, black men are subordinate only to their white employers and adhere to white patriarchal institutions of masculinity in which women are held in a positive social regard only if they are attractive, are married, or have attained financial security via previous marriages. Black women, specifically, face greater opression, as their own struggle for independence was considered counter-productive to the greater fight for equality for black americans as a whole. Nanny explains this hierarchical structure early on to Janie when she says, "Honey, de white man is de ruler of everything…white man throw down the load and tell de n––r man to pick it up. He pick it up because he have to, but he don't tote it. He hand it to his womenfolks."

In the book, men view women as an object to pursue, acquire, and control through courting, manipulation, and even physical force. Janie’s journey for the discovery of her self-identity and independence is depicted through her pursuit of true love––her dream––through marriages to three different men. Each of the men she marries conforms in some way to gender norms of the day. The role of femininity is portrayed through the symbolism of property, mules and elements in nature. Women in the book are considered a trophy prize for males, to simply look pretty and obey their husbands. The analogy of the Mule and Women is stated repetitively in the book and is used to represent the gender role of women. Janie's Nanny explained to Janie at young age how African American women were objectified as mules. “De n––r woman is de mule uh de world so far as Ah can see.”, Nanny explains to Janie how black women are represented by the Mule. Mules are typically bought and sold by farmers, usually to be used to work until exhaustion. Later in the book, Janie realizes that Nanny's warnings were true when she identifies with an abused mule in Eatonville. She sees herself as a working animal with no voice, there for the amusement of others and at the expense of her own free will. This is identification is shown in the book when the townspeople are laughing at the mule that Jody had eventually bought and rescued (in an attempt to manipulate Janie). However, Janie doesn’t laugh alongside the townspeople because she is shown to empathize with the mule. “Everybody was having fun at the mule-baiting. All but Janie” and she feels disgusted by the situation. The mule represents the feminin gender role in the story by which men suppress and degrade women who are stereotyped as unable to think for themselves and needing constant guidance from men. These stereotypes "become a chain on the American women, preventing them from developing individuality, and from pursuing their personal happiness"[ and ultimately what forces them to mold into their gender role.

Janie Crawford:
Janie Crawford is the main female character of "Their Eyes are Watching God". At the beginning of the story, she is described as naive, beautiful, and energetic. However, as the story progresses, Janie is constantly under the influence and pressure of toxic masculinity. As she navigates each of her relationships with men, Janie ultimately loses her image and conforms to roles that the husbands want her to fill.

In Janie's first relationship, she was given as a wife by Nanny at an early age and was told that love may come with marriage but that it was not important. However, as time passed, Janie was unable to love Logan. "She began to cry. 'Ah wants things sweet wid mah marriage lak when you sit under a pear tree and think." As time passed on, Logan began forcing gender roles onto Janie, telling her that he would buy a mule for her so that she could work. However, Janie was strong-minded and Logan made little progress on changing Janie. Janie raised her voice, but still, she remained susceptible to suppression and abuse. "You ain't got no particular place. It's wherever Ah need yuh. Git a move on yuh, and dat quck."[1].

Then, in Janie's second relationship, she left Logan Killicks in an attempt to persue a better future with her new husband, Joe Starks. Joe, was the Mayor of Eatonville and achieved incredible wealth, placing Janie in a higher status than her peers, since she was "sleeping with authority, seating in a higher chair"[1]. Janie believed that her life would change for the better. However, She was confined in the roles of a housewife and was made to be Joe's prized possession. "The king's mule, and the king's pleasure is everything she is there for, nothing else".

In Janie's third and last relationship, she was able to experience true love, on her own terms, with her third husband Verigible "Tea Cake" Woods. Janie was older than Tea Cake by twelve years. He loved and treated her better than her previous husbands. While she was no longer strictly confined by the gender roles placed upon her by her previous husbands, she was still easily influenced and manipulated by Tea Cake. In a moment of desperation and self defense, Janie was forced to shoot and kill Tea Cake,

Logan Killicks:
Logan Killicks is Janie’s first husband. Shortly after Nanny observes Janie sharing her first kiss with boy named Johnny Taylor––and therefore showing signs of puberty––she informs Janie that she was promised to Logan Killicks, a widower, from a young age for her own well being and protection. Logan owns a farm with acres of land. He grows and sells potatoes as well as chops and delivers wood. He has one mule to plow the fields and decides that he needs to add another to the stable. Though Janie hopes that it will grow, there is no love between her and Logan. She is roughly 16 years old when she is married off to Logan and later, she grows to resent her grandmother for selling her like a slave. Their marriage is purely logic and convenience––he is a man with property and he needs a wife while Nanny is an aging woman raising her grandchild alone, and she needs to secure Janie’s future. There is little regard for Janie’s happiness as Nanny believes Logan to be a good husband based on his financial prospects alone.

Logan has traditional views on marriage. He believes that a man should be married to a woman, property, and work hard. Everyone contributes to tending the family affairs. He believes Janie should work as well and do as she is told. She is analogous to a mule or other working animal. He is not an attractive man by Janie’s description of him and seems to be aware of this. As such, his prospects at finding a mate based on attraction and his age are slim, thus the reason for approaching Nanny about an arrangement of marriage to Janie when she comes of age.

During the course of their brief marriage, Logan attempts to subjugate Janie with his words and attempts to make her work beyond the gender roles in a typical marriage. He does not appreciate her streaks of independence when she refuses his commands and uses her family history to try to manipulate her into being submissive to him and at one point, he threatens to kill her for her insubordination in a desperate and final attempt to control her.

Jody Starks:
Joe “Jody” Starks is Janie’s second husband. He is charismatic, charming and has big plans for his future. Janie, being young and naive, is easily seduced by his efforts to convince her to leave Logan. Ultimately, Joe is successful in gaining Janie’s trust and so she joins him on his journey. Joe views Janie as a princess or royalty to be displayed on a pedestal. Because of her youth, inexperience, and desire to find true love, Jody easily controls and manipulates her into submitting to his male authority.

Joe Starks is a man who is strong, organized, and a natural leader. He has money from his time working for white men and he now aims to settle in a new community made up of African Americans, a place in its infancy where he can make a name for himself. Joe quickly establishes himself as an authoritative figure around the town which has no determined name or governance of any kind when he and Janie arrive. With the money he has, he buys land, organizes the townsfolk, becomes the owner-operator of the general store and post office, and is eventually named Mayor of Eatonville. Joe strives for equality with white men, particularly the mayor of the white town across the river from Eatonville. To attain this status he requires nice things: the largest white house, a nice desk and chair, a gilded spitoon, and a beautiful wife. He is a larger than life character and during their time in Eatonville, he has grown a equally large belly and taken up the habit of chewing nice cigars, both of which cement his status with the locals as an important man around town. Joe, like most of the men in the book, believes that women are incapable of thinking and caring for themselves. He likens them to children and livestock that need constant tending and direction. ''“Somebody’s got to think for women and chilling and chickens and cows. I God, they sho don't think none theirselves.”''

Jody is a jealous man, and because of this he grows more and more possessive and controlling of Janie. He expects her to dress a certain way (buying her the finest of clothes) and requires that she wear her long, beautiful hair––symbolic of her free spirit and femininity––up in a bun, so as not to attract too much unwanted attention from the other men in Eatonville. He excludes her from various events and social gatherings in Eatonville to further his dominance and control over her.

Whenever Janie asserts her own independence, he further restricts her freedoms. Like Logan, Jody uses words and manipulation to control Janie. He is more successful in this regard than his predecessor as she is generally submissive towards him. He occasionally strikes Janie in order to show her and the other townsfolk his authority. Near the end of their relationship, Janie challenges Jody in front of the other men at the store and effectively emasculates him. He resorts to hitting her as hard as he can, though in the end, he has lost the respect of his peers.

Verigible "Tea Cake" Woods:
Tea Cake is Janie’s third and final husband. He is her ideal partner in her search for true love. He is charismatic, charming, funny, and creative with a tendency to embellish stories. To Janie, he is larger than life, wise, and genuinely cares for her. Tea Cake is loving towards Janie and respectful of her as her own individual person. Unlike her previous two marriages, Tea Cake never stops trying to make her happy. He is more than willing to share with her what he has learned from his own experiences and show her the greater world outside of her own existence. He enjoys being with Janie and playing the role of a teacher. Through Tea Cake, Janie learns to shoot a rifle, play checkers, and fish among other activities.

However, Tea Cake shows tendencies of patriarchal dominance and psychological abuse towards Janie. He isn’t always truthful with her and shows some of the same characteristic traits exhibited by Joe Starks and Logan Killicks. For instance, he keeps her from working with the rest of the people down on the muck because he believes she is above common folk. Consequently, until Janie asserts herself with Tea Cake and joins the others in working, she gains a bit of a reputation for thinking herself better than everyone else.

In a show of male dominance in their relationship, Tea Cake takes $200 from Janie without her knowledge or permission and spends it on a nice guitar and a lavish party with others around town without including her in the festivities. While accounting for his spending of her money, he tells Janie that he had to pay women that he deemed unattractive, $2 each to keep them from the party. He then gambles the remaining amount in order to make the money back and excludes her from the gambling scene. What differentiates him from Joe in this regard is that Janie regularly confronts him and he acquiesces to her demand that she not be excluded from aspects of his life.

Another tendency that Tea Cake shares with Joe is his jealousy and need to maintain some amount of control over Janie. When he overhears another woman speaking poorly top Janie about Tea Cake and attempting to set her up with her brother, Tea Cake decides to take matters into his own hands. First, he discusses with Janie, a conversation he overheard between her and Mrs. Turner, a local cafe owner. He criticizes Mrs. Turner's appearance (who, like Janie, is mixed-race) and then successfully executes an elaborate plan to ruin her establishment. Finally, he slaps Janie around in front of Mrs. Turner and others to show them that he is in charge and to assert his ownership over her.

In the end, Tea Cake plays the role of hero to Janie when he saves her from drowning and being attacked by a rabid dog. Tea Cake himself is bitten and eventually succumbs to the disease. Not able to think rationally and enraged with jealousy, he physically attacks Janie and she is forced to shoot and kill Tea Cake. Therfore, ending her emotinal attatchment to the men in her life and the desire to seek out and realize her dream of true love.