Male Attitude in Hurston’sTheir Eyes Were Watching God and Seraph on the Suwanee :: Their Eyes Were Watching God Essays

Male Attitude Towards Women in Hurston’s Novels, Their Eyes Were Watching God and Seraph on the Suwanee "‘Aw naw they don't. They just think they's thinkin'. When Ah see one thing Ah understands ten. You see ten things and don't understand one.'"(71) Joe Starks to Janie in Their Eyes Were Watching God "‘That shows the difference between me and you. I see one thing and can understand ten. You see ten things and can't even understand one.'"(261) Jim Meserve to Arvay in Seraph on the Suwanee While reading these two novels by Zora Neale Hurston, I noticed several metaphors, ideas, and lines that she uses in both texts. I think that the almost parallel lines quoted above are particularly telling of the way that these two novels relate in their depictions of male attitudes towards women and the relationships that exist between the husband and wife characters. Janie's marriage to Joe Starks in Their Eyes Were Watching God and Arvay's marriage to Jim Meserve in Seraph on the Suwanee both operate under the rubric of the male figure's ideas about what marriage and women should be and do. Within both of these marriages, the husband feels his wife is a possession that is to be provided for and cherished, yet not necessarily to be communed with. Joe embodies this sentiment throughout his marriage with Janie, placing her on a kind of pedestal where she can be seen, but not heard. Jim establishes his marriage under similar pretenses and verbally reiterates them throughout the novel, yet seems to evolve past them in a certain respect as he urges Arvay to take an active role in their love. In their patriarchal positions of authority, both Joe and Jim see themselves as wise, as "understanding ten things," whereas they view their wives as stupid and ungrateful, as unable to "understand even one thing." We can infer Joe's attitude towards women and marriage from several statements that he makes to Janie throughout their relationship. While he courts his future wife, Joe explains himself and his intentions: "‘Ah'm uh man wid principles. You ain't never knowed what it was to be treated lak a lady and Ah wants to be de one tuh show yuh. Call me Jody lak you do sometime'"(29). He then situates Janie's subservient and silent position within the marriage: "‘mah wife don't know nothin' ‘bout no speech-makin'. Ah never married her for nothin' lak dat.