In accord with this statement, critics have argued
that from the time she was a young girl seeking love until the end of her life with
Tea-Cake, Janie Crawfor of Their Eyes Were Watching God defines
herself only in terms of the man with whom she lives. While she finds more independence
with Joe Sparks than she has with Login, and more with Tea-Cake than with the others,
Janie is yet only the woman who belongs to these
men.
Critic Claire Crabtree, who argues that as a
feminist, Zora Neale Hurtston did not want Janie "to find fulfillment in a man, but,
rather, in her new-found self." This, Crabtree explains, is why Janie must end
Tea-Cake's life. For, it is only after his death, that she finds out about living for
herself as she returns to her hometown and relates her tale. In this narration, Janie
finds her true sense of self; her journey in flashback is her renaissance as a whole
woman.
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