Analyzing The Misogynistic and Manipulative Character of Joe Starks

In the novel written by Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Are Watching God, Janie, a young woman who was initially married to a man Logan Killicks at a very young age. Eventually, she spontaneously leaves him for a man named Joe Starks. He was a young, ambitious, charismatic man who promised to give Janie her best life. But, their marriage of twenty years is almost joyless for Janie as she is treated like a peasant. Joe Starks is a person who has a very dominating, controlling, and jealous personality. As many may know, that type of person can often cause problems and cause unhappiness in their friends and family, as we see with Joe and Janie in this novel. For example, Joe’s jealousy takes over and he makes Janie cover her hair whenever she goes out in public to make other men not be able to see her hair. Secondly, he often criticizes and orders her around in public. But why? What is the cause of Joe stark's mistreatment of Janie? Well, my take on what underlies his behavior towards Janie is first, he is looked at as a powerful figure in Eatonville and is even elected mayor. So that gave him a big head and boosted his already too big ego. Secondly, he opened up a successful grocery store in the small town that most of the people shopped at and that made Joe feel like he was in charge of the town and above all. To sum it up, Joe Starks is a sexist and controlling figure. But first, we must evaluate in-depth Joe starks as a person and husband.

Joe Starks is an ambitious person with big hopes and dreams. He is also hard-working, caring, and smart in the business world. It is known from the book that he built her a nice big house and made her think that she would have an easy and laid back life. But, he did not do these kind things because he loved Janie. He did it because he saw Janie as a prize and he wanted to do anything possible in order to take her away from Logan Killicks out of pure jealousy. He gets jealous even if another man looks at Janie and he goes to extreme lengths to hide her from other men. Also, he has very high self-esteem and he thinks of others as peasants. He dresses as if he is above all and that’s one of the main reasons as to why Janie was attracted to him in the first place. Joe’s treatment of women is not great either, hence my title. He acts as if women are just objects that should bow down to men. Joe even stated that God made men different from women because men turn “out so smart.”(70 Bernard). That perfectly represents his thoughts about women. It may seem that Joe values Janie as an amazing wife; for her beauty and personality. But, he also sees Janie sometimes as his possession that no one else deserves to have. So, as obvious as it is, he is very, very controlling.

My first reason as to why Joe Starks acts the way he does is because he was elected mayor of Eatonville. When he and Janie moved to Eatonville in the first place, he was shocked to learn that the small town did not have a mayor at all. “Ain’t got no mayor! Well, who tells y’all what to do?”(Hurston 21). This quote shows his attitude toward power and control. He quickly convinces the townspeople that someone needs to have power to get things done and so they elect him mayor. The book even says that “Something else made men give way before him. He had bow-down command in his face.”(44). This quote supports my statement of how the townspeople saw Starks as a powerful figure in the community of Eatonville. He was elected mayor for good reasons, don’t get me wrong. He wanted to help the black community bring equality. But, once he was elected, that definitely made him more confident. This power that Joe Starks felt he had throughout the community also translated at home with him and Janie and that is what led to him completely mistreating her and also her being unhappy with her marriage.

My second reason as to why Joe Starks mistreated Janie is that he became a successful store owner of a grocery shop where the townspeople got their food. This also encouraged his thinking that he was above all and it made him look down at other people. At the opening of the grocery store, the townspeople ask Janie to give a speech, as she should. But, of course, Joe interjects and even says, “Mah wife don’t know nothin’ bout no speech makin’.”(43). This clearly shows that he doesn’t want anyone else to steal his show. He wants this grocery store to be about himself and himself only. He just wants Janie to work for him, be his trophy wife, and keep her mouth shut. Unfortunately, Janie never fought back and defended herself. But, come on, who would ever argue with the most powerful Eatonville resident? The man who changed this small little poor town for the better. That is exactly what Starks thought in his head and for some reason that is also what the individuals around him also thought. Joe just wants Janie to help in the house and wait on him. Joe claims that “Janie’s a woman and her place is in deh home.”(Bealer 41). Another way of Joe showing his superiority was his house. His house sat in the middle of the town and was just better than any other house. It had two stories with porches, banisters, and so on. He spent his profit from the grocery store on extravagant items for himself and Janie. But the problem with that was since most of the town was poor, it showed those people what they were missing out on. In general, it just really showed them that they didn’t have money. Again, it fed into Joe's ego since he was a wealthy man in a poor town. So, clearly, Joe’s sense of superiority affected everyone in the town, not just Janie.

All in all, Joe Starks was a misogynistic and powerful individual. He was smart, entrepreneurial, and he wanted the best for him and Janie. But he wanted too much, too fast. He wanted the power. He wanted the money. He wanted the big house. He wanted the trophy wife. This, unfortunately, led to him being super controlling and jealous of Janie in all ways. My two reasons as to why Joe was this way were: first, he owned a successful store in Eatonville, which made him a lot of money. Secondly, he was elected mayor since there wasn’t a mayor in the town and he saw himself as the ultimate leader of everyone in the town. Him being mayor of this town translated to his egotistical personality and that was why he mistreated Janie throughout their 20 years of marriage until he eventually passed. When Joe died, Janie burned the very rag that Joe made her wear whenever she went in public to cover her hair. This was a representation of Janie almost getting her freedom and happiness back since she no longer had to hide every part of herself, inside and out. Later on, Janie went on to Marry her true love, Tea Cake, who treated her much better than Joe ever did.