Theme of Love and Sacrifice in Their Eyes are Watching God Literary Essay Sample

Great sacrifices are handed to those who value others. In the novel, Their Eyes are Watching God, author Zora Neale Hurston shares the story of love and sacrifice through the eyes of an African American girl, Janie Crawford. Throughout the novel, Janie endures a great amount of sacrifice for the people she loves, as she constantly puts others' feelings before her own. In Their Eyes are Watching God, Janie makes sacrifices for three significant characters, her grandmother, Joe Starks, and Tea Cake. All of these characters play a crucial role in Janie's life as each one leads her to make sacrifices. 

At the beginning of the novel, the reader is introduced to Nanny, who is Janie's only parental figure. Janie's grandmother plays a role in the early stages of Janie's life as Nanny, has dedicated the rest of her life to protecting, sheltering, and looking out for Janie. One wish Nanny has for Janie before she dies is find her a man who will be able to protect and support her. This hope Nanny has leads to the first sacrifice Jaine will have to make. Consistently pressuring Janie into marriage, Nanny expresses her fear to Janie saying “ah can’t die easy thinkin’ maybe de menfolks white or black is makin’ a spit cup outa you” after she says this she asks Janie to, “have some sympathy” as she is near death. (Hurston 20) During this event in the novel, Nanny is reminding Janie of the past generation of rape each woman in their family has suffered with hope Janie will never go through the same struggle. Nanny begs Jaine to marry a man by the name of Logan Killicks because he is well-known in the community and owns his property which leads Nanny to believe he is capable of protecting Janie. Janie is hesitant to marry Logan because wishes to find true love, but because she respects her grandmother and values her opinions she agrees to marry Logan Killicks. This is a significant event for Janie as she makes a sacrifice for the sake of her grandmother's feelings rather than following her own opinions. Making this sacrifice takes a major impact on Janie's life as she not only sacrifices herself for her grandmother's wants, but ends up running away from Logan who was an abusive man, in search for another love. 

Later in the novel, Janie meets her second husband Joe Starks otherwise known as Jody. When Janie marries Jody she believes she has found true love, but this doesn't last for long as she is challenged with having to make another sacrifice. At first, Janie is happy in her relationship with Jody as she sees him as a confident man with financial stability, until he begins to hold higher power and show his negative attitude towards women. Because of Jody and the power he has in the community, Janie is forced to hide her feelings and sacrifices her well-being for him. In the middle stage of their marriage, Jody makes harsh comments to Janie belittling women. “He wanted her submission and he’d keep on fighting until he felt he had it”, this quote demonstrates how Janie has to sacrifice herself to please her husband. (Hurston 71) Janie makes this sacrifice because she values herself and doesn't want to upset Jody because she knows the status he has in society and she doesn't want to be the one to ruin their marriage. This sacrifice burdens Janie as she has to shelter her feelings from Jody because she can no longer be “petal-open with him”. (Hurston 71) 

Finally, after Janie is freed from her past marriages she pursues her last relationship with a boy named Tea Cake. Throughout this relationship, Janie discovers the meaning of true love. In this relationship the two go through many struggles together, one of these events being a hurricane that leaves their town flooded. To save Janie from a mad dog in the hurricane, Tea Cake sacrifices himself for her, causing the dog to bite his hand. This event eventually leads to the biggest sacrifice Janie makes in the novel which is shooting Teacake. Janie is forced to make this sacrifice because she recognizes Teacake is sick and nothing will be able to cure him and also must shoot him for her own safety. Janie claims, "it was the meanest moment of eternity. A minute before she was just a scared human being fighting for its life. Now she was her sacrificing self with Tea Cake's head in her lap. She had wanted him to live so much and he was dad.” (Hurston 184) This quote exemplifies Janie's love she had for Tea Cake and the great sacrifice she had to make for the better for herself and Tea Cake. This sacrifice reflected the passion she had for her relationship with Tea Cake and ultimately left her with no choice but to let the person she loved the most die. 

Janie throughout the novel was constantly pressured to do what is best for others rather than allowing herself to express her own opinions and wishes. The novel demonstrates what it means to put other people's wants, desires, and needs before yourself through each one of Janie's relationships. Whether it’s a family member, abusive husband, or true love, Janie always considers others before herself, displaying the sacrifices that come from love.