The Journey Can Teach Us a Lot About the Destination

The Journey Can Teach Us a Lot About the Destination

In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston uses many rhetorical strategies to convey her central purpose. Throughout the book, people are envious of Janie. Their envy leads to judgment, which fuels Janie to move on to different places. It can be hard to trust someone when you've been hurt before, and this can lead to problems in later life. There are three ideas guiding an individual's journey; these include trust, jealousy and judgment. Hurston suggests that the journey, and the people you meet, will shape who you will become, and overcoming judgement to become independent and unique.

Janie has faced hardships throughout her life, which makes it hard for her to trust people she really cares about, because she thought no one cared. Her journey of self-discovery was really just a chance for her to grow and to be able to be independent. Janie runs off with Tea Cake, a man who is about 20 years younger than she is. When they move away to Jacksonville, Janie has a secret; she brings along $200 just in case something bad happens. This foreshadows the idea that Janie is not ready to trust. Huston writes, “...Janie never told him about the $200 she had pinned inside her shirt next her skin. Phoebe had insisted that she bring it along and keep it a secret just to be on the safe side. She had ten dollars over her fare in her pocket book. Let Tea Cake think that was all she had” (page 117). This causes the reader to understand that Janie needs a backup plan; Janie is fully ready to leave Tea Cake and become independent on her own, and she has this backup plan in the first place is because she is relating him to her bad experiences in the past. Based on her past experiences, it is hard for her to trust Tea Cake, even though she loved him. She was doubting Tea Cake; this allows her to be consumed by her thoughts; this forces her overthink. Tea Cake finds out that Janie has the money, and that Janie does not trust him, when Hurston writes, “That was when she found her $200 was gone. There is a little clock with the safety pin on the chair beneath her clothes and the money just wasn't nowhere in the room” (page 118). The $200 to Janie was something to fall back on, a way for Janie to have a second plan. When she discovered it wasn’t there, she was doubting him and who he was. Based on her past experiences, Janie had been not ready, and too consumed with trying to love, that she couldn’t love herself. She could protect herself in a way though, and she did this by having a backup. Tea Cake didn’t come back until two days later, and this forced Janie to trust Tea Cake after he came back. Janie didn’t need to feel as if she couldn’t rely on Tea Cake; he was enough. Tea Cake didn’t take her money, he gave it back, and this was a way for Janie to trust herself with Tea Cake. Once the factor of money was taken away, she realized she didn’t need a fall back: “Ah see whut it is. You doubted me ’bout de money. Though Ah had done took it and gone. Ah don’t blame yuh but it wasn’t lak you think. De girl baby ain’t born and her mama is dead, dat can git me tuh spend our money on her. Ah told yo’ before dat you got de keys tuh de kingdom. You can depend on that” (page 121). Here, Tea Cake is understanding why Janie isn’t able to trust him, because of her past mistakes and troubles. Tea cake is letting Janie know that it is okay to trust him because she can trust herself now. When tea Cake describes that he is actually the kingdom, and that Janie has the keys, he is saying that Janie has reached the end of the journey and can settle down in the castle that she’s had the keys to all along. She can depend on him. Once she is able to trust someone who cares about her, she is able to trust herself too. This helps her find what she was looking for all along, and once she trusts herself with someone, she is finally happy. Janie is becoming more and more open about her feelings, and this journey has lead her to find love, and herself, for that matter. Janie is becoming more of an independent woman and by overcoming her judgement, she’s becoming a happier person. Because Janie’s happy, she doesn’t care what people think of her, and trusting someone can clear your mind of jealousy.

Happiness leads to not caring what others think, and judgment will not affect you. Janie has learned to trust, and think for herself, and not let any judgement get to her. In particular, she uses clothes to represent judgment and show how she feels around certain people, and by wearing these clothes and making them important to her daily life, she is showing that she doesn’t care what others think. She is becoming more independent, and more self-reliant. By wearing clothes in front of people that are comfortable, Janie lets the reader know that she is comfortable with that person, “Wear the new blue dress because he meant to marry her right from the train” (page 116). Here, Zora Neale Hurston is giving the reader an idea that Janie is ready to love, and be with Tea Cake. She is very happy, so she puts on her blue dress because it makes her feel special. She wears it for Tea Cake, and so she changed her outfit for whom she was going to go meet. “Sometimes Janie would think of the old days in the big white house and the store and laugh to herself. What if Eatonville could see her now in her blue denim overalls and heavy shoes? The crown of people around her and a dice game on her floor!” (page 134). This quote shows that Janie doesn’t care what people think of her, or what she dresses like in the Muck, and knowing that the Muck is her home and that she doesn’t care what she wears in it, she doesn’t care what she wears in a place that makes her happy. Janie is self-discovering where she fits in the most without even really knowing, by dressing like this in her hometown and in front of Tea-Cake, the reader can know that that is where she feels most comfortable. She used to have to dress for the other men in her life, but with Tea Cake, she dress like herself, and he will not judge her because they trust each other. When you are happy, you don’t care what people think of you, especially in Janie’s case. By going on her journey, she found that she can be happy and dress how she wants with no judgement. Janie is searching for something, but along the way she finds love, but she is also being influenced by the things around her. "It's mo' nicer than sittin’ round these quarters all day. Clerkin in dat store