Kourtney O’Henry February 14, 2014 Women’s Voices For a long period of time, there has been a constant clash between men and women about the rules defining nature for each individual. Unfortunately, these rules still exist. There are many reasons to be said about situations like these because it is one of the few most common issues of the world today. Mary Helen Washington once said, “The novel (‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’ by Zora Neale Hurston) represents a woman defining and revising a male dominated canon.” The best inference that can be made from this quote is that the female protagonist, Janie Crawford is a strong, remarkable heroine who stands up for what she believes through hard obstacles. She would be the type of person that all women can look up to. Crawford also said that such a revision needs to be made and that women have a place in the work. She is trying to say that all women should read Hurston’s novel because it will remind them that women can contribute to having the same exact rights as men. This statement is most agreeable because stories like Hurston’s novel can remind women that they can be as strong and intelligent as men. It also reminds women that men are not entitled to tell them how to their lives and that they have the right to stand up for themselves and to fight back for what they believe in. These statements made by Washington best reflect on Janie’s life in the story in so many ways. So many people question if men still try to control women in ways that are either mental, physical, or even both. Unfortunately, this type of violence against women still exists. In fact, it occurs worldwide, and few of these stories are reported because women are traumatically forced to be silenced by their boyfriends, fiancés, or husbands so nobody knows what goes on in their homes most of their time. This is known as domestic violence. “Intimate partner violence is primarily a crime against women and all races are equally vulnerable. In 2007, the Department of Justice reported that 96 percent of women experiencing nonfatal partner violence were victimized by a male. According to FBI statistics, every day about four women (approximately 1,400 a year) die in the United States as a result of domestic violence (Graw The penates were the special gods of a city - the soul of that city - and a city only truly died when its penates were destroyed or captured. 516).” So this reinforces the statement that men still have a dominated canon. Men physically abuse women as an act of domination. “Men abuse because they have internalized sexism and the right to dominate women in their lives, have learned to use violence as a way to deal with conflict, and have repressed anger (Graw 517).” Sometimes they do it as an only act of communication.
I think that women today should still insist on a revision of the story. Not only did the female protagonist, Janie, play a remarkable role as an idealistic heroine to women’s voice, but the whole story itself is really what makes this novel unique. Janie is shown to be a rebellious, free-spirited woman who enjoys living her own life and going in her own direction. She does not allow anyone to tell her how to live her life. The story does connect with the issues in women’s voice and domestic violence. According to the novel, Janie married a young, wealthy man named Joe Starks. He was very kind to her and pampered her as the mayor’s wife. However, he has an attitude towards women, thinking that they cannot think for themselves and objectified them. He, like the other men especially around the 1930’s, made sure that the women knew their place. For example, one night when they were having a conversation, Joe asked Janie if she liked being the mayor’s wife. She replies that it is alright,