Zora Neale Hurston's book Their Eyes Were Watching God discusses a hunt for independence and self-reliance through the personal journey of the main character. However, Janie's endeavors focus mainly on the female side of this self-discovery. The difference in opinions and perspectives between men and women is established in the first few paragraphs, "Women forget all those things they don't want to remember, and remember everything they don't want to forget. The dream is the truth"(Hurston, 1). Through the ordeals of Janie's life and the conclusions she reaches by its end, the author attempts to convey her realization of its true purpose.
As a black woman, Janie is remarkably domineering and determined in her attempt to find the love she envisions as a child. Her societal status is made clear to her by her grandmother, with "De white man throw down de load and tell de nigger man tuh pick it up. He pick it up because he have to, but he don't tote it. He hand it to his womenfolks. De nigger woman is de mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see"(Hurston, 14). This station imposed on her by society as an African-American female is something she continuously tries to prevail over, becoming indignant towards anyone who meddles with this goal. She describes how "she hated her grandmother Nanny had taken the biggest thing God ever made, the horizon"(Hurston 85-86). Still, demonstrating her determination to find her childhood dream, she decides her grandmother's opinions about women as weaklings are flawed and defies her expectations. "She knew now that marriage did not make love"(Hurston, 24). By rejecting the limits imposed on her personal life, Janie takes a step closer to realizing the meaning of her life. .
In the steadfast pursuit of true love, Janie ventures to break a social taboo by marrying a second husband without divorcing the first. "Janie hurried out of the front gate and turned south.
