Their Eyes Were Watching God: Janie's Hair

There are several symbols in Their Eyes Were Watching God. Janie's hair is one of the main symbols.

Janie Crawford is the daughter of Leafy Crawford. Leafy was raped by her schoolteacher, thus resulting in Janie being born. Leafy's school teacher was white. Leafy is black, so Janie is a mixture of black and white. Janie holds some black traits and some white traits. Janie has lighter skin and eyes then most African Americans. She also has very long straight beautiful hair. Janie's hair is a main focal point of the novel.

Janie's hair represents many things. It represents whiteness, her individuality, and her strength as an African American woman.

As I described above, Janie has some white characteristics. The men in the novel go crazy over Janie's hair. They love how it is so different and straight. Jody makes Janie put her hair up in rags because he does not want the other men to see her beautiful hair. Mrs. Turner, a woman that Janie befriends, is absolutely obsessed with Janie because of her white characteristics. Mrs. Turner is African American, but she loves white people. Therefore, she loves Janie.

Janie's hair also represents her individuality. There are not many African American women who like her. She is one of a kind. At the beginning of the novel Janie was just one of a kind on the outside with her looks, but towards the middle of the novel she began to bloom on the inside too. Once Janie finally stood up against Jody, she started to become who she really wanted to be. People looked up to Janie. She was somewhat of an icon.

Finally, Janie's hair represents her strength. Throughout the novel Janie is fighting to reach "the horizon". Janie thought Jody Starks would help her reach it, but he was only in the way. Janie learned how to stand up for herself by using her voice while she was with Jody. Once Jody died, Janie took her lovely hair out of its bindings. This action shows that her hair represents her strength in standing up for herself.