The Primitive Nature of Relationships

In the story, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, it seemed Hurston was implying a great deal of sexual discord at that time. She seemed to imply that men treated women much like dogs act or animals in general. There is a great battle for dominance. The struggle for who holds the dominant role can be ruthless and once these roles are set they can often maintained as they would in nature. In my life I have had quite a few dogs and I have noticed that once dominance is achieved that the subordinate one will seem to find comfort in their position. Janie displays examples of this struggle throughout the entire story. In chapter four, her first marriage to Logan Killicks was an interesting example of lacking dominance. She wasn’t interested and dominance was not established early on so she went freely. He tried to establish dominance later on and failed because of it. She left and there was nothing he could do about it at that point because it was too late. There was no control. In chapters 5 to 8, Joe Starks also tried to take control over her. He was different in that he started from the beginning with it but was too forceful with his dominance. Dominance comes with proving your stature without instilling hatred into subordinate. He violated this line. For this reason she never ran away from him but also was not compliant with him. Who did accomplish this relationship correctly was Tea Cake. He loved her and wanted her to live a happy life. He gave her many freedoms but at the same time would occasionally hit her to show that he was still in charge when she challenged his power (I don’t agree with this method by any means I’m merely stating what it is.) He proved his dominance while still making her happy and for this reason she was comfortable with him. Proof that this relationship worked could be seen in situations of asking for aid. With Logan he forced Janie to work and she often refused or fought it. With Joe he was also too forceful and very insulting. He exceeded proving his dominance and often put her down causing her to fight back and therefore that relationship failed as well. Her relationship with Tea Cake shows proof of success in that she offers to help him without his asking because she wants to help him for pure reasons. It is an interesting way to set up a relationship with them because there is a struggle for dominance but with splitting their roles they do not take anything away from one another. I guess what I found is that at this time the relationships between men and women were very primitive or instinctual rather. What is so interesting though is how it seems like it was the beginning of when relationships like this were starting to fade out. Throughout all of the history of nature a female always seeks out the best mate who offers the most or appeals with the most extravagance to her (or at least as Darwin theorized). At this point though she seems like she is starting to look for something other then what nature would typically imply but is in a world where that sense still stands.