100 Kick-Ass Female Characters: #70
70. Janie Crawford, as seen in the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston and the film Their Eyes Were Watching God, portrayed by Halle Berry
Once upon a lifetime ago, I was a "serious" student of literature. I spent a lot of time reading the classics and writing long, rambling papers on their significance. My junior year of college, I did a huge project on sexuality in modern literature, comparing and contrasting the sexual behaviors and opinions of female characters in Their Eyes Were Watching God and O Pioneers!, and by the end of it, I was so in love with Janie, the paper ended up being 75% "let me tell you how amazing Janie is" and 25% "oh, yeah, I also read this book."
Janie Crawford is a young, black woman growing up in the South in the early 20th century. She was raised by her grandmother and she is desperate for excitement and love. As we learn, her mother was raped by a schoolteacher, leading to Janie's birth, and her grandmother often warns Janie to be careful with men, who will see her pretty face and little else. Janie, of course, does not listen and her grandmother catches her making out with a local boy; wanting to make sure Janie doesn't end up like her mother Leafy, who disappeared and never returned, she arranges for Janie to marry Logan Killicks, who wants more of a helper around the farm than a love match. When he tries to make Janie work, she runs away with Jody. Jody wants a trophy wife, and he very much limits what Janie is able to do, which she hates. When he dies, Janie now has money and her pick of a lifestyle. She takes up with a younger man called Tea Cake, and they are happy together. When he is bitten by a rabid dog, he tries to shoot Janie, who kills him in self-defense; Janie is tried for murder but acquitted, and she returns home only to find the entire town gossiping about her.
What I love about Janie is, despite the historical context and limitations of a woman, especially a black woman, during those times, she never wavers from wanting a life of her own and doing what she can to make it happen. Jody's death gives her a veritable wealth of options; she is now financially independent and able to choose a man for herself. Logan was chosen for her and Jody, while ostensibly a choice, was a means of escaping Logan; for a woman whose grandmother, a slave, was raped by her master to produce Janie's mother, who was raped by a schoolteacher to produce Janie, Janie's decision to be with Tea Cake is doubly important. She is the first woman in her family who is in control of her sexuality and the first woman in her family who does not need to work herself to death in order to support herself. What should be liberating for Janie also becomes a double-edged sword; for every step she takes forward, she is pushed two steps back by society. But Janie is resilient and strong, and, at the end of the day, Janie is the one who is left standing no matter what people say about her.
And that is appealingly kick-ass.
Once upon a lifetime ago, I was a "serious" student of literature. I spent a lot of time reading the classics and writing long, rambling papers on their significance. My junior year of college, I did a huge project on sexuality in modern literature, comparing and contrasting the sexual behaviors and opinions of female characters in Their Eyes Were Watching God and O Pioneers!, and by the end of it, I was so in love with Janie, the paper ended up being 75% "let me tell you how amazing Janie is" and 25% "oh, yeah, I also read this book."
Janie Crawford is a young, black woman growing up in the South in the early 20th century. She was raised by her grandmother and she is desperate for excitement and love. As we learn, her mother was raped by a schoolteacher, leading to Janie's birth, and her grandmother often warns Janie to be careful with men, who will see her pretty face and little else. Janie, of course, does not listen and her grandmother catches her making out with a local boy; wanting to make sure Janie doesn't end up like her mother Leafy, who disappeared and never returned, she arranges for Janie to marry Logan Killicks, who wants more of a helper around the farm than a love match. When he tries to make Janie work, she runs away with Jody. Jody wants a trophy wife, and he very much limits what Janie is able to do, which she hates. When he dies, Janie now has money and her pick of a lifestyle. She takes up with a younger man called Tea Cake, and they are happy together. When he is bitten by a rabid dog, he tries to shoot Janie, who kills him in self-defense; Janie is tried for murder but acquitted, and she returns home only to find the entire town gossiping about her.
What I love about Janie is, despite the historical context and limitations of a woman, especially a black woman, during those times, she never wavers from wanting a life of her own and doing what she can to make it happen. Jody's death gives her a veritable wealth of options; she is now financially independent and able to choose a man for herself. Logan was chosen for her and Jody, while ostensibly a choice, was a means of escaping Logan; for a woman whose grandmother, a slave, was raped by her master to produce Janie's mother, who was raped by a schoolteacher to produce Janie, Janie's decision to be with Tea Cake is doubly important. She is the first woman in her family who is in control of her sexuality and the first woman in her family who does not need to work herself to death in order to support herself. What should be liberating for Janie also becomes a double-edged sword; for every step she takes forward, she is pushed two steps back by society. But Janie is resilient and strong, and, at the end of the day, Janie is the one who is left standing no matter what people say about her.
And that is appealingly kick-ass.