Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Medicine Their Eyes Were Watching God Their Eyes Were Watching God De white man is de ruler of everything as fur as Ah been able tuh find out… 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 as fur as Ah can see (14). The white man is on the top of the social and economic hierarchy. He holds the power, and due to this power has a privilege commanding respect and performed labors. The people who comply are the African-American men. However, there is a second hierarchy for the black men under the white man’s privileges. To assume some sort of position of power they use whatever influence they have, consequentially the black women are categorized lastly. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, African-American women are portrayed as mules of society (Perennial Classics, c.1998, Harper Collins Pubs.). They are born with an assumed gender role forcing them into a life of constant expectation and unappreciation. They are, in all actuality, the beasts of burden. By comparing the lives of African American women and mules it is evident that they both work for others benefits, they both are property of men, and they both carry the biggest burden. Mules are abused, mistreated, ridiculed, and overworked, so are black women. Women, like mules, work for others benefits. A prominent example of this is Janie’s Grandmother. Even though she has gained her freedom, she still lives her life as a civil servant for a white family, the Washburn’s. She cannot see another option, and gains nothing from her position. She is working in the household for the benefit of Mrs. Washburn in particular, doing her duties and making a white privileged woman’s life easier. By performing her duties she has no advantages, her work can be compared to that of a mules. She completes her tasks as a mule would, thoughtlessly and trained. She passes on her passive attitude onto her granddaughter Janie. Janie works for her first husband, doing what he demands of her. Like a mule she sits when told, stands where she is told, and does exactly what she is told to do. She does not think for herself, pondering “maybe if somebody was to tell me how” (23). When a charming young man convinces her she needs a better life she follows, as a mule would. She slowly holds a better title, Mrs. Mayor, but still follows her husband. She spends endless days in her new husbands store, thankless days, following Jody’s specific direction. Janie and her grandmother represent a culture of women that were stereotyped into a specific gender role, putting them as the last class in society. They received no compensation or respect for their services. Their work specifically benefited only those they worked for, and supported. Through compromising themselves in this way these women were subjected to even more maltreatment. African-American women, like mules, are property of men. They are treated without the proper human rights that should be placed on a woman doing so much for their men to survive. Janie represents black women’s struggles, as her own struggle progresses in Jody’s store. He buys her, through and similar to, his purchases of “new clothes of silk and wool” (33). When the two are locked in the vows of marriage Janie becomes known only as Jody’s wife, not as an individual with rights. The black patriarchal system undercuts any attempts a black woman can make to raise her status. Janie continues to work day and night for Jody, as his property, until the day that he dies. Jody cared more for his material property than he did for his wife. He took time every day to sort the mail, to count the inventory and money, and to amuse the customers and the citizens of his town. However, it is barely mentioned his concern for his physical property, Janie. He puts on a pedestal, as an object to be seen. Janie as his property is overworked, to show his achievements, as a mule would be. Jody actually buys a mule its freedom in the novel, and yet makes Janie stay in the store when there is a ceremony for its death. Jody shows his ownership of Janie through his commands, and rules. Women, like mules, carry the biggest load. This can be seen through Janie’s efforts, as an African American woman. Janie has to maintain the household for her first husband, as well as her increasing jobs on the farm. While married to Jody, she has to take care of the store, where she is expected to work all day, everyday. When the store closes she is then expected to cook the perfect dinner, and be the perfect wife. When dinner does not turn out one evening Jody hits her, as he feels she has not met his expectations. She bears the burden similar to that of many other black women. She holds the responsibility of her marriage, and its well fair in her hands. If anything were to falter, it would consequently be her fault. Through the course of the novel the women portrayed bare similar representation to mules. They are continuously unappreciated, overwhelmed with no one to help them, and burdened with high expectations of fulfilling a patriarchal societies requirements. It is easily seen how the animal the mule can represent similar qualities given to African American women. Starting with white men, and working down the social scale of class, black women are at the bottom of everyone’s world. Throughout endless struggles, unbeneficial work, and a title of property bestowed on their heads, black women’s work holds a strong relation to that of mules. Bibliography: Word Count: 969
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