In her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston presents the theme of gender roles and their significance in African American culture during the 1930’s.  In chapter six Hurston shows the importance males put on feeling superior to their female partners and forcing them in a role of subservience.  In this chapter Joe Starks attempts to fit Janie into a submissive role by silencing her in conversations, beating her within their house walls, and treating her as an object of his possession. This strong sentiment that the author establishes early on in the novel only serves as the fuel for Janie to decide that personal growth and development as a woman will only occur when she breaks free from the mold that Joe has put her in.

    Thoughts that women should do the tasks required of them, much like mules and not try and exceed their roles as subservient partners is exemplified when we see how much influence Janie’s husband Joe has on what conversations she is permitted to join and what tasks she is allowed to undertake.  “Janie loved the conversation and sometimes she thought up good stories on the mule, but Joe had forbidden her to indulge” (53).  Being a part of conversations concerning the mule and it’s burial is important to Janie because she strongly identifies with it.  Being involved with Joe, Janie truly feels like the mule that her Nanny previously described as being the workhorse of all humankind.  Janie feels like Joe’s workhorse and wants to see the mule liberated from man’s injustice.   Joe finally frees the mule from its stern owner and leaves it to die in peace while making himself appear as a mighty master of the town.  However he never sets Janie “free”.  She has to outlive her husband before she can take to the streets and be freed from the gender mold he constructed for her.

    His feelings that women are to be objects of male possession are exemplified when he sees other men lusting after his wife.  “Her hair was NOT going to show in the store” (55).   “She was there in the store for him to look at, not those others” (55).  Joe Starks clearly illustrates that his wife is to serve the purpose of pleasing him and only him, and he will do as much as demand that she wear her hair in certain ways so as not to distract any of the daily customers.  He feels threatened because he knows Janie is still a beautiful woman while he continues to age rapidly.  She is to be his object of control and obedient to him.

    Hurston displays the sentiment that Janie should want to strive for what white women get to do on a daily basis; sit on their high stools on the porches of their house and relax.  “Everybody was having fun at the mule-baiting.  All but Janie” (56) shows how Joe demands that Janie appear as if she is living the white women’s dream of sitting at home and acting civilized, because that is a role her gender should aspire to fulfill and because it assists him in being portrayed as a strong town leader.  Even when Janie pleads, “Tain’t nothin’ so important Ah got tuh do tuhday, Jody.  How come Ah can’t go long wid you tug de draggin’-out?” (60) shows her desire to abandon the predetermined gender roles of women during the 1930’s.  Janie wants to beat her own path and do what brings her happiness as a woman, not what others perceive to be happiness for women.  Janie’s idea of happiness is not found however in the traditional roles that women of her time are supposed to assume.  Further into the chapter it states, “Here he was just pouring honor all over her; building a high chair for her to sit in and overlook the world and she here pouting over it! (62)”.  Joe does not understand that pleasing Janie does not require giving her a world as close as possible to the one that white women enjoy.  Rather, she wants to be a part of her culture and celebrate the intricacies that her race should be proud of. Joe cannot fulfill this for her, which is why she chooses to enjoy the company of man such as Tea Cake, a man who takes pleasure in the small things of life such as dancing, singing, storytelling, and fishing with her.

    Throughout the novel we see that men outwardly display their feelings of superiority to women.  If their spouses act out of line, it is not uncommon for them to be beaten, much like the mule in chapter six.  If so much as a meal is not to their liking, a domestic assault could result.  Many men feel that women are completely ignorant and need to be told what to do all of the time; a sentiment that adds fuel to them feeling their gender is greater to their female counterpart.  In chapter six Janie protests, “You sho loves to tell me whut to do, but Ah can’t tell you nothin’ Ah see!” “Dat’s ‘cause you need tellin’, It would be pitiful if Ah didn’t.  Somebody got to think for women and chillun and chickens and cows.  I god, they sho don’t think none theirselves” (71).  Not only does Joe feel that women should know their role as an inferior mate, but he alludes that they have the same amount of brain power as an idiotic chicken or an inept cow. 

    Finally Janie breaks out of her traditional mold as a woman who does as she is told and speaks when she is spoken to.  At the end of chapter six she finally speaks her mind to Joe and says, “Sometimes God gits familiar wid us womenfolks to and talks His inside business.  He told me how surprised He was…and how surprised y’all is goin’ tuh be if you ever find out you don’t know half as much ‘bout us as you think you do.  It’s so easy to make yo’self out God Almighty when you aint’ got nothin’ tuh strain against but women and chickens” (75).  Janie talking back to Joe for the first time shows Joe how she feels that God does in fact speak to both men and women.  She is essentially letting the leader of the town know two things:  first, that she believes with her heart that God listens to women and that they are not mules regardless of how poorly they have been treated in the past. And secondly, that Joe needs not speak and act like he is the god of this town because her gender is also in touch with the same supreme being.  This claim that she is making is revolutionary for Janie as a character for she finally shows us her inside.  At this point in time, she is ready to fight for a life independence and equality.
   
    The novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, presents many themes such as love and marriage, speech and silence, and gender roles.  Zora Neale Hurston does a superb job of establishing what men like Joe Starks felt the typical roles were for the female African American.  Hurston aptly portrayed Janie through her relationship with Joe, the mule metaphor, and her dialogue as a strong woman who did not care for what her female counterparts felt was the ideal; sitting up on a high chair and overlooking the world.  Janie wanted something more.  At the conclusion of this chapter we see a woman who refuses to be silenced any longer by men and be treated as anything less than equal.  Janie transforms from a passive woman to one who wishes to take an active role in molding the rights and responsibilities of her gender.