Power—Discourse Theory in TheirEyes Were Watching God

【Abstract】The Power-Discourse Theory composed an important part in French ideologist Michael Foucaults whole power system. According to Foucault， it is power that generates discourse， which constructs the theme， set the manner of discussing on one topic and defines peoples identity. Those who are economically and socially superior group also grasp the power of speech. They tend to have more say and oppress the minorities who try to utter their own voices. All those traits get full demonstration in Zora Neale Hurstons representative novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. Janie Crawford， heroine of the novel， makes all the efforts fighting against oppression from a racial and patriarchal society and uttering her own voice in her process of establishing her identity. This essay tries to apply the Power-Discourse Theory in analyzing Janies process of identity assertion in order to make clear the major concept of this theory.

【Key words】Power-Discourse Theory； Their Eyes Were Watching God； Janie

【作者簡介】金灵，天津体育学院运动与文化艺术学院。

1. Power-Discourse Theory

Michel Foucaults Power Theory is a literary response to the changes emerged in the 1960s from the exploration of the inner structure of knowledge to deconstruct this closed institute. Accompanied with the movement of feminism， many principles and concept from Foucaults theory， such as Power-knowledge Concept， Power of Discourse Principle etc， have been borrowed and absorbed into the study of womens culture and ideology and formed the so-called “Foucaults Feminism”.

The Power of Discourse Theory composed an important part in Foucaults whole power system. According to Foucault， it is power that generates discourse， which constructs the theme， set the manner of discussing on one topic and defines peoples identity.（福柯 徐宝强，袁伟选编 话语的秩序 56） In Hurstons age， the power of discourse is in the charge of the whites as well as the black men. Black women， in the contrary， are oppressed and made silence. By adopting the Power of Discourse Theory， the author of this paper tries to analyze Zora Neale Hurstons Their Eyes Were Watching God， and elaborates how the protagonist， Janie Crawford， is disciplined by the disciplinary power of the 1960s American society and how she reacts to and fights against in order to seek her own power of discourse and secure her own rights and identity.

2. Zora Neale Hurston and Their Eyes Were Watching God

Zora Neale Hurston produces an eclectic body of works that includes an autobiography， novels， short stories， plays， articles and collections of folklores. Among her books， Their Eyes Were Watching God garnered attention and controversy at the time of its publication， and has come to be regarded as a seminal work in both African and American literature and womens literature. Not catering for the tendency of African American protest novels and the demand for “primitiveness” of her patroness， Hurston created works that gradually slipped into obscurity. Grown from a colored origin， she wanted to analyze race without being reduced to race. In her works， Hurston not only analyzed the discrimination black females received from the whites， but also explored the oppression coming from the black males. Her description of “race within race” annoyed both white people and black males. Hurston was almost forgotten by the readers. It was not until the development of the feminist movement， that critics began to pay attention to Hurston and her works again.

Hurstons representative work Their Eyes Were Watching God can be interpreted in various ways. Hurston spells her heroine-Janies life with more than that one word “colored”， while necessarily， her life is focused by the social， economic， and cultural meanings of blackness. Race is first， but it is never the sole element that helps molding Janies life. Janie is black， while at the same time she is a woman. The monologue of Janies Nanny about “the mules of the world” set the ground of this novel. In other words， Janie suffers the oppression from both the whites and black males. She is forced to be silent and listen to others say. According to French ideologist Michel Foucault， language， or discourse has a unique power deriving from the existing system around it. Economically and politically privileged group enjoys the right of discourse and at the same time forbids the minor groups to have a say. The oppressed groups， however， try all means to utter their own voice and assert their own identity. Such is the case in Their Eyes Were Watching God. This novel pays special attention on voice. Henry Louis Gates Jr. claims that the novel is “a text whose central theme is the quest of a silent black woman… to find a voice”. And Susan Lanser states that “Hurstons novel is indeed a record of Janie Crawfords struggle to find voice and through voice an identity”. In this novel， Hurston wants to analyze race without being reduced to race. In fact， she devotes most of the pages describing suppression Janie suffers from her own race， from her Nanny and two husbands.

3. From Silence To Speech

According to Foucault， discourse is a social behavior since it demands at least two to participate. In most cases， participants share an unbalanced position in discourses： some play the primary part and lead the topic and others plays the minor part， sometimes are even forced to keep silence. Living in a racially and patriarchally oppressed society， Janie is forced to keep silence for a long time of her life. While there is oppression， there is resistance. Rebelling forces generate where the oppressors exert their discourse power over the minorities. Janie thus learns to accumulate knowledge and power， trying to utter her own voice in her process of “awakening”. As mentioned above， race is not the only problem that ails Janie. Oppressions coming from Janies own race also get a full description.

Nanny， who is a victim and accepts the established racial and patriarchal orders， represents the combined oppression of the whites and black males. Janies Nanny is a typical black woman who is victimized by slavery. She experiences endless sufferings and pains under the racial and patriarchal oppressions. She gradually shapes her own racial conceptions and values out of her painful experiences. As a kind of compensation， Hurston gives her a big voice over Janie. In order to protect Janie from mistreatment， she passes on her racial conceptions and values to Janie and even arranges a forced marriage for Janie. In order to let Janie understand and accept this marriage， Nanny tells Janie about her and Leafys stories and concludes that the black women are actually “the mules of the world”， which precisely reveals the living realities of black women：

（D）e white man is de ruler of everything as fur as Ah been able tuh find out… So 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 dont tote it. He hand it to his womenfolks， de nigger woman is de mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see.

However， Nannys hope of protecting Janie from suffering and violence does not come true. Economic safety cannot guarantee a happy marriage. Janie marries wealthy Logan but she cannot possess the wealth. She is seen as another piece of Logans property instead. Logan is in a higher position in their marital life. Moreover， the way in which Logan takes to maintain the patriarchal order is the direct violent actions. He thinks that it is he who rescues her from the white masters kitchen， and that his marriage and his sixty acres set her “down on her royal diasticutis”. Janie should appreciate his goodness by being a submissive， inferior and obedient wife. Thus Logan orders Janie not only to do domestic work but also the farm work. This decision actually verifies the fact that Janies position is no higher than a mule.

However， he fails to convince Janie of her inferiority and submission. Faced with Logans dominance， Janies refusal is firmer and more determined. She ignores Logans order. “Ah dont mean to chop de first chip.” Further more， she uses the implicatively threatening words. “if you can stand not chop and tote wood Ah reckon you can stand not git no dinner.” Logans answer “you know Ahm gwine chop de wood fuh yuh” indicates the effectiveness of Janies voice. Actually， Janie tries her best to quest for a harmoniously marital relationship similar to that between bee and blossom， which for Janie is a natural model for wife-and-husband relationship. She cries to Nanny and picks fault of Logan. Nanny exerts her discourse power again by saying：

Taint no use in you cryin， Janie. Grandma done been long uh few roads herself. But folks is meant to cry ‘bout somethin or other. Better leave things de way dey is. Youse young yet. No tellin whur mout happen befo you die. Wait awhile， baby. Yo mind will change.

Janies mind， however， doesnt change. Instead， she chooses to elope with Joe Stark， her second husband. Compared with Logans violent way， Joe Starks measures are comparably milder. But the patriarchal order does not change. Faced with Janies challenge to the patriarchal order， Joe still resorts to violent actions.

Joe does not oppress her by forcing her to work in the field but by forcing her into a doll-baby， a silent and beautiful object that reflects his power， wealth and authority. He confines her in the house or the store， forbids her to take part in the discussion among the townspeople and not permitting her to attend the mules funeral. Thus Janie， who tries to escape from the psychological and physical abuse of her first husband， resumes the dominate state which is embodied in a new way. Joe stresses control， restricting Janie to stay in a proper position which Joe orders.‘Mah wife dont know nothin‘bout no speech making. Ah never married her for notin lak dat. Shes uh woman and her place is in de home.” This statement fully implies that he marries her only for her looks， and that her intellectual qualities contribute nothing to their relationship. Not allowing Janie to speak is not to allow her to assert her identity in her own words. By silencing her Joe stifles her possibility of presenting her identity， creativity and thought which Janie can show in her speech-making.

The second marriage phase is a very important one for Janies development in her ability to express herself. She grows mature and realizes that she has no power to resist Joes dominance and learns to meditate and develop her inner voice. She becomes seemingly obedient to Joe and keeps her dream and voice in her inner heart. She saves up “feelings for some man she had never seen” in her inner world. She accumulates her knowledge and improves her ability of understanding， learning to ponder， observe and understand. She begins to develop an inner voice.

When Joe one day slaps her until she has a ringing sound in her ears because of her badly-prepared dinner， she knows that her marriage is dead. “She wasnt petal-open anymore with him.” The image of Joe in her heart shatters， too. Joe cannot enter this world to control her. In other words， Joe cannot control her mind any more. She withdraws into a speechless alienation in which she develops a self-division of an inside and an outside. Janie seemingly obeys Joes order while she reserves her feelings in her inner world. Janies self-division is significant for her to accumulate the knowledge and improve her ability of understanding. Gradually， Janie will resist Joes dominance with words and voice， just as she perceives that she has been “feelin dat somethin set for still-bait”. When Joe mocks at Janie that her rump is hanging nearly to her knees， Janie is compelled to fight back with her tongue：

……You bit-bellies round here and put out a lot of brag， but taint nothin to it but yo bit voice. Humph！ Talkin bout me lookin old！ When you pull down yo britches， you look lak de change uh life.

After finding her own voice， Janie continues to develop her ability of speech； she makes particularly great progress after she meets Tea Cake. Tea Cake teaches her “maiden language” and provides her with a communicative environment which is helpful for Janie to improve her ability of speech. With Tea Cakes encouragement and support， Janie is willing to express her own feelings and emotions in front of him and consciously communicates with the rest of the community. Through the communication， Janie greatly improves herself and learns to control her voice. But Janie third marriage doesnt last long. Compared with more than twenty years second marriage， the third one successfully hints that husbands like Tea Cake are really rare in real life.

As mentioned above， this novel is never one-dimensioned. Gender is an issue， but it is not the only one. Racial problems also demonstrate in it. Janie is also in an incessant dialogue with the meanings of “colored”， of which she is not in control. Her first racial awareness begins as early as eight years old. Her black face in the picture taken with her white playmates really gives her a shock and reminds her of the difference with her white playmates. Her second husband Jody builds a black-residential village by imitating that of a whites. She goes with Tea Cake to Everglades where the whites influences are little and spends the most pleasant time in her life. Racial issue comes to a climax at the end of the story， when Janie is tried in a white dominated court， which deserves a detailed analysis.

In the trial， white men are the jury and judges， the prosecuting attorney and the defense attorney. They are all strangers. They “didnt know a thing about people like Tea Cake and her”. These strange， stranger whites have little interest in the issues， but they have the power to define fact and procedure： to “pass on what happened” and “as to whether things were done right or wrong”.

The main interests of the white men are served by their intense blast at one of Tea Cakes angry friends. For his attempt to intervene in the “white mans procedures” and to use “the only real weapon left to weak folks，” the “only killing tool they are allowed to use in the presence of white folks” – the power of speech. Sop-de-Bottom is silenced and threatened with the law. The interest of white men in this trial is to contain and disempower the rage of the black male community. However， white men are also depicted as being brought to a realization of the deep meaning of the marriage of Tea Cake and Janie by the power of Janies own testimony： that is， they are forced to acknowledge the sexual-relational feelings of their social， and racial， “inferiors.” The trail is a conversion experience for whites in their crediting part of the experience of blacks： they appreciate romance， but not forms of political outrage. Janie here takes full advantage of that and successfully defends herself.

The famous ideologist Marx once said， the economic base determines the superstructure. The economically superior group tries all means to internalize a set of rules， codes and conventions into the ideology that all social members should obey. The ideology grants discourse power to those economically superior group and forbids the minorities to utter their own voice. Where is oppression， there is resistance. The oppressed and marginalized group also tries hard to establish their own identity and have their own say. Such is the case with Janie. From silence to speech， Janie successfully accomplishes the task of self-awakening and self-assertion.

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