Angelina Tran - Trophy Wives and Beauty

 In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God written by Zora Neale Hurston, the story tells the tale of a woman named Janie Crawford and her three marriages. One of the marriages touched on the topic of a “trophy wife” where Janie was swept off her feet by an upcoming mayor for a new town. Slowly throughout this marriage the husband makes Janie stay indoors away from working with people, making friends, and just become a beautiful gem to look at. This second husband would also start valuing his look of power over Janie over the love had for Janie. Janie would soon greatly dislike this changed behavior from the husband and value her womanhood, her pride, and her choice to choose how she loves someone. Along with this novel, I have also watched an analysis video of The Woman Who Was Kept on a Shelf. Unlike Janie’s end, the woman, Amelia, decides to keep herself on a new literal shelf but on one she built for herself instead of her husband. In both these tales it is interesting to note beauty takes a turn for the worse scenario for the characters. Both of these women’s beauty were valued over them being a loving wife to the husband. These tales describe the life of a “trophy wife” and beauty as topics that ruin marriages. The idea of being a “trophy wife” was something that gave compliments and presents but soon led to a loss of identity for both women. It can be said that it is common to want to be lazy and just called beautiful all the time but something gets lost deep down. Deep down we crave the ups and downs of relationships. We crave the independence of relationships and identities that we have. Both of these women were loving wives to their husbands at one point but the life of a “trophy wife” is not for everyone. Especially in this time and age, beauty and physical appearances are greatly valued but not valued as everything for a person. Beauty and physical appearances are what catches people's attention and surface love. Beauty is not what continues that attention and surface love as shown in both marriages and love ending. The second husband ends up dying and Janie finds a new husband while Amelia decides to start a make-up store and leaves her husband. With these tales in mind, it is important to remember how we look at beauty. We love to value and look at beautiful things and people but how we value those beautiful things and people could hurt them more than helping them.


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