Those living in today's world are constantly bombarded by the stereotypes and distorted images of a consumerist society. As a result, they often struggle with a loss of identity as the mass media tries to dictate what they should want to be and do. Zora Neale Hurston addresses this age-old quest for self-discovery in her fictional story Their Eyes Were Watching God. Janie Crawford tells her best friend, Pheoby, about her search for her own voice, despite setbacks in the form of relatives, two husbands and entire cities trying to silence her. From a young age, Janie longs for enlightenment; However, the roles that Nanny, Logan Killicks, and Joe Stark impose on her prevent her from achieving individuality until she meets and falls in love with Tea Cake, her equal. she would like to be with the help of a pear tree, but her grandmother disapproves of her dissimilar feelings and forces her to abandon her horizon. Without parents there to raise her, Janie loses her sense of identity. She spends her childhood in the care of her grandmother and the white men the nanny works for, and as a result, she spends all her time playing with the Washburns' four children. Janie doesn't realize she's different from them until she turns six. When he first sees a photograph of himself, he refuses to recognize the color of his darker skin. To make up for her lack of self, she is nicknamed "Alphabet" because she has so many different names. Both her connection to the Washburn family and her biracial ethnicity isolate her from black and white communities. African-American children tease her for her nice clothes; Vulnerable and fragile, Jani... middle of paper... Behind Joe, in his shadow, Janie experiences a loss of identity because, like Logan, her husband treats her like an object, a thing no smarter than the cattle he serves just to make life easier for its owner. He orders her to tie her beautiful hair in an old rag, proving that no matter how many times Janie tries to assert her opinion, Joe will always have power over her. Joe perpetuates his wife's subjugation until he becomes decrepit and sickly. His death brings Janie independence and she lets her hair down to demonstrate her regained liberation. No longer willing to “run away down a back road after things,” the empowered Janie will be content only with her horizon (Hurston 89). Janie's oppressive marriages to Logan Killicks and Joe Starks take away her freedom of expression, but her unbridled voice returns after she escapes these poisonous relationships..