Hurston Project

“Did marriage end the cosmic loneliness of the unmated?”(Hurston, pg.21)

When a person marries their spouse, they expect to be with them forever. “Until death do us part” is what they live by. Does marriage really aid the loneliness of the unmated? Does a married individual live a happier life than those who are single?

In the means of physically, yes, marriage does aid the loneliness of the unmated. Even when the spouse is gone to work or to the store, you know they are going to come back. You are always going to have that somebody to wake up to or go to bed with. In the story, Janie’s grandmother, Nanny, is pushing the subject of marriage to her because she doesn’t want Janie to be alone when she eventually passes away. Janie doesn’t have parents or other relatives to turn to. Nanny knows that if Janie gets married as soon as possible, she would have her husband to turn to. She would have her husband to stand by her side and fill in the hole in her heart. Because a person may not feel lonely physically does not mean that they do not feel lonely in emotionally or mentally.

Sometimes, a marriage does not fill the void of loneliness mentally. Even though Nanny wanted Janie to marry so she wouldn’t be alone in the world, Janie may have still felt lonely. She married somebody that she knows nothing about, a complete stranger. She may have had her first husband, Logan, as company, but she doesn’t feel a connection with him. She can’t relate to him or express her feelings because she doesn’t know him. She didn’t even call him by his first name. Even though Nanny recommended Logan, she didn’t know him either. She was just looking at how wealthy he is and at the fact that he would always be with Janie. She didn’t stop to think of how Janie would feel emotionally or mentally with him. He may have been good to Janie, she has not been so lucky in her next marriage. Jody abused her physically and mentally and tried to control her every move. When she was going through her marriage, she felt like she didn’t belong with her husband. She was better off being single. She had a husband to wake up to but she wasn’t on the same page as him. She had a husband as company but she can’t turn to him.

A good marriage can end the loneliness of the unmated, physically and mentally. Sometimes, a bad marriage can only end the loneliness of the unmated mentally.