With their meaning ranging from place of origin to occupation, surnames have been used to distinguish and describe individuals for centuries. In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston, the author, experiments and uses the meaning of the name as a means of characterization. Throughout the novel, Janie Mae Crawford, the main protagonist, experiences three marriages. Each of her husbands, Logan Killicks, Jody Starks, and Vergible "Tea Cake" Woods, have significant names that reflect their personalities and their treatment of Janie. Through this unique form of characterization, Hurston is able to describe Janie's values ​​and ideals by comparing them to those represented in her husbands' names. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Hurston uses the meaning of the name to demonstrate the conflicting personalities of Janie Crawford and Logan Killicks. When Janie was only sixteen years old, Nanny, her grandmother, pressured her to marry Logan Killicks. Nanny, near death, simply wants to ensure Janie's safety by marrying her off to a rich man. However, in doing so, Nanny completely ignores his feelings. As a result, Janie, who previously believed that "husbands and wives have always loved each other", never comes close to loving Logan, whom she describes as "an old skull in the graveyard". She soon concludes that "some people were never meant to be loved and he is one of them." Along with the lack of adoration, they seem worlds apart and while Janie desires to connect with nature and find her own voice as a woman in the world, Logan is simply concerned with working and living life one day at the time. As their marriage progresses, he tries more and more to domesticate Janie's free spirit and make her work on the farm like a mule. As a result, all these differences and errors are reflected in the name Logan Killicks. The words log killer can easily be derived from this name. For Janie, who identifies with nature and desires “to be…any tree in flower,” this presents a conflict. As Logan is essentially a log killer and an opposing force against nature, he serves as a foil to Janie and threatens her well-being and happiness. Therefore, it is obvious that by choosing the name Logan Killicks, Hurston wishes to reveal Logan's mean-spirited personality while strengthening Janie's character. Soon after, Janie meets a new man, Jody Starks. Jody promises Janie that he will treat her better than her last husband and rushes to marry her. Little did she know that her new relationship would be much more tarnished than the previous one. Jody can be described as a narcissist. He had a similar future to Janie's, given that he grew up among white people. Because of his upbringing, Jody is wealthier than the average African-American around him. He wants to be better than everyone and wanted Janie to live up to his standards. Jody didn't allow Janie to talk to poorer black men because "he didn't want her talking after such trashy people." He wanted her to be submissive and do whatever he demanded. He even took the initiative to ask her not to show her hair in an attempt to hide her beauty from other men. Although Janie's second husband, Jody Starks, initially embodies some of Janie's beliefs, he soon comes to reject them. When Janie runs away from Logan Killicks with Jody Starks, she does so because she believes that even though Jody doesn't represent "sunrise and pollen and flowering trees...he speaks.