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Essay / The Role of Jealousy in Their Eyes Were Watching God, a novel by Zora Neale Hurston can bring a couple closer together if managed well; however, if left unchecked, it can lead to the end of the relationship. Eckel uses the idea of "mate retention" (np) and "mate poaching" (np) to explain why people become jealous and why we act the way we do when we are jealous. “[M]ate-retention” (Eckel np) is the idea that if someone is flirting with your partner, it is in your best interest to stop them. If you do nothing, your partner may leave you and go with the other person. The idea of “mate poaching” (Eckel np) is trying to take someone else’s mate for your own. The article uses the example of putting your arm around your partner's shoulder at a party. Putting your arm around their shoulder serves two purposes. First, it tells other people at the party that this person is engaged and not available. Plus, it lets your partner know that you care about keeping him; it tells them that you are willing to assert yourself to keep them. This seems to indicate that jealousy is good because it keeps relationships strong; However, Eckel warns that excessive abundance of this powerful emotion can ruin a relationship. The article uses Sandy and Katie, a couple who, because of jealousy, do things they would never do in a normal state of mind, as an example of how jealousy, when allowed to crack down, can wreak havoc. Sandy stole Katie's laptop while she was on a date. In retaliation, Katie trashed his apartment. Meanwhile, Katie "had a moment of clarity" and "her jealousy had transformed her into someone she didn't know" (Eckel np). This shows how too much jealousy can lead a person to do something extremely irrational and out of character. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay In chapter 15 of Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Hurston, Nukie flirts with Tea Cake and his wife, Janie, becomes very jealous. . After seeing Tea Cake struggling on the ground with Nunkie, Janie senses that Tea Cake is going to leave her for Nunkie. The narrator states that "she started to get a little snappy." (Huston 136) This shows that the jealousy Janie felt caused a change in her personality. After arguing over Nukie, Tea Cake and Janie “continued to fight until they were doped by their own fumes and fumes; until their clothes were torn off” (Hurston 137). Janie, feeling jealousy towards Nukie, used sex as "mate retention" because she felt Nukie was trying to "poach" Tea Cake from her. Janie knew that if she was able to give Tea Cake something that Nukie couldn't, then he wouldn't leave. Plus, she also knew that arguing with him would only make him angry and increase the chances that he would leave her for Nukie. Janie has noticed her personality changing due to jealousy, and because of this, she uses "partner retention" to put this emotion to good use instead of allowing it to fester and grow. Jealousy can be used for both good and bad, but how a person decides to focus their emotions can make or break a relationship. Janie used sex as a means of “mate retention.” The problem is that by having.
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