Internal Conflict

Although there are many conflicts throughout the novel, one that I found particularly compelling was Janie's internal conflict, a conflict with her belief in God. This conflict is fleeting one where the reader is led to consider what Janie must be feeling as she is faced with hardships, as the narrator only delves into the topic twice: the first time the conflict is preempted, and the second time the reader is shown Janie facing the conflict and "resolving" it.
Initially, the topic is brought up out of an analogy to Mrs. Turner's behavior: "She felt honored by Janie's acquaintance and she quickly forgave and forgot snubs in order to keep it. [...] All gods who receive homage are cruel. All gods dispense suffering without reason. Otherwise they would not be worshipped." (144-45). True, it is not Janie herself who is making these connections; but this is Janie's story so it is implied. I found this passage almost shocking because it was completely unexpected. At one moment the narrator is ridiculing Mrs. Turner for having "groveling submission"(145) towards Janie regardless of Janie's actions towards her; in the next moment the connection is drawn to believers and how they will forgive their gods for all atrocities, as Mrs. Turner will to preserve the relationship. It almost becomes an attack on belief! It is an attack as Janie's snubs are compared to the worshipped gods; Janie does not truly have an interest in Mrs. Turner, and thus it follows that the narrator says the same is true of the gods. However, I find this technique employed by Hurston extremely effective, as my mind was continually brought back to the question of how Janie can reconcile her God with the terrible events befalling her. Will she "accept any inconsistency and cruelty from her deity"(145) just as Mrs. Turner did with her, or will she repudiate her god (not necessarily stop believing, but to not see her god as fit for worship)?

Her actual confrontation takes place a bit later in the novel while Tea Cake's condition is deteriorating: "Was He noticing what was going on around here? He must be because He knew everything. Did He mean to do this thing to Tea Cake and her? [...] The sky stayed hard looking and quiet so she went inside the house. God would do less than He had in His heart."(178). Contrastingly to the narrator's use of "god" earlier on, the god referenced here is most likely the Christian god, meaning that the narrator is speaking for Janie here. This is her confrontation with her belief, as she stands outside questioning her god's actions in her life or the lack thereof. Being reminiscent of the earlier passage, the reader is thus forced to make the connection and see that Janie believes that her god has 'snubbed' her and does not actually care that much about her. She noticed how she snubbed Mrs. Turner yet still earned her devotion, but she feels she will not make the same mistake with her god. She will not pretend as if these inconsistencies do not exist like the fool Mrs. Turner is; she will face the truth and accept that she just might be alone in the situation. She thinks that "God would do less than He had in His heart", meaning that she has concluded that her god exists, but does not care for her as her fellow believers think he does.
This is an interesting conflict, as it is constructed by Hurston to be fleeting and quick, yet have a large impact. Janie is confronted with the possibility that her god is not the incredibly loving god she had liked to think, and that her god simply does not care. However, what she doesn't do is stop believing. She continues to believe that her god exists, but stops believing that her god is one to be worshiped wholly and without question.