Their Eyes Were Watching God is a bildungsroman, a coming of age story, that revolves around the trek of Janie Crawford’s search for identity and spiritual enlightenment. Her tiring quest takes her through various locations in Florida, from urban Eatonville to the rural Everglades (the muck); however, let it be noted that the representation of African Americans was a motif that greatly influenced Janie’s perception of reality. The historical context behind Zora Neale Hurston’s piece of literature originates from racism felt towards African Americans in the early 1900’s. Let it be noted that during the late 19th century deep Southern United States was torn by rising social tensions between whites and blacks following the Reconstruction era- …show more content…
Eatonville, a town once ran by unambitious locals, came to be an asylum of hope for African Americans full of wit, wisdom, and ambitious dreams, thanks to Janie’s second partner Joe Starks. Unfortunately, those whom felt envy and jealousy towards the mayor’s wife high social status, lived their life with sorrow, bitterness, and sometimes, even fear. Meanwhile, while living with Tea Cake, Janie was surrounded by a beautiful, diverse environment accompanied by a heartfelt community of passionate individuals living the foolish, sometimes romantic, dreams they once desired. Nevertheless, all the positive vibes enticing Janie’s atmosphere, not even she could escape prejudicism and racism. Hurston’s unique portrayal of racism explicates the theory that racism can derive from anyone who succumbs to it, regardless of racial background; this unorthodox concept can be justified by two unique instances found within the novel: the theology of Mrs. Turner’s hate for blacks and the comforting of Janie by a white woman during the courtroom scene …show more content…
Hurston once yearned to be liberated from the oppression of the bourgeois, erratic, superficial white class that infested Southern America in the 1900’s. Hurston, being an exceptional anthropologist, is accredited for incorporating African American folk tales, songs, and proverbs into her literature. Being part of the Harlem Renaissance, Hurston’s use of vernacular southern African-American English, without many filters or censorship, was a retaliation against society’s minority ethnic standards, the “letting down of her hair” if you may (Curren). Hurston’s black heritage remained unparalleled from the early 1900’s to beyond her own lifetime because the transformative power of storytelling incorporated her own trials, but that similar to those in her line of
What is one’s idea of the perfect marriage? In Zora Neal Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie has a total of three marriages and her best marriage was to Tea Cake. Janie’s worst and longest marriage was to Joe Starks where she lost her dream and was never happy. The key to a strong marriage is equality between each other because in Janie’s marriage to Joe she was not treated equally, lost apart of herself and was emotionally abused, but her and Tea Cake's marriage was based on equality and she was able to fully be herself.
Zora Neale Hurston’s, Their Eyes Were Watching God tells about the life of Janie Crawford. Janie’s mother, who suffers a tragic moment in her life, resulting in a mental breakdown, is left for her grandmother to take care of her. Throughout Janie’s life, she comes across several different men, all of which end in a horrible way. All the men that Janie married had a different perception of marriage. After the third husband, Janie finally returns to her home. It is at a belief that Janie is seeking someone who she can truly love, and not someone her grandmother chooses for her. Although Janie eventually lives a humble life, Janie’s quest is questionable.
Their Eyes Were Watching God is a good place to start examining the roles of African-American women. It is written by a woman, Zora Neale Hurston, and from a woman's perspective. This book examines the relationship between Janie and...
“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” From the moment one is born, one begins to form their identity through moments and experiences that occur throughout the years. In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie’s identity of independence arises through her past marriages through the words and actions of her husbands.
When thinking about the novels that are read in high school, To Kill A Mockingbird and The Great Gatsby come to mind for most people. The novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston usually is not thought of. Throughout the years, critics believed Hurston’s novel to be just fiction and that it pose no meaning. In spite of the novel not having much politics, it does contain many social issues from the past that are still somewhat relevant today. Above all, Their Eyes Were Watching God deals with the way people are unequally treated in society based on their gender, race, or anything that makes them diverse from others. It is probable that Hurston brings up the controversial issues of her time era in the hope to cause a transformation in the world.
In this book, Hurston writes in the dielect of the black community of the time. Many of the words are slang. Hurston begins the story with Janie telling it, but then it becomes a third person narrative throughout most of the story.
Wright’s review was just one of the critics that destroyed the reputation of Hurston’s novel. Other African-American authors, such as Alain Locke, gave mutilating reviews similar to Wright’s...
The Harlem Renaissance was all about freedom of expression and the search for one's identity. Zora Neale Hurston’s, Their Eyes Were Watching God, shows these goals through the main character Janie and her neighbors. Janie freely expressed what she wanted and searched for her identity with her different husbands. Even though Janie was criticized by everyone except her friends, she continued to pursue. She lost everything, but ultimately found her identity. Hurston's writing is both a reflection and a departure from the idea of the Harlem Renaissance.
Hurston begins the essay in her birth town: Eatonville, Florida; an exclusively Negro town where whites were a rarity, only occasionally passing by as a tourist. Hurston, sitting on her porch imagines it to be a theatre as she narrates her perspective of the passing white people. She finds a thin line separating the spectator from the viewer. Exchanging stances at will and whim. Her front porch becomes a metaphor for a theater seat and the passers
Janie is first isolated from her peers as a child. She lives behind the Washburn's, a white family and this causes her to not, “know Ah wuzn't white till Ah was round six years old” (Hurston 8). This isolation made it hard to incorporate into a segregated school. She thought she was just another white child but she was deadly mistaken, “de chillun at school got to teasin' me 'bout livin' in de white folks' back-yard” (Hurston 9). Janie's location of living “classed off” how th...
But soon she is off, true to her free-minded self. It is interesting to note that Hurston does not dwell on the socio-economic situations (i.e., slavery, poverty) that bring about the two rapes, as another black author (perhaps Richard Wright?) might have done. Hurston instead focuses on Janie’s very real, very necessary search for self-fulfillment. This kind of focus was not common in Black literature at the time of the writing (early 1930’s), and Hurston drew much criticism for what was seen as a refusal to address the social, economic and political issues that preoccupied her contemporaries such as Wright and Ralph Ellison. However, it can be argued that what Hurston was attempting, a portrayal of a culturally “self-sufficient” black community, was just as necessary for a full realization of Black consciousness as was the “protest” literature of the Harlem Renaissance.
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, author Zora Neale Hurston tells a story of a mixed race woman, Janie, who finds her identity when faced with abusive relationships and with the racism of the early 1900s. Ultimately, Hurston proves that prejudice is like a disease because it can affect anybody, regardless of race, socioeconomic status, or religion. By purposefully omitting examples of segregation, Hurston illustrates racism’s normality. Hurston emphasizes black dialect, giving life to the oppressed black voice and implicitly affirming its worth. Hurston’s distinct, conversational narrative style, call-and-response, intends to initiate conversation regarding race relations. Finally, Hurston’s character driven plot draws her reader into the conversation, even though Aristotle claims that plot subjugates characters in
Zora Neal Hurston is known for her contributions as an author that portrays struggles for the African American community. This novel, "Their Eyes Were Watching God," is no exception as it discusses the struggles of a black woman. She has won many awards that give credit to her style of writing. It typically consists of black dialect and folk speech. This supports the concept of literature as witness. The reader can easily be taken on a trip of reality that discusses the stereotypes of someone of a less privileged gender and race. Hurston effortlessly creates a character that a reader can sympathize with. The rich dialect plays a major role in the idea of literature as witness. Throughout the novel, the reader may be engulfed in the words that
Alice Walker and Zora Neale Hurston are similar in the way they portray black women. Both are political, controversial, and talented experiencing negative and positive reviews in their own communities. These two influential African-American female authors describe the southern hospitality roots. Hurston was an influential writer of the Harlem Renaissance, who died from mysterious death in the sixties. Walker who is an activist and author in the early seventies confronts sexually progression in the south through the Great Depression period (Howard 200). Their theories point out feminism of encountering survival through fictional stories. As a result, Walker embraced the values of Hurston’s work that allowed a larger audience to be familiar about Hurston to overcome change in the south. Hurston and Walker both illustrate powerful influence of black identity as it relates to black women to overcome feminine stereotypes.
Alice Walker and Zora Neale Hurston are similar to having the same concept about black women to have a voice. Both are political, controversial, and talented experiencing negative and positive reviews in their own communities. These two influential African-American female authors describe the southern hospitality roots. Hurston was an influential writer in the Harlem Renaissance, who died from mysterious death in the sixties. Walker who is an activist and author in the early seventies confronts sexually progression in the south through the Great Depression period (Howard 200). Their theories point out feminism of encountering survival through fiction stories. As a result, Walker embraced the values of Hurston’s work that allowed a larger