Significance of the Porch in Hurston’s Novels, Seraph on the Suwanee and Their Eyes Were Watching God
“She took to inviting other women friends to drop in and they all expressed envy of her porch. It built Avray up and made her feel more inside of things. It was a kind of throne room, and out there, Avray felt that she could measure arms and cope. Just looking around gave her courage. Out there, Avray had the courage to visit the graveyard of years and dig up dates and examine them cheerfully.” (Seraph on the Suwanee 234)
“It was the time for sitting on porches beside the road. It was the time to hear things and talk. These sitters had been tongueless, earless, eyeless conveniences all day long. Mules and other brutes had occupied their skins. But now, the sun and the bossman were gone, so the skins felt powerful and human. The became lords of sounds and lesser things. They passed nations through their mouths. They sat in judgment.” (Their Eyes Were Watching God 1)
In Seraph on the Suwanee and Their Eyes Were Watching God, the physical structure of the porch serves to both literally and figuratively elevate its sitters, and becomes an arena for exploring the theme of inside versus outside spaces.
Avray’s porch in Seraph on the Suwanee is associated with a higher standard of living and is the envy of her visitors. At first, Avray is unsure about this new, “outside show of ownership.” (234) Avray is uncertain about her right to belong to this class of folk and as a result feels inner turmoil about whether or not she deserves such privilege. Her initial conflift with the porch mimics her desire to “[brace] herself to glory in her folks” despite her disgust with their old junk, cracked dishes, and shabby house. Over time, Avray found it easier to rejoice in the comforts of her new life. As she reclined further back into the chaise lounges and cushions of her class, her porch became a place of pride and courage. The use of the metaphor that describes the porch as a throne (and hence the porch-sitters as royalty) reinforces the idea of an elevated social status and its implied protection.
Similar to Avray’s porch, Phoeby’s porch in Their Eyes Were Watching God is a social place. Those who sit out on the porch feel free reign to pass judgment on those who walk by.
The author illustrates the “dim, rundown apartment complex,” she walks in, hand and hand with her girlfriend. Using the terms “dim,” and “rundown” portrays the apartment complex as an unsafe, unclean environment; such an environment augments the violence the author anticipates. Continuing to develop a perilous backdrop for the narrative, the author describes the night sky “as the perfect glow that surrounded [them] moments before faded into dark blues and blacks, silently watching.” Descriptions of the dark, watching sky expand upon the eerie setting of the apartment complex by using personification to give the sky a looming, ominous quality. Such a foreboding sky, as well as the dingy apartment complex portrayed by the author, amplify the narrator’s fear of violence due to her sexuality and drive her terror throughout the climax of the
Theodore Roosevelt was one of the most influential people in the early 20th century. His leadership style, his reforms, and his personality shaped an America that was rapidly becoming a world power. Theodore Roosevelt is admirably remembered for his energetic persona, his range of interests and achievements, his leadership of the Progressive Movement, his model of masculinity and his “cowboy” image (). He was a leader of the Republican Party and founder of the short-lived Progressive Party of 1912 (). Before becoming President, he held offices at the municipal, state, and federal level of government (). Roosevelt’s achievements as a naturalist, explorer, hunter, author, and soldier are as much a part of his fame as any office he held as a politician. His legacy lives on as one of greatest leaders in American history.
Ha, Quan. “Utopian and Dystopian Elements in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God.” Rpt. in Themes of Conflict in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Literature of the American South. Ed. Ben Robertson. Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press, 2007. 27-41. Print.
"Miller Center." American President: Theodore Roosevelt: Life Before the Presidency. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.
Woman’s Search for Identity in Hurston’s Seraph on the Suwanee and Their Eyes Were Watching God.
The first time one experiences betrayal from a close friend is the hardest situation to go through. Betrayal is clearly defined as to break the faith of an enemy, or to disclose a violation of confidence; but more specifically, and with less clarity in real life situations, betrayal is a complex action that occurs to everyone at some point in life. For a person that has been betrayed before, the simple definition does not do justice to the effects betrayal has on their life or how one can be betrayed. Apparent examples can be seen in Their Eyes Were Watching God, for the main character is clearly betrayed many times in her life.
Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God is a novel illustrating the life of an African American woman that finds her voice through many trials and tribulations. At the heart of the story, Hurston portrays a protagonist who moves from a passive state to independence, from passive woman with no voice who is dominated by her husband to a woman who can think and act for herself. Hurston achieves the greater theme of Their Eyes Were Watching God, of self-expression and independence through her use of three basic southern literary elements: narrative structure, ¬¬¬¬¬allegory, and symbolism. A brief inspection of these three basic elements will reveal how Their Eyes Were Watching God achieves its inspiring effect.
In the novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, by Zora Neale Hurston there were many contrasting places that were used to represent opposed forces or ideas that are central to the meaning of this work.
The story starts out with a hysterical.woman who is overprotected by her loving husband, John. She is taken to a summer home to recover from a nervous condition. However, in this story, the house is not her own and she does not want to be in it. She declares it is “haunted” and “that there is something queer about it” (The Yellow Wall-Paper. 160). Although she acknowledges the beauty of the house and especially what surrounds it, she constantly goes back to her feeling that there is something strange about the house. It is not a symbol of security for the domestic activities, it seems like the facilitates her release, accommodating her, her writing and her thoughts, she is told to rest and sleep, she is not even allow to write. “ I must put this away, he hates to have me write a word”(162). This shows how controlling John is over her as a husband and doctor. She is absolutely forbidden to work until she is well again. Here John seems to be more of a father than a husband, a man of the house. John acts as the dominant person in the marriage; a sign of typical middle class, family arrangement.
I found both books, Seraph on the Suwannee and Their Eyes Were Watching God to be very well written, yet I found it very ironic and almost funny to compare the two. Although it may not have been intentional, Hurston uses, what can be called, race reversals to describe Janie and Arvay. Janie is a not-so-typical black woman who is confident and while she is somewhat submissive to her husbands, she has more integrity than her white counterpart, Arvay.
Before his image was blasted along a mountainside, Theodore Roosevelt engraved his presence into American history as a man of action. A man which would find himself in many positions of responsibility and authority. Roosevelt’s reputation as a leader had been proven in the oval office and on horseback riding toward the frontlines. His progressive policies both foreign and domestic, launched the United States into a new era which would set the tone and give the nation the momentum it would need for years to come. Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt being behind a desk or in front of the charge embodied the American spirit and put forth the great standard which for years, Roosevelt himself would adhere to.
"Miller Center." American President: Theodore Roosevelt: Domestic Affairs. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2014. .
Franklin D. Roosevelt was born in Hyde Park, in the city of New Yord, on the 30th of January 1882. He was son to Sara Delano Roosevelt and James Rooosevelt. Like other American children from rich families, the young Roosevelt was tutored by private tutors and went tot he private schools. After receiving his earlier education this way, in his home city of hyde park, the 14 year old Roosevelt left his home for Boston, Massachusetts where he started attending Groton School. Following his graduation from Groton School, Roosevelt enrolled in Harvard University, located in Cambridge, Massachuseets. This was in 1900. After graduating from Harvard University, Roosevelt joined Columbia Univeristy, New York for his two year degree in law. In addition to his academic qualifications, Roosevelt served in a number of positions before ascending to presidency in 1933. For instance, Roosevelt worked as a state senator, for New Yor, as well as, as a lawyer. Franklin Roosevelt married Anna Elanor in 1905, at a wedding attending by President Theordor Roose...
In Zora Neale Hurston’s romantic novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, two settings are contrasted to reinforce the author’s theme of a search for true love. The setting of Eatonville, Florida, where main character Janie experiences life as the mayor’s wife, is contrasted with the Florida Everglades, where Janie lives with Tea Cake in a much more relaxed atmosphere.
When I was a child I used to be frightened of entering such a place for it seemed so imposing and somewhat dangerous, especially when music was being played. One day, in order to keep a promise I had made, I saw myself forced to enter. It took me quite a while to get the courage to pass through the old oak door, but the moment I stepped in, I realized just how enchanting and breathtaking this building could be. Its fantastic architecture and exquisite frescoes reflect perfectly the unity between this earth and the unseen kingdom of angels in such a manner that one cannot say where one ends and the other begins. The way in which the church was built is also the vivid testimony of a medieval period. Although it is a place that can sometimes be cold and ask for respect it is where prayers are answered and magic is done. An overwhelming feeling of inner harmony takes over you once you enter and God seems much closer. Darkness and light are welded perfectly together creating Redemption’s house. The tower allows you to see the entire town from the smallest river to the biggest building site, offering you its mightiness.