Zora Neale Hurston's They Eyes Were Watching God
It’s no wonder that “[t]he hurricane scene in Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, is a famous one and [that] other writers have used it in an effort to signify on Hurston” (Mills, “Hurston”). The final, climactic portion of this scene acts as the central metaphor of the novel and illustrates the pivotal interactions that Janie, the protagonist, has with her Nanny and each of her three husbands. In each relationship, Janie tries to “’go tuh God, and…find out about livin’ fuh [herself]’” (192). She does this by approaching each surrogate parental figure as one would go to God, the Father; she offers her faith and obedience to them and receives their definitions of love and protection in return. When they threaten to annihilate and hush her with these definitions, however, she uses her voice and fights to save her dream and her life. Hurston shows how Janie’s parental figures transform into metaphorical hurricanes, how a literal hurricane transforms into a metaphorical representation of Janie’s parental figures, and how Janie survives all five hurricanes.
Janie’s first parental, godlike figure is Nanny, and she is the first to assume the form of a metaphorical hurricane or “[s]omething resembling a hurricane in force or speed” (“Hurricane”). Nanny establishes her parental, godlike status to Janie when she says, “’You ain’t got no papa, you might jus’ as well say no mama, for de good she do yuh. You ain’t got nobody but me…Neither can you stand alone by yo’self’” (15). While acting as the sole provider of love and protection to Janie, Nanny assumes the speed and force of a hurricane; “she bolt[s] upright” upon witnessing Janie’s first kiss an...
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...er, she uses her voice and fights to save her dream and her life. Because the hurricane scene serves as the central metaphor of Hurston’s novel, it’s not surprising that other writers would want to use the hurricane to signify on Hurston. What may surprise these other writers, however, is that the novel actually includes five hurricane scenes, not just one.
Works Cited
“Fill.” The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
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Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York:
Perennial, (1937) 1965.
“Hurricane.” The American Heritage Dictionary of the English
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Mills, Elizabeth. “Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God.”
Eighteenth Class Meeting. English 281. Davidson College. 26
Oct. 2004.
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.
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston uses colloquial language to show readers exactly why Nanny raised her granddaughter, Janie Crawford, the way she did. When Janie is sixteen years old, her grandmother wants to marry her. The teen pleads to her grandmother for claims of not knowing anything about having a husband. Nanny explains the reason she wants to see Janie married off is because she is getting old and fears once she dies, Janie will be lost and will lack protection. Janie’s mother was raped by a school teacher at the young age of seventeen, which is how Janie was brought into the world.
Janie's outlook on life stems from the system of beliefs that her grandmother, Nanny instills in her during life. These beliefs include how women should act in a society and in a marriage. Nanny and her daughter, Janie's mother, were both raped and left with bastard children, this experience is the catalyst for Nanny’s desire to see Janie be married of to a well-to-do gentleman. She desires to see Janie married off to a well to do gentleman because she wants to see that Janie is well cared for throughout her life.
Zora Neale Hurston an early twentieth century Afro-American feminist author, was raised in a predominately black community which gave her an unique perspective on race relations, evident in her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Hurston drew on her on experiences as a feminist Afro-American female to create a story about the magical transformation of Janie, from a young unconfident girl to a thriving woman. Janie experiences many things that make her a compelling character who takes readers along as her companion, on her voyage to discover the mysteries and rewards life has to offer.
Almost 2,000 died the night of the 1928 storm in Florida. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston realistically depicts the Okeechobee hurricane that struck the coast of South Florida. The incredulous, category four storm produced winds as high as 150 mph and flood waters of up to eight feet. Hurston describes their heart wrenching experience throughout the end of the novel when Janie, the protagonist of the story, survives the devastating hurricane with her husband, Tea Cake. The book shows similarities between the overflow of Lake Okeechobee and the specific weather conditions of the hurricane, but differs regarding the aftermath of the storm.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is about a young woman that is lost in her own world. She longs to be a part of something and to have “a great journey to the horizons in search of people” (85). Janie Crawford’s journey to the horizon is told as a story to her best friend Phoebe. She experiences three marriages and three communities that “represent increasingly wide circles of experience and opportunities for expression of personal choice” (Crabtree). Their Eyes Were Watching God is an important fiction piece that explores relations throughout black communities and families. It also examines different issues such as, gender and class and these issues bring forth the theme of voice. In Janie’s attempt to find herself, she grows into a stronger woman through three marriages.
During her marriage to Joe, Janie reflects on how Nanny’s strict upbringing has influenced her life and concludes that “Nanny had taken the biggest thing God ever made, the horizon-- for no matter how far a person can go the horizon is still a little way beyond you, and pinned it in...” (89). Hurston emphasizes the vastness of the horizon as a way of alluding to the countless possibilities it holds. In saying that Nanny “pinned it in”, Hurston argues that Nanny was too narrow-minded to appreciate the opportunity held by the horizon, scared of the freedom it held. Nanny breeds this fear in Janie by imposing her own values on her without allowing Janie to discover what was important for her. Clogging the horizon provided the control she inherently craved, a desire implanted in her by the materialistic beliefs she held. A smaller horizon made Nanny feel as though she was closer to achieving her dreams, but in reality, all it did was narrow her options. By clogging the horizon and its limitless possibilities, Nanny clogged her “veil” as well, making it more difficult to sift through (what she valued in life?) good and
her own identity. Hurston’s narrative also focuses on the emergence of a female self in a
While huddling with their colleagues during the storm, they hear, "the wind came back with triple fury, and put out the light for the last time… They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God" (160). In the eyes of the characters, this mighty force of nature is compared to God, a powerful and divine being who can create beautiful things but can also destroy them. The hurricane represents the hindrances Janie faced throughout her journey. Despite these difficulties, she manages to keep faith and overcome her hardships.
Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God describes the life of Janie, a black woman at the turn of the century. Janie is raised by her Grandmother and spends her life traveling with different men until she finally returnes home. Robert E. Hemenway has said about the book, “Their Eyes Were Watching God is ... one of the most revealing treatments in modern literature of a woman’s quest for a satisfying life” I partially disagree with Hemenway because, although Janie is on a quest, it is not for a satisfying life. I believe that she is on a quest for someone on whom to lean. Although she achieves a somewhat satisfying life, Janie’s quest is for dependence rather than satisfaction.
Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston portrays the religion of black people as a form of identity. Each individual in the black society Hurston has created worships a different God. But all members of her society find their identities by being able to believe in a God, spiritual or otherwise.
Through her use of southern black language Zora Neale Hurston illustrates how to live and learn from life’s experiences. Janie, the main character in Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, is a woman who defies what people expect of her and lives her life searching to become a better person. Not easily satisfied with material gain, Janie quickly jumps into a search to find true happiness and love in life. She finally achieves what she has searched for with her third marriage.
Some people would argue that God is a being who watches over us, however other would argue that God manifests through nature, our surroundings, and us. Transcendentalism revolves around the idea that God is nature. It also supports the theory that God is all around us and inside of us and we should be self-reliant and strive for simplicity. These transcendentalist ideas and traditions were present in Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, as Janie experienced herself and the world around her head on over time.
This excerpt from Zora Neale Hurston’s book, Their Eyes Were watching God, is an example of her amazing writing. She makes us feel as if we are actually in her book, through her use of the Southern Black vernacular and admirable description. Her characters are realistic and she places special, well thought out sentences to keep us interested. Zora Neale Hurston’s art enables her to write this engaging story about a Southern black woman’s life.
Janie associates God with love as many people do, calling on religion only in the best and worst times of life. The first two thirds of the novel does not have many points in which God seems relevant to Janie's life. This all changes when Janie falls in love because she feels like she needs to thank God for bringing Janie and Teacake together. The hurricane scene is one area in the novel where love and the relationship between God and nature is brought up. When the hurricane is worsening in severity, Teacake guiltily asks Janie if she wishes she were back in her big house instead of with him.