Analysis of Setting Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, revolves around the evolution of a woman by the name of Janie Crawford. Throughout the book, the reader is able to watch her grow up and mature into who she is as a person. The setting of this story takes place during the 1930s. This was a time where racism and social classes were prevalent. Because of the origin of her parents, Janie has been put in a delicate position. Her mother is of Caucasian and African descent, and her father’s ethnicity is unspecified. This creates many problems for Janie because she is too “black” for the white children and too “white” for the black children. Janie says, “Mis’ Washburn useter dress me up in all de clothes her gran’chillun didn’t need no mo’… Dat useter rile Mayrella uh lot. So she would pick at me all de time and put some others up tuh do de same” (Hurston 9). This shows a separation between blacks and whites during this time period. Many African American children did not have …show more content…
the nice things that the white children were able to get. They were looked down upon because of their skin color and were denied many privileges. Janie has to really figure out where her place is in society because she has a different childhood than many other African American children. After the Civil War, African Americans were not equal to whites. They only had three ways they were able to deal with this. The first option was to leave the country and either head to Mexico, Canada, or back to Africa. The second thing they could do was try to become a part of the white society, or they could create their own towns (The History Engine). Eatonville is one of the all-black communities and also a setting in the book. Janie’s second husband, Joe Starks, becomes mayor of the town. As the wife of the mayor, Janie is granted many privileges that other blacks are not able to gain. Janie and Joe live a very lavish life which is uncommon for African Americans during this time period. Many blacks, such as the ones in Eatonville, perform tough, manual labor, and they also live with few possessions. All across the country, African Americans were faced with constant racism.
There was such a division between whites and blacks. In the story, there is a massive hurricane that comes to the “muck,” which is where Janie and her third husband, Tea Cake, live. To escape this storm, they make their way to Palm Beach and stay in an abandoned house. After the storm is over, Tea Cake decides to leave their sanctuary and inspects the damage outside. Two white men approach him when he is outside, and they make him help bury those who were killed by the hurricane. He was told that, “They makin’ coffins fuh all de white folks… And don’t lemme ketch none uh y’all dumpin’ whit folks, and don’t be wastin’ no boxes on colored” (Hurston 171). The death of the African Americans did not matter because of their skin color. They were not even provided with a proper funeral or a casket. These people were all thrown into a mass grave. This shows the racism that was customary for the time
period. The hurricane that destroys the muck is also very significant in a different way. The muck contains many diverse people who all are able to get along. In chapter eighteen, there is a reference to castles and cabins in regards to the storm. This is significant because natural disasters are not color specific. They do not target one particular race or ethnicity. Every person, black or white, is affected by the hurricane that comes to Florida. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, the social “norms” and cultural practices of the time greatly influence the story. For example, it was socially acceptable for whites to be thought of as superior, and blacks were perceived to be inferior. The setting also impacts Janie and the role she plays in society. She can almost be considered an exception to the rules; she does not have a traditional upbringing for an African American child. Janie receives the hand-me-downs from the white family she lives with as a child. Nanny also predetermines a life for Janie where she never has to experience hard work. The setting that Zora Neale Hurston chose is appropriate for what she is trying to accomplish. Hurston wants to show people the diversity of African American lives in the 1930s. Although this is a fictional story, it does shed light on many of the issues that African Americans faced in the early 1900s.
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.
Zora Hurston’s novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God” depicts the journey of a young woman named Janie Crawford’s journey to finding real love. Her life begins with a romantic and ideal view on love. After Janie’s grandmother, Nanny, soon grows fearful of Janie’s newfound sexuality and quickly marries Janie off to Logan Killicks, an older land owner with his own farm. Janie quickly grows tired of Logan and how he works her like a slave instead of treating her as a wife and runs away with Joe Starks. Joe is older than Janie but younger than Logan and sweet talks Janie into marring him and soon Joe becomes the mayor of an all African American town called Eatonville. Soon Joe begins to force Janie to hide not only her
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston centers around the life of Janie Crawford, an African American young woman, who is seeking ‘the horizon’ comprised of ideal living, experiences, and authentic love. After having two failed marriages, Janie meets Tea Cake, a suave, charming younger man who truly loves Janie. By exposing Janie to the world, and providing her with experiences and memories, Tea Cake directs her to the ‘horizon,’ where she can lead a fulfilling life. The selected passage begins as Janie concludes sharing her story with Phoeby. The flashback comes to its end, and the setting returns to Eatonville, Florida. I selected this passage because it reveals the great impact that Tea Cake has had on shaping Janie’s life.
Their Eyes Were Watching God is written by Zora Neale Hurston in the year of 1937. In the novel, the main character is Janie Crawford. Janie has been treated differently by others during her life because of how she was raised and the choices she has made throughout her life. The community is quick to judge her actions and listen to any gossip about Janie in the town. Janie is known to be “classed off” from other members in her community in various ways. “Classed off” means to be separate or isolated from other people.
In the novel The Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Hurston the main character, Janie goes through many events that shows her growing up. Also these events show her becoming an educated woman who finds herself. From her first kiss to her three relationships the author makes this change in Janie visible. Throughout the novel these events show Janie maturing and becoming educated about herself and the world around her.
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... ... middle of paper ... ...
Their Eyes Were Watching God, based on the book of the same title by Zora Neale Hurston, is about the life of Janie Crawford, an African-American woman and the struggles she goes through
“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.
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.
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.
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.
Zora Neale Hurston once said, “Happiness is nothing but everyday living seen through a veil.” In post-slavery African American society, this statement was unusual, as society was focused on materialistic values. The “veil” Hurston mentions is a lens used to sift through one’s beliefs; to help one understand that what they have is more important than what they don’t. Hurston alludes the veil in her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, in the form of a fish-net, saying “She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it in from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulders" (193). Just like the veil, the “fish-net” allows one to sift through one’s beliefs, deciding what is important and what is not. Essentially, Hurston
“Their Eyes Were Watching God” is a fiction novel written by American author Zora Neale Hurston. The book is about Janie Crawford a beautiful, confident middle-aged colored woman who returns back to her hometown Eatonville, Florida after a long period of time. Janie returns in dirty overalls which speculates gossip in the community.(sparknotes.com) Although there are many themes present in this book, the strongest theme of them all is self indepence.
Zora Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God follows protagonist Janie Mae Crawford’s journey into womanhood and her ultimate quest for self-discovery. Having to abruptly transition from childhood to adulthood at the age of sixteen, the story demonstrates Janie’s eternal struggle to find her own voice and realize her dreams through three marriages and a lifetime of hardships that come about from being a black woman in America in the early 20th century. Throughout the novel, Hurston uses powerful metaphors helping to “unify” (as Henry Louis Gates Jr. puts it) the novel’s themes and narrative; thus providing a greater understanding of Janie’s quest for selfhood. There are three significant metaphors in the novel that achieve this unity: the pear tree metaphor, metaphors representing the inside and outside world, and finally the figure of the mule.