Analysis Of Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston

In the fiction novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the author conveys a message of the damaging effects of the different forms of love and the impact of self-discovery through her main character, Janie. With these two themes hand-in-hand, Hurston illustrates the behavior and identity of how people are innocent dreamers, but also how they should live through realistic views. In short, the main character Janie is described as a lotus flower, blooming even in the lowest and most mud-filled places. For this reason, Janie represents the innocence and potential all humans start off with before facing any type of obstacle. In the novel, after Janie is exposed to forced love the author writes, “She knew now that marriage did not make love. Janie’s first dream was dead, so she became a woman” (Hurston 25). This shows how people first develop from a limitless and pure mind, to a disappointed yet more mature mindset when they are faced with the reality of how things truly are. This shift makes those that have yet to be tampered with refuge

The author writes, “She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net… so much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see” (Hurston 193). This shows the acceptance people must have when all of their dreams and aspirations have been crushed because solely focusing on the negatives will fail to benefit the person. This goes on to show that once people venture past the negatives, they can finally start searching for the positive effects of their situation and come to terms with it in order to see any beneficial changes in their life. In the end, by the author’s message of self-discovery it uncovered how the spirits of man can conquer its own downfall, and once completed, are given the chance to take control of their own lives because humans start off as learners solely to one day become