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…
the time period for economic redeveloping in the south after the Civil War (Houghton). A plethora of political jurisdictions and radical organizations, such as the Ku Klux Klan and Jim Crow Law, oppressed and terrorized the economic, political, and social climate for African Americans during this time. However, a magnitude of African Americans found solace through traditional and religious folklore, the development of racial uplift programs, and most significantly, the desired expression for speech and independence through the arts. In essence, Hurston’s interpretation and adaptation of enduring African American’s trials in 1900’s deep-Southern United States through Their Eyes Were Watching God brings to light the lifestyle, desires, and oppression felt by many. Delving further into this novel, the captivating voice of Janie allows the reader to experience first hand the wide array of feelings felt by the depicted clusters of African American communities.
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…
(King). In relation to the title of the literary work, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston excels in using nature as a way of illuminating God as a diffuse force rather than a single entity. Janie rarely directly refers to God or the bible as a source of inspiration, but instead the spirit of nature empowers her to continue her trek for finding peace intrapersonally and interpersonally, specifically her environment (Curren). Such a lifestyle, is contrary to that of the typical African American trying make economical and spiritual ends meet under the harsh conditions of the rural, prejudice South. In summation, individuals, such as Nanny or Logan Killings, yearned for African American women to find security through marriage, all while embodying the qualities of piety, purity, and submissiveness. On the other hand, African American males exhibited characteristics of machismo, assertiveness, and experience in everything they do. Regardless, it is fair to suggest that according to Hurston's novel no one African American male, female, or congregation can surpass the entity and oppression that is the white “supremacy” race. The occurrence of two white males forcing Teacake to bury the dead, in their once was solace, can to an extent be argued to be either an exemplary demonstration of racial segregation, nature, or even God himself interfering with the humanity of society. The emphases and desire for social independence is a trait that not only the main protagonist, Janie, possesses, but the author, Zora Neale Hurston, as well.
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
lineage. In brief, the life that many African Americans unfortunately experienced whilst living in segregated Southern America during the 1900’s is illuminated by Hurston’s captivating novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Perhaps a novel most regarded in a canon of African American literature, this composition contains themes, motifs, and symbols that are applicable to not only to 21st century modern society, but the entirety of international culture. The enduring Southern love story for self independence serves as an inspiration for women fighting to possess gender equality in today’s society. Whereas, in other parts of the globe the equality of women is so far beneath American perspective, such a tale of overcoming society’s oppression is vital to keeping hope alive for women in the Middle East. Regardless of how the text is interpreted as, it cannot be argued that the representation of African Americans, as a social group, greatly benefited the lore behind this enduring American literature.
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
Turner, whom Janie met during harvesting season, runs a restaurant with her husband. Mrs. Turner grew up with white folks, so she only knows the white peoples ways of doing things and thinks that their way is the right way. Mrs. Turner believes Janie needs to be classed off from other black people. Mrs. Turner says, “She didn’t forgive her for marrying a man as dark as Tea Cake, but she felt that she could remedy that. That was what her brother was born for” (Hurston 140). Janie refuses to be with Mrs. Turner’s brother and does not want to be classed off.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.