Their Eyes Were Watching God Literary Analysis

Times of reflection symbolize a person’s need to place previous situations in a correct perspective. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neal Hurston introduces Janie Mae Crawford as a woman of mystery and then uses a flashback to unravel the intrigue surrounding Janie. As Janie arrives at her house in Eatonville, her best friend Pheoby joins her to discuss the circumstances concerning recent events which brings Janie back to her old house. When Janie begins her tale, memory takes over to relay the important aspects of her life’s adventure. Life experiences are shared which had impacted Janie’s journey of finding love. Hurston comments that “women forget all those things they do not want to remember and remember everything they do not want to forget” (Hurston 1). In the details of the search for true love, memory recalls the entrapment for love, the blinding aspirations for love, the fulfillment of love, and the loss of love which weaves itself into Janie’s recollection.

First of all, memory brings Janie back to her childhood upbringing that began her pursuit for love.

As a teenager, Janie dreamed of love and compared it to blossoms of a pear tree. Since Janie’s grandmother insisted that she marry for security, Janie agrees to marry Logan Killicks with the promise that love will develop over time. Times passes on with no change of feelings, and Janie is trapped into a loveless marriage with the conditions of that arrangement deteriorating. Memory recalls that period of time as one of anger toward her grandmother for forcing Janie to give up her dream of true love. To Janie, security does not replace love. When Janie realizes that those feelings of love will never come, she begins to look for a means of

escape.
Subsequently, memory takes Janie on the next step of her love adventure to a period of aspirations for love. When Jody Starks arrives on scene and urges Janie to run off to marry him, she blindly succumbs to her belief that love has found her. “From now on until death, she was going to have flower dust and springtime sprinkled over everything” (Hurston 32). Believing Jody’s appearance provides her a chance on love, Janie leaves her life with Logan behind to explore an opportunity on love to a man whom she has known for mere minutes. Memory recalls the journey her life took after she married Jody. At the beginning, the adventure was enjoyed at the fun expectations of things to come; but the marriage soon turns into another type of prison. Janie is secluded from others by Jody’s jealousy. One example of Jody’s jealousy occurs when he forces Janie to wrap up her beautiful hair. Her memory recalls mostly negative experiences such as isolation, condemnation, and withdrawal from her husband. The idealism of love at the beginning of her marriage turned into another hurtful experience. When Jody dies, Janie realizes that she can do better thinking and choosing before she will commit to anyone else again. Her prospect of receiving true love has been shaken and tested, and Janie wonders if she will ever be fulfilled in love.
Consequently, memory recollects Janie’s actual fulfillment of love by the entrance of a young man named Tea Cake. Immediately, Janie is drawn to him, but suspicion makes her more cautious. Before she gives her heart away, Janie takes time to know Tea Cake and determine if this time she has really found love. As they spend more time together, Janie realizes that she enjoys her time with Tea Cake and progresses into a marriage based on love and respect. In various times during this marriage, memory haunts Janie to bring moments of doubt and mistrust; but Tea Cake shows himself faithful to her. Janie experiences a depth of love in her marriage that she felt “He could be a bee to a blossom—a pear tree blossom in the spring” (Hurston 106).
In the end, memory haunts Janie with the loss of love, and the pain associated with it. Horrible circumstances cause Tea Cake’s death, and Janie finds herself surrounded by constant reminders of her beloved. Memories of the life they shared overwhelms her and causes Janie to leave her surroundings. She heads back to her house in Eatonville where her story began. On her way to her house, Janie passes her previous neighbors; and her best friend Pheoby goes to check on Janie. Memory succumbs to reality as Janie finishes relaying her life to Pheoby. As Janie ends her recanting, memory leaves an impression of Pheoby who is struck by the amazing experiences through which Janie has lived. Pheoby believes that she has not lived life to the fullest as compared to Janie, and she goes to build memories of her own. After Pheoby leaves, memory resurfaces to allow Janie to see all of what has been learned on her travel of love and life. Though Janie’s realizations sadden her, she is strengthened by her trials and is satisfied with all that has been accomplished in her expectations of true love. Tea Cake has shown her the fulfillment of the love of which she dreamed as a young person. The experience satisfies her soul, and now she lives in peace. The yearning for love that drove so many of her decisions has been put to rest in contentment of obtaining her heart’s desire.
In conclusion, memory serves as an important tool of reflection upon the lessons of life’s journeys. Memory keeps alive the wonderful experiences of love and joy, but it also can recollect the painful events. How a person responds to memory can set a foundation for future outlooks on life. If a person lives too much in a painful memory, she can never receive the joyful ones yet to come. Proper responses to memory can set the tone for a happier future. Memory can also be a teacher when the person allows it; and if that person does, she can open the door to progress instead of being trapped in the failure and despair of the past. Memory can build stepping stones or stumbling blocks, and the future can be determined by the lessons of memory.