Theme Of Racism In Their Eyes Were Watching God

An underlying theme in Their Eyes Were Watching God was the treatment of characters due to their race. The book, which was written in 1937, portrays elements of racism that were present during that historical time period. It is important to understand that history, for although the book didn’t directly address racism, its presence is obvious throughout the story due to character interaction and the setting.

During the early 1900’s, the time period in which the story took place, racism was rampant throughout the entire nation. While African Americans technically were equal by law, they were anything but, in action. Laws such as “separate but equal” were used to justify blatant discrimination, laws that were coined as “Jim Crow Laws.” (Wikipedia,

It certainly has some underlying tones of racism, but the novel itself does not focus on it, but instead has racism as a backdrop, occasionally pointing out some of the racial difficulties of the time. The first reference to racism in the book is when Nanny is telling her story to Janie; "Honey, de white man is de ruler of everything as fur as Ah been able tuh find out… So de white man throw down de load and tell de n***** man tuh pick it up. He pick it up because he have to, but he don’t tote it. He hand it to his womenfolks. De n***** woman is de mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see.” (Their Eyes Were Watching God) While not an example of racism, it sets the tone of the story and gives the reader a view into the mind of an African American at the time; black people do what the white men tell them to do, and in the end the one in the worst spot is the African American woman. Later on in Nanny’s story, it’s explained that both Janie and her mother were born due to racial victimization. Later in the novel, after Jody and Janie had moved to the all African-American town, Lee Coker issues one of the most interesting quotes of the entire book; "Us colored folks is too envious of one ‘nother. Dat’s how come us don’t git o further than us do. Us talks about de white man keepin’ us down! Shucks! He don’t have tuh. Us keeps our own selves down." (Their Eyes Were Watching God) He suggests that it isn’t just white people who

“Beans running fine and prices good, so the Indians could be, must be, wrong. You couldn’t have a hurricane when you’re making seven and eight dollars a day picking beans. Indians are dumb anyhow, always were.” (Their Eyes Were Watching God) The Native Americans were correct about the hurricane, but the African Americans completely disregarded what they said because they were prejudiced, stated they were dumb, and claim that they always were. One of the few true examples of racism present in the story would be when the two white men forced Tea-Cake to bury bodies. First, the men forced Tea-Cake to do manual labor, and then when they were sorting the bodies, told Tea-Cake to throw African Americans into a ditch, and save the white people for coffins. Even after they die, there is still prejudice against African