Analysis Of Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Hurston

In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston portrays the religion of black people as a form of identity. Each individual in the black society Hurston has created worships a different God. But all members of her society find their identities by being able to believe in a God, spiritual or other. Grandma’s worship of Jesus and the “Good Lawd,” Joe Starks’ worship of himself, Mrs. Turner’s worship of white characteristics, and Janie’s worship of love, all stem from a lack of jurisdiction in the society they inhabit. All these Gods represent a need for something to believe in and work for: an ideal, which they wish to achieve, to aspire to. Each individual character is thus

Throughout the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, there is an ongoing story of how Janie, the main character, grows up and deals with the many challenges life throws at her in her quest for her “Horizons”. A horizon is a metaphor for one’s ambitions, hopes and dreams. To be truly happy, one must conceive their own horizons, explore them and embrace them. Janie’s “horizons” evolve throughout the novel, starting as limited and socially determined, moving towards being expansive, individualized, and fully realized.

The story of her life begins to unfold as she sits with Phoebe Watson, her friend for decades that brought her some mullato rice. I think Phoebe shows signs of hypocrisy because although she defended Janie when the other women spoke badly about her, prior to Janie’s arrival she accompanied these women daily as they gossiped about other people. Sheep don’t stay in the presence of wolves for too long. “Well, nobody

Janie Crawford from Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, and Hester Prynne from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, were both two women who lived in America during two different time periods, with contrasting backgrounds and beliefs. Hester Prynne, a Puritan who came from England to Boston in the 1600’s, and Janie Crawford, a woman of color living in the deep South in an all Black community post civil war. Janie and Hester are both two outliers in their communities, and were both harassed when there actions differed from the others around them, yet neither of them rebelled and emerged above everyone else in the end.

Three women. Two out of the three were slaves for several decades and was able to obtain their freedom before the Civil War. The third woman, however, was never a slave since they were around after the Civil War. First, Sojourner Truth was born into slavery, later leaving her master in 1926 before she was legally emancipated in 1927 by the law of New York (Gates 245). Truth was also a Civil Rights and Women’s Rights activist (Gates 245). Next, Elizabeth Keckley, who was also born into slavery and stayed enslaved for over 30 years (Gates 365). After she had legally bought her and her son’s freedom, Keckley had established herself as a dressmaker and provide service to political figures, such as Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis (Gates 365). Lastly, is the author, Zora Neale Hurston, who had written Their Eyes Were Watching God and Mules and Men (Gates 1019). In Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the protagonist, Janie Crawford, undergoes a journey of self-discovery while overcoming obstacles. Truth was fighting for equal rights for women, while in Keckley’s text, she informs people of her years as a slave, the purchasing of her freedom, and her time at the White House. Therefore, between Truth and Janie there is an overlapping attitude of gender differences amongst men and women which can cause male dominance, whereas with Janie and Keckley, the overlap occurs in their struggle for freedom and the experience of being married then leaving one’s spouse.

It is almost imaginable that Janie has not changed much in the end of the story and will continue her old ways of depending on a person for support and protection.

Through her use of southern black language Zora Neale Hurston illustrates how to live and learn from life’s experiences. Janie, the main character in Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, is a woman who defies what people expect of her and lives her life searching to become a better person. Not easily satisfied with material gain, Janie quickly jumps into a search to find true happiness and love in life. She finally achieves what she has searched for with her third marriage.

It’s no wonder that “[t]he hurricane scene in Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, is a famous one and [that] other writers have used it in an effort to signify on Hurston” (Mills, “Hurston”). The final, climactic portion of this scene acts as the central metaphor of the novel and illustrates the pivotal interactions that Janie, the protagonist, has with her Nanny and each of her three husbands. In each relationship, Janie tries to “’go tuh God, and…find out about livin’ fuh [herself]’” (192). She does this by approaching each surrogate parental figure as one would go to God, the Father; she offers her faith and obedience to them and receives their definitions of

Brutal beatings that resulted in bruises, broken bones, and even death. Rape that haunted women until their last breath. Being caged and unable to go “tuh de horizon and back”. These are all things that Zora Neale Hurston tried to combat when composing Their Eyes Were Watching God. Through her novel, she tries to show the American people that women can choose the roles that they long for. In all, women have the right to pursue their desires.

Zora Neale Hurston was born on January 7, 1891, in Notasulga, Alabama. She is the fifth of eight children born to two former slaves. Her father’s name is John Hurston and her mother’s name is Lucy Ann (Potts) Hurston. Her father, a pastor, moved them to Florida when her mother died; she was very young at the time. Zora has no memories of Notasulga, having moved to Florida as a toddler. Shortly after that her father remarried; however Zora lived with an assortment of family members for the next few years.

In the book Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie’s understanding for struggle allows her to empathize for another and fix the problem. Zora Neale Hurston writes, “Janey is displayed by Starks as a 'lady'? Just as he displays the retired mule”(Hurston). Janie's treatment by Jody has caused her to feel the struggle and hatred towards the people that only make life harder than it should be. When Jody saw this mule getting abused and treated the way it shouldn’t be, she was able to feel empathy for it and do something about it.

In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston continually places fear in Janie’s journey. Fear and violence are irrevocably intertwined on the surface, yet fear is most vividly connected with God. In the repetition of the motif, “fear is the most divine emotion,” Hurston is able to directly and indirectly point to God (Hurston 139). Fear can also lead to understanding as “it is…the beginning of wisdom” (Hurston 139).

After reading “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston and “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin all I can think about is how both authors emphasize sympathy towards the characters of both their books. Both stories have females as main characters that struggle with finding a reason for existence in life. In The Awakening, Kate Chopin, the author, made it more apparent for the amount of sympathy she has for Edna and In Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, has a more callous towards all the male characters except for Janie’s last husband, Tea Cake.

Hurston ultimately provides powerful personal closure for herself. Through Janie’s story, Hurston highlights that worldly success does not define personal fulfillment. Perhaps Janie’s marriage to Jody placed her in the lap of wealth and power, but it also thrust her into the hands of misery and voicelessness, and even in relationships that are supposedly blissful, such Janie’s marriage to Tea Cake, there lies a darker side that cannot be ignored. It is true that Tea Cake allows Janie to have fun, but he also takes pains to prove his dominance, going so far as to beat Janie because “being able to whip her reassured him in possession” (147). Whichever way the story is examined, one cannot claim that Janie reaches true freedom, if at all, until the very end of her story. Unlike, Hurston, who spent her entire life talking and writing and researching the power of the spoken word, Janie fails to use her voice until after Tea Cake dies, finally able to return to Eatonville on her own accord and place herself, not her grandmother or Joe or Tea Cake, as the main protagonist of the story.

These strong female characters are able to portray their independence. Hurston’s fictional Character, Janie, sets a standard for women and proves that she does not need to rely on anybody. Janie is in an abusive and controlling relationship with her second husband, Jody. He would never let Janie do what she wanted, made her wear a cloth on her head so other men would not admire her, and always spoke for her. When Jody gives a speech at his welcome party for his new store,