Analysis Of Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale 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

“...you got tuh go there tuh know there (ch. 20).” In this phrase Janie is referring to the knowledge and experience she has gained by going through her past endeavors. In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie discovers,“Two things everybody’s got tuh to do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin’ fuh theyselves (ch. 20).” These morals of Janie’s are depictions of the book’s entirety. Although the two lessons may be laid out plainly, this quote can be shaded into various depths of meaning. Regardless, through several incidents and relationships in the book, the interpretation of the statement and the applicability to Janie’s story is revealed.

The struggle for women to have their own voice has been an ongoing battle. However, the struggle for African American women to have their own voice and independence has been an ongoing conflict. In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God Janie struggles a majority of her life discovering her own voice by challenging many traditional roles that are set by society during this time. Hongzhi Wu, the author of “Mules and Women: Identify and Rebel—Janie’s Identity Quest in ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God,’” recognizes the trend of African American women being suppressed by making a comparison between animals throughout the novel and Janie. Wu argues that there are ultimately two depictions of the mule that the reader remembers and compares both of these interpretations to Janie’s transformation throughout the novel. While Wu’s argument is sound in the fact that it recognizes certain stereotypes African American women faced during this time, Wu fails to recognize Janie’s sexuality in depth as her major push away from the animalistic pressures she has faced.

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.

     “’…but she don’t seem to mind at all. Reckon dey understand one ‘nother.’” A woman’s search for her own free will to escape the chains of other people in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God.

People are constantly searching for their voices. A voice gives someone independence and the ability to make her own decision. The First Amendment ensures that all United States citizens possess the freedom of speech; however, not all people are given the ability or opportunity to exercise that right. When a person has no voice they rely on others to make their decisions. Throughout Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Are Watching God, Janie constantly struggles to find her voice. Her marriage to Logan Killicks, Joe Starks, and Tea Cake help her discover and utilize her voice in different ways. During Janie’s first marriage to Logan she has no voice, Joe silences Janie’s tiniest whisper and controls her similar to a slave; in contrast to

Love is different for each and every person. For some, it comes easy and happens early in life. For others, such as Janie in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, it happened much later in life after two unsuccessful marriages. Janie’s grandmother, Nanny raised Janie to be attracted to financial security and physical protection instead of seeking love. Nanny continually emphasized that love was something that was bound to happen after those needs were met; even though Nanny never married. Janie formulates her ideal of love while sitting under a pear tree as a teenager; one that fulfilled her intellectually, emotionally, spiritually and physically. She was then informed that she was to have an arranged marriage to an older

In Zora Neal Hurston’s Their Eyes were Watching God, Janie Crawford tells her story of being mixed-race in the American South at the turn of the century. Janie is fascinated by finding love, and escapes a loveless marriage with Logan Killicks to marry the mayor of Eatonville, Joe Starks. This marriage, too, takes a turn for the worst and becomes physically abusive. After living as a widow following Joe’s death, Janie runs away with Tea Cake, and here she finally finds true love that is not dependent on her husband’s wealth or authority. Tea Cake gets bitten by a rabid dog during a hurricane, and Janie is forced to shoot him herself before he kills her. Whether she is living in an all-black town or in a situation with both white and black people,

“Then she went inside there to see what it was. It was her image of Jody tumbled down and shattered.” (Hurston 186). In passage #3 which was pulled from page 186 in the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Hurston is telling Jody’s internal thoughts after being hit by her husband, Joe Starks, for the first time. Hurston is trying to convey the message that no matter how hard you try, not all your hopes and dreams will come true.

In the crossroads between love and culture, politics and tradition, lies what it means to be human. In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie Crawford desperately tries to find romance under the championed social realism of husband and wife at the time. At the beginning Janie’s Nanny, arranges for her to marry Logan killicks. An old farmer he owned a large sixty acres of land and was looking for someone to fill the place of his previous wife. However, Janie is not interested in Logan or marriage, her grandmother prescribed the life she wanted Janie to live, a stable life that was financially secure. The life Nanny and her daughter never had. Janie’s youthful notions about relationships leads her to strongly believe that marriage must involve love, and that Logan wants a helper on the farm not a lover or partner. Feeling miserable and lonely, she runs off with Joe Starks to Eatonville. After being spoiled with many fine items, and a distinct position in town, Janie realizes that he wants her as a trophy wife, to reassert his dominance over the townspeople. He treats her as a valuable possession, dictating what she says, wears, and restricting her social life. Once he dies she for once gains total freedom to do as she pleases, becoming financially independent and toppled by suitors. She then meets fun-loving young Vergible Woods who goes by the nickname “Tea Cake”. At first Janie is uncertain of his intentions, as she is wealthy and older, but

The Harlem Renaissance was a migration of African Americans searching for work and a chance to express African American uniqueness from the white culture. Harlem was like a melting pot for African Americans yet more essentially for artists and musicians. African Americans needed to express the obstacles they confronted while living in a white man's culture. Numerous writers were against Zora Hurston's writing's since they felt she did not express the struggle of African Americans enough in her writings. In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston she uses a variety of symbols, for example, color, the store, and her husband’s set the general theme of independence and distinction.

Many women complain that it is hard to find a man with husband worthy qualities. Most women are looking for honesty, love, and a hard worker. In the story Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, a woman named Janie is forced to marry Logan Killicks a wealthy man with land by her grandmother. After a couple months she runs off with Joe Starks who starts a town called Eatonville. He doesn't let her do anything, and the last couple years of their marriage Joe starts making fun of Janie and calling her fat and old. After Joe ends up dying, Janie falls for a man named Tea Cake they move to the everglades so Tea Cake can get a job and provide for her. Many readers believe that Tea Cake is using Janie for her money, however Janie

For this lesson, I have chosen the book Their eyes were watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. Human right obstacles the main character Janie will face are gender equality and freedom. In the 1930’s slavery has been banned and the colored are free, hinting towards the freedom the colored is now allowed to explore. However, gender equality I predict will also be brought out in this book. The reasoning for this prediction is from the first chapter and how the porch sisters judged Janie because she did not tell them her business. Along with the fact they judged her with evil thoughts and words out of jealousy, while the women saw women walking in overalls and all dirty that had left with a man in a satin dress. The men were still captivated by her

Their Eyes Were Watching God has different messages to it that anyone can receive. One message that Zora Hurston wants to portray is that men and women are equal. Many people think that men or stronger, or that men can be better leaders; however, men and women share similar qualities. Zora Hurston puts a stronger emphasis on the females in this book because of belief that men don’t have to be the main characters all the time. The theme of Their Eyes Were Watching God is that the nature of women is confident, protective, and willing.