Examples Of Hubris In The Eyes Were Watching God

There is an immense divide between what an individual contemplates and what an individual veritably decides to act upon. In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, protagonist Janie Crawford’s actions vastly differ from her inner thoughts as she attempts to please the people surrounding her. Consumed with the desire to find the love that she believes will bring her true contentment, Janie strives to fulfill the expectations of those closest to her. However, her quest to please those around her costs Janie her voice and influence, and at times, her happiness. By contrasting Janie’s passive deeds with her strong-minded thoughts, Hurston introduces the notion of conformity in order to communicate the pressures of society and how

Two examples of oppression in the America are illustrated in the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, written by Zora Neale Hurston. In the novel, Janie, a black woman living in the post-civil war South, is oppressed by her husband, Logan Killicks. After Janie refuses to help him with the farm work, he yells at her, "Ah’ll take holt uh dat ax and come in dere and kill yuh! You better dry up in dere! Ah’m too honest and hard-workin’ for anybody in yo’ family, dat’s de reason you don’t want me!" (38). Logan disrespects his wife and puts her below him by saying he is more honest and diligent than her and her family, showing oppression, specifically, sexism, in the America on a

The short story “Sweat,” by Zora Neale Hurston, seems to exemplify the epitome of a bad marriage. Hurston uses foreshadowing and irony to demonstrate the disintegrated relationship between the abusive husband and the diligent wife. Throughout the story, it becomes obvious that the husband does not oblige by the motto, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Hurston’s use of irony and foreshadowing helps reveal the fact that “the good will prevail” and Sykes will finally get what he deserves.

Various novels can be classified as “coming-of-age” texts, this means that these are stories about a protagonist’s transition from childhood to adulthood or just growing up even as an adult. These novels show their growth and change in character over the length of the text. Novels such as The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston are all examples of coming-of-age novels. In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God the story is focused on Janie Crawford and her growth over the course of the book.

The author uses negative diction when describing circumstances relating to gender inequality, racism, or the right to marry the person you love, indicating that the author believes these are important issues that need to be fixed. This negative diction is evident in lines such as, “But Joe kept saying that she could do it if she wanted to and he wanted her to use her privileges. That was the rock she was battered against. The business of the headrag irked her endlessly. [...] but he didn’t want Janie to notice it because he saw that she was sullen and resented that. She had no right to be, the way he thought thing out. [...] He ought to box her jaws!” and “You better sense her intuh things then ‘cause Tea Cake can’t do nothin’ but help her spend whut she got. Ah reckon dat’s whut he’s after. Throwin’ away whut Joe Starks worked hard tuh git tuhgether.” However, when Janie talks about Tea Cake and their love, Zora Hurston switches to positive diction, showing that she supports a happy, equal, and loving marriage. This switch in the diction is clearly shown in the lines, “He drifted off into sleep and Janie looked down on him and felt a self-crushing love. So her soul crawled out from its hiding place.” and “Anyway Tea Cake wouldn’t hurt

Everyone has flaws. Someone may get a little too angry and saw something they do not mean. Maybe someone's pride stops them from asking for help when they need it. Either way, no one is perfect; hubris always finds a way to ruin peoples lives. Sophocles’s two plays Oedipus the King, and Antigone are prime examples of how hubris can lead to ones ultimate downfall, which can be seen through the characters Antigone, Oedipus, and Creon.

Throughout the book “Their Eyes Were Watching God” (written by author Zora Neale Hurston and published in September 1937) multiple motifs (a recurrent image, symbol, theme, character type, subject, or narrative detail that becomes a unifying element in an artistic work or text) have appeared amidst the chapters. Furthermore, motifs have played an excruciatingly important role overall throughout the book, whether it be a place, a person, the weather, or simply just a personʻs possession(s). Therefore, in this prompt I will explain the various motifs exhibited in the passages.

With Hurston’s tricky dialect, her allusions are usually misunderstood or missed. However, Hurston’s allusions are also compelling because instead of saying a typical reference, she adds a unique twist to her reference. In conclusion, Hurston’s allusions from the novel will be discussed with quotes and the genuine meaning. In chapter one as the story begins, Hurston uses allusion to describe the porch sitters Janie talks about in chapter one.

"Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men. Now, women forget all those things they don't want to remember and remember everything they don't want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly." These dream quotes came from the one and only "Their eyes were watching God," book by Zora Neale Hurston. Mrs. Zora Neale Hurston was an expert in writing in dialect. This unique literary form creates differences between other novels or storybooks. In this book, various events (to be specific, a death) seem to illuminate the meaning of life as a whole.

In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, she uses figurative language to show how people in Janie’s life are judgemental of her, from being judged on her appearance to being judged on her life. At the very opening of the novel the author shows that Janie’s entrance into the story was even judged, this foreshadows judgement throughout the novel. “But now the sun and the bossman were gone, so the skins felt powerful and humans. They become lords of sound and lesser things. They passed nations through their mouths.

Janie struggles with her marriages with Logan Killicks and Joe Starks throughout the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, but finds a good man and husband in Tea Cake. Logan goes to marry Janie because Janie’s grandmother forces her to marry him because Nanny wants her to have a good marriage and thinks Logan can give it to her. While Joe comes in and shows Janie he has authority and is loving, but later tries to control her and what she does. Tea Cake on the other hand show Janie love and is willing to let Janie be herself and do the things she likes to do. Janie doesn’t love Logan or Joe because they try to change and control her, while Tea Cake loves her for who she really is.

In marriage, a man should possess certain qualities in order to be a good husband, and he must provide both financial, and personal support. In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, characters Logan Killicks, Joe Starks, and Tea Cake all have some of these qualities in their marriages. Janie’s first husband Logan does not provide support for her and has very poor qualities in their marriage, in fact, he requires Janie to do unnecessary work on his farm, therefore, he is not a good husband. Furthermore, in her next marriage, she is overshadowed by Joe Starks, a selfish entrepreneur that provides her with financial support, but does not support her needs and desires. Nevertheless, Janie obtains a third husband, Tea Cake, who has exceptional

“Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston, written in 1937, is about a African american girl named Janie Crawford who grew up in a white household. Through her transition to womanhood she wanted to experience true love, which set her on a quest to do so. Her grandmother arranged a marriage for her, which Janie wasn't so happy about. The story follows her growing as a person and her many experiences with her marriages. Each impacting her emotionally and making her the woman she becomes at the end of the book. Towards the ending of her book, after being harmed emotionally, and sometimes physically by her past husbands she meets a man named Tea Cake, much younger than her. She fell in love with him and

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.

“Their eyes were watching god” a novel that looked how societies view on women, written by Zora Neale Hurston, portrays a society where “nigger women” are considered a “mule”. Throughout the novel, the protagonist, Janie Crawford, strives to find her own voice but struggle to find it because of the expectation in the African American community. Each one of her husbands play a big role in her life long search for independence and her own voice.