God's Grandeur And The Grandeur And Omnipresence By Gerard Manley Hopkins

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.

During the 1930s there was a time period known as the Harlem Renaissance, during this time African Americans sought a newfound cultural freedom and advancements in social classes. In the novel, Their Eyes Are Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston portrays both similarities and departures from the ideals of the Harlem Renaissance. Hurston uses the main character Janie to illustrate these ideals such as the struggle to find oneself and fight against the opinions of others. In addition Hurston also depicts issues and similarities like African Americans who achieved high social classes and discriminated those below them, racial segregation, but also a new found African American confidence. She also demonstrates departures from the Harlem Renaissance

In Stanley Hauerwas’s article titled “Go with God” he presents a letter to students who are going off to attend college. It’s a guide that proposes certain expectations and helpful information for students heading off on this new endeavor. He makes a point that going to college means much more than a diploma and hopes of high paying job. “To worship God and live faithfully are necessary conditions if you are to survive college. But as a Christian you are called to do more than survive” (Hauerwas). The advice in the letter reinforce its main theme: to be a student is a calling. This challenges the reader to think beyond the normal expectations of why we go off to college.

  In 1937, upon the first publication of Their Eyes Were Watching God, the most influential black writer of his time, Richard Wright, stated that the novel "carries no theme, no message, [and] no thought."  Wright's powerful critique epitomized a nation's attitude toward Zora Neale Hurston's second novel. African-American critics read a book that they felt satisfied the "white man's" stereotype of African-American culture and the humor which Caucasians saw in that prejudice. However, those critics and most of America overlooked the wonderful use of imagery, symbolism, and thematic application of one African-American female's journey into womanhood and

In Their Eyes Were Watching God written by Zora Neale Hurston, the protagonist tells her best friend the story of her life. The protagonist, Janie, spends small portions of the book telling of her life before she was married and of her life during her first marriage. However her second and third marriages are told in far better detail, telling of men she fell in love with Joe Starks, and Tea Cake. Janie encounters love that has bloomed and then dissipated, despite their original fiery affair; however with her third and final husband Janie’s love seems to grow as they spend more time together. Despite it seeming as though the novel is focused on the men in Janie’s life, the concentration is obviously on Janie’s feelings, continuously pointing out whether she is at peace or unhappy.

Many times when I read a piece of literature, I immediately look for the first signs of symbolism. I analyze that particular symbol and how I believe it is to be presented throughout the narrative. In the case of Their Eyes Were Watching God, I recognized that Janie’s hair would have a significant place in the themes of the novel. Within the opening paragraphs, Janie stares at herself in a picture and her identity arises from her hair “seen it was mah dress and mah hair” Her identity then shifts to the color of her skin “Aw, aw! Ah’m colored!” (9), however the symbolism of her hair would be more powerful than the color of her skin. After this particular passage, I realized that this is not a novel so much about race as it is what it means to be a woman. Zora Neale Hurston is writing to an audience of women who will identify with Janie the definition of femininity wrapped up in the hair. Even after her marriage to Logan, she still has a thread of the passion for life and yearns for adventure. Logan reinforces the beauty of her flowing hair because he runs his fingers through it and only after he stops she begin to dream of flight. Many women enjoy having their beauty adored and when the adoration ceases they might begin to question the sense of self. Janie begins to question her place in life and her freedom comes in the form of a whistle from Joe Starks. She notices Joe Starks walking down the road and runs to the water pump to gain his attention. Her “heavy hair” falls down

A life without choices doesn’t seem to be a good life to have, and in Zora Neal Hurston’s novel Their Eyes were Watching God, the main protagonist goes through life slowly being able to make more choices for herself. While she was a child, she wasn’t able to make any decisions for herself, and that affected her later years and how she made her choices.

In Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston uses the changes in Janie’s to show that there is always good to be found, even in a negative situation. Janie walked into the town like nothing happened. After she lost her third husband she went back at the start of her second marriage “Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with th things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone.” (8) Be a person means that not everything going to go perfect in life. Janie lived it an knew that sometimes just needs to appreciate the small things, because there is seasons when the trees are dormant but the same the same year they will start to bloom as life.

Subsequent to their years of coerced silence, the African-American community in America attained a voice by creating their own arts and new ideals, this was known as the Harlem Renaissance. This time period, from the years of the 1910s to the 1930s, was also known as the New Negro Movement because it was a renewal of life for African-Americans, such as being independent and free from the ideals of society. The time frame played a major role in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, which is a novel that explains the story of Janie Crawford’s journey of self-awareness and freedom to be herself through love and relationships, in which she desires a fulfillment of emotional connection and passion with her significant other. Specifically

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 by Zora Neale Hurston was published in 1937 and is based loosely on Hurston’s own experiences, similarly to Chopin’s The Awakening. The story is a told in a circular conversation. It begins with a conversation between an African American woman named Janie Crawford and her friend, Pheoby Watson. Janie tells Pheoby her story, which revolves mainly around three men that Janie has loved and how loving them affected her, both positively and negatively. Through thick southern African American dialect, Janie explains her journey, as she searches for herself. Throughout the journey, Janie experiences much hardship, unhappiness, and inferiority. This leads to the main question of the novel: what does it take for Janie to

In the early 1900’s African American women were encountered with one main limitation. That limitation was inequality, causing many woman to become generally demoted within its culture. This separation of inequality leads to many women to become socially reduced by man itself. In the novel “There eyes were watching God” by Zora Hurston the “Mule” symbolizes Janie’s limitations as an African American Woman to society which is influenced by time, place, and psychology of that culture.

The novel “The Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston takes place in the Harlem Renaissance period where African American culture exploded in the United States. Slavery has been abolished which gives more rights to black men, leaving women to fill the position as a modern slave. This was a period of such suppression of woman that they were treated as if they were brainless property, much like slaves. Janie refuses to succumb to society 's standards of how woman should be treated. She becomes a feminist by fighting for women 's rights to be bettered, if not equal to men’s rights. Janie became a feminist through trial and error of her three marriages. Through her failed marriages, Janie learns and constructs her own standards for how she will be treated, resulting in her finding true love. Her standards were far higher than society 's for women, making Janie a pioneer for feminist views and women 's rights.

First and foremost, “God was more easily found in nature than in works of man.” This quote really resonated with me. In the The National Parks: America's Best Idea video, it talked about Muir finding a stronger faith with God out in the wilderness than he could in any church. Being a religious person myself, I really do find these quotes to be true. When you submerge yourself into the beauty of nature, I feel you really find yourself inspired and in awe of God’s creations.

The article which I chose to write about is critically entitled “Zora Neale Hurston’s Most Famous Novel Wasn’t Bad, But It Could Have Been Better”, and discusses Otis Ferguson’s opinion on the famous novel. As I was reading this critique, I found that I held views quite similar to those expressed by Ferguson in the portion of the text in which he reflected on the way in which the novel is written, as another major amount of the article summarizes the plot of the story itself. Along with the fact that I agree with Ferguson’s opinion, I also like the way in which he goes about putting out his thoughts, contrary to the way in which I view Hurston’s writing. Similar to the way I see the writing in Their Eyes Were Watching God, the author of this