Overview: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Through racist views Janie and her community were cast apart and alienated from society. They banded together as a united force, although strong, they were seen as less than equals to their white counterparts. Throughout the novel we see many examples of racism and it’s cruel remarks, however the most prevalent is found in Janie’s conversations with Mrs Turner. Through these conversations Mrs Turner informs the reader of her racist passions and thoughts of both black and white races. (Hurston, chp 16). In these remarks and racial slurs the reader is able to correlate the ideals of Mrs. Turner to the ones found in today’s society. We as a country are unfortunately built upon racism, and it is due to those beliefs of inferiority belonging to Mrs. Turner and others that our country is still so divided. However, with great love, we as Americans can fight for what’s right and take a stand like Janie did.

In Zora Neal Hurston’s novel, the story is about An African-American woman named Janie Crawford. The book was set in the 20th century in central and southern Florida. The story shows her journey through life and the obstacles she faces along the way. Janie goes through four men in her life, each leading her closer to discovering herself. The novel begins as Janie returns to her hometown Eatonville, Florida. It has been two years since Janie left and this makes her neighbors question her. The last memory of Janie was her leaving in a wedding dress. Her returning in dirty overalls makes her town wonder what happened while she was gone. Virginia Heffernan states that the story, “…Opens with Janie

Their Eyes Were Watching God provides an enlightening look at the journey of a "complete, complex, undiminished human being", Janie Crawford. Her story, based on self-exploration, self-empowerment, and self-liberation, details her loss and attainment of her innocence and freedom as she constantly learns and grows from her experiences with gender issues, racism, and life. The story centers around an important theme; that personal discoveries and life experiences help a person find themselves.

Zora Neale Hurston’s book Their Eyes Were Watching God, is a novel about one young black woman’s journey to find her own self-worth in an unfriendly world. The story takes place in Eatonville, Florida, from Janie’s youth to adulthood. The author’s intentions was to explain how Janie Crawford after three marriages, finally achieves what she craved all of her life, independence and a strong self-worth.

Janie from Their Eyes Were Watching God, written by Zora Neale Hurston, must ignore people’s opinions and expectations to live the life she wants. Hurston involves many people in Janie’s life. The people with whom Janie live try to restrict her to an understood, stereotypical role, but Janie can free herself from these accepted roles. Janie turns out to be strong enough to overcome many judgments.

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.

In the seventh and ninth chapter of Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie has been living in silence with Joe for many years now. She was 17 when she married Joe but is now 35 and can not run away because she feels trapped. She always imagines what it is like to sit under a tree, doing her work and just plainly loving Joe. Later on, she realizes Joe’s age is showing and he also notices this; so he gives Janie more work and calls her old. Janie soon gets tired of this and confronts Joe and tells him he looks much older than her. The men that are in the store hear this and wish they had not because they would not their woman calling them old. Joe is embarrassed, so he violently hits Janie.

And goes through life thinking that way about love and trying to find her true love. Janie goes and experiences different struggles trying to find the love she wants. Janie growing up did not have a loving atmosphere around her. She really didn't have much experience with love.

Hurston’s introduction depicts how Janie came back to Eatonville, Florida and many neighbors are talking amongst each other to see where she was for a long time. Her close friend Pheoby visits her and tries to figure out what has happened. Janie started to explain to her how she had felt from her experiences in the very beginning. She begins to tell how her grandmother raised her, and how she wanted to marry Logan Killicks, who owns 60 acres of land, which can provide an economic status for Janie. She was miserable, and ended up running away with a man named Joe Starks. They traveled to Eatonville, and they expanded the land. She wished she was part of the social life, but Jody wouldn’t let her talk with the people of the town. 20 years later,

Kartikeya Sharma COM 1102 - 04 Mrs. Joy Patterson 11/21/2014 Their Eyes Were Watching God This novel 'Their Eyes Were Watching God' is written by 'Zora Neale Hurston', and the story takes place in the city Eatonville, Florida in the twentieth century. The first chapter of this story is written in a third person which is omniscient, and Janie is the narrator in the remaining chapters. The third person (omniscient) narrator tells the story of Janie as a flashback.

The protagonist begins such an arduous quest due to a troubled familial history and broken home. Along the journey, Janie is subdued into malicious relationships with dominating males. Despite this, she becomes spiritually independent of her situations and begins to love. Hurston effectively uses southern dialect to give the narration authenticity. Hurston also parallels Janie’s personal growth with the level of her speech throughout the novel. The importance of personal achievement through self- awareness over authority fosters tension between Janie and her husbands. The significance of race as an undertone in Janie’s journey contribute to the persistence of the issue being a prevalent aspect of the era’s

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 some of Hurston’s works she acknowledges Eatonville, which was the first all-black community in America that she moved to when she was only three years old (Kimmons, 3). Hurston viewed Eatonville as a place where blacks could ultimately be themselves without having to conform to the norms of a white society (Kimmons, 1). Hurston was protected from the realisms of judgement and disgust towards African Americans; since Eatonville was described to be somewhat safe from lynchings and other violence related to racism. After

The person who wrote “Their Eyes Were Watching God” was Zora Neale Hurston. Hurston was an African-American novelist. She was born January 7,1891, Notasulga, Alabama. She was an American folklorists, novelist, short story writer, and anthropologists known for her contributions to the African-American literature, and the racial problems in the American South. Hurston had four novels and over 50 short stories published, plays, and essays. She was mainly known for her 1937 novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God.”

Many people would say that the African American race and the issue of dealing with racism are advancing because one of the first novels in that time doesn’t strictly focus on that topic. Instead it shifts to having a regular life and just falling with a few people. This is a disguse to make Hurston make the novel relatable to all audiences instead of making it only for African Americans to relate too. In my opinion Janie was treated like she was a white person and with her being mixed I know she had some type of issues with race. It should have been explored more in the story. The story took place in West Florida, Eatonville, Florida, and the Everglades during the early 1900s so she was bound to have some