The Story of a Black Woman Trying to Find her Inner Voice in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston in 1937 was written during the time of the Harlem Renaissance, also known as the New Negro Movement. The New Negro Movement came about as a rejection of the racial segregation between blacks and whites. The black women felt this effect of racism more acutely than the black man. For centuries, Black women have been called the “mule of the world” and had been giving the status of inferior to white and the black man. Their Eyes Were Watching God encloses many elements of both racism and sexism. It is a story set in central and southern Florida. It follows the novels protagonist Janie in her search for self-awareness as she goes through three marriages. Elizabeth A. Meese has argued that one of

It’s amazing that one state can have within it places that differ greatly in all aspects—people, surrounding, weather, and feeling. Zora Neale Hurston exemplifies this phenomenon in Their Eyes Were Watching God. There are a multitude of differences between Eatonville, FL and the Everglades; each place represents a certain theme or feeling to Janie (the main character) and their differences each contribute to the meaning of the novel as a whole.

The book, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is about Janie Crawford and her quest for self-independence and real love. She finds herself in three marriages, one she escapes from, and the other two end tragically. And throughout her journey, she learns a lot about love, and herself. Janie’s three marriages were all different, each one brought her in for a different reason, and each one had something different to teach her, she was forced into marrying Logan Killicks and hated it. So, she left him for Joe Starks who promised to treat her the way a lady should be treated, but he also made her the way he thought a lady should be. After Joe died she found Tea Cake, a romantic man who loved Janie the way she was, and worked hard

In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, a young woman travels through difficult life experiences in order to find herself. Hurston portrays the protagonist as an adventurous soul trapped in the binds of suppressing marriages. Janie experiences three different types of marriage learning from each one what she values most. From these marriages she learned she values love and respect, finally achieving them in her last marriage. Each new marriage brought something new to the table for Janie and no matter the situation or the outcome of the relationship Janie grew into her own independent individual because of it.

Zora Neale Hurston was an influential African-American novelist who emerged during the Harlem Renaissance. (Tow 1) During the Harlem Renaissance Hurston’s novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God, was written in southern dialect so that the African American audience can relate, mainly because Hurston could only write about what she knew. “In the case of Hurston, dialect, as a regional vernacular, can and does contain subject, experience emotion and revelation.” (Jones 4) when Hurston's novel first was released many people didn't not accept the writing for what it really was. “When Their Eyes Were Watching God first appeared in 1937, it was well-received by white critics as an intimate portrait of southern blacks, but African-American reviewers rejected the novel. (Telgen, Hile 1) In this modern day the novel is well accepted and has been called "a classic of black literature, one of the best novels of the period" (Howard 7) In "Their Eyes Were Watching God", Janie takes on a journey in search of her own identity where each of her three husbands plays an important role in her discovery of who she is.

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

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

Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God focuses on a beautiful mulatto woman named Janie Crawford. This piece of literature carves a tale of what was once an awful time to be an African American. It begins with a brief section of what was the end of the story, and the flash-forward quickly ends after the first chapter. Chapter 2 picks up at the story's true beginning.

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston tells the story of Janie and her journey to find herself. She went through a lot meeting different people specifically men to help her understand what she really wanted in her future. Throughout her life, Janie was on a mission to chase her dreams and find her happiness by experiencing new horizons, which suggest that in order to be happy one has to push out of the comfort zone.

Women have lived as inferior beings to men throughout most of history and, consequently, have always had to fight for equal treatment in the world. Whether it was through art, literature, or protest, women have stood up against the oppression and patriarchy they had been subjected to. In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, the main character Janie has had to fight for a voice in her own right. After being silenced during her first two marriages, Janie had to wait several years before being treated as a normal human being. Janie’s three marriages represent three different stages in her life, the end of each being more liberating than the previous. By the end of the novel and the end of her life, Janie proves that women do not need to live in the shadow of any man, no matter how controlling or superior he may believe he is.

In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston a young woman named Janie Crawford goes on a quest to find her inner-self. Her quest leads her to three marriages, death, and poverty. Janie’s quest has a huge impact on shaping her loss of power. Zora Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God use of imagery also plays a role in Janie’s sense power with the use of eroticized nature.

Their Eyes Were Watching God is a southern love story portrayed by a charming women who refused to live her life in fear, bitterness, and sorrow. Zora Neale Hurston explains how difficult it was to live during the early 1900’s, especially for a fair-skinned individual, like Janie CrawFord. The story unravels in West Florida and explains how Janie Crawford evolved throughout her three marriages. This piece of African American literature highlights the daily struggles of poverty and purpose. The genre of this thrilling and meaningful novel is fiction.

The novel ‘Their Eyes were watching God’ was written by African writer Zora Neale Hurston. The novel plays a significant role in underlining the role played by women and their subsequent transformation from being voiceless yet vibrant in their teenage years into being women who have the hands-on their lips about taking charge of their lives. The novel revolves around the main character Janie Crawford’s activities. The novel ‘Their eyes were watching God’ indicates their initial perception of Janie with regards to life as she increasingly expected more out of life even though she realizes that it is rather different with the truth. Jannie realizes that an individual has to learn about life on their own (Hurston, 1937). The title of the novel is attributable to the fact that Janie likens the prospect of learning about life based on an individual’s thoughts on going to God where people will take an individualistic perspective. The novel underlines Janie’s road to maturity through a series of marriages. Also, nature plays a significant role in triggering her desire of finding and experiencing true love.

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, an African woman who was born in Notasulga, Alabama in 1891. According to Anna Lillios, author of “Hurston’s Life” Hurston frequently changed her birth year to 1901, 1903 and 1910, because she looked younger than her actual age, so she would take that as an advantage (Lillios). Hurston incorporated this quality into her character Janie Crawford in Their Eyes Were Watching God. Janie also an African woman, who appeared to look younger than her actual age. Hurston stated in Dust Tracks on a Road, she loved to write about nature: “It grew upon [her] that [she] ought to walk out to the horizon and see what the end of the world was like” (qtd. in Lillios). In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie felt a deep connection with nature, for example, a pear tree that awakens her sexual desires. Janie talked about a horizon in which she wants to follow a dream. Lillios explained that in Jacksonville, Hurston learned that she was “a little colored girl” (Lillios) and just like Janie learned that she was the colored girl in her community, she was different from them not just in a social level. In “Zora Neale Hurston” it explains that Hurston had two marriages before she met the man, who she loved named Percy Punter. She met him at the age of forty-four when he was only twenty-three years old (“Zora”). Hurston wrote her story through the eyes of Janie, who also met Tea Cake who she truly loved around the same age as Hurston and Punter.

Their Eyes Were Watching God is a twentieth-century classic novel by Zora Hurston where she comments on the journey of African American women in a white patriarchal society. The protagonist of the novel, Janie, a young lady who was raised by her grandmother in a white house where she was able to distinguish the differences amongst humans. At a certain point, the entire physiological development of Janie’s perception towards life changes impacting the way she begins to approach society.