Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston: An Analysis

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

It is strange that two of the most prominent artists of the Harlem Renaissance could ever disagree as much as or be as different as Zora Neale Hurston and Richard Wright. Despite the fact that they are the same color and lived during the same time period, they do not have much else in common. On the one hand is Hurston, a female writer who indulges in black art and culture and creates subtle messages throughout her most famous novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. On the other hand is Wright, who is a male writer who demonstrates that whites do not like black people, nor will they ever except for when they are in the condition “…America likes to see the Negro live: between laughter and tears.” Hurston was also a less political writer than

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.

“Two things everybody's got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin' fuh theyselves.” (Hurston 226) The book Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is told from Janie’s point of view and she is telling her story to her friend Pheoby. She grows throughout three marriages and the hardships she faces. She learns what she wants from life and how to become an independent individual. Throughout the story of Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie is on a quest for self-fulfillment and individuality. This is shown through the changes she endures in her relationships and can cause the readers to take control of their own lives.

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.

In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their eyes were watching God the main character Janie is on a quest for self-fulfillment. Of Janie’s three marriages, Logan and Joe provide her with a sense of security and status. However, only her union with Teacake flourishes into true love.

     “’…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.

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

In the novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neal Hurston is about a young woman named Janie Crawford who goes on a journey of self discovery to find her independence. The book touches on many themes like gender roles, relations, independence and racism however racism isn’t mainly focused upon in the book which some writers felt should have been. Some felt that the representation of black characters should have been better role models. Zora Hurston’s novel wasn’t like other black literature. The challenges of what black writers had to face in representing black culture and history were manly focuses on racism and the representation of black culture and history however Zora Hurston novel was about independence and turned away from the stereotypical structure of black literature; focusing more on black women has to deal with in a patriarchy structure. Which can be shown by Janie’s relationships with her grandmother, Logan Killlicks, Jody Stark , and Tea Cake. In the world she was living in we learned how much her world was dominated by male oppression and so Janie tries to separate herself from that.

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.

Janie's flashback ends, and the novel returns to Janie's conversation with Pheoby that began in Chapter 1. It is almost as if Janie's life story could serve as a lesson both to her dear friend, Pheoby and to the readers of the novel. In her journey through life, Janie has learned two important lessons: People must "go tuh God," and they must "find out about livin' fuh theyselves." Although Janie has lost Tea Cake she remembers the good times with him. Even kept seeds he was planning to plant that she will put in her garden as a reminder of him. At the end of the book, it is also shown that being by yourself is okay that you can be strong on your own. Zora Neale Hurston shows us in the resolution of the plot that even though women are looked

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.

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,

In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston shows that women can only gain power through powerful men. There are many instances in the novel where women are place into a position of domesticity and sexual objection by their husbands. These men impose their will on their wives by either limiting their actions or insulting their sexuality and appearance in the case of Janie and Logan. As a result, these women are looked down upon when they demonstrate traditional male characteristics such as ambition and authority and are deemed unattractive or too masculine by society. On the other hand, society expects men to always be in a position of dominance. In the novel, when Janie and Joe’s relationship start to take more violent route, Joe begins

The Harlem Renaissance is an extraordinary cultural movement that began in the 20’s. This historical movement brought tons of excitement, a new found freedom, as well as a voice to African Americans who had been forced to be silent and oppressed for an extremely long period of time. Because of this many African Americans gained the privilege of producing best selling novels. One in particular by Zora Neale Hurston entitled” Their Eyes We’re Watching God” showcase the American dream of an African American woman named Janie Crawford.