Their Eyes Were Watching God

Topic 2: Compare/contrast Janie in Hurston 's Their Eyes Were Watching God & Edna in Chopin 's The Awakening in terms of conformity within a male-dominated society. (four page minimum)

Love can be perceived as the feeling one feels under the sweetness of a blossoming pear tree, but through an unexpected path, such loving feelings are demolished.When an individual wants the perfect relationship such desires are forsaken by their way of life.Many individuals want to reach the "Horizon" where is not completely seen by the human eye but exists.In the novel "Their eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston", protagonist Janie Crawford seeks for that "horizon" through her relationship with logan, Joe and tea cake.Just like the "horizon" love wasn 't attained during her relationship with logan and joe but that love existed in her relationship with Tea cake.

The novel Their Eyes Were Watching God follows the life of a beautiful female named Janie Crawford. Throughout the story, Janie demonstrates the struggle to escape being shaped into becoming a submissive woman. She encounters three men who each attempt to make her a submissive wife. In each of her relationships with these men, she is either obliged or pressured to follow their orders. Although Janie struggles to hold on to her independence, she manages to persevere every time. Janie is a strong independent woman who does not allow herself to be suppressed.

In Zora Neale Hurston’s romantic novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, the heroine Janie, a beautiful mixed white and black woman, is on a journey to find someone who will make her feel love to find her own identity and freedom, away from her spouses. Janie’s marriages and quest for love impede her individual search for freedom, but in doing this she has discovered what exactly she wants for herself. Janie’s search for her identity and freedom is very much evident. Being abused and controlled during her marriages has made it clear how she wants to be treated and how she wants to live her life; as an individual who does not have to listen to anyone. The story opens with Janie’s return to town. Janie tells Phoebe Watson the story of her

“Difficult times often bring out the best in people.”by Bernie Sanders.”Beasts Of the Southern Wild” is a film directed by Benh Zeitlin and released in June 27,2012.The book “Their Eyes Were Watching God” was written by Zora Neale Hurston and was published in September 18,1937.The film “Beasts of the Southern Wild” and the novel “Their eyes were watching god” have some critical similarities.These include the characteristics of the protagonists,each protagonist’s relationship to nature, the fate of each protagonist’s mother,and the climax of a destructive storm.

Zora Neale Hurston had an intriguing life, from surviving a hurricane in the Bahamas to having an affair with a man twenty years her junior. She used these experiences to write a bildungsroman novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, about the colorful life of Janie Mae Crawford. Though the book is guised as a quest for love, the dialogues between the characters demonstrate that it is actually about Janie’s journey to learn how to not adhere to societal expectation.

In Catholic doctrine, the seven cardinal sins are the basis from which all the “sins” of humanity stem. In this system, any moral infraction a person may commit would be categorized under one of these seven sins (also known colloquially as the “seven deadly sins”). This system has been widely adapted throughout culture over the centuries, and is a common tool utilized to examine the actions of humans. In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, the main character, Janie, enters into three marriages, two of which fail based on the failings of her husbands, and the third of which succeeds in spite of the failings of her husband. Each of these husbands, in fact, displays traits which fall under the cardinal sins, and the sin of pride in particular; even the third husband, Tea Cake, displays the very same sin, leading to the downfall of their marriage.

Janie’s three marriages were all different for the most part, though they each had their ups and downs. Her marriage with Logan Killicks was the worst of the three. The only upside to this marriage was that she did have the protection and security her grandmother wanted, but Logan was not willing to make compromises like, “And ‘tain’t nothing’ in de way of him washin’ his feet every evenin’ before he comes tuh bed. ‘Tain’t nothing’ tuh hinder him ‘cause Ah places de water for him.” (Hurston 24) which shows that he wasn’t even willing to wash his feet so Janie wouldn’t have to smell his feet. Logan also expected Janie to help him with everything he was supposed to do and still make dinner for him. Despite all that Janie still wanted to love him but she just couldn’t do it. Janie’s marriage to Joe was better than Logan’s but was still really bad. Joe provided Janie with anything and everything she needed, but not what she wanted. Their relationship was about Joe, and what Joe wanted. Joe also thought he was superior to Janie. “Ah knows uh few things, and womenfolks thinks sometimes too!” “Aw naw they don’t.

In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, she sets the protagonist, Janie Mae Crawford as a woman who wants to find true love and who is struggling to find her identity. To find her identity and true love it takes her three marriages to go through. While being married to three different men who each have different philosophies, Janie comes to understand that she is developed into a strong woman. Hurston makes each idea through each man’s view of Janie, and their relationship with the society. The lifestyle with little hope of or reason to hope for improvement. He holds a sizeable amount of land, but the couple's life involves little interaction with anyone else.

In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, the protagonist, Janie, endures two marriages before finding true love. In each of Janie’s marriages, a particular article of clothing is used to symbolically reflect, not only her attitude at different phases in her life, but how she is treated in each relationship.

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is about a young woman that is lost in her own world. She longs to be a part of something and to have “a great journey to the horizons in search of people” (85). Janie Crawford’s journey to the horizon is told as a story to her best friend Phoebe. She experiences three marriages and three communities that “represent increasingly wide circles of experience and opportunities for expression of personal choice” (Crabtree). Their Eyes Were Watching God is an important fiction piece that explores relations throughout black communities and families. It also examines different issues such as, gender and class and these issues bring forth the theme of voice. In Janie’s attempt to find herself, she

In both Zora Neale Hurston’s short story “Sweat” and novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, the focus is on women who want better lives but face difficult struggles before gaining them. The difficulties involving men which Janie and Delia incur result from or are exacerbated by the intersection of their class, race, and gender, which restrict each woman for a large part of her life from gaining her independence.

I read Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, copyright in 1937 and has a total of 193 pages.

Clay Tucker 10th Grade English Their Eyes Were Watching God Final Essay Due Date: Thursday, December 10th Have Faith in God #Believe The title of Their Eyes Were Watching God is very significant to the story because it gives the reader a clue about Janie’s life. The title suggests that Janie is a person who has some tough experiences in life and has her eyes watching God looking for answers to her problems.

“A life lived for love is a productive and fruitful one, and a life lived without knowing love leads to exhaustion and destruction. ”(True Love 312). In the two stories “Yellow Women” and “Their eyes were watching God”, love plays a huge role in both the poem and story. Finding or leaving love behind are challenges that both characters faces.