Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God: Criticism

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

Janie's marriage to Logan Killicks was the first stage in her growth as a woman. She hoped that her obligatory marriage with Logan would

     Janie's first marriage is to Logan Killicks. Logan enters the marriage with a large portion of land. However, Janie enters the marriage with practically nothing. This ends up becoming a relationship based on inequality because Logan starts to use

Zora Neal Hurston was criticized by other African American writers for her use of dialect and folk speech. Richard Wright was one of her harshest critics and likened Hurston’s technique “to that of a minstrel show designed to appease a white audience” (www.pbs.org).Given the time frame, the Harlem Renaissance, it is understandable that Zora Neale Hurston may be criticized. The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement which redefined how America, and the world, viewed African Americans, so her folk speech could be seen as perpetuating main stream society’s view of African Americans as ignorant and incapable of speaking in complete sentences. However, others, such as philosopher and critic Alain Locke, praised her. He considered Hurston’s “gift for poetic phrase and rare dialect, a welcome replacement for so much faulty local color fiction about Negroes” (www.pbs.org).

Janie had three different marriages with three different men: Logan Killicks, Jody Starks, and Tea Cake. These three marriages were very different from each other, each spouse having a different personality. Janie learns from each relationship and she develops her sense of independance.

Janie’s first husband, Logan Killicks, is a wealthy old man. In the beginning of their marriage, he treated her alright, but then he called her spoiled and expected her to work like a slave in the fields. Janie’s second husband, Joe Starks, started out poor and treated Janie with

Hurston intended to “show the beauty and wealth of genuine Negro material” as a response to the stereotyping of black people in literature (Draper 1068-1069). Sykes is shown as a successful independent black man which was something not seen often in Hurston’s time. Her material mainly focused on black and black relations over black and white relations. By focusing on the successful side of black life that she grew up with, Hurston was able to show black youth a potential future for themselves that they may not have thought possible with their current situation. Condemning those who oppressed African Americans and defying traditional norms was Hurston’s way of disrupting the social climate of the time (Champion). In her works, she was able to shine a light on societal problems that she believed needed fixing. Literature was the only way to fight because as a black woman she had no other ways to fight without incarceration. Hurston intended to present the side of black people that many white people did not see, her writings were”important because they…[presented] characters who…[were] undeniably and realistically human” (Draper 1068). Hurston had to provide realistic black characters in a time that black people were still seen as worthless by many. She wanted people to understand that white people and black people were just people. Hurston wrote good characters, not good people, to show that all races of people had bad eggs. The characters in “Sweat” were very realistic, whether they be gossiping on the porch or abusing their wife, they are acting as real people do. They may not be doing things that are morally right, i.e. being abusive, but that is a fault in humanity that all races are guilty of. Hurston had seen many different types of people throughout her life and was able to express these different personalities with expertise. Knowing how to write a character is just as important as

Throughout her marriages Janie has grown and become a mature woman. When she married Logan Killicks she was a young girl with no idea of the harsh world. She learned that she does not want to be with Logan. “Ah wants to want him sometimes” (Hurston; 3, 26). He does not treat her like wife should be treated, he treats her like a worker. She realizes that this horrible marriage to Logan is not what she dreamed about under the pear tree. When Janie meets Joe Starks he speaks to her in rhymes and promises her the world. Her dreams of a beautiful marriage are alive once again. Joe and Janie move to Eatonville, Florida, an all-black town where Joe becomes mayor. As time progresses and Joe gains more power and respect Janie feels lonely. Joe is so focused with his position that he unknowingly pushes Janie into loneliness and sadness. Joe had taken all the fun and life

Janie, finds in the end, that love is undeniable. It is a different experience for each person you spend your time with. Janie finds different kinds of “love” with each of her husbands. Her marriage to Logan makes her realize that marriage does not bring love.

In Janie’s second marriage, she is forced to work for her husband in his store. The suppression of Janie in this relationship is more intense than in her previous marriage.

Although she hails from a seemingly completely disconnected culture, Janie experiences in her Southern life stifling, patriarchal pressures similar to those which Edna felt some thirty years earlier in Victorian-era New Orleans. While still in her teenage years, Janie is forced into a loveless marriage in the name of protecting her in ways she would not be able to independently. Like Edna who stays with Mr. Pontellier despite her hesitations about their relationship and her insincere reasons for marrying him, Janie lingers with her husband Logan for over a year trying to find the love she senses is missing. " 'You told me Ah mus gointer love him,'" Janie laments to her grandmother, "'and Ah don't'" (Hurston 23).

Janie is married to two men, before she finds Tea Cake, that both suppress her individuality in their own ways. Janie's first husband, Logan Killicks, suppresses her by keeping her in a marriage that she can't fully, or at all, love the man she's married to. "Cause you told me Ah wuz gointer love him, and, and Ah don’t. Maybe if somebody was to tell me how, Ah could do it." Janie says she needs to be told how to feel about Logan in order for her to be able to love feel anything towards him at all. Janie is a mixture of the people around her because they're telling her to live and how to think. Janie can't bring herself to figure out how to do these things on her own so she ends up looking for the answers in the man she married, her grandmother, and her society. Joe Starks, Janie's second husband, keeps her from showing who she really wants to be by

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

Janie’s relationship with her second husband, Joe Starks, is perhaps the most damaging. In the beginning of their marriage, Janie is proud and admiring of the successful, strong man she marries and runs off with. At first, it seems as though Janie has executed a successful breakaway from her unfulfilling life with Logan Killicks, and transitioned to an exciting, happy life with Joe Starks. Unfortunately, Janie and Joe’s marriage retracts from the infatuated love it once was, into a

Hurston prides herself on who she is because of her background. Her identity of being a black woman in a world