In Hurston’s book “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, the tone shows deep appreciation and celebration of the affluence of African-American culture. Many scenes dwell on colorful stories and playful conversations among neighbors in black communities. More than anything, Hurston’s text is compassionate toward all of its characters. Although Janie -the main character-condemns some characters for their unforgivable sins, the text takes the time to explain the thoughts and emotions of every major character giving readers the context necessary to understand why each character acts. Readers can see the often-logical, and emotional motivations for each character’s…
Studying Janie Crawford Their Eyes Were Watching God is the compelling tale of Janie Crawford, a remarkably unique woman for her time. Intelligent and strong, Janie refuses to fall into societal traps set for young women regarding marriage, duty, and contentment. In appearance, she is described as extraordinarily beautiful, with long hair in braids and an attractive figure, and has no problem catching the attention of men. Janie is habitually adventurous and curious, and not pleased by doing the same thing for too long.…
In Zora Neal Hurston’s, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie went through a series of metaphorical stages that transformed the way she viewed life; her journey towards independence required her to depart from Logan, battle for her voice with Jody, and finally to achieve individuality with Teacake. Throughout Janie and Jody’s relationship, Janie was constantly silenced by Jody’s dominating personality. Jody treats Janie as if she were an animal that has no mind. For example, Jody silenced Janie by saying “Thank yuh fuh yo’ compliments, but mah wife don’t know nothin’ ‘bout no speech-makin’.…
In this novel, Their eyes were watching God, by Zora Neil Hurston, they're were many examples of love and passion. Their were three love interest in this novel who mainly were there to support Janie. Those of which were Tea Cake, Logan, and Joe. There was one love interest that stood out the most in this novel. In Their eyes were watching God, Tea Cake's love interest in Janie is visualized several times throughout this story.…
There are a quite a few short stories, novels,and poetry that uses things to represent something else. This is also known as symbolism. Stories and novels such as “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston, “The Most dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, and “ The Giver” by Lois Lowry. These novels consist a great deal of symbols. Also, these symbols may have more than one meaning to them.…
In almost every book written, there has always been someone searching for something Whether it be a lost object, a lost person, or something else that is important to them, it always drives them into action and sends them off on a quest. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, the thing that drives Janie into action is her search for her true self. Ever since that fateful afternoon underneath the pear tree, Janie searched for herself and it has driven her into different situations where each moment has brought her closer to her true form in one way or another. On Janie’s way to find her true self, Janie marries three people: Logan Killicks, Joe Starks, and Vergible Woods, also known as Tea Cake. These three men play a vital role in Janie’s life and…
Their Eyes Were Watching God and The Namesake - Compare and Contrast Essay Experiences and overcoming conflicts can either help one achieve self realization or hinder their view of himself. In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God and Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake, both Janie and Gogol Ganguli struggle to find their true identity due to a lack of support from their relationships, societal discrimination and negative experiences. Ultimately, both Janie and Gogol are able to overcome these obstacles through determination which helps them achieve self-realization.…
How one is initially presented causes a lasting impression that alters how ones actions will be interpreted from then on. The characters in Zora Neale Hurston’s, Their Eyes Were Watching God, speak an English Vernacular that is phonetically presented to the audience throughout the novel. The distinct spelling and grammatical changes made to the English language by Hurston creates a false sense of southern authenticity and preserves the broken English almost exclusively for the black characters. Antiquated and inappropriate, Hurston’s strong use of the dialect completely obscures what she is attempting to convey to her readers. The superficial reality portrayed throughout the novel through the use of stereotypically placed diction hinders the…
The novel I chose is Their Eyes Were Watching God. In this novel, Janie, the main character, conforms her external appearance while she questions internally. Janie marries a man named Logan Killicks because her grandmother believes that she will be secure with him. Logan takes away her sense of feminism when he expects her to do a man's work. Things change when Janie stumbles upon Joe Starks, she leaves Logan runs off with him hoping for a new life.…
From the book written by author Neale Hurston, “Their eyes were watching God”, the author numerous times have used a main character named Janie to illustrate a universal message to readers of what it would take to be an independent person. And throughout the novel readers begin to notice how Janie as a person growing up have always questioned her identity alongside with society's expedition of how a woman should behave. And by living up to her mother's expectations, Janie has lost her voice and have forgotten about what it would take to be individually free which predominantly suggest that by not breaking the traditional values of society, independence may never be achieved. By the time Janie was married she had already lost her voice. And…
Journeying Towards Redemption Redemption can be the lighthouse in the ocean of darkness that leads one to safety and happiness. When one redeems him or herself, it is as if his or her conscience has been cleared and a weight has been lifted off his or her shoulders. Achieving redemption is generally not executed easily nor quickly; one must work in order to complete the journey towards redemption. SET UP: A character’s journey as he or she seeks redemption is displayed by the author’s use of rhetorical devices.…
Society has the tendency to worship famous or well achieved people, but do those celebrities really deserve to get that credit? Even above God? The novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, is set in a post slavery time before the Great Depression. The central character, Janie Crawford, grew up in Florida as a member of the low class, because she and her family are black. Her only family is her nanny who encourages her to get married and have a life she believes Janie deserves, but her first marriage does not go well and she runs away.…
In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie, the protagonist, struggles between two identities, her exterior life, a life drawn from the white world foisted upon her, and her interior life, a more vigorous free black woman, this being the one she tries to forge for herself throughout the novel. The relationship that Janie has with her Nanny ultimately set’s the stage for the conflict regarding her interior and exterior life. In addition to Nanny, her first two husbands Logan and Joe act as the sole cause that separates Janie’s interior and exterior lives while Janie’s third and final husband, Tea Cake, is what causes her to begin the reconciliation of the conflict regarding these two lives. As the novel begins we come…
In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, we follow our protagonist, Janie Crawford, through a journey of self-discovery. We watch Janie from when she was a child to her adulthood, slowly seeing her ideas change while other dreams of hers unfortunately die. This is illustrated by the quote: “She knew that marriage did not make love. Janie’s first dream was dead, so she became a woman.” This realization made by Janie supports one of the biggest themes in this novel, which is that innocence and womanhood can’t exist at the same time.…
In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, a Marxist view is displayed in the setting of the twentieth century. During this period of time, the blacks were finally receiving some freedom from the whites, but there was still segregation between the two colors. There were also distinctions in class. Janie is an African American that has fairly white skin, and she has three marriages, each in different classes. Throughout the novel, she experiences different classes and social relations.…