Introduction
In her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, author Zora Neale Hurston incorporates the figurative presence of a horizon in her framing of the plot’s beginning in end, as well as the personal development that protagonist Janie Mae Crawford experiences in the form of a journey of self-realization. The concept of a horizon is critical to the work in two aspects. First, it serves as a metaphor to exemplify the distance separating Janie from the genuine happiness she seeks, which Hurston presents at the beginning of the text as a generalization and reiterated in the final lines to specifically represent the apex of Janie’s own journey. The second function of the concept is in the context of the term “widening one’s horizons,” in that …show more content…
Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see,” (Hurston, 2006, p. 193). The narration describes with rather direct language that Janie successfully “pulled in her horizon,” suggesting that instead of striving to reach the horizon—which as mentioned previously would, in theory, not be possible—she took the initiative to bring her dreams towards her through the means of self-realization and newfound perspective acquired throughout the plot. Janie experienced the sentiments of true love, witnessed the development of a localized society, and witnessed how exercising control over her own voice was one of her greatest strengths; through the conflict Janie confronts in her lifetime, Hurston reinforces the dynamic nature of Janie’s character in that she was not willing to exercise passivity in the general context of her life experiences and decisions. Not only does this phrase suggest Janie’s independence in bringing the wish of self-realization to fruition, but it bears meaning in that it exemplifies a “gesture of total recuperation and piece…as though self-division could be healed over at last,” (Bloom, 2005, p. 164). For her to achieve this state, she faced the tragic loss of Tea Cake which further helped her to define her own existence and values, ultimately culminating in her appreciation for …show more content…
The vision Janie experiences under the pear tree in the novel’s second chapter to “utilize herself all over” is a desire that ultimately she fulfills, in which she successfully actualizes all imagined aspects of self from prior and rejects the tumultuous constrictions of the surrounding society that threats dominance over her existence—grasping the horizon described as “where everything becomes inextricably intermingled and one may roam…free of imprisoning demarcations,” (Jennings, 2013, p. 43). Much like how the pear invigorates her cognizant understanding of sexuality, Janie herself offers an invitation to her soul at the novel’s conclusion. This thematic parallel serves to reinforce how Hurston equates the mystery of life initiated by the presence of the pear tree to the mystery of life in which Janie exists intermingled within the great fish-net that is her horizon (Plant, 2010, p.
In her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, author Zora Neale Hurston incorporates the figurative presence of a horizon in her framing of the plot’s beginning in end, as well as the personal development that protagonist Janie Mae Crawford experiences in the form of a journey of self-realization. The concept of a horizon is critical to the work in two aspects. First, it serves as a metaphor to exemplify the distance separating Janie from the genuine happiness she seeks, which Hurston presents at the beginning of the text as a generalization and reiterated in the final lines to specifically represent the apex of Janie’s own journey. The second function of the concept is in the context of the term “widening one’s horizons,” in that …show more content…
Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see,” (Hurston, 2006, p. 193). The narration describes with rather direct language that Janie successfully “pulled in her horizon,” suggesting that instead of striving to reach the horizon—which as mentioned previously would, in theory, not be possible—she took the initiative to bring her dreams towards her through the means of self-realization and newfound perspective acquired throughout the plot. Janie experienced the sentiments of true love, witnessed the development of a localized society, and witnessed how exercising control over her own voice was one of her greatest strengths; through the conflict Janie confronts in her lifetime, Hurston reinforces the dynamic nature of Janie’s character in that she was not willing to exercise passivity in the general context of her life experiences and decisions. Not only does this phrase suggest Janie’s independence in bringing the wish of self-realization to fruition, but it bears meaning in that it exemplifies a “gesture of total recuperation and piece…as though self-division could be healed over at last,” (Bloom, 2005, p. 164). For her to achieve this state, she faced the tragic loss of Tea Cake which further helped her to define her own existence and values, ultimately culminating in her appreciation for …show more content…
The vision Janie experiences under the pear tree in the novel’s second chapter to “utilize herself all over” is a desire that ultimately she fulfills, in which she successfully actualizes all imagined aspects of self from prior and rejects the tumultuous constrictions of the surrounding society that threats dominance over her existence—grasping the horizon described as “where everything becomes inextricably intermingled and one may roam…free of imprisoning demarcations,” (Jennings, 2013, p. 43). Much like how the pear invigorates her cognizant understanding of sexuality, Janie herself offers an invitation to her soul at the novel’s conclusion. This thematic parallel serves to reinforce how Hurston equates the mystery of life initiated by the presence of the pear tree to the mystery of life in which Janie exists intermingled within the great fish-net that is her horizon (Plant, 2010, p.