In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the setting has a huge impact on both the storyline and characters. Janie spends her life in both rural and urban parts of the state of Florida. The urban place she lived in is called Eatonville, and the rural place is called “The Muck.” One of the settings, Eatonville is the center of vice and corruption. It represents Janie’s confinement and sadness while she lived with her second husband, Jody Starks. Eatonville is so small that everyone would gossip about one other. The second setting, the Everglades, is the place of freedom and love for Janie. Both settings influence Janie’s life while she lives there.
Eatonville seems to represent Nanny’s dream life for Janie. She imposes her views on Janie and marries her off to a wealthy man. Nanny wants Janie to be secure and have little worries about money. Jody Starks, the mayor of Eatonville and second husband of Janie, gives Janie everything she needs except the love she desires. Cities can also represent walls; this represents Janie’s confinement, by Jody, both physically and metaphorically. Eatonville is also a very small town. Many of the townspeople gossip about Janie. When Janie arrives back to Eatonville; the porch-sitters say, “What she doin coming back in dem overalls? Can’t she find no dress to put on?...What he …show more content…
By 1914, approximately thirty or so towns were in existence. Eatonville, Florida, the town where Zora Neale Hurston grew up and the setting for much of Their Eyes Were Watching God, is the first such town to be incorporated and to win the right of self-governance. After the Civil War, former slaves formed a number of towns all over the South in an effort to escape the segregation and discrimination they experienced among whites (Their Eyes). Jody Starks founded Eatonville around this time for the same
Eatonville seems to represent Nanny’s dream life for Janie. She imposes her views on Janie and marries her off to a wealthy man. Nanny wants Janie to be secure and have little worries about money. Jody Starks, the mayor of Eatonville and second husband of Janie, gives Janie everything she needs except the love she desires. Cities can also represent walls; this represents Janie’s confinement, by Jody, both physically and metaphorically. Eatonville is also a very small town. Many of the townspeople gossip about Janie. When Janie arrives back to Eatonville; the porch-sitters say, “What she doin coming back in dem overalls? Can’t she find no dress to put on?...What he …show more content…
By 1914, approximately thirty or so towns were in existence. Eatonville, Florida, the town where Zora Neale Hurston grew up and the setting for much of Their Eyes Were Watching God, is the first such town to be incorporated and to win the right of self-governance. After the Civil War, former slaves formed a number of towns all over the South in an effort to escape the segregation and discrimination they experienced among whites (Their Eyes). Jody Starks founded Eatonville around this time for the same