Their Eyes Were Watching God Essay

In stories of self-actualization there is most often an incident that is written off as unimportant, and in Zora Neale Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God” this trend continues. Janie’s relationship with Vergible “Tea Cake” Woods is generally regarded as the point where Janie discovers who she is as an individual, while her relationship with Joe Starks (Jody) is often overlooked. What seems to be overlooked is the fact that because of her relationship with Jody, Janie discovers what she…

Women as a whole have struggled to be viewed as the equal to men. In Their Eyes were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston narrates the life of a middle aged black woman, Janie, who deals with the discrimination of being a woman during this time. Throughout the novel, Janie marries three men with a reoccurring theme in each relationship: superiority of the men. The abusive and male-superior relationships Janie takes part in with Logan, Joe, and Tea Cake aid in building Janie’s independence and…

The book I read was Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.This book is about a feminist girl who stands up for her rights and doesn't let anyone tell her what to do. Janie grew up with white people she didn't know she wasn't white until she saw a photo of herself and saw that everyone around her was white except her. She also had a problem with Logan because Logan would always want to take her voice away and not let her speak. Some important characters were Janie ( the main…

Janie returns to Eatonville and the townspeople what to know where she has been. She is now in her 40s, and she tells her story to her friend Pheoby Watson. Nanny, Janie’s grandmother, marries her to an older rich man named Logan Killicks, but she’s not in love him as he tries to make her work. During this marriage, Janie meets and runs off with an easygoing man named Joe Starks who takes her to a new, barely developed, African American town called Eatonville. While there, Joe Starks buys land…

it. “When you pull down yo’ britches, you look lak de change uh life.” (Hurston 96) Janie humiliated Joe in the store and Joe's reputation in the town was diminished. He lashes out and hits Janie and has her leave the store. After this moment, there were almost no words said between them, except when Joe lay on his deathbed. Janie starts with an apology while Joe still blames her for how their marriage ended up. As Joe draws his next breath, she assures him that she did not abandon Logan to live…

had made for her.The next morning when Logan commands Janie to move some manure around Janie runs out the front door and flings her apron in a shrub and the feeling of freedom floods her spirit. She runs down the road leaving her past behind and watching her future pack up the buggy expecting her in fine clothing and a smiling…

concentrates attention on eyes, and Lawrence’s eyes immediately held me. They were startlingly blue, even by artificial light, and never met the eyes of the person he addressed, but flickered up and down as though making an inventory of clothes and limbs.” (242) The flirtatious, almost whispery flavor of “Lawrence’s eyes immediately held me” is absolutely unique throughout his entire memoir. Graves never gives notice to any other pair of eyes, and for him to admit that eyes had a hold over him…

doll-baby lak you is made to sit on de front porch and rock and fan yo`self and eat p`taters dat other folks plant just special for you” (Their Eyes Were Watching God: 29). Janie is attracted to the promise of an easy life, without a need to work. As time passes by, it is clear that she is treated by her husband as a sort of a trophy (Their Eyes Were Watching God: 55). Joe gradually tries to make her stay at home and not to talk with her neighbours and friends.…

African American existentialism and cultural autonomy in a nation that had denied their independence for centuries. In her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, novelist Zora Neale Hurston illuminates the unique experience of a black woman’s search for meaning in both the African American and feminist rights movements of the mid 20th century . Their Eyes Were Watching God was published in 1937 after the height of the Harlem Renaissance. Hurston was an African American female writer known for…

The community is a unifying element in “Their Eyes Were Watching God”. It is a narrative detail that creates the story and plays a big role in what makes the novel so great. In this novel, community is a key detail and defines the direction of the story. For example, the novel states, “It was a weapon against her strength and if it turned out of no significance, still it was hope that she might fall to their level someday.” (Their Eyes Were Watching God, page 2, paragraph 3). Janie’s community…