Eye

- Author and Background Zora Neale Hurston was a key American writer during the mid-1900s. Although she wrote many popular novels, short stories, and plays, Hurston is well known for her 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God (TEWWG). Hurston was born in Notasulga, Alabama but grew up in Eatonville, Florida. Her father was a preacher, while her mother was a teacher. Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia states Eatonville was a, “…pleasant all-black town… (Columbia 1)” and claims that Hurston had a…

dream was dead, so she became a woman.”(25) Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God took place in Florida during the early 1900s. In the novel, Hurston told of a woman named Janie Crawford and her romantic endeavors throughout her life, as well as her struggles with forces she cannot control. Janie constantly borders on the line of happiness until it is taken away time and time again in the blink of an eye. Janie Crawford is a character full of romance and dreams. Her…

In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, Janie Mae Crawford is a woman who is trying to find true love, nevertheless she is having difficulty finding her own identity. It takes her three marriages to find her identity and true love. Each marriage was a part of Janie’s journey to define herself. Janie realizes that she has developed into a strong woman, after each marriage helped shape her into the woman she hoped to be. All Janie wants is to find inner peace with herself and…

In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, the main character, Janie, emerges with a sense of independence, spiritual enlightenment, and a sense of her own identity. The book is not only a search for a partner, but a search for her own identity and independence; developing along the way by her use of her own voice and language. A huge part in her quest for independence were her three husbands in the novel- Logan Killicks, Jody Starks, and Tea Cake. They all taught her that…

Gender in the Bigger Picture As a commentary on the social system of the late 1930’s, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston truly reflects the norms of the time period in an accurate manner. Hurston was heavily impacted by the traditions and folklores of the African American culture, which are reflected within the ideals of the novel. From the desire to create an individual culture to the relentless search for love, Hurston includes elements that she discovered as she travelled and…

Their eyes were watching god is both a male dominant and feminist’s novel. Zora Neale Houston was smart for allowing Oprah Winfrey to be a part of the novel being that she inspires women all over the nation to have a voice etc. The eyes were watching god is a story about how Janie became independent despite all the limitations society tries to urge on her. In the story Janie marries three times in expectation to find love and herself as a women. Janie’s grandmother raised her the best…

Zora Neale Hurston’s acclaimed novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, has been analyzed, critiqued, and debated over for many years. The work, on a simple reading, is purely a story of a female African American’s journey and complex love life in early twentieth century America. The novel is written using the author’s own ideas and experiences: the emotions in the novel were based on the emotions Hurston felt in her own affair with a much younger man (Dubek 598). Throughout the book, the main…

Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God details the life story of Janie Crawford, a woman of mixed African American and white lineage in the early 20th century Florida. Raised by her former slave grandmother, Janie struggles to find true love and independence as she progresses through her life. After multiple marriages and relationships, Janie changes over the course of the novel from romantic and disillusioned to independent, thus illustrating the novel’s theme of trying to find…

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is an inspirational novel. The protagonist, Janie, embarks on a journey of self discovery, through heartbreak, domestic abuse, and happiness, she learns that she is free to make her own choices and live life her own way. One of the biggest themes in the novel is love. From the very beginning Janie is searching for love and what it means. Throughout Janie’s different marriages, she develops her own idea of what love is, which she eventually…

Marriage is not what most people imagine, love is not perfect and neither is a relationship. In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston portrays the the story of a young African-American girl named Janie who is married off to someone she does not love. Yearning for true feeling, Janie runs away and remarries to a promising rich man, only to discover that there is once again a lack of love. After almost twenty years of enduring, Janie’s second husband passes away, and by…