In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston uses vivid imagery and metaphors paired with a unique dialect in order to paint a colorful picture of black life in West Florida during the 1930s. The more “literate” language of the narrator paired with the “uneducated” way of speaking in the dialogue creates a…
Hurston's novel “Their eyes were watching God” is not just a novel about relationships and finding true love,but a story about finding one's own identity and living for yourself.Janie’s sense of identity,the main character,is revealed through the symbolic imagery and narrative motifs associated with the scenes described to illustrate the overarching theme of identity and Janie's development into her own person,from her shapeless beginnings to a sturdy foundation at the end of the novel and the end of her journey into finding her identity.…
In “Finding Haiti, Finding History in Zora Neale Hurtson’s Their Eyes Were Watching God” , Stuelke examines damaging affects of imperialism on the black population in Haiti and how it directly correlates with mistreatment and institutionalized regression of African Americans in the United States. This article is relevant to Their Eyes Are watching God because it portrays the dual control that the U.S government holds over both Haitians and African Americans, which Hurston depicts through the various encounters that , the main character, Janie faces. Historically, Haiti was an island conquered by the French that was used for the production of sugar cane , which of course involved slave labor. The slaves eventually gained their freedom when they…
Zora Neale Hurston was an African American writer during the Harlem Renaissance who wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God. She was a very ambitious woman and did many things in her lifetime. In one article an author wrote, “Hurston realized many of her dreams during her lifetime and wrote prolifically, publishing short stories, essays, plays, historical narratives, ethnographies, an autobiography, and several novels” (“Zora”). Not only was she an author she was also an anthropologist. However Hurston’s life wasn’t all perfect at times. At a young age she lost her mother, which ended her childhood abruptly, much like the main character Janie in Their Eyes Were Watching God. After her mother’s death, she also began working odd jobs and traveling,…
The novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, illustrated how black women during the early 1900’s were constantly marginalized and silenced. In this time period black women did not have the same respect as men or white women when they gave their opinions and were often ignored. Black women were also perceived to be less intelligent and ____ by others. Hurston portrayed how black women were marginalized and silenced by others through the protagonists’ relationships with other people.…
The female view in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes were Watching God suggests a changing sense of attitudes in American culture in many ways. Firstly, the story is told in third-person point of view from Janie, the main character’s, perspective through her narration to her friend Phoeby. She’s not only a woman, but African-American. The story is about Janie’s trials and tribulations in her life, including her three marriages. The novel is a celebration of African-American characters and is formulated around its female point of view. It showed a change in the attitude in American culture because of the way it portrays its characters. Hurston gives context as to why the major characters do what they do. Janie is searching for both love yet independence, Logan was looking for a wife, Joe wanted to be powerful, and Tea Cake’s need to travel. All in all, these characters help project Janie’s growth into finding herself by the end of the novel. It shows a change of attitude because of how all these characters help Janie develop as a character. It shows a in-depth story of a woman who faces many trying times but overcomes them in the…
First, Hurston's diction allows the reader to recognize that she grew up in a country home. Her slow and eloquent tone describing "the fleshy, white, fragrant blooms" and the "big barn, [with] a stretch of ground well covered with Bermuda grass" reveals the atmosphere in which she was raised. Moreover, when observing the conversations she had with others, phrases such as "jump at de sun," "no-count Negroes," and "folks up north" further indicate her Southern origins. Alongside this, Hurston's avoidance of contractions in her work provides…
The most important person a girl looks up to and connects with is her mother. However, the girl may sometimes lack a mother figure, and may look to another: father, brother, sister, and if alive, grandmother. Janie Mae Crawford and Nanny share a complex relationship as her mother figure disappears and it is left to Nanny to nurture the protagonist, influencing many of her choices in the near future. Creator of character Nanny and Janie Mae Crawford, Zora Neale Hurston depicts the complexity of Nanny and Janie’s love in her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Hurston effectively describes the difficulty of the mother-daughter relationship between Nanny and Janie. Janie and Nanny’s bond is compassionate,…
“Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men. Now, women forget all those things they don’t want to remember, and remember everything they don’t want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly.”(1)…
Love is a profoundly passionate affection that you feel for another person. Why is everyone desperately looking for love? Well, love brings happiness and unforgettable memories in every human being, yet can also put you in difficult situations, such as the case of Janie Crawford. In the novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God” love is an important part of the story, therefore I want to focus on Janie’s point of view and what is the meaning of true love for her associated with pure innocence, communication and equality between the lovers where she seeks for the love of her life thought out the story.…
Hurston´s short story “Sweat” reveals many glimpses of her life. This story takes place in a small town in Florida, where Zora grew up. Born in Alabama raised in a town near Orlando. Her uniqueness and creativity expressing southern African slang was one of the characteristics of her writting. An example of her creativity in “Sweat” is this quote: ” Gimme some kivah, an´ git yo´ damn foots over on yo´ own side! Ah oughter mash you in yo´ mouf fuh drawing dat skillet on me.” The word choice of this quote reflects how African-Americans spoke in Florida during 1900. Preserving a culture was an important fact for Zora. Due to this events she became a folklorist as a second career. She preserved the…
The novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, narrates the story of a woman’s pursuit of a meaningful life in the American South during the 1920’s. Janie desires sense of her own identity and a secure sense of independence. In the beginning of the book Janie is unsure of who she is or how she wants to live, until she has a revelation under the blossoming pear tree, where she observes perfect harmony of nature. Janie wants to achieve this type of love, which awakens an even deeper desire. Janie seeks a sense of enlightenment and oneness with the world around her.…
Hurston’s novel was initially met with mixed reviews. While many lauded the book for its rich prose and complex characters, others, particularly her own Afro-American contemporaries, derided it, criticizing its lack of political commentary and her use of common vernacular. Fellow scholar and playwright Richard Wright gave a notably harsh review, claiming that the novels carries “no theme, no message, no thought,” then comparing the book to a minstrel show meant to appease the white audience. According to Wright, Hurston’s characters carry no political weight and instead “swing like a pendulum” in a “safe… orbit… between laughter and tears.” In her own lifetime, Hurston’s novels never sold well, and Their Eyes were Watching God, while noted by many initially for the story’s “warm, vibrant touch,” the public never took much interest in the book. When…
“‘Mules and other brutes had occupied their [Black] skins. But now, the sun and the [White] bossman were gone, so the skins felt powerful and human’” (186). Race, education, and social class are very closely intertwined in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. Social class, defined as a division of society based on social and economic status, can be related to the loss of humanity seen in the African Americans. The White men and women, as seen in the courtroom scene, seem to follow the “high” dialogue, meanwhile the Black men and women are all clumped together, speaking in “eye-dialect”. Underneath Hurston’s “high” and “low” dialogue, the reader can detect a difference in the life cycles—including jobs, relationships, and dreams—of…
In this paper I would like to focus on point of view and some aspects of stylistics in Zora Hurstons’ work Their Eyes Were Watching God. In particular, I will address the issue of narrative voice, the shifts between first person and third person, and I will also include in my analysis some aspects related to types of language variety and style variation. I have chosen this text because generally it is considered Zora Neale Hurston's most important piece of fiction, and because it is a proof of her ability to master language and voice. To illustrate my analysis I have selected some fragments which can be found at the end of the paper. I will make references to them whenever is necessary.…