Their Eyes Were Watching God Literary Analysis

Their Eyes Were Watching God is a powerful and motivating literary work. Chronicling a young woman's journey through life, the novel speaks to not only women, but all people who experience strife in their lifetimes. A novel filled with inner and outer struggles, and having the strength to overcome those hardships, author Zora Neale Hurston constructs a novel not just for the common-man, but for the every-man. Throughout the novel, Hurston's mix of blatant and obscure symbolism to weave her tale, add to the novel's powerful impact. The most prominent symbol in the novel may not be the most out rightly obvious one: Janie's journey. As she ventures from Eatonville, to the marshes of Florida and back to Eatonville again in a search for "spiritual fulfillment", her journey is a
Their personalities are nearly perfect complements for each other, and for the first time Janie feels free. Her relationship with Tea Cake symbolizes Janie finally being able to "obtain all the things she has longed for" in her past. The perfect "bee and blossom" relationship. With Tea Cake, she is not treated like property or an object, but an equal. She enjoys doing things for Tea Cake without feeling burdened by his demands and orders. Janie feels a complete sense of inner bliss, and while not wholly complete, and she desires nothing else but his affection and companionship. She now knows what it "means to be…truly happy in life". When Tea Cake falls ill of rabies, and attacks Janie, she realizes that nothing good in life lasts infinitely. She is forced to do away with the only "person who has ever made her completely content". After Tea Cake's death, Janie does not feel alone. She has felt a deep spiritual connection to her earth and the world around her. She feels at "peace with herself and her