Their Eyes Were Watching God Reflection Essay

I enjoyed reading Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, though it isn’t something that I would normally choose to read. I found the second half of the book especially interesting, and as I read on, the dialect became less distracting from the story. At the end of the book, Pheobe envies Janie for the life she has led, even though it was filled with heartache. Pheobe, on the other hand, remained safe and within the acceptable standards of society, but wasn’t happy with her decision. While the other women may have ridiculed Janie for her decision originally, they seem to regret not living their lives the same way. One part that especially troubled me was when Tea Cake beat Janie. I felt like that was uncalled for, and I disagreed
Janie was a pretty strong character throughout most of the story, so it seemed out of character to just let him beat her like that. Later, she is willing and able to protect herself when he has rabies, so it is obvious that she could have protected herself in that section, as well. I enjoyed the description of how Janie grieves for Tea Cake, so much different than how she mourned Joe Stark. For Joe, she wore black to show the community her grief, but for Tea Cake she didn’t change, because she was too far in her grief to care. I thought that part described grief really well and made me think about our different customs and why we do them. By the end, Janie is very different than she was at the beginning, and I found that I respected her even more as the book progressed. While I did not agree with some her decisions, I understood why she did the things that she did, and her musings on the last few pages especially delighted me, as she has accepted everything and learned to enjoy life to the fullest, which few people are able to do. Despite all the heartache she has endured, she is still able to see the world in a positive light, and she does not let other people make her decisions for