Illnesses In Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston

In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, author Zora Neale Hurston evokes emotions in readers with the different illnesses that characters are diagnosed with. The illnesses in the novel are parallel to the criterion given in Foster's chapter,"...And Rarely Just Illness." The novel is a journey of a girl, Janie, who in the search of true love also finds a strong sense of identity and acquires self-knowledge. The two characters that die of an illness are Joe Starks and Tea Cake. Joe Starks is a man with great self-pride and dominating power. He never lets Janie speak for herself and insults her quite often. After twenty years of marriage, Janie becomes fed up by the way Joe treats her. She breaks out in insults toward his manhood and it greatly
affects his health. This shames Joe publicly. After their fight, Joe becomes very ill and refuses to speak to Janie. The loss of his pride and manhood results in his illness. He does not know how to get better because his power was all he had in the town. After a few weeks, Janie calls the doctor and Joe becomes diagnosed with fatal liver failure. Joe finally dies after Janie lets out her final blow of frustration she had against him. The cause of the liver failure is unknown which creates the mysterious factor behind the illness. In addition to an illness being mysterious, Foster also states that diseases should offer "strong symbolic or metaphorical possibilities" (Foster 217). Hurston is implying with Joe's death that men do not know how to live after their pride and dominance is shamed. The doctor tells Janie right before Joe dies that '"when a man's kidneys stop working altogether, there is no way for him to live'"(Hurston 83). Just like how kidneys work together, Joe's pride and will to live work together. When Joe's pride and power are insulted, his will to live also breaks down. Joe's kidneys are a metaphor of his like as a whole which proves Foster's point that every disease has a metaphorical reason. Tea Cake's disease is more severe than Joe Stark's disease and it not only affects him but also the characters around him. Tea Cake represents change for Janie but Janie does not realize her change until after his death. Tea Cake is bitten by a dog while running away from a storm and is diagnosed with rabies. In order to save herself from being shot by Tea Cake, Janie shoots Tea Cake first. Janie is put into jail but is later released after a court hearing. Janie tells Phoebe, '"Ah done been tuh de horizon and back and now Ah kin set heah in mah house and live by comparisons'"(Hurston 191). Tea Cakes death affects Janie greatly but through it, she gains a new perspective of life. Janie realizes that in order to gain self-knowledge there needs to be some suffering and sacrifices. Also, Janie knows that although Tea Cake is physically gone, his legacy remains in the person she has become. Similar to Joe Stark's death, Tea Cake's death is metaphor to change. Not only did his illness affect him, it affected Janie. However, it affects Janie to change for the better rather than to change negatively. Hurston's purpose in creating these illnesses in her characters is to create mysterious atmosphere and curiosity within the reader. The reader can feel the pain that Janie feels when she has kill her one true love, Tea Cake. Not only does the reader feel pain, but they are also curious as to what will happen to her. Also, Hurston includes these illnesses to depict illness as a positive impact on some people. Without these diseases, Their Eyes Were Watching God would not have the same message or impact on the reader.