Their Eyes Were Watching God

Food is a tool that connects every human to one another. Through the use of food, people create new relationships and grow a connection that can prosper their future. By using the platform of relationships and medium of food, a few of literary texts have carved a path to show character’s individual growth. Specific texts that prove the understanding between food and humans are shows Suits and Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah, movie Cheeni Kum, and book Their Eyes Were Watching God. These texts not only focus on the lead characters being placed in a relationship but also how the relationship and food anchor the idea of change through showcasing personal growth. By focusing on the different stages of cooking, from preparing the item to eating
These thoughts are communicated via Suits created by Aaron Korsh, a lawyer based show about two unconventional thinkers solving cases while keeping a secret that one of them is a college dropout. In one scene of the episode“We’re done” Mike, a character with photogenic memory but a college dropout is preparing spaghetti sauce for Rachel, his girlfriend from the firm. The details from this scene are laid out with the camera angle placed closed to the pan but away from Mike which allows them to show the ingredients of the sauce, such as tomatoes, oregano, and cheese. Mike doesn’t realize the burden of him being a college dropout until he gets fired from the firm. Here, crushing the tomatoes symbolizes his hard efforts going down the drain because just like crushing tomatoes unveils its plain and sour taste, his weakness has forced him to release the sourness in his career. However, just as oregano and cheese dilute the sourness of tomatoes, his photogenic memory and his job experience will anchor the stability in his new job. A similar approach is found in Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, which is about Janie, the protagonist, self-actualizing after each of her three marriages. Her first marriage with Logan, helps Janie identify her first weakness. The text reads, “When she had finished with that she dumped the dough on the skillet and smoothed it over with her hand...The sow-belly in the pan needed turning. She flipped it over and shoved it back” (32). The dumping of the dough on the skillet here is representing the frustration that Logan dumps on Janie every day by mocking about her not helping in the fields. However, Jody Starks introduction in Janie’s life makes her feel valued for once, where she realizes her weakness of not