Their Eyes Were Watching God Book Report

Destinee Mills
November 1, 2013
2nd Period
Their Eyes Were Watching This Book Report
Their eyes were watching god but your eyes will be watching, and be glued to, this book report. The novel Their Eyes Were Watching God written by Zora Neale Hurston is a captivating tale of a woman, Janie Crawford, who sets out on the path to actualize her womanhood and, in doing so, faces many trials and hardships. Some of the primary and most prominent themes in Their Eyes Were Watching God include body-image and anything relating to it; to include hair, body shape and size, skin tone, etc., love, and hedonism. Other, more minor and less conspicuous, themes in the novel include gossip, religion, and tragedy.
Summary of Content:
The novel begins as Janie
Hurston portrays Janie as a very beautiful, desirable woman- shown in many different points in the novel such as when she arrives in Eatonville with Joe and men immediately begin to look at and even speak to her with desire. Unfortunately, though, Janie is often marginalized as a result of her beauty such as when Joe forces her to tie up her hair, making her look like an old woman , to take away from her beauty by removing from sight one of the main staples in making her so desirable- her long, swaying
The author shows this when she shows Janie, time and time again, going against what would be the proper thing to do and instead just simply doing what makes her happy. Hurston very much so succeeded in portraying this thought process through Janie and the way that she made Janie react to things and situations that got in the way of her happiness. If there are any ideas worth expressing ‘do what makes you happy’ is one of them because without happiness what do we have in life? I thoroughly enjoyed this novel even though it was, in fact, quite difficult to read due to the fact that it is completely in Ebonics. I took joy in reading it despite that it is definitely a more education appropriate, less fun sort of novel. I chose it because I knew that it would show female strength and I was very satisfied in the novels ability to do this and to portray so many other important things. I would absolutely recommend this book to another reader but only if the particular reader was a strong reader since, as I said before, it is definitely not an easy book to read. I believe strongly in female strength and independence and I have never, in all my years of reading, found a book that so strongly supports and promotes those two beliefs. Female