In the book Their Eyes Were Watching God published in 1937, by Zora Neale Hurston explores the story of a girl named Janie, and her search for love. Janie as a young girl finds herself on an individual quest for love, and personal freedom. Through Janie’s journey she gets involved in three different marriages that help her grow as an individual as well as gain a better understanding of what love is. Janie also learns different lessons through her experiences with marriage, which contributes to Janie’s own personal growth as a woman.…
The theme of the novel, “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston, is the search real love and finding a new form of independence. Throughout Janie’s life, she faced numerous struggles as she searched for unconditional, true, and fulfilling love. Janie seeks an intimate relationship with somebody that lives up to her idea of true love, like that between a bee and a blossom on the pear tree that as child she witnessed while she was sitting under in her grandmother’s backyard. Through the course of this journey, Janie then gains independence, which makes her the protagonist of this novel.…
Nineteenth Amendment passes giving all white women the right to vote. Many women of colour are barred from voting like their…
In post-Reconstruction society, women, especially women of color, were seen as subordinate, further perpetuated by a misogynic and patriarchal society. Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, eloquently captures this attitude by drawing a parallel between the treatment of black women and mules. Nanny, Janie’s grandmother, during a discord of marriage with Janie, stated that “de nigger women is du mule uh de world,” as a testament to her subdued perception on the subjects of marriage, race, and gender roles resulting from her background in slavery. The mule served as a symbol of abuse, and oppression, even though being a vital backbone to society, completing monotonous, and labor intensive work. Likewise, black women were treated with…
Often, during the time period of the early 1900’s, the voice of women was disregarded and treated as a less important force in the community. The novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God exemplifies this in the form of a frame narrative. The story began with the main character, Janie walking in to town looking distraught and exhausted. Janie’s image is symbolic of the idea that she does not have a voice in the community, and is tired of fighting for her right to have a say. Janie then began to tell her story. Janie’s grandmother, Nanny married Janie to a much older man for security and a fruitful life. Janie was very resistant to this marriage, but it happened in the end depicting the absence of her voice in her own life. Janie married a second…
Throughout her life, Janie tries to recapture her youth, while also trying to find a connection with the nature around her. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston portrays Janie’s quest for love through her desire for independence, her external beauty, and the social class struggles of African American women.…
The great-horned owl is one of the most mysterious animals of the world. In an excerpt from Mary Oliver's essay "Owls," she discusses her fear as well as her utmost admiration of this most frightening of creatures.…
Historically speaking, men have been superior to women. It isn’t until recently that people have been concerned with equality. That being said, it isn’t surprising that the complex relationship between Janie and Jody isn’t any different. In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the author portrays the relationship between Janie and Jody as dominating.…
The novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, narrates the story of a woman’s pursuit of a meaningful life in the American South during the 1920’s. Janie desires sense of her own identity and a secure sense of independence. In the beginning of the book Janie is unsure of who she is or how she wants to live, until she has a revelation under the blossoming pear tree, where she observes perfect harmony of nature. Janie wants to achieve this type of love, which awakens an even deeper desire. Janie seeks a sense of enlightenment and oneness with the world around her.…
Problems often arise between two people when one is a parental figure and the other a daughter figure. Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God expresses a conflict between the main character, Janie, and her grandmother which she called Nanny. The conflict arises because of their disagreement on marriage and love. Nanny believes love is not the most important aspect of marriage, but Janie “means tuh live [her way]” (Hurston 114). The struggle between Janie and Nanny highlights hopes and the deeper emotions which Janie desires.…
Zora Neale Hurston' is an outstanding African American novelist, playwright, autobiographer and essayists. Her work is considered as an important part of the African American and Harlem Literature. Hurston shifts from the black works that stick to racial themes and sheds the light on new aspects and themes in black's' life especially on feminist themes.Their “Eyes Were Watching God” examines with a great deal of artistry the struggle of a black woman named Janie Crawford to escape the shackles of the traditional concept about love and marriage and the narrow social restrictions of her class and sex. Over the course of the book, Zora Neale Hurston ties in three major ideas that can be explained through a feminist lens, the act of speaking, seeking…
In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, the main character’s goal is to fall in love. She goes through many difficult times to find this perfect love and happiness but never gives up and in the end she is able to find what she has been looking for all her life. Each of her marriages gives her a valuable lesson and she uses each lesson to become a strong and independent woman. In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie Crawford, the main character, learns about self-respect when she embarks on a life long journey in search of true love.…
Moreover, our textbook. Writing to change the world, contains lots of information about the meaning of being educated. The author, Mary Pipher, expressed a lot of about the changing agents and changing writers. In the book, Pipher explains that a successful writer could use their writing to the change others. Also, independent thinking is important for the changing writers, and they should always stand at most clearly side because people need them.…
Most people have expectations of how something is going to turn out. When things do not turn out the way, we want them to turn out; the feeling of disappointment takes over. That is a coincidence when I read "Salvation" written by Langston Hughes because I run into my feeling five years ago, not in the same situation with him, but not so many differences to be his partner.…
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston and Kate Chopin, the author of The Awakening talked about some controversial topics, like in The Awakening she talked a lot about the feminist movement and how women should be treating more equally, For example, when Edna had went through her rebellious stage, discovers herself and has an affair on her husband. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston, had written about prominent ideas that took place in the Harlem Renaissance, with racial pride being its main theme.…