In Zora Neale Hurston’s wonderful coming-of-age novel Their Eyes Were Watching God‚ we follow the protagonist Janie through her evolving journey from a dependent‚ young girl who searches far and wide for love and respect to an independent‚ strong woman no longer defined by anyone else but herself. To add color and meaning to Janie’s journey‚ a number of everyday imagery from nature is sprinkled throughout the story to symbolize Janie’s growth and mirror her life experiences. Plants that bear fruit
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Reading Guide Preview Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston About the Author Although Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960) died penniless and was buried in an unmarked grave in a racially segregated cemetery‚ she had a remarkable career as a novelist. She was also a pioneer in documenting African American culture. Hurston grew up in Eatonville‚ Florida‚ a fully incorporated African American township‚ and studied at Howard University. In 1925‚ she moved to New York City‚ where she became
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Janie almost always relies on her husbands‚ despite her attempts to become independent from them‚ and of course Edna killing herself did not accomplish independence. In a way‚ her killing herself was more like Edna giving up because she could not become independent (Hurston 50; Chopin 140). This also shows the difference between cultures as it was almost too easy for Janie to get up and leave her husband for another man‚ while Edna tried
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the main idea behind the work of Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God with the main character‚ Janie‚ experiencing her coming of age as she goes through criticizing judgment almost every single day. Throughout the novel‚ Hurston uses many different metaphors to express her ideas‚ which also define the style she uses. The passage I have selected includes when Janie first arrives to town. Hurston had described the town mostly as‚ “These sitters had been tongueless‚ earless‚ eyeless
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She’s just a simple thinker.” Women were forced into submission and there was nothing they could do about it. In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God‚ Zora Neale Hurston shows the issue of gender roles through the story of a young woman named Janie‚ who struggles through an arranged marriage. Through multiple characters‚ as well as the plot‚ sexism comes to the surface. As soon as the novel begins‚ it is evident the roles of men and women play a very big part in this novel: “Ships at a distance
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as they were still separate but equal. Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes were Watching God depicts the story of a third century freed slave‚ Janie‚ and her fight against this prejudice world. Hurston’s
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The book begins with Janie observing a bee in her pear tree and from that point aspiring to find true love. After living with her grandmother for her adolescent years‚ she is forced into a loveless marriage to a farmer‚ Logan Killicks who forces her to abide to all of his commands. After meeting the charming Joe Starks‚ Janie courageously leaves her unfulfilling marriage to Logan to live a life with Joe in Eatonville‚ Florida
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makes the sun seem like a person. The sun looks over the “door sill of the world” which is another way to say the sun was coming up and it got rid of the darkness. The sun was explained so intricately in the first few sentences to show its beauty‚ but Janie didn’t care about it even though it is described in such a way that makes it hard to ignore. In literature and in most other forms of art the coming
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Shakespeare’s both use smaller methods to describe the larger device. Romeo and Juliet also has a lot of similarities to Their Eyes Were Watching God‚ through the symbolism of love. In Romeo and Juliet‚ Juliet found her only love in her only hate‚ and Janie in Their Eyes Were Watching God found she hated many of different loves‚ but in the end neither character had any regrets about love. On the surface‚ love often resembles hatred illustrated by symbolism through allegory‚ archetypes‚ and imagery revealing;
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encouraging her to find a man. However‚ as soon as she goes off with this new man‚ they shame her because he’s younger. People made the assumption that Janie would need an older man‚ or a man of the same age to take care of her but no longer looked at her in the
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