Analysis Of Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston

The Harlem Renaissance was a time where the African American community was able to dig deep and self discover what their life journey was for them. Through jazz, art, and many other stems of expression, the Harlem Renaissance served as an outlet for many to express their journey with others. Zora Neale Hurston was a notable writer during this period in history, creating works that included the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God and the essay “How It Feels to Be Colored Me.” Hurston's writings both adheres to and departs from Harlem Renaissance values, Because Hurston composed these writings to send a message to our community about self discovery and values of life.

Values of the Harlem Renaissance were potent and new. Members of the African

To illustrate, in the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston uses Joe Starks as an outlet for the Harlem Renaissance value of excitement for the future. As Janie and Joe Starks expand their future together, Joe adheirs into purchasing more land for his beloved town. A conversation about the situation takes place between town folks, the locals chats about Joe, “buys two hundred acres uh land at one wack”(38). Someone questioned the local, he responds, “He sho did. Come off wid de papers in his pocket.”(38). This confirms that Joe Starks resembles the Harlem Renaissance value of excitement for the future, for the purchase of more land shows promise for ones forever future. It is clear to notice how Joe does the deal with a wad of cash, this important artifact serves as a way to realize how confident and quick Joe acted to purchuse this land for his expanding town. Hurston conclusively used Joe Starks to serve as a character that serves this purpose. Furthermore, Hurston herself recognizes the heritage she holds onto, this recognition is seen all throughout the Harlem Renaissance era and she lived this out personally. As she was describing how her past has made her recognize who she is, she illustrates how one night at a jazz club, it was obvious she was different, she writes, “I hurl

She defines love through extended metaphors of nature. While the Harlem Renaissance sure did have aspects of love, it was in no means the forefront of the movement. However, Hurston Departs from the Harlem Renaissance to include this aspect of love throughout the novel. As Janie is sitting high in a pear tree in her Nannies backyard she witnesses a bee pollinating the surrounding blossoms, the setting is described as, “She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom…”(11). This situation serves more than nature doing its thing, it serves as a metaphor of marriage and the overall pollination of life. As well as the tree blossoms symbolizing Janie's womanhood emerging, ready for her to take on the world without someone looking over her shoulder. Janie sees the love in the pear tree, to which motivates her to seek her own version of such love. As Janie's life has been through ups and downs, Hurston still includes the pear tree as a metaphor of love, nearing the end of the novel. As Janie is feeling the aftermath of her beloved tea cakes death, she still holds true to the love she sees through the pear tree, she thinks back about the pear seeds, “The seeds reminded Janie of Tea Cake…”(191). This metaphor of love conclusively fills the novel. TeaCake taught Janie what love meant, it was