A Formalist Analysis of Their Eyes Were Watching God. A formalist approach could be taken to analyze the content of Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Hurston uses dialect and colloquialism as means of portraying the thoughts of the narrator and other characters, as well as defining the central theme of self-discovery and the struggle of the weak in the eyes of society, with the use of long periods of introspection by Janie Mae Crawford. Along with the symbolism and imagery used throughout the novel, Hurston allows the reader to further understand the central theme of the novel.
The dialogue of the novel is a reflection of the language of southern blacks in the 1930’s. It is important to note the difference between
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When Janie meets Tea Cake and slowly fall in love with him, she sees the fulfillment of the pear-tree love, which is mutually beneficial and allows Janie to explore herself. Nanny forced Janie to marry at a young age in order to protect herself from the dangers of being a black woman. Because of this she was not able to have a childhood and fall in love for herself. Tea Cake enamors her with his charm and youth, allowing Janie to express herself along with him. Tea Cake’s best quality is the fact that he never forces anything on to Janie. He allows her to grow and gives her the ability to learn who she is. While they are down in the Everglades, Tea Cake and Janie are caught in a storm with another man named Motor Boat. During the intense hurricane, the three really witness the might of God. The hurricane symbolizes the strength of God, of the immensity of His might and the comparative weakness of humans to the work of His hands. While trying to swim to safety, a rabid dog bites Tea Cake and infects him with rabies. The rabid dog is symbolic of hate, a hate so strong that even a beast can even feel, which is why the beast has to be infected with a disease which clouds the mind with anger and hate. When Tea Cake is infected, many of the fears that all of Janie’s husbands had come out in very vicious and violent forms, like when Tea Cake accuses her of seeing Mrs. Turners brother. The disease takes over Tea Cakes mind, and he attacks Janie with a loaded pistol which she found loaded with three bullets. Janie had found the pistol and positioned the chambers so that he would have to fire three times before it shot a bullet. Janie is forced to protect herself with their hunting rifle and shoots Tea Cake before he can get his fourth shot in. Tea Cakes death is symbolic because it signifies Janie’s final moment of self-discovery. With Tea Cake she lived life and did all of the things society and her husbands had