Motif writing assignment for Eyes Were Watching God In the eyes were watching god the story occasionally focuses on race and racism in the south during the early 20th century. For instance, Janie's unusual beautiful appearance as a fair skinned black woman, living in the black american south receives a lot of attention from a variety of places and encounters racist attitudes from the community. One place Janie experienced racist attitudes was in chapter 1 when a man took pictures without asking anybody of Janie with other white children and then a week later they brought the pictures “Everybody laughed, even Mr.Washburn. Mis Nellie, de Mama of de chillun who come back home after her husband dead, she pointed to de dark one and said, ‘Dats you, Alphabet, don't you know yo own self?’” People laughed at Janie because she was the only black child in the picture, Janie felt like a stranger to herself for 6 years and didn't realize her racial identity. This happened because she has lived with white children all her life and thought she was one of them. …show more content…
‘Bout Mr.Washburn and de sheriff puttin’ de blood hounds on de trail tuh ketch mah papa for hut he done tuh mah mama. Dey didn’t tell about how he wuz seen tryin tuh git in touch wid mah mama later on so he could marry her. Naw dey didn’t talk dat part of it atall. Dey made it sound real bad so as they tuh crumple my feathers.” Everybody in Janie's community knew that Janie's dad was a white rapist and her mother the product of a white slave owner and a black slave woman, and how Janie's birth was a result of race victimization. Since everyone would talk about her background Janie had to learn to handle this inheritance and others’ condescension with strength, grace and