Examples Of Their Eyes Were Watching God Be Considered A Classic

Emma Wadsworth College English 11 April 12th, 2024 Mr. Mueller Classic or Not?

Calling the book 'a classic' details it's a brilliant portrayal of universal themes. Books that are called classics survive the tests of time and get retaught to students every year. Examples of classic American literature that portray those standards are The Great Gatsby, How To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Outsiders. All of these use great language and embrace problems of the time, although the language that Zora Neal Hurston uses in Their Eyes Were Watching God is too simple to be considered a classic while also ignoring the reality of the world from that time; Their Eyes Were Watching God should be considered an American classic due to the important messages

Throughout the novel, the readers experience growing up with Janie, from her mid-teens to her forties, getting to experience her life lessons and seeing her hopes and dreams. Janie dreamed of experiencing a great love, similar to the love she saw from the bee and the blossoming flower, but her marriages were nothing like that, which provides themes of growing up and love, by following Janie through life. Considering Zora Neale Hurston's life, she was very controversial both politically and socially. Reflected throughout her novel and the reviews she received about it, both positive and negative. A review depicting the message of the novel states that the "fevered, hallucinatory vehemence suggests a far more complex response to color than Hurston's champions today can comfortably allow"(Claudia Roth Pierpoint). Given the time that the novel was written and the known feedback that it received, it's obvious, based on Hurston's life, that it was used to make a statement. As controversial as she was, it brought more thought into things she did, such as writing Their Eyes Were Watching God, tying in some important messages that went against social norms about race and gender