Feminine Voice In Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston

In Zora Neale Hurston’s 1937 novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston’s voice is extremely unique. She details a young black woman’s journey on her quest to find fulfilling love. Hurston’s style involves metaphoric language, as well as manipulated dialogue. The perspective is interesting because it presents different views and ideas than are typically thought of in literature. Also, the themes in Hurston’s novel differ from the “normal” themes of most male authors. There exists a unique feminine voice in literature because female authors often incorporate different styles, perspectives, and themes into their work than do male authors. Hurston’s style of writing in Their Eyes Were Watching God is part of what makes the novel so extraordinary.

In the 1930s, American society was very much controlled by white men. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston implies that the black woman is essentially at the bottom of the totem pole (Hurston), which most of her white male critics did not like. Nevertheless, Hurston brought light to the issues of women during her time because of the feminine voice employed in her novel. Her protagonist is a determined young woman who refuses to submit to an unworthy husband, a concept that many masculine works of literature overlook. “What Hurston had advocated in Their Eyes Were Watching God was the right of women to choose directions for themselves” (Saunders). This is important because Hurston’s voice provides a completely different perspective than works produced in a predominantly male-focused society. Hurston writes, “That’s the way it went, too. The women got together the sweets and the men looked after the meats” (Hurston 44). The second sentence is casually constructed to convey a sense of normalcy, when in fact the point of this quote is that women are not meant to simply be seen as something sweet. Hurston also ponders an interesting question when Janie points out Starks’ weaknesses: “What can excuse a man in the eyes of other men for lack of strength?” (Hurston 80). This question is one that would not be brought up in a work by a male author, but because Their Eyes Were Watching God is