Is The Significance Of Janie's Search For Identity In Their Eyes Were Watching God

Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God is a novel set during the Harlem Renaissance (early 1900s ). The novel is told from the perspective of Janie Mae Crawford, a multiracial (black and a quarter white) woman, as she recalls her search for identity and love within her community. During her search, Janie’s identity emerges through her development from silent to outspoken, exposing her readers to an anthropological critique of African American art and culture, as well as the outer community. The novel is considered a canonical piece of African-American fiction, but to a reviewer like Richard Wright, the novel is unauthentic in its depictions of African American life. Thinking about authenticity, one associates it with something credible,

Waiting for the verdict in the courtroom, Janie fears being misunderstood for the killing of Tea Cake (188). Janie relies not only on her own authentic voice, but also on the people’s–black and white–perception of her and Tea Cake’s story. After the verdict is passed, Janie is seen to be understood only by the white community. Meanwhile, the black community, comprised of Janie’s “friends” call Janie “de freest thing on earth,” (189) demonstrating their disbelief in Janie’s authenticity. In response, Janie returns to the idea of understanding, for Hurston narrates, “Sop and his friends had tried to hurt her but she knew it was because they loved Tea Cake and didn’t understand” (189), suggesting the result was not because of ethnicity. The turn of events in the courtroom illustrates how subjective an authentic voice is, especially in how the one acquiring the information decides to interpret the information. One example is Richard Wright’s review of Hurston’s novel. Wright describes the novel as “carrying no theme, no message, [and] no thought,” even though there is a clear theme: Janie’s vocal development. Wright also describes the novel as an unauthentic minstrel show directed towards the white audience. He says, “[Hurston’s characters] swing like a pendulum eternally in that safe and narrow orbit which America likes to see the Negro live: between laughter and tears.” The novel, in a way, does follow a theatrical light with patterns in Janie’s relationships as she searches for love and identity; however, Wright simplifies the complexity of Hurston’s novel based on his own idea of how Negro literature should function. Wright’s mentions the novel’s white audience, suggesting that he believes the purpose of the novel is suppose to be directed towards “white America for justice” of the black community, ultimately contributing to the end “mistrust[,] isolation,” and tradition as a guide.