Overview Of Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston is writer known for her the books “Sweat”, “How It Feels To Be Colored Me”, and her most famous, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Hurston grew up in the South during the beginning of the twentieth century. Like many other African American writers in the Harlem Renaissance, she discussed the daily lives of African Americans in her works. However, many of her works were very contentious within the the African American community because of her peculiar views on several issues concerning African Americans. Zora Neale Hurston was a Harlem Renaissance writer that through her work reflected the many values of the Harlem Renaissance and disputed many of the key principles of the movement. In her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God,

One of the themes present in her book is that the main character, Janie, searches for her identity. Janie constantly searches for a life that is better than the one she has at the moment until she finally meets Tea Cake. Her previous husbands were not giving her the life that she had wanted and so she moved on until she met Tea Cake because he provided her with everything she needed in life. Janie’s search for her identity is a theme within the Harlem Renaissance because many African Americans were conflicted when identifying as a negro and an American. The two identities are a problem for them because negros in America were treated as second class and so there is uncertainty on whether they are Americans or if their color prevents them from being Americans. An example of their second class status in society in the book, Their Eyes Were Watching God was when the people in the Everglades were burying the dead after the hurricane. In the book it states, ““They makin’ coffins fuh all de white folks…. They can’t find enough of ‘em to go ‘round” (Hurston 171). The white men in the Everglades had decided that they only wanted to bury the White people in coffins but bury the African Americans straight in the ground. The quote shows the priority of the people in the time period was to respect Whites and treat African Americans as less than human.

In the book, Hurston showed repeatedly how African Americans were not treated the same way as people who were White. As a challenge to the Harlem Renaissance, Hurston expands her portrayal of inequality to gender. Some examples of views within the book that depart from other people within the Harlem Renaissance is that she had a very strong feminist view in a movement that focused on African Americans. An example in the book of her discussing the role of women is, “Uh women by herself is a pitiful thing … Dey need aid and assistance” (90). The quote shows that many African American men viewed women as defenseless and dependent on men to survive. However, Hurston had the belief that women do not require a man as a foundation for a women’s wellbeing. Hurston shows the hypocrisy that African American men want equality in America but deny it to the women within their community. A quote that further backs up the claim that African American men do not see women as equal is when it stated in the book, ““God never meant ‘em tuh try tuh stand by themselves” (90). The quote yet again shows the view of many men during the time that women need support from men to