When relating to someone you hold similar characteristics as them or consociate on a physical or emotional level. In the novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God” I partially relate to Pheoby Watson who is apart of the community/outsiders. Pheoby Watson is the best friend of the main character Janie after she moves to Maitland/Eatonville. Pheoby is married to Sam Watson and quickly becomes Janie’s confidante due to her being affable. She looks up to Janie for love inspiration even though she is quite beneficent with her own love life.
Zora Neale Hurston, author of Their Eyes Were Watching God, introduces Joe Starks into the novel as a controlling, yet successful man who falls under the control of his own problematic characteristics. These traits influence actions of his which work for and against his favor. Joe is notably prideful; however, his insecurities cause him to verbally and physically mistreat Janie because he feels threatened by her better attributes. Joe’s pride is the drive for his ambition. It motivates him to do various activities that will bring him success, recognition, and admiration from his peers, such as when “he [unwraps] [the street lamp] and [has] it wiped off carefully and put up on a showcase… for everybody [in town] to see” (44).
Foils help to show a main character in a different light. They can be the same as the character or the complete opposite or even be a little of both. This helps the reader to see the good and the bad inside of that certain character to better the understanding of the novel as a whole. In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the characters of Daisy, Mrs. Bogle, Mrs. Robbins, and Mrs. Turner all act as stereotypical sketches of what it meant to be a black woman during the time period. They each act as a foil to the main character Janie in multiple ways.
At some point in our lives we all go on a journey of self-knowledge and exploration. Maybe it is miniscule; going off to realize that you are independent and can live on your own, or maybe it is drastic and involves a spiritual journey where you discover yourself more deeply. For the protagonist, Janie Crawford, in Their Eyes Were Watching God, a novel written by Zora Neale Hurston, it is recognizing that she deserves to have true love and will go through any undesirable circumstance to achieve it. The quest for love first formulates under the pear tree.
In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie Crawford experiences many hardships that lead to her eventual satisfaction and fulfillment. As a young girl, Janie always felt she was missing a part of herself which could not be found through self advocated discovery alone, but by the presence of a companion that provided her with affection. As she sheds the majority of her innocence through various abusive marriages at an extremely young age, Janie’s dream may have been altered, but never ceased to exist. There was always hope in Janie’s mind that she would find a man that helped her complete herself, and allow her to become liberated from the tiring desire of discovering love for herself. As stated by Farah Mahmood Abbas,
In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. A character named Janie Crawford is introduced and she is yearning for love that warms her inside and out. She is married to a man named Logan Killicks he's older than her. Janie knows that they will not have a connection. The other man she marries is Joe Starks, he is also older and wealthy.
Aria Jackson Ms. Lavelle 4/21/23 The Harlem Renaissance was known at the time as the, “New Negro Movement.” From literature to music to art, this period emphasized the struggles and experiences of African-Americans as a whole. The Harlem Renaissance explored themes of economic social prosperity, the importance of community, the power of rebirth, and the value of self-expression, and the role of spirituality. Through the neighborhood gossiping about Janie, to not being able to go to the funeral, to her taking off her head rag, and to reminiscing her flashback to phoebe, Zora Neale Hurston departs from the harlem renaissance value of community and reflects the harlem renaissance value of self expression.
Zora Neele Hurston once said, “Love is lak de sea. It’s uh movin’ thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from the shore it meets, and it’s different with every shore.” This quotation poses the question, does a failed love experience change a person and their journey to self realization? Society’s expectation of marriage. __________.
In The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, a boy and his father are forced to find tactics to stay alive such as “carrying the fire.” By using this phrase, hope is instilled. The father teaches the boy to carry hope inside him. Their fire is the reason they are able to continue on the journey.
Whoever knew how difficult love can be. Love changes like the season. Summer and Spring are your happy moments. Winter and Fall are the bad moments. In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston shows how quick and easy love changes overtime.
As Janie ages, she has been going through different stages of loves and misloves, which gradually introduced her to reveal her feminnity. In the book Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston depictures Janie’s feminism through her growth of life from an innocent and vulnerable 17 years old girl who had not yet experienced love to a true women who forgets “all those things (she doesn’t) want to remember, and remember(s) everything (she doesn’t) want to forget” (1) in various of perspectives: Janie’s education and her grandmother’s instigation about marriage; Janie’s misloves with Logan and Jody; and Janie’s love for Tea Cake. Before Janie even learned the concept of “love”, Hurston showed how Janie was raped when she still had her “womanly”
Society has progressed a lot with gender roles since the early-mid 1900s. Being a pretty mixed-race woman, Janie Crawford was seen as all beauty, no brains, and she was thought to be incapable of many things by her first and second husbands, Logan Killicks and Joe Starks. While telling the story of a woman trying to find love, Zora Neale Hurston goes into depth about the gender roles in that society. Although much has changed in society since she wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God, those gender roles are still prevalent in society today. Women have always been seen as being less knowledgeable than men.
The novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is an invaluable contribution to the feminist and gender discourse, as it provides a unique perspective on the intersection of gender and race, and offers a powerful example of female self-determination. The novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is an invaluable contribution to feminism. Hurston uses her novel to portray an independent woman, Janie, who is on a journey to find her own identity and realize her ambitions. As Janie states, “Ah done been tuh de horizon and back and now Ah kin set heah in mah house and live by comparisons” (Chapter 15, p.140).
At the age of 6, my mother informed my siblings and I that we would be moving from Alaska to Washington. In the beginning, we were all drawn with sadness due to having to leave the place we called home, our family, and friends that we had made. My mother had told us it was for the better, we would be better able to thrive in Washington. At the time my father had work hours on end, while my mother was at home watching the kids. The job that my father had paid well, but required that he constantly works.
The Renaissance was a time of renewed interest in art, music, and architecture. The Renaissance was around from the 1300-1700s in Italy and meant rebirth. It was also a time between the Middle Ages and Modern History. Albrecht Durer was a painter, printmaker, and a theorist of the German Renaissance whose many accomplishments impacted the world and reflected the values of the Renaissance during 1471-1528. Albrecht Durer accomplished many masterpieces during the time of the German Renaissance.
