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Their Eyes Were Watching God Analysis Essay

876 Words4 Pages

Setting Analysis Their Eyes Were Watching God is a romantic novel written by Zora Neal Hurston. This book is set in the early 1900s in West Florida. During this time period, racism and segregation are prominent parts of daily life. The slave culture of the southern United States had a profound effect on the book. It shapes certain characters and the way they perceive themselves. The main character, Janie, is a biracial woman, who is raised by her grandmother, Nanny. The central location, Eatonville, is the place where Janie’s life is controlled by her wealthy husband, Jody. This life is completely different than her life in the Florida Everglades. The Everglades is an area where Janie finds freedom. Each setting in the book has an impact …show more content…

Nanny’s former background as a slave shapes her mentality. She experiences severe racism throughout her life, and it still continues after slavery ends. She strongly believes that the highest honor is to occupy the position of a wealthy, married, white woman. Nanny enforces this goal to Janie, and Janie follows it. This is not the life Janie dreams of having. Racism is shown again when the story changes settings to Eatonville. Eatonville is a town that is built and run by African Americans. Jody, a wealthy African American, marries Janie and they move to Eatonville. With Jody’s money, he makes many improvements for the town. Jody purchases a street light for the town and it becomes a source of pride for the whole town. Not long after the purchase of the light, he purchases an old mule. The mule serves as a major symbol for the black town because it indicates their freedom from slavery. Racism is depicted again with the storyline of Mrs. Tuner. Mrs. Turner, a middle-aged biracial woman, proposes a similar view of life to Janie. She strongly believes that whites are superior; mainly because they are admirable. Mrs. Turner does not approve of black people. Janie is one person that Mrs. Turner accepts because they share the same ethnicity. Both Nanny and Mrs. Turner have similar life experiences, giving them comparable views of how an African American woman should

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Janie has been through hard times, even as a young girl. She lived with her grandmother who took care of her because her mother ran off when she was young. It is because of her grandmother, who wants to be in control of Janie’s life and wants the best for her, that Janie ends up marrying a rich man and getting a good education. However, this is not what Janie really wants. Janie is more interested in happiness and love than being rich, high class, and educated.

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Janie’s experience with race relations influenced her journey of self-revelation. Her story was set in the Deep South before World War II, a time period with strict racial segregation laws. While race was not the central part of the story, Janie’s experiences with racial tension guided her path to discovering individuality. “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston was written during the Harlem Renaissance and published in the 1930s. The two most notable experiences of race relations in the story are Janie’s interactions with Mrs. Turner, a black woman who takes pride in her white features, and the treatment of the mule, which symbolizes slavery and oppression of the black community.

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724 Words | 3 Pages

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824 Words | 4 Pages

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760 Words | 4 Pages

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