- Zora Neale Hurston, born January 7th, 1891, was an African-American author, widely known for her classic novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Being raised in Eatonville, Florida, the first black township of the United States, Hurston was indulged in black culture at a very early age. Zora was described to have a fiery, yet bubbly spirit, befriending very influential people, one being American poet, Langston Hughes. With heavy influence from her hometown, along with the achievement of the black women around her, an abundance of motivation came when Hurston wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God. The novel promotes black power, all while rejecting the stereotypes held against women.
Tea Cake is introduced as a clever, younger man that Janie takes interest in. Janie clearly pays attention to this man because he is handsome and actually wants her to play checkers with him, which Jodie Starks always forbid her to do. She realizes this and explains, “Somebody wanted her to play. Somebody thought it natural for her to play. That was even nice”
“I hate to hear you talk about all women as if they were fine ladies instead of rational creatures. None of us want to be in calm waters all our lives.” Jane Austen. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston depicted the travels of Janie Crawford and her understanding of womanhood and freedom through her several marriages. Throughout the book, Hurston portrays the growth of Janie and her ideals, her hair being a major recurring symbol.
In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by, Zora Neale Hurston Janie, strives to find her own voice throughout the novel and she succeeds even though it takes her time to do it. Each one of her husband’s has a different effect on her ability to find her voice. Janie had noticed that she did not have a voice when Jody was appointed mayor by the town’s people and she was asked to give a few words on his behalf, but she did not answer, because before she could even say anything Jody had stated “ ‘Thank yuh fuh yo’ compliments, but mah wife don’t know nothin’ ’bout no speech-makin’/Janie made her face laugh after a short pause, but it wasn’t too easy/…the way Joe spoke out without giving her a chance to say anything on way or another that took
During the early decades of the twentieth century, opportunities for women to speak up and share their voices were extremely limited. A defying woman of the era, Zora Neale Hurston, found an opportunity for her voice to be heard through her writing. At the Literary Awards Dinner in 1925, Hurston made a flamboyant entrance when she walked into a room of crowded people and shouted the title of her famous play: “Coooolor Struckkkk!” Clearly, Hurston proved she was not afraid to speak out and let her voice be heard. In her book Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston demonstrates many factors can influence a person’s decision to speak up or not by charting Janie’s relationships with those around her.
Some of the most renowned novels include major characters who act on a whim, resulting in actions that contrast with their normal personality. This is character complexity. Zora Neale Hurston in her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, employs this device to show how a character exhibits contrasting traits, creating conflict. Tea Cake is loving yet jealous, which causes him to whip Janie. Tea Cake’s ferocity at the end of the novel is measured by his kindness in the earlier stages of his marriage to Janie.
In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, written by Zora Neale Hurston, one of the main characters, Janie has a level of low class as an African American women. When Janie and Jody got married, everything changed for Janie as a person. The two of them moved to Eatonville and Jody bought tons and tons of land. He would get carried away with his money and power. He then became mayor of the town.
However, the main character, Janie, doesn’t accept this submissiveness and fights back, therefore challenging the roles of gender and breaking them for herself.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is a novel based on a character by the name of Janie Crawford. Janie has many relationships throughout the novel whether it’s her grandma, friend, or even her husband but each relationship teaches her something different on life. Janie grew up with her grandmother who was a slave and Janie’s life is very different from the rest of ours. She was forced to marry at the age of 16 to a much older man. She then ditches that husband for another guy that she has known for around a week.
Their Eyes were watching God, a novel written by African-American female author Zora Neale Hurston in 1937. In the early 20th century in central Florida, The main character is Janie Crawford an African-American woman now in her early forties telling the story of her life to Pheoby Watson on 3 major periods in her life since she last been to Eatonville. Throughout the book, and she is forced into constant movement down roads after being abandoned by her grandmother and her three husbands. This movement allows her the opportunity to explore and form her ideas and voice in solitude. After her experiences, she stops running away from her problems and being silent and notices that her voice can be heard regardless.
Their Eyes Were Watching God, one of the most influential novels to come out of the Harlem Renaissance, plays a crucial role in revealing the deep-rooted issue of misogyny during the era. As the protagonist, Janie Crawford, navigates the complexities of her three marriages, Zora Neale Hurston delves into the core of human emotion to develop Janie’s character throughout the novel. As Janie witnesses the deaths of her three marriages, she is transformed from a silenced wife to an icon of feminism; she changes in her level of maturity, independence, and self-reliance in response to her husbands’ treatments of her. Janie matures out of her adolescent naivety when her loveless union with Logan Killicks extinguishes her pre-marital perceptions of
Janie chooses to (like many women today) stand up for herself and makes decisions that benefit her as opposed to those who attempt to control her. It is arguable that the way society functions is all a
She also describes how some women, like Janie, are able to overcome the stereotypical roles. These stereotypical roles should not play a part in society. Women should not just rely on their husband, following the traditional roles of women, being satisfied with her life as the weaker sex. Women should be like Janie, searching for their inner strength to gain their happiness while overcoming these ancient viewpoints about women. So, how will this issue be buried in the years to come?
Through Janie’s struggle for independence and sense of self, she experiences hardships, but in the end, accomplishes her goals. As a woman,
(Hurston 72). When Janie had this notion, she was debating her relationship with Joe. Joe tends to make Janie initially blind, but as she begins to realize his true colors, she no longer loves him and yearns for something
