Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston

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 novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston argues that relationships provide guidance in Janie’s life journey in order to showcase Janie’s three different and challenging marriages, ultimately illustrating that independence and freedom is necessary for self-discovery.

Janie and Logan’s subpar marriage helped Janie ultimately become a woman. Hurston provides a direct characterization of

He didn’t want her talking after such trashy people. “You’se Mrs. Mayor Sparks, Janie. I god, Ah can’t see what uh woman uh yo’ stability would want tuh be treasurin’ all that gum-grease from folks dat don’t even own de house dey sleep in….” (53). Hurston’s diction such as forbidden, trashy, and gum-grease connotes Jody’s disapproval of Janie and her want of being with the townspeople. This diction causes the reader to understand Jody as an oppressive figure. Similarly, Hurston provides symbolism of Janie’s hair to illustrate Jody taking away Janie’s individualism. Throughout the novel, Hurston symbolizes Janie’s hair as her power and unconventional identity. Along with restricting Janie’s voice Jody also controlled her hair as well, Hustron states, “Her hair was NOT going to show in the store, It didn’t seem sensible at all. That was because Joe never told Janie how jealous he was. He never told her how often he had seen the other men figuratively wallowing in it as she went about things in the store…. She was there in the store for him to look at, not those others. But he never said things like that. It just wasn’t in him.” ( 55). Hurston’s symbolization of Janie’s hair connotes Jody’s jealousy of her and causes the reader to understand that Janie does

Hurston provides a simile in order to illustrate Janie’s attraction to Tea Cake and how he makes her feel. After Janie’s first date with Tea Cake she gained a new revelation, “She couldn’t make him look just like any other man to her. He looked like the love thoughts of women. He could be a bee to a blossom—a pear tree blossom in the spring. He seemed to be crushing scent out of the world with his footsteps. Crushing aromatic herbs with every step he took. Spices hung about him. He was a glance from God''(106). The simile connotes that Janie has never experienced this feeling before and causes the reader to understand that Janie and Tea Cake’s marriage is different from the rest. Next, although their relationship had its ups and downs, Hurston includes hyperbole in order to convey Tea Cake’s insecurities in their relationship. During the hurricane Tea Cake finally admits his insecurities with his and Janie’s relationship, Tea Cake confesses, “Janie, Ah would have given Jacksonville and Tampa a jump-back for youtube here with me. Ah started to come git yuh two three times…. Ah was skeered, too skeered Ah might lose yuh…. Them wuzn’t no high muckty mucks. Dem wuz railroad hands and dey womenfolk. You aint usetuh folk lak dat and Ah wuz skeered you might git all mad and quit me for takin’ you ‘mongst ‘em.” (124). This hyperbole connotes that Tea Cake believed that Janie