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Their Eyes Were Watching God Opening Scene Analysis

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Victoria Venzor
Ms. Adao
AP English Literature
17 January 2017
Life’s Revelation Through the Eyes of a Colored Women
Written by Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God, follows a young woman named Janie Crawford and her coming of age story. In the opening scene, Janie opens up to her friend Pheoby and tells her how things have been since she had left with Tea cake two years ago. However, Phoebey doesn't understand the story Janie is trying to tell her; therefore, the opening scene leads to a flashback. At the age of 16, Janie was sitting outside under a pear tree when she witnesses a bee pollinating the flowers, which she interprets as love. Although, she yearns to experience this love, she is arranged by her grandmother to marry …show more content…

For instance when analyzing her relationship with Tea Cake she recalls her previous marriage with Joe. Janie states, “ Cause Tea Cake ain’t no Jody Starks, and if he tried tub be, it would be uh complete flommuck. But de minute Ah marries ‘im everybody is gointuh be makin’ comparisons. “ (Hurston 114). The qualities Tea Cake posses are not the same as the qualities found in Joe Starks. She comes to understand that love is not what she made it out to be when she was a young girl in the back of her nanny’s yard looking up at the pear tree. It is “ uh love game” (Hurston 114). It is not until the end of the novel, where Janie understands that she has lived her ideal “love” with Tea Cake for it was unconditional, raw, and …show more content…

Their Eyes Were Watching God. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co. 1937. 10. Print.
Hurston, Zora. Their Eyes Were Watching God. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co. 1937. 11.Print.
Hurston, Zora. Their Eyes Were Watching God. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co. 1937. 11. Print.
Hurston, Zora. Their Eyes Were Watching God. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co. 1937.11. Print.
Hurston, Zora. Their Eyes Were Watching God. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co. 1937. 11. Print.
Hurston, Zora. Their Eyes Were Watching God. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co. 1937. 13. Print.
Hurston, Zora. Their Eyes Were Watching God. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co. 1937. 114. Print.
Hurston, Zora. Their Eyes Were Watching God. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co. 1937. 114. Print.
Hurston, Zora. Their Eyes Were Watching God. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co. 1937. 159. Print.
Hurston, Zora. Their Eyes Were Watching God. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co. 1937. 160.

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