Their Eyes Were Watching God Essay

Despite its profound position, the novel Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston has been challenged of its place in high school student’s education by parents and educational groups. Their main argument implied that the novel contained sexual explicitness, obscenity, racial remarks and vulgar reasons. However, Their Eyes were Watching God should contain its place in the high school English curriculum because of two reasons: its significance in American History and the moral of love and self-expression. First, this book withholds too many important factors in American history to be left out. Hurston uses various examples in order to express the hardships of

“A parent objected to the novel [Their Eyes were Watching God]’s language and sexual explicitness” (“Banned And/or Challenged Books from the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century”). Inevitably, the explicit manner in which Hurston writes with becomes on objection. However, explicitness contributes to the value of the book. It emphasizes Janie’s search for love and identity. Without the dialect and sexual remarks, the moral of love and self-expression would not have stood out and Hurston would not have been able to deliver the realism of being a black in a southern community. It is true that Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes were Watching God, contains sexual, racial and obscene remarks. However, the aspects of the book, pertaining to US history, and the teenager’s mindset to find true identity and love allows this novel to be in the literary scene of high schools and an American. Therefore, it is inevitable that Their Eyes were Watching God should retain its position in the popular literary