Have you ever been in a past relationship and started a new one only to realize you have been comparing the two? You may realize that you desire the past spark that the present does not have. In Zora Neale Hurston's novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, she utilizes juxtaposition to discreetly invite the audience to compare two scenes; whether it be Janie’s reactions to events, Janie’s outlook on a goal or fantasy versus someone else's, or how Janie is treated by her spouse. One of the juxtapositions Hurston includes in her novel is presented after the death of Janie’s second husband, compared to the death of Janie’s final husband. Any individual knowing Janie would idealize a grand funeral and a truly sorrowful widow to the death of her prosperous and well-known …show more content…
The horizon is a major symbol representing Janie’s lifelong search for happiness. Nanny did not approve of Janie’s ideal happiness. She was determined to force Janie to live the way she wanted her to; a way that Nanny never got to live. She wanted Janie to marry someone who would sit her on a pedestal and praise her. However, that is not what Janie fantasized. Nanny had “...taken the biggest thing God ever made, the horizon… and pinched it in to such a little bit of a thing that she could tie it about her granddaughter’s neck tight enough to choke her” (Hurston 85). That is exactly what Nanny did. Janie was forced into her first marriage, and unknowingly her second. Her final marriage represents Janie following her horizon. She had finally found her true happiness with someone who represented her pear tree, another strong symbol enforced by Hurston. The pear tree represented simplicity and pleasure. Every man Janie had married had been older than her, and not exactly what she had envisioned under the pear tree. Finally, she met Tea Cake and felt the feelings she had been longing
The “Rock Pile” by James Baldwin and “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston are two stories that examined black male resistance to emasculation. The men in these stories lived in patriarchal societies, and they reaped the benefits of a structure that favored men. In both of these stories, the male characters are dominant figures in their households, and when they felt like their manhood was being attacked, they retaliate viciously. In “Their eyes were watching god”
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston composed a passionate story of a beautiful African American woman in the early 1900s. It embodies how life was for the women of color, and the struggles they faced. Hurston used literary devices to show the struggles Jaine had to go through to find her voice and the power within herself. In the relationship between her and her first two husbands, she struggled to figure out if marriage was really the equivalent of happiness. Not knowing what she needed in life she struggled to find the feeling she had always craved.
Written by Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God, follows a young woman named Janie Crawford and her coming of age story. The novel is introduced with Janie returning back to Eatonville after the passing of her husband Tea Cake. 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, Phoebe doesn't understand the story Janie is trying to tell her because she incorporates events from when her grandmother was around thus confusing her friend.
In the face of adversity, what causes some individuals to fail while others prevail? Many people face difficulties. Depending on the person’s strength some will get through tough times, but some will fail to overcome them. I have chosen two books: Their Eyes Were Watching God and The Book Thief. These two stories deal with people overcoming the difficulties they face throughout their life.
In “Their eyes were watching god” by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie’s hair is a symbolic expression that holds experience and meaning about her life with her past loved ones. Janie’s hair is a crucial part in demonstrating the influence that Joe and Tea Cake has on her character; Janie’s hair being down represents her freedom, while being tied up shows how restrained she is. Throughout the book, Janie's development from feeling unsure and anxious to becoming confident and self-reliant is demonstrated through the change in her hair. In the beginning, Janie’s hair was down, conveying that she was free at first, but after marrying Joe Starks, he became superior over her, making her put her hair up and ultimately feeling controlled. When Janie meets
Drexel's programs on Zora Neale Hurston and Their Eyes Were Watching God was fascinating. I was nervous about attending because I never read Hurston’s book or understood the book’s significance. After the program, I became interested in learning more about Hurston’s life. I knew she attended Columbia University (as the only black student), but I had no clue she had to lie about her age to attend freely attend high school. I enjoyed listening to Dr.Wall’s speech, but I was reminded of the uncomfortable feeling I had when learning about my maternal family tree.
Porch. A covered shelter projecting in front of the entrance of a building. This inanimate object served to develop various themes throughout the book, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. She reveals the theme of jealousy and envy, gender inequality and a sense of community with the help of the porch.
In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, we follow our protagonist, Janie, through a journey of self-discovery. We watch Janie from when she was a child to her adulthood, slowly watching her ideals change while other dreams of hers unfortunately die. This is shown when Jane first formulates her idea of love, marriage, and intimacy by comparing it to a pear tree; erotic, beautiful, and full of life. After Janie gets married to her first spouse, Logan Killicks, she doesn’t see her love fantasy happening, but she waits because her Nanny tells her that love comes after marriage. Janie, thinking that Nanny is wise beyond her years, decides to wait.
Today is a time of equal opportunity and astonishing miracles for the human race as an entirety. Blacks are running the country, and women are discovering the unthinkable. The earth is billions of years old, yet just about one hundred years ago, it was a completely different world. Their Eyes Were Watching God is a novel by Zora Neale Hurston in which a character Janie yearns to find love in a time of harsh discrimination and violence. In this bitter setting, it seems that the hardest thing for Janie is to find that love.
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie suffers from hardship in two relationships before she can find her true love. Janie explains to her best friend, Pheoby, how she searches for love. Therefore Pheoby wants to hear the true story, rather than listening to the porch sitters. Throughout the book Janie experiences different types of love with three different men; Logan Killicks, Joe Starks, and Vergible "Tea Cake" Woods. At 16 Janie marries Logan Killicks.
In the bildungsroman Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, it depicts the story of Janie Starks, an African American woman living in rural Florida during the early 20th century. As a teen, Janie established both a clear idea of what love and marriage should be and a sense of self-worth that allowed her to go through her life knowing her standards for relationships. However, through Janie’s search for passionate love and independence, she falls victim to many voices that oppress her. Language is a tool that is used to both oppress and empower Janie on her path to finding her own voice and gaining her independence.
In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the protagonist Janie, is influenced by others to change her ideals. Hurston vividly portrays Janie’s outward struggle while emphasising her inward struggle by expressing Janie’s thoughts and emotions. In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening the protagonist is concisely characterized as having “that outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions,” as Janie does. Janie conforms outwardly to her life but questions inwardly to her marriages with Logan Killicks, her first husband, and Joe Starks, her second husband; Janie also questions her grandmother's influence on what love and marriage is.
Toni Morrison’s A Mercy portrays a young slave, Florens, struggles with her past as well as her life as a slave. Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God shows a woman, Janie, who struggles through various relationships in her life, but in the end, they help her find her freedom and individualism. Both stories have different story lines, but upon a closer look, it is easy to see that Florens and Janie have common factors in their lives; which includes, both characters are isolated by others, both characters want to love someone, both character’s guardians make decisions for them that they do not understand which causes conflict, and finally, both characters commit difficult actions which ends up changing their lives.
“Their Eyes Were Watching God” is a novel written by Zora Neale Hurston. The novel portrays Janie, a middle aged black woman who tells her friend Pheoby Watson what has happened to her husband Tea Cake and her adventure. The resulting telling of her story portrays most of the novel. Throughout the novel, Zora Neale Hurston presents the theme of love, or being in a relationship versus freedom and independence, that being in a relationship may hinder one’s freedom and independence. Janie loves to be outgoing and to be able to do what she wants, but throughout the book the relationships that she is in with Logan,Jody and Tea Cake, does not allow her to do that.
One of the universal themes of literature is the idea that children suffer because of the mistakes of an earlier generation. The novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God" follows the story of Janie Mae Crawford through her childhood, her turbulent and passionate relationships, and her rejection of the status quo and through correlation of Nanny 's life and Janie 's problems, Hurston develops the theme of children 's tribulations stemming from the teachings and thoughts of an earlier generation. Nanny made a fatal mistake in forcibly pushing her own conclusions about life, based primarily on her own experiences, onto her granddaughter Janie and the cost of the mistake was negatively affecting her relationship with Janie. Nanny lived a hard life and she made a rough conclusion about how to survive in the world for her granddaughter, provoked by fear. " Ah can’t die easy thinkin’ maybe de menfolks white or black is makin’ a spit cup outa you: Have some sympathy fuh me.