Zora Neale Hurston was an African American writer during the Harlem Renaissance who wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God. She was a very ambitious woman and did many things in her lifetime. In one article an author wrote, “Hurston realized many of her dreams during her lifetime and wrote prolifically, publishing short stories, essays, plays, historical narratives, ethnographies, an autobiography, and several novels” (“Zora”). Not only was she an author she was also an anthropologist. However Hurston’s life wasn’t all perfect at times. At a young age she lost her mother which ended her childhood abruptly, much like the main character Janie in Their Eyes Were Watching God. After her mother’s death she also began working odd jobs and traveling, …show more content…
Janie always had a dream for her life and that always involved the image of the pear tree. Janie had a plan for herself and it was a lot larger than what others had instore for her. When she was young Janie always had this vision of a pear tree and in one article an author explains “Her guiding image of the pear tree in bloom bespeaks a more profound meaning for love” (Kubitschek). The pear tree meant a lot more to Janie than just marriage and love. It was a lot bigger than that, it was more about discovering the world and herself on her own terms. Janie as a young girl was always dreaming and thinking about what else is out there. She was constantly thinking about what her future held. Her Nanny supported her big dreams as well. In an article an author wrote, “Nanny states that although she could not realize her own dreams, Janie need not suffer such restriction: ‘It wasn 't for me to fulfill my dreams.... But nothing can 't stop you from wishin '....’” (Hattenhauer). Although Janie may not realize it, her Nanny has always supported her dreams when she was young. This shows the theme because Janie has always had a vision of the life she
The pear tree that Janie discovers in chapter one symbolizes her perfect relationship. She compared the bees collecting nectar to a marriage. ” She saw the dust-bearing bee sink into the love embrace and the every blossom and frothing with delight. So this was a marriage!” (Hurston ,11).
In novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie grows as a person and becomes someone that she wanted to be for a long time. Janie is learning how to play simple things such as checkers and talking to people who she once was cut off from. Janie is starting to learn more about that world and what is happening around her. Janie learns that she is impatient when she is waiting for someone to come or something to happen.
She worried about her mother and father. She tried to help them but things kept going wrong. Her dad was an alcoholic and her mother didn't want to work; she just wanted to keep hope in her painting career. “Your father and I are who we are, accept it” page 5, Jannete tried to help them find a place to stay but they would always fall behind on payments and they would be kicked out on the streets of new york city.
Hurston was famous for writing the book, Their Eyes Were Watching God. She wrote this famous novel while traveling to Haiti. Hurston got the idea for the novel when she arrived in New York. There she meet Dr. Franz Boas, known as, “the Father of Anthropology” (The Big Read). She fell in love with a 23 year old named Percy Punter.
The tree signifies the decisions and changes Janie makes throughout her life. Things that are done are her marriages. She cannot undo many things including herself experiencing passionate feelings for the wrong people and Nanny's perspectives on marriage which constrains Janie to marry Logan. She suffers in her marriages with Logan and Joe on the grounds that they both makes it harder for her to discover her freedom. However she enjoys her marriage with Tea Cake and surprisingly encounters a genuine love, the easy ecstasy of being with somebody.
Zora Neal Hurston was 1 of many authors who left an impact on society. As Delia worked hard to Take care of her home, her husband as unemployed which made him insecure. Delia was also trapped
Growing up everyone has something called a dream. Some may have dreams as small as creating a lemonade stand and some may have dreams as big as creating a worldwide company. Two characters named Janie and Walter in separate books; Janie from Their Eyes Were Watching God and Walter from A Raisin In The Sun, both had goals and aspirations that they wanted to accomplish. Janie’s ambitions in the novel were summarized by something called the pear tree goal. This goal consisted of sexuality, maturity, marriage, freedom, and family.
Hurston’s literary works brought about a new vision of the American dream. One where people of different backgrounds could peacefully coexist without concerns as to political, economic, or racial status. She was a key figure in developing an American dream inclusive of African
African American Project Zora’s Biography Zora Neale Hurston was a renown African American author whose literal work played a critical role during the emancipation protests. Born in Alabama and brought up in Florida, Zora was always surrounded by a complex mix of Black and white neighbors in the vicinity (Lillios n. pag.). Zora saw massive evidence of what blacks were able to achieve on their own. These black achievements were a source of inspiration for Zora, which made her to shun inferiority. Zora was aware that many of the blacks were indoctrinated in inferiority, thereby making them linger in poverty (Lillios n. pag.).
The pursuit of dreams has played a big role in self-fulfillment and internal development and in many ways, an individual 's reactions to the perceived and real obstacles blocking the path to a dream define the very character of that person. This theme is evident in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, which is about the search for identity. A woman of a mixed ethnicity resides in several communities, each playing an important role and serve as crucial influences on her life. During the story, she endures two failed relationships and one good relationship, dealing with disappointment, death, the wrath of nature and life’s unpredictability.
Zora Neale Hurston’s writing in Their Eyes Were Watching God, reflects the Harlem Renaissance through Janie 's individuality, and departs from the Harlem Renaissance with the common recurrence of black woman empowerment. In the novel, Hurston reflects the ideas of the Harlem renaissance with the ways in which Janie rebels and goes against norms for women.
As Janie is laying down at sixteen years old beneath a pear tree in the spring, it becomes a symbol to her of the optimal relationship. Janie marries to Logan Killicks to please her Nanny before she dies. As Janie cries to her Nanny she says to her "Ah wants things sweet wid mah marriage, lak when you sit under a pear tree and think." (p 24) she admits to not being happy with a relationship she is in with Logan. As the Pear Tree continues to grow, so does Janie’s understanding of her optimal relationship.
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
All people grow and develop at different rates, with factors such as heredity and environment strongly influencing one's development. The age-old debate of nature-vs-nurture is at the forefront, as always. The people one meets, and the experiences one goes through play vital roles in forming that person. In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie Crawford grows as a woman with the men she was married to. Through the tides of life and relationships she realizes how a person is truly supposed to live their life.
In 1973, Walker began a search for the author that resulted in an essay, “Looking for Zora,” which brought new and lasting attention to Hurston. Considering that Walker was able to trace the end of Hurston's journey to “an unmarked