In the book “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston, characterizes the meaning of the Harlem Renaissance through the story line of this book. “Their Eyes Were Watching God” tells a story about a black Southern lady by the name of Janie Crawford. Janie a woman who refuses to live her life in sorrow, fear, and dispair tries to pertinent as an independent woman, but catches herself going through three seprate marriages, all love with dispairety. In the beginning of this novel, the author depicts a picture of Eatonville (where the story takes place). Eatonville is described to be more of a low class, southern area and mostly everyone dressed the same, so if anyone was to be dressed in a particular way, it would be assumed automatically …show more content…
Like shown on chapter 4, pg 26 of the book, Janie explains: “ Ah’m just as stiff as you is scout. If you can stand not to chop and tote wood Ah reckon you can stand not to git no dinner. ‘Scuse mah freezolity, Mist’ Killicks…” As you can see, the grammar is poorly used and because of their Southern background, their choice of words and accent also effect their literature. Even though there are many differences between this book and the Harlem Renaissance, one main thing they share is the pride. In the book, Zora shows how the characters have pride in their countries roots and heritage, for example Mrs. Turner, a woman who very much disliked black people even though she was black herself, would explain to Janie of how rusty black men and women were and the style of clothes they’d wear, the hollering, and chaos they make was the reason why non black folks hated black folks, but Janie’s third husband Tea Cake explains: “Mah Janie is uh high time woman and uster things. Ah didn’t git her outa de middle uh de road. Ah got her outa uh big fine house.” (Ch 17, Pg 148). In this quote, it explains how Tea Cake shows pride in his woman for what she is and could care less about what Mrs. Turner had to say about any black persons features. In the Harlem Renaissance though, they didn’t show much pride in features, but mostly in the
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.
In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by, Zora Neale Hurston Janie, strives to find her own voice throughout the novel and she succeeds even though it takes her time to do it. Each one of her husband’s has a different effect on her ability to find her voice. Janie had noticed that she did not have a voice when Jody was appointed mayor by the town’s people and she was asked to give a few words on his behalf, but she did not answer, because before she could even say anything Jody had stated “ ‘Thank yuh fuh yo’ compliments, but mah wife don’t know nothin’ ’bout no speech-makin’/Janie made her face laugh after a short pause, but it wasn’t too easy/…the way Joe spoke out without giving her a chance to say anything on way or another that took
During the early decades of the twentieth century, opportunities for women to speak up and share their voices were extremely limited. A defying woman of the era, Zora Neale Hurston, found an opportunity for her voice to be heard through her writing. At the Literary Awards Dinner in 1925, Hurston made a flamboyant entrance when she walked into a room of crowded people and shouted the title of her famous play: “Coooolor Struckkkk!” Clearly, Hurston proved she was not afraid to speak out and let her voice be heard. In her book Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston demonstrates many factors can influence a person’s decision to speak up or not by charting Janie’s relationships with those around her.
The townspeople’s envy of Janie is rooted in internalized racism--one that favors light skin and other Eurocentric facial features. The porch-sitters of Eatonville also find it strange that Janie, who was at a higher social class before she met Tea Cake, come back to Eatonville and present herself in a way typical of a laborer. Although Janie yearns for a sense of community within Eatonville, the porch creates a division rooted in envy and internalized racism amongst the black community. Furthermore, as Tea Cake rapidly gets more sick, Janie acts upon self-defense and is forced to kill Tea Cake. That same day, Janie was to be put on trial in the courtroom.
The late 1890’s and early 1900’s were an oppressive time for people of color, but one woman overcame the oppression and made a name for herself. Anthropologist and novelist, Zora Neale Hurston, became a fixture of the Harlem Renaissance. During her life, Zora wrote multiple short stories and her most recognized piece, ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’. Coming from a family with lots of brothers and sisters, Zora was the only one to become something big. Her life was very thrilling and interesting, but ended in an unfortunate way.
One hundred and ninety-three pages of brilliance, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is a fictional coming of age novel that blooms with a realism of the world in the South during the early 1930’s for a black woman. The book has a southern dialect, powerful but vulgar language, and domestic violence, three points of the book that are crucial to understand the novel’s effect and is a part of life that people have to accept. A summary of Their Eyes Were Watching God is that of a woman, Janie Crawford, who grows from a silent girl and over time flourishes into a woman with a strong voice over the course of three marriages and with that, many hardships. Yet, the main topic is not about Janie, the main focus is about another author
The Harlem Renaissance is widely considered the uprising of African American culture. The duration of this movement started in the 1920s and went on until the start of the Great Depression. This age reflected African Americans' talent to flourish through cultural, social, and artistic events. Zora Neale Hurston’s, “Their Eyes Were Watching God” reflects and departs ideas from the Harlem Renaissance to bring perspective to black womanhood in America. Through the character of Janie Crawford, Hurston explores the complexities of black femininity and identity, defying the male-dominated narratives at the time.
How can an African-American woman think for herself? In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, which took place in the southern parts of the United States in the late 1800s. The author, Zora Neale Hurston wrote of a woman named, Janie, that fought against three men that she married for her independence. She was victorious in this endeavor of becoming independent but at the cost of emotional and physical pain. Janie can be characterized as the evolving heroine of this story.
As has been mentioned in the first chapter, the Harlem Renaissance and the New Negro Movement were intended to re-establish black identity. Their aim was to break with the old stereotypes that were associated with the black. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston creates a society which consists exclusively of African Americans as “white folks had all the sayso where he come from and everywhere else, exceptin’ dis place dat colored folks was building” (Their Eyes Were Watching God, 1990: 28). Her aim is to shed light on the black community and to depict their unity that is not disturbed by the whites. In his research, Benesch describes Eatonville as a tightly integrated and developing city in which citizens do not want to conform to the norms
The Harlem Renaissance brought about a new sense of African American pride. The arts flourished with new artists and writers and singers. This time period brought about more confidence for African Americans from their former experience in slave life. This mindset of this new generation of people effected both males and females. In Their Eyes were Watching God, the contrast between Janie and her grandmother shows the differing thought on independence and the new womanhood during the time period of the Harlem Renaissance.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston contains many elements of racism, sexism, and elitism. Janie spends a lifetime of going from one relationship to the next in an effort to find out who she is. Along the way, there are elements of feminism, or the advocacy for gender equality, that touch her journey as she learns to make her own decisions and speak her mind. While Janie would not necessarily be the most typical conception of a strong feminist character, the context of the southern African American society of the 1920´s, Janie has made some decisive actions that would constitute her as a feminist character.
As a result, the ability to control language is a step towards the journey of individualism. The novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is written after the pinnacle of the Harlem Renaissance, a period of expanding African culture through literature, music, and art instilled a new sense of social and artistic freedom. However, the Depression during the 1930s ended the cultural tolerance that allowed the Harlem Renaissance to flourish, shifting cultural production into “social realism.” Thus, the rise of the movement perceived art should unmask the social injustice within the world. In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie’s possession of an “outward existence which conforms, the inward life that questions” illustrates how breaking society’s gender roles and finding control over one’s voice are crucial sources in developing one’s identity and empowerment.
Janie is a strong-willed, independent woman who does not conform to traditional gender norms. For example, While Nanny is expressing her concern for Janie she says "Nother thing, Ah hates tuh see folks lak me and mixed up wid' em. Us oughta”(Hurston 141). This quote demonstrates how Janie's journey toward self-identity departs from the Harlem Renaissance’s idea of collective identity. Janie resists the idea that she should be defined by her race or social status and instead asserts her individuality.
In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, the long-lasting effects of slavery have taken a toll on Janie Crawford. Janie’s grandmother was raped by her master and had a child named Leafy. Leafy, although not born into slavery, endured a similar fate, which led her to run away, leaving her mother to raise her child, Janie. Janie’s appearance, showing strong European features, was both praised and shamed by society. This double standard was created by racism and was able to remain present due to segregation.
but she didn’t listen to them and she continued to be with tea cake going against what her community said, empowering herself. This is departing from the Harlem Renaissance because the townspeople are trying to restrict her, and the Renaissance is all about setting yourself free of restrictions. “Well, you know whut dey say ‘uh white man and uh nigger woman is de freest thing on earth.’ Dey do as deyplease” (Hurston 189).The quote within the book clearly shows the departure from the Harlem Renaissance during the Renaissance black people weren 't really equal and in this part of the book it is said that a black women is as free as a white man.