Figurative language is a technique used commonly among authors in literature, yet still something readers have a difficult time figuring out due to the deeper meaning that is hidden in the piece of work. In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, a minor yet significant character named Mrs. Turner is compared to a pious worshipper, portraying her as someone who is obsessed of one race over another, showing her want of power in society. This ultimately suggests the invisible power in a race and how the color of one’s skin can make differences.
Mrs. Turner is an interesting character in this novel. Mrs. Turner is compared to “believers [who] had built an altar to the unattainable -- Caucasian characteristics for all” (Hurston
Characters in Their Eyes Were Watching God Their Eyes Were Watching God is a narrative that showed the life of Janie Mae Crawford and went in the direction beginning with showing her life from the present, then then the majority of the book was a flashback, finally at the very last chapters the present was bought back to the reader. The publication had 1 consistent character throughout the book, and previously mentioned it was Janie Mae Crawford. The other important characters in the book were Jody Starks and Tea Cake, they both came into her life in and in respect, in a way effected her in major ways. The development of Janie thought the novel was greatly impacted by Jody, Tea Cake, even herself with making a change in her identity.
Everyone is growing and we still grow even when were older it is a mystery to all of us. Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God uses a array of rhetorical devices to show and explain what Janie from the novel went through her life growing up. At the outset of the novel the author uses metaphor comparing how and why it was like a flute song forgotten in another existence and remember again.
Zora Neal Hurston Rhetorical Analysis In American novelist, Zora Neal Hurston’s, How It Feels to Be Colored Me, Hurston’s purpose is that African- Americans should celebrate their individual identity and look towards the future. In order to impress this on her readers, especially all of race-conscious America, Hurston utilizes satire and metaphors in the interest of conveying deeper meaning and implementing her own personality, thus, further developing the effectiveness of her text. Firstly, Hurston incorporates satire into her text, in which she uses humor to expose and criticize people's vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics. Authors take advantage of many aspects of this device, (strong use of irony,
ove is a strange emotion that we humans can’t explain.., in the novel Their eyes were watching God, by Zora neale Hurston, the author uses oxymoron to describe how the main character cherish what she has and how she wants it to remain the same for ever, but she has met tragedies in her lifetime and that caused her to not have the life she would have liked to have at the beginning of the chapter she was a young girl, Jannie the main character, who was leaving with her grandmother and her grandmother, once saw jannie kissed a young African American guy and her grandmother decided that she was old enough to be married and Jannie was forcibly married to a White Male who was really old compared to her, her grandmother forced to her get married
Thanks to this disparity between black and white people as well as the use of the African American Vernacular English, Hurston cherishes the black culture. Importantly, Benesch claims that: “if it were not for the abundant use of Black English, which in itself ties the text to a specific cultural background, Their Eyes Were Watching God night easily [...] refer to ubiquitous problems of human existence” (Benesch, 1988: 628). The problem of the relations between the black and the white in the novel is also discussed by Jürgen C. Wolter (2001). He argues that the progression visible in Janie`s character symbolizes the change in thinking about skin color.
Hurston’s metaphors help the reader to understand the great deal of oppression that the handkerchief symbolizes. The author’s metaphors such as “girl was gone”, “woman had taken her place”, and “the glory was there” emphasize that Janie is able to reveal her true beauty in overcoming her struggles. The author implies that by Janie uncovering her hair, she is revealing the constant shadow that has prevented her from her self-examination and in finding her true identity. The author’s metaphors are used to help the reader understand that the moment for an individual to overcome a struggle is profoundly beautiful and
“Separated by a Common Language:”1 Dialect in Their Eyes Were Watching God In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, dialect is used in the dialogue. Hurston uses two very distinct writing styles in Their Eyes Were Watching God. One is in a style not so different than that of other American writers. The narrator begins Chapter 11 with, “Janie wanted to ask Hezekiah about Tea Cake, but she was afraid he might misunderstand her and think she was interested” (139).
Personification in Their Eyes Were Watching God By: Camryn McCracken Throughout the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, author Zora Neale Hurston uses personification to convey the complex emotions of each character as well as the beauty of the setting. Text often uses figurative language to explain what even careful readers may not understand, but Hurston’s use of figurative language is what makes this book a masterclass on literary art.
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.
The imagery used throughout the essay describes how the author feels when she is surrounded by white people. Hurston describes the feeling as is she is a “dark rock surged upon, overslept by a creamy sea”. The dark rock represents the author, while the creamy sea represents the white people surrounding her. The author uses this as a way to describe how she isn't changed by being around white people. They might surround her but she is still herself.
Many men in the book reserve the right to beat their wives and insult their intelligence simply because they’re having a bad day. Joe considers his home a refuge made comfortable by Janie and when the reality doesn’t live up to his expectations he takes out his frustration physically on his wife. Men in the novel seem to have some level of domestic violence as a means getting out their frustration. In the Book “Their Eyes Were Watching God” Zora Neale Hurston uses physical and emotion situations to show the oppression of women. In the book there were many example of oppression of women but the submission of women, the intellectual level of women and the beating of women are especially uses throughout the book.
Racism can be defined as prejudice, discrimination, or contributions to a system that perpetuates the idea that one race is inferior to another. Racism was heavily enforced throughout American history, specifically in the early 1900’s. Coincidentally, this was the same time feminists, or women’s-rights activists, were in the in the midst of their fight for equality. Feminism is the theory that women should be treated equally to men in terms of social, political, and economic matters. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston uses the protagonist, Janie, to convey both concepts through her journey to self-love and acceptance.
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.
As a direct result of this belief, she feels hatred towards Tea Cake because he is a common black man, and tries to convince Janie to leave him for her brother. Through this, Hurston puts forth Tea Cake’s experience of discrimination based on his race as a microcosmic example of what takes place in American society. Part of Mrs. Turner’s views come from the fact that “it was distressing to emerge from her inner temple and find these black desecrators howling with laughter before the door” (145). For her, black people are too rambunctious and too foolish; she fails to recognize that the black people she knows simply have a different way of life than her, and, as a result, becomes prejudiced. Hurston demonstrates that racist whites like Mrs. Turner meet a few black people, decide that they are too loud, careless, or whatever trait they dislike, and characterize the entire race based on the traits of these few people.
Rough Draft Essay The book Their Eyes Were Watching God was written in 1937 by Zora Neale Hurston. To me this book is about a girl named Janie who is trying to find love but time after time she fails until she meets what she thinks is the right one until he dies of rabies. Throughout the essay I will be going through quotes from chapters 10 & 18 that helped me conduct imagery throughout the book. The first quote is “She handed over the cigarettes and took the money.