ipl-logo

Examples Of Idealism In Their Eyes Were Watching God

869 Words4 Pages

Thomas Lewis Dr. Frye AP Literature 09 February 2023 Their Eyes Were Watching God In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston presents contrasting views on the idea of love, metaphors about love, and characters that challenge Janie’s idealism in order to show the flaws in Jaine’s view of love by having her deal with different types of men inside marriages that express her idea at varying degrees, ultimately illustrating that the idea of love is confusing and is built on concepts made by the world and others that can influence one’s life. Hurston begins by presenting multiple contrasting views on the idea of love to demonstrate how Jaine's idealism of love is shaped by influences. Such as her belief that both sides of a relationship …show more content…

Love, according to Jaine, is the union of two things, such as a "dust-bearing bee" (10), sinking into "the sanctum of a bloom," (10) connecting the two as a pair working together for the betterment of each other.This evidence implies that Jaine understands the concept of love through the examples the world can show her. Consequently, since Janie’s view of love is based on nature and the world, she cannot fully understand the true meaning of love, which helps to explain why she has such an unrealistic perception of love, which then leads her and others in her life to be at odds, sinking the two as a pair working together for the betterment of each other. This evidence implies that Jaine understands the concept of love through the examples the world can show her. Consequently, since Janie's view of love is based on nature and the world, she cannot fully understand the true meaning of love, which serves to explain why she has such an unrealistic perception of love. This leads her and others in her life to be at odds. Furthermore, illustrating Jaine's idealism of love by seeing the world in such detail and viewing it differently than most people, especially when considering a pear tree coming into bloom, as Jaine sees it as "every blossom frothing with delight," (Page 11) which helps to paint a detailed picture of the

Show More
Related

  • Examples Of Love And Judgement In Their Eyes Were Watching God

    425 Words  | 2 Pages

    Love and judgment can cause people to do things that they would never think that they would do. In the novel love and judgment causes Janie to think and make absurd decisions that she wouldn’t normally do. In her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston uses figurative language to develop the theme that love and judgment can cause people to make fanatical decisions. Hurtston uses a metaphor to show love can cloud your judgment sometimes. When Joe died, Janie said this about Tea Cake “He could be the bee to a blossom.

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis Their Eyes Were Watching God

    322 Words  | 2 Pages

    Literary Analysis The Quest for Independence Has one ever wonder what makes the world’s greatest novels so hard to put down? The ones that make one gasp aloud and bite one’s nails frantically; great novels that leave you on the edge of your seat, like, Romeo and Juliet, The Notebook, and even the Titanic. In each of these novels, they display a story of, the search for independence. In the novel, by Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God the protagonist, Janie Woods, begins her search for independence through three marriages and a life marked by poverty, trails and purpose.

    Read More

  • Janie Crawford In Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston

    733 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the beginning of this journey, Janie was excited to discover and experience her dream of finding a man who she truly loved and vice versa: "Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone. Dawn and doom was in the branches" (8). Although Janie’s dream began innocently, as time passed, she discovered what she wanted for herself more specifically. Her first thoughts of love in general began when she was sixteen years old, sitting under a tree in her yard: "Oh to be a pear tree--any tree--in bloom! With kissing bees singing of the beginning of the world!

    Read More

  • Their Eyes Were Watching God Janie's Identity

    1341 Words  | 6 Pages

    In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie, the female protagonist, evolves as a woman throughout her marriages with three men– Logan Killicks, Joe/Jody Starks, then Tea Cake Woods. Living up in the South during the Jim Crow period, Janie struggles not only with her racial identity but also with her identity as a woman. During her marriages to Logan and Joe, Janie is dissatisfied because she is constantly dismissed, silenced, belittled, and abused; however, by taking away her power, these men only make Janie stronger. Throughout her marriage to Joe Starks, which was the longest of her three unions, Janie experiences significant growth within two decades as she learns about her own desires and finds her worth. When Joe and

    Read More

  • Examples Of Gender Inequality In Their Eyes Were Watching God

    503 Words  | 3 Pages

    Reed Hickman 01/9/23 Ms. Allison English 3 Theme of Their Eyes Were Watching God In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Hurston we are shown the hardships and difficulties of a black woman at this time. Janie, a strong black woman returns to the town where most of her life took place, and she tells us her story within a flashback. Throughout the book, Hurston exemplifies the amount of gender inequality for women in the early 1900s. This is shown through how poorly Janie is treated not only in her relationships, but within the whole town.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston

    853 Words  | 4 Pages

    There no correct way to love someone, or how two souls show each other affection. As one grows through life they develop understanding of the kind of love that does not satisfy their desire, their own self by knowing what they gravitate toward, and what kind of love is just a fantasy and does not reflect reality. In the book Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the main character Janis Crawford jumps through life experimenting with different partners that show her different styles of love. As the book unfold Janis gains more knowledge about what kind of love she is seeking and what kind of partner will help her open her soul. Janis’ near-perfect partner Tea Cake gives her the love and respect to grow.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Horizon In Their Eyes Were Watching God

    675 Words  | 3 Pages

    Personal experiences often shape how people see the world. This can be said for people’s views of love and what love means to the individual. In Zora Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, the main character Janie searches for love and what true love is to her ever since she first got married. As Janie lives her life, she experiences marriage with three men: Logan Killicks, Jody starks, and Tea Cake, each of whom she initially believes she loves. However, as the story continues, she realizes that she does not truly love any of them except for Tea Cake.

    Read More

  • The Central Theme Of Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston

    526 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Zora Neale Hurston's novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God," the protagonist Janie Crawford's search for love is a central theme. Throughout the novel, Janie experiences various types of love from her three husbands, each of which ends in a different manner. Janie's first husband, Logan Killicks, represents a traditional and practical form of love. Logan is a wealthy landowner, and Janie's grandmother sees him as a good match for Janie due to his financial stability.

    Read More

  • Their Eyes Were Watching God Harlem Renaissance

    713 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Their Eyes Were Watching God Relationships

    543 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Their Eyes Were Watching God Sexism Analysis

    926 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston acknowledges the idea of sexism when she addresses that Janie Starks, the protagonist, never got to fulfill her dreams. Janie’s grandmother, Nanny, wanted the best for her granddaughter so she married her off to a man named Logan Killicks, a man who had a small farm and good wealth “Janie and Logan got married in Nanny’s parlor of a Saturday evening with three cakes and big platters of fried rabbit and chicken,” (Hurston 3). Years has passed within the marriage and Janie never found love for Logan. Logan comparing her to his ex-wife, discriminated Janie’s place of position, “Mah fust wife never bothered me ‘bout choppin’ no wood nohow. She’d grab dat ax and sling chips lak

    Read More

  • The Things They Carried, By Zora Neale Hurston

    1746 Words  | 7 Pages

    Their Eyes Were Watching God tells the story of how one man, Tea Cake, changes how a grown woman named Janie views life, opportunity, and happiness. Zora Neale Hurston employs parallelism in order to reveal the dynamic of this relationship between Janie and Tea Cake and writes, “He drifted off into sleep and Janie looked down on him and felt a self-crushing love. So her soul crawled out from its hiding place” (Hurston 128). At the very end of the book, Hurston writes again, “Here was peace. She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net.

    Read More

  • Janie's Three Marriages

    801 Words  | 4 Pages

    Zora Neale Hurston, an author during the Harlem Renaissance, wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God, an amazing novel written about the losses and loves of a lady named Janie Crawford. The author describes the way Janie found out who she really was and what love was throughout her three marriages. Janie’s first two marriages were unfulfilling and not healthy for herself. Janie realized what true love was when she met Tea Cake. Janie’s first marriage was to a man named Logan Killicks, which was forced upon her by her grandmother.

    Read More

  • Their Eyes Were Watching God Speech Analysis

    769 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston uses speech as a tool to show the progression of the story. Janie Crawford, the main character of the novel, finds her true identity and ability to control her voice through many hardships. When Janie’s grandmother dies she is married off, to be taken care of. In each marriage that follows, she learns what it is to be a woman with a will and a voice. Throughout the book, Janie finds herself struggling against intimidating men who attempt to victimize her into a powerless role.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In Their Eyes Were Watching God

    978 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston develops a contrast between the male and female genders of the time period of the story, and the male and female gender of today. Hurston wrote this novel in or about a time when women were considered simple-minded , women were disempowered by the empowered man in the relationship, and women can only gain power through marriage. But when Janie kisses Johnny Taylor, her view of men changes after seeing “a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight. So this was a marriage!

    Read More

More about Examples Of Idealism In Their Eyes Were Watching God

Open Document