Were Watching God Theme

The black culture is very diverse in different parts of the world-even in different parts of the state. Janie as moved throughout Florida to places such as West Florida, Eatonville, and the Everglades. Residing in these different places helps develop and define the character of Janie. Throughout Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie experiences many variations of black culture that helps build her character as she travels through Florida.

Maya Angelou once said “I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn” and this applies to Janie when going through her marriages with Logan, Joe, and Tea Cake. In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, she expresses how a girl can mature through her womanhood by facing many obstacles in her life, but not allowing them to stop her but to make her better. The use of motifs help the reader grasp a better understanding of the change and progress by using items such as the pear tree, the mule, and Janie’s hair to provide a deeper understanding of the context. There was plenty of symbolic representation in the book such as the pear tree which symbolizes Janie’s life and how through each marriage she grew on to the peach tree. The idea

Their Eyes Were Watching God uses figurative language in the form of metaphors, figures of speech, symbolism, and similes throughout the story. tI would like to focus on how Zora Neal Hurston uses figures of speech and figurative language in Their Eyes Were Watching God. The way she uses figurative language helps to develop her story in a way that readers can really understand and follow the story. The way she uses personification and symbolism and metaphors helps all readers to have a better understanding of what life in America was actually like for African Americans during the 20th Century. A time where African Americans were not yet seen as equals, but the main character, Janie, showed strength, independence, and defiance.

Throughout the course of the book, Janie experiences oppression as a woman, revealing the hidden gender roles in American society that help form the American

Wright argues that Their Eyes Were Watching God does not convey any ideas or themes of importance, but I believe that his masculinity blinds him, and he is unable to see how this novel is able to call attention to how women of color are oppressed by men. Throughout the entire story, Janie is constantly being oppressed by, not by a person, but by an idea, which was created by men. The idea that black women were at the bottom of the social pyramid, they are forced to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders, therefore they were “de mule uh de world.” Hurston communicates this idea through Nanny by writing, “So de white man throw down de load and tell de n***** man to pick it up.

Janie holds anger for her grandma because of the grandmother’s decision, but eventually, after she matures, Janie realizes that Nanny was merely doing it

The image of the mule emerges repeatedly in different contexts throughout the novel, but remains consistent in its figurative meaning as a symbol of victimization and bondage, specifically for the black female. The image of the mule first appears when Nanny tells Janie that black women are the mules of the earth, meaning that they are the lowest creatures, used by others. It then appears again when Logan Killicks goes to buy a mule for Janie to use when working behind a plow; his forceful attempt to make Janie work makes her feel as though she herself is being treated as an animal. Finally, the mule reappears once again when the townspeople of Eatonville make fun of Matt Bonner's sad looking mule, which Janie pities. When Jody purchases the mule to appease Janie's sense of pity for it, the town regards Jody

events like her marriages and her childhood memories. It was while Janie was a young teen she was always working. Going into her first relationship she was always working, her husband made her work like a mule. In her second marriage, she was not adequate to do much. She could not let her hair down, she could not express her mind, and she could not play checkers with her husband or anyone else.

Their Eyes Were Watching God tells the story of Janie Crawford- a light-skinned black woman raised by her grandmother-Nanny- in Florida during the 1920’s. The novel documents her trials and tribulations as she blooms into womanhood and navigates the twisting roads of life and love. Along the way she learns several invaluable lessons and grows into her own person. But, without a doubt, the single most important epiphany Janie experiences during the course of this novel is realizing that security and love are not the same thing.

Being a woman of color in the 1920’s was no easy task. Gender and racial inequalities have made progress throughout history, however during the time of this novel, and even in our modern day world they are still present and causing conflict. This is an issue that should be focused on and taken more seriously. In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie does a fantastic job overcoming several of these inequalities in order to pursue her own happiness, overall depicting her as an extremely powerful role model for young

Thus, Zora Neale Hurston uses community as a motif to help prove her theme, using specific details such as Janie’s disallowance to go to the funeral and the community scorning her. In conclusion, the novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God” presents the theme of love and that being in a relationship hinders independence but in an unique way. Hurston uses symbolism like Janie’s head rag which stifled her independence and when burned, made her feel free. She also uses the motif of communities, which are ever present throughout the book, using specific examples such as when Janie isn't allowed to go to the funeral, which hinders her independence because she isn't making choices for herself and isn't doing

Later on in Their Eyes Were Watching God, an important biblical allusion is that of the great flood because it serves as a major turning point in Janie’s life. It is interesting that of all the parallels Hurston could have used to show Janie’s aging, she specifically used Methusalem because Methusalem died just before the great flood in the Bible because God deemed that a man as righteous as Methusalem must not be carried from the Earth in that way. Later in Their Eyes Were Watching God, the Everglades flood and this can be seen as

All in all, Woodson is trying to teach the reader that as we grow and change, so do our perspectives. In the beginning, Woodson felt warm, cozy feelings about her town but because of segregation this changed. In the end, Woodson realizes that she changed as well as her perspective. This story shows us that a person’s view and a person changes as they get

Black women are treated less than because of their ascribed traits, their gender and race, and are often dehumanized and belittled throughout the movie. They are treated like slaves and are seen as easily disposable. There are several moments throughout the film that show the racial, gender, and class inequalities. These moments also show exploitation and opportunity hoarding. The Help also explains historical context of the inequality that occurred during that time period.

While the film has stereotypical hetero-normative characters such as Richie and Jeanie and a love interest that plays on class dynamics and social stratification the romantic side of this