A person 's strength can be defined in many ways. Strength can come from money or birthright. It can come from building muscle or studying books. Whether for good or bad, power comes from bountiful copious sources. The Novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston follows the life of a Biracial woman named Janie as she struggles to find love and happiness in her confusing life. The novel begins showing Janie as a young girl. Hurston explains Janie 's family history by recounting how her black mother was raped by a white school teacher, leading to her biracial nature. The story instills in the reader a reason to be against white men. The novel is centered around the main motif of hair and most specifically Janie 's hair. Throughout the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie 's hair represents her strength as a woman, and by showing how a woman 's strength collides with both masculine ideals as well as white power, Hurston shows ingrained problems of acceptance within the world. Janie 's physical features as a woman, most importantly of which is her …show more content…
She shows how strength comes in in all different manners. Power can come from a person 's physical features, through good deeds, or money. Janie 's hair is an example of a woman 's power, and Hurston uses Janie 's hair as a way to introduce the idea that strength causes conflict in the world. Hurston used this conflict throughout the book warn society about how it could be running itself off the rails, and by giving an early warning Hurston shows that she believes that society will be able to correct its own course by becoming more accepting. Zora Neale Hurston uses a woman 's suffering as well as black inequality to warn the world about their inherent fate. She shows how people should put aside their differences, and become one strong group of people rather than many individually, variously strengthened
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.
Hurston tells the story of Janie, a black woman who because of her grandmother experiences and beliefs was forced to marry into a loveless marriage with Logan Killicks, a hard-working farmer who had 60 acres of land and could provide for Janie. This marriage ended when Janie ran away with Joe Stark, a man that she fell in love with and thought could give her the love absent between her and Logan. But Janie soon realized that her second marriage wouldn’t turn out better than her first. Joe was just as controlling and degrading as Logan. He hardly expressed his love for Janie and spoke to her like an incompetent child.
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
Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God reflects the issues of slavery and reconstruction in the United States. Janie, the main character, has conflicts that portray some of those of slaves during the civil war and reconstruction. As Janie and the slaves overcome these issues they always seemed to find new conflicts arrising. Janie’s struggles on her journey from being controlled to finding freedom mirrors the struggles made by slaves during reconstruction. Having power over one another can create inequality and cause large arguments.
A strong-willed woman refuses to be manipulated no matter the role she plays. In the novel, “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston and the short story, “Hills like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway, there is a common theme of independence blooming from judgment. While Hurston focuses on true development, including puberty and relationships, Hemingway highlights reproductive rights and the role of women during this time. Hurston portrays Janie as a minority, illustrating her with flawless mixed skin and beautiful long hair that symbolizes her freedom throughout the novel. Mrs. Turner says Janie is “a heaven of straight haired, thin-lipped, high-nose-bone white seraphs…
Throughout American history, black culture has been treated inferior to the white race. Because Africans were brought to the United States against their will, forced into slavery, then eventually freed as American citizens, they wish to be treated equally while maintaining their unique and indigenous cultural values. Whether it is through music, art, or literature, black Americans express their way of life in order to gain authenticity for their community. However, in the case of literature, readers are unable to see color, therefore, writers must reveal cultural identity differences creatively. One style that became very popular after the Civil War is called local color: fiction that features the peculiarities of a particular community.
When someone’s story isn't public knowledge, the public tends to make up their story for them. In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston uses third-person narration to demonstrate Janie’s story being told in a way of which she is not in control. By giving her story to Pheoby, Janie hopes to suppress the gossip and assumptions that have been made about her in order to earn her place in society. The role of storytelling demonstrates the necessity of a woman’s story in being part of a community.
In The Eyes are Watching God, the author Zora Neale Hurston expresses the struggles of women and black societies of the time period. When Hurston published the book, communities were segregated and black communities were full of stereotypes from the outside world. Janie, who represents the main protagonist and hero, explores these communities on her journey in the novel. Janie shows the ideals of feminism, love, and heroism in her rough life in The Eyes. Janie, as the hero of the novel, shows the heroic qualities of determination, empathy, and bravery.
This essay investigates how feminism ideas are embedded in the book, Their Eyes Were Watching God written by the author Zora Hurston. As the background of the book is in the setting of the African Americans community, this investigation is focused on African American Feminism. Therefore, it brings up the question “How does ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’ depict African American Feminism?”. With the aim to answer the research question, this essay looks into the aspect from the way Hurston portrayed and developed the heroine Janie Woods. The text is analyze through looking closely into how Hurston portrayed Janie Woods ideal marriages, actions and self development.
Porch. A covered shelter projecting in front of the entrance of a building. This inanimate object served to develop various themes throughout the book, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. She reveals the theme of jealousy and envy, gender inequality and a sense of community with the help of the porch.
Her Story, Her Voice The unique story that is Their Eyes Were Watching God is a story of voices collected together to create one big voice. Hurston uses many characters’ voices to help Janie find her own, actual voice and tell her story by the end of the novel. The story by Zora Neale Hurston is a frame story which is a story within a story. Hurston, like many other authors, uses the frame narrative to help the story come full circle and create a sense that the reader is part of the story.
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.
(Hurston 8-9).” This really starts the search for identity within her. It fuels the fire to her wanting to know who she is, where she came from, and where she is going to go. Hurston is using this message to convey the theme of Identity. She uses Janie as the main representation of that theme.
Neale Hurston further supports this theme with symbolism, like Janie's hair rag that held up her
Conclusion Their Eyes Were Watching God is Hurston’s document to explain the impact of the history which is represented by the legacy of slavery on the present dilemma of her female protagonist Janie. As Janie’s grandmother was abused physically and exploited sexually and her mother was also raped ,Janie develops her past history within the era of post- Emancipation and attempt to find the real concept of her identity and self-fulfilment. Janie tries to put an end to the African –American women’s thoughts which are influenced by the white culture.