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Similarities Between Their Eyes Were Watching God And The Midcoast

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In the novels, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston and The Midcoast by Adam White, both of the authors use descriptive settings to capture the essence of the new destinations that the characters travel to. These settings allow the authors to portray the character’s desires to escape the traps of their towns and eventually discover their identities through newfound freedoms. Both protagonists are trapped in their home environments, however, the characters have different motives for why they want to escape. While Andy wants to get away, Janie feels as though she needs to get away. Janie must leave an environment where she is under the control of an abusive relationship, whereas Andy wants to flee an environment in which he feels …show more content…

Janie ran away to Eatonville to escape from a life she didn’t want to live, however, Eatonville represented the oppression that has continuously tormented her. In Eatonville, although Janie lived with the reassurance of financial security, she was limited in other aspects of life. Chained to the life Joe made her live, Janie slaved away at work, deprived of the social interactions she desired. It was evident that Joe held a grasp over the town and everyone in it, including Janie, “something else made men give way to him…Take for instance that new house of his. It had two stories with porches, with banisters and such things. The rest of the town looked like servants’ quarters surrounding the “big house”. (47) After arriving in town, Janie soon realized she wasn’t living their life, she was living his. Here Hurston portrays Joe’s overbearing hold over Janie. The description of Eatonville is consumed by the imagery of Joe’s house, store and the porch attached. Hurston’s limited description of the town connects to Janie's limited freedom within it, and her inability to express who she really is. After Joe’s death, Janie moves to the Everglades. Right away Janie is relieved and filled with a sense of freedom, “to Janie’s strange eyes, everything in the Everglades was big and new.” (129) The Everglades represent opportunities and a new beginning for her allowing Janie to actually enjoy the life she lives. She has the financial security that provides ease in her life and is given the opportunity to explore a simpler life. Hurston describes the Everglades as loving, joyous, and prosperous, “Big Lake Okeechobee, big beans, big cane, big weeds, big everything…Ground so rich that everything went wild…Dirt roads so rich and black that half a mile of it would have fertilized a Kansas wheat field.” (129) The fertile and vibrant land of

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