Spiritual Elements In Their Eyes Were Watching God

The novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston supports a theme of desire, love, and independence. Neale uses different literary devices such as symbolism and motif. Neale uses symbolism to express the theme of independence, desire and love. For example, uses Janie’s hair to symbolizes her independence and desire. Janie’s hair expresses the breaking the social standard barrier, by having her straight hair worn down which was seen shameful for a woman her age.

Right after a hurricane warning was issued at the Glades, all the townsfolk gather at Tea Cake’s house and prepare for a feast. Janie cooks the meal, just like she did in Eatonville, but in this case, Tea Cake stays with her and encourages her by praising her young looks. Though Janie cooks and stays in the house, she is not rangebound like she is in Eatonville. Home cooked fresh beans along with other drinks and nibbles are served and everyone has a ebullient and mirthful evening. This meal is truly exemplary of communion because everyone, including Janie takes part in the evening, is comfortable with each other, and has a good time together.

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.

Nancy Berber’s discussion and quote analysis was very thought provoking. Berber’s chosen quote in, “The Help,” by Katheryn Stockett was indeed a unique quote for this discussion. Berber’s analysis of Eugenia Phelan was correct when she asserted that Miss Skeeter was very different from everyone in Jackson, Mississippi. Stockett worked hard writing Miss Skeeter’s character as unique, different, and as a hidden beauty inside and out. Even though Miss Skeeter’s mother always portrayed Miss Skeeter as odd and as slightly ugly, other people always seemed to gravitate to Miss Skeeter’s inner beauty like Constantine, Miss Hilly, and Steward.

Julie A. Haurykiewicz addresses the symbol of the mule in Their Eyes Were Watching God by comparing it to the silencing of the main protagonist Janie Crawford. Attention is also brought to the idea of muliebrity or the state or condition of being a woman, throughout the article. Haurykiewicz recognizes that Janie is often unheard or silenced before demonstrating her points, and that during these acts, the mule is often present. The first time the mule is presented in the story is when Janie’s Grandmother states that “the black women is de mule uh de world.” Janie’s Grandmother has first handily experienced the oppressions of blacks before and after the Civil War.

The Finding Even though winter was around the corner, Reverend Parris was sweating like a waterfall. While the court room feeling stuffy with pressure on his shoulders, Parris was brought back to the night where he walks in the misty forest to find a group of girls dancing around a fire. With every BANG of the gavel he tried to find a way to understand what he had seen. A girl naked running around, Tituba singing her Barbados songs and his niece Abigail Williams holding a bottle of blood in her hands.

During the sixteen hundreds, a time where women were looked down upon in Spanish-American culture, two female, Christian authorities recorded their journey upon the path of Christ. Although they were similar in motivation and purpose, they held different positions in the eyes of the society. Juana Inés de la Cruz held the position of nun, while Ursula de Jesús was a donada, a version of nun that was of African or indigenous descent, but was considered to be inferior on the social ladder. Both women, however, were strongly oppressed throughout their lives, and this common disadvantage drove them both to similar conclusions and solutions about the hierarchies of the religious order of the time. Ursula de Jesús began her journal in 1650, in the convent of Santa Clara, where she had recently began to work as donada after a nun had purchased her freedom in 1645.

Abigail now has complete control over the situation, because she has the power to blame whoever she wants as long as the people of the town keep

Meanwhile, during this age women had a restriction on how they could feel and act their whole life. Nevertheless Chopin shows a girl who has the privilege of going where she truly wants to go during this narrative after developing into a sophisticated young women. Another way freedom interprets this story is using religious aspects. When Kate Chopin refers to the “la Madone” (26), this is a statue that represents Mary and Jesus when he was a child. This statue serves as a symbol of what Babette believes, and how in this time, she had to believe the way her family believes.

Like in a looking glass” (p.) states Antoinette thinking of Tia. She had been her companion and as such, they had shared so many things together that made Antoinette think that after all they were not as different. Therefore, this character feels some empathy with white and black people. Another example is that throughout the novel we see Antoinette finding support in Christophine several times. Nevertheless she exposes again her racial prejudice when she talks about her black nurse in a bad way “but how can she know the best thing for me to do, this ignorant, obstinate old negro woman” (p.).

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Their Eyes Were Watching God Character Analysis In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston Janie finds herself in two marriages; One that was chosen for her and one that she chose herself. Both of husbands contrast the other. Although neither of her marriages were very successful.

In Their Eyes were Watching God, Janie’s hair is described ad nauseum; in fact, it is described so often that one cannot help but notice its importance to the text as a whole. The author uses Janie’s hair to demonstrate Janie as an independent woman. To Janie, her hair is one of her defining features, and it becomes a surrogate for her identity. While Janie works inside her and Jody’s store, Jody forces her to wrap up her hair in a head-rag. To Janie, the “business of the head-rag irked her endlessly”, even though she did not want it wrapped up, Jody did.

In her epiphany from Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie realizes her intrinsic capacity as an individual, and frees herself from Jody’s covetous ways in the act of letting down her hair. In the quote, “She tore off the kerchief from her plentiful hair... the glory was there,” Janie’s hair symbolizes her power and strength because it holds glory. By Janie releasing her hair, she finally notices the greatness that she has, which allows her to now view herself as eminent individual whom has independence. Because Jody made her tie her hair up as a device to hinder her individuality and identity in their marriage, he is intimidated by her reluctance to comply with his controlling demands.

3. Janie wears an apron, a head rag, and overalls at the most significant points in her life. Analyze the way in which the clothing reflects her inner self and how Hurston's use of clothing is symbolic of Janie's development throughout the novel. The novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, written by Zora Neale Hurston is a novel about a woman named Janie, an african american in the 1920’s.