The pursuit of dreams has played a big role in self-fulfillment and internal development and in many ways, an individual 's reactions to the perceived and real obstacles blocking the path to a dream define the very character of that person. This theme is evident in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, which is about the search for identity. A woman of a mixed ethnicity resides in several communities, each playing an important role and serve as crucial influences on her life. During the story, she endures two failed relationships and one good relationship, dealing with disappointment, death, the wrath of nature and life’s unpredictability. The novel’s protagonist, Janie Crawford, a woman who dreamt of love, was on a journey to establish her voice and shape her own identity. She lived with Nanny, her grandmother, in a community inhabited by black and white people. This community only served as an antagonist to Janie, because she did not fit into the society in any respect. Race played a large factor in Janie being an outcast, because she was black, but had lighter skin than all other black people due to having a Caucasian ancestry. As a child, Janie did not even realize that she was actually black until she shown in a photograph among a group of white children. After growing up confused about her identity, Janie struggled with conflicting thoughts about love and marriage. Through a series of relationships, Janie found herself constantly struggling against
And, Hurston’s theme of writing is not direct, the plot is similar, a young woman is forced to marry an older widower. Hurston indicate Janie values in the novel: Their Eyes Are Watching God is joyless with her life, Hurston writes, “Ah ain’t got nothin’ tuh live for” (118). The change of the character growth represents how she has learned about life, including love, and sorrow. The author engage the reader attentions to overcoming fear can lead to harmony. Janie survival help understand that life is challenging , it is wonderful.
Their Eyes Were Watching God, written by Zora Neale Hurston, is the story of a young girl, Janie Crawford. Janie is a naive girl that believes marriage is an experience that she had under a pear tree in her grandmother's yard. She marries two men: Logan Killicks, by force and Joe Starks, by choice. Logan and Joe are two completely incompatible men, but they have relations to the way they didn't show Janie the love she desired. Janie's version of love is like a fairytale: unrealistic.
In Zora Neale Hurston’s African American Literature Novel Their Eyes Watching God, she writes of a young female named Janie who journeys through life trying to find the perfect relationship. Throughout Janie’s relationships she discovered that she did not want to live a marriage life full of fear, unhappiness and sorrow. Janie’s ability to dream and to act on her instincts allows her to truly find her happiness with her last
“To be brave is to love someone unconditionally, without expecting anything in return. " Their Eyes Were Watching God is a 1937 novel by African-American writer Zora Neale Hurston. The novel is about the main character Janie Crawford's ripening from a vibrant, but voiceless, teenage girl into a woman with her finger on the trigger of her own destiny. Throughout Janie's life she searches for true, unconditional love. In her search she experiences different types of love which include a love that is protective by her grandmother and Logan while Joe Starks provides a possessive love.
Zora Neale Hurston was an African American writer acknowledged for her short stories, being a folklorist, and an anthropologist. Hurston was born in Notasulga, Alabama, on January 7, 1891. She was daughter to two former slaves. “At the age of three her family moved to Eatonville, Florida.” (manythings.org).
Life is time intervals of change that move each and every person with each passing moment, and reflect the world around us. Literature frequently reflects the culture along with the emotions and feelings of the environment and people around us. The novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, takes us through the life of Janie Crawford, a black woman in the early 1900’s, and her journey for love and identity through three different marriages. Janie’s different experiences and what goes on around her reflects how Zora Neale Hurston’s writing is both a reflection and departure from the ideas of the Harlem Renaissance, from the influence of slavery, and the re-emergence of stereotypes, respectively. The Harlem Renaissance was
In New York on September 18, 1937, Zora Neale Hurston's book, Their Eyes Were Watching God, was published. Some critics misunderstood her vision and felt that Hurston's work diluted their efforts to battle racism. Zora Neale Hurston passed away on January 28, 1960 in Fort Pierce, Florida before she could even begin to realize what her literary works would do for the world. About ten years later, a writer named Alice Walker came across Hurston's Mules and Men. She was researching a story on voodoo and the discovery of Hurston's work ultimately led Walker to Their Eyes Were Watching God.
As once stated by Italio Calvino, “You take delight not in a city's seven or seventy wonders, but in the answer it gives to a question of yours.” By what they behold, every city offers answers. However, that does not mean these answers are always accurate. Residing in South Florida, Eatonville and the Everglades contrast each other not only by the visual contents, but also the answers given to the self-actualizing questions of the protagonist, Janie Crawford. These answers, defining what the towns represent, utterly differ. Though commonly overlooked, these cities essentially contribute to Janie’s discovering of herself.
She is outspoken, overbearing, and disrespectful. Her husband cannot control her and she often overpowers him. Mrs. Turner represents a women who doesn 't follow the traditional gender role of a submissive, obedient wife. However, the way in which she acts doesn 't manifest in Janie because Mrs. Turner 's actions are motivated by hate for African Americans and in some ways herself. Mrs. Turner attempts to set up her brother with Janie.
Which meant that her mother was alive" and in chapter 18, paragraph 42, "So, yeah, I have a terrible stepdad, and I don 't have a phone, and sometimes when we 're out of dish soap, I wash my hair with flea and tick shampoo…". The first quote is just crazy to me, how scary would it be to have to wake up in the morning and wonder if your mother made it through the night. The second quote shows how big of a problem her level of poverty is and that she is neglected as a child. In the end, racism and poverty can be summed up under one major theme, bullying.
Zora Neale Hurston sets her novel in Florida during the early 1900s. The novel begins in West Florida where Janie lives with her grandmother and a white family. As the novel progresses, Janie makes her way to other parts of Florida. She moves to the all-black town of Eatonville with Jody Starks and becomes a part of his sophisticated life. After Jody's death, Janie then joins a simpler community in the Everglades with Tea Cake.
The disapproval Cheryl experienced from her friend Tamara was interesting as well. Tamara accused her of wanting to be white and questioned her pursuit of a “wanna be black girlfriend.” This intracommunity rejection and internalized oppression was evident with the character Bob as well. He displayed a colorist mentality by favoring Annie, a white woman, over Cheryl and Tamara in the workplace. He held the black women to higher expectations and scrutiny while prioritizing Annie’s needs.
The author establishes her ethical appeal, by providing the reader with a vivid image of how her childhood was growing up colored. She let the readers see through her eyes by providing common grounds, with people of color. Growing up in an exclusively colored town, and only seen whites occasionally, gives the author no reason to see herself as colored,
Once her husband passes away, Janie views Jody's death as emancipation from the dominance he had established over her. She took advantage on her newly gained freedom and acted as such by letting down her hair, something Jody forbid due to its sexual undertone considering the other males in town. Also, she rebels against his wish to be called Jody by referring to him as Joe, symbolizing Janie no longer being under Jody's control. Janie tells Phoeby that she feels that widows do not need to mourn for such a long time, suggests that she believes women do not need to stay tied down to a man but rather should continue to find joy and pleasure in their lives even after loss. Although Janie is criticized by her society, she is seen as a pioneer of feminine freedom in a patriarchy dominant world.
She focuses on the idea of African American women in the post-civil war era, and how they were so controlled that they were on the verge of losing all aspects of their identity. They would do what they could to fight the environments control over them in hopes of gaining total freedom, but does not exist. They would write poetry, garden or any other form of creativity to try to reach this unachievable goal of total freedom. On the other hand, some people relinquished their true passion and talent because it was something the surrounding environment would not want African American women to take part in. If they relinquished it, then their emotional identity they strive for would slowly die with it.