Their Eyes Were Watching God Analysis

In the book Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston describes the life of Janie Mae Crawford, a black woman living in the 1900s American South. Unlike other black writers of her time, Hurston did not focus on white oppression in her book. While racism is discussed, Janie does not directly experience acts of racism in the book. The book is instead focused on Janie’s desire for love and growth as a person. Some white characters in the book were portrayed as kind and helpful, while some black characters were portrayed as racist and oppressive. Hurston did not villainize all of the white characters in her book. She wanted to show the similarity between the two races in order to humanize black people as normal people. Hurston’s audience was white and black Southerners. In this time period, segregation existed and racism was deeply entrenched in society. Defying the conventions of her time, Hurston wrote against racism without focusing on it. She attempted to show that black people and white people were similar and should be treated as equals. Hurston’s 1930s Southerner audience and desire to show black people as normal people affected her portrayal of white people in Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Hurston wanted to show whites that black people were normal people who were similar to them and should be treated equally. She did not want to depict black people as heroic victims and white people as cruel villains. White oppression is acknowledged by the book. Janie’s