Although some readers might argue that the characters do not contribute to Janie’s voice, it is clear through the details that Hurston places in the novel that they very much do help create Janie’s voice. They play an important part in Hurston’s novel because they are Janie’s story. The characters in the novel make up who Janie becomes and contribute to making her the way she is and therefore contribute to her voice. Through telling the story to Phoeby, Janie finds her voice with the help of the others in the story, which make up the frame
Despite its profound position, the novel Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston has been challenged of its place in high school student’s education by parents and educational groups. Their main argument implied that the novel contained sexual explicitness, obscenity, racial remarks and vulgar reasons. However, Their Eyes were Watching God should contain its place in the high school English curriculum because of two reasons: its significance in American History and the moral of love and self-expression. First, this book withholds too many important factors in American history to be left out. Hurston uses various examples in order to express the hardships of
At the very end of the novel, Janie is described to have “pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net” (192). With the horizon being a recurring metaphor for dreams, Hurston presents a novel that details how a female can go though many trials and tribulations and defy gender roles. By “pulling [the horizon] from around the waist of the world and drap[ing] it over her shoulder” (192), it gives a sense that Janie is in complete control of her dreams rather than having them come to her passively. This is because the word “pulling” carries with it an active connotation in that Janie is the sole individual that takes hold of her dreams. In addition, such imagery contrasts strongly with the opening lines of the novel that state how only men are able to have big dreams.
Janie’s first dream was dead, so she became a woman.” This realization made by Janie supports one of the biggest themes in this novel, which is that the concept of innocence and womanhood can’t exist at the same time. Because Janie finally lets go of her “childish fantasy”, her innocence is lost and she is now a woman. The theme of lost innocence in exchange for womanhood is also prevalent in Hurston’s story Sweat. This idea is one of the reasons that Sykes and Delia’s relationship begins to fall apart when we meet them. One example of innocence without womanhood is when Janie first creates her pear tree fantasy.
One of the universal themes of literature is the idea that children suffer because of the mistakes of an earlier generation. The novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God" follows the story of Janie Mae Crawford through her childhood, her turbulent and passionate relationships, and her rejection of the status quo and through correlation of Nanny 's life and Janie 's problems, Hurston develops the theme of children 's tribulations stemming from the teachings and thoughts of an earlier generation. Nanny made a fatal mistake in forcibly pushing her own conclusions about life, based primarily on her own experiences, onto her granddaughter Janie and the cost of the mistake was negatively affecting her relationship with Janie. Nanny lived a hard life and she made a rough conclusion about how to survive in the world for her granddaughter, provoked by fear. "Ah can’t die easy thinkin’ maybe de menfolks white or black is makin’ a spit cup outa you: Have some sympathy fuh me.
Analyzing Nora’s both enriching and alienating experience with exile further reveals the ideas Ibsen intended to convey. From a broad perspective, Torvald represents the traditional, patriarchal structure that makes men the head of the household and women subservient to men. His character also signifies such a society’s insecurity toward the threats of woman empowerment. Having the antagonist symbolize society at the time the play was written was Ibsen’s way of challenging such established social values including but not limited to the confining gender roles, evident in Nora and Torvald’s relationship. Moreover, the latter also portrays the importance of reputation, which was the last straw in Nora’s abandonment of her marriage.
Analyzing Captivity Stories: How Different Tones Support Different Themes In A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, Mary Rowlandson retells her story as a captive of the Wampanoag Indians. In Louise Erdrich’s poem “Captivity”, Erdrich responds to Rowlandson by telling a story about a captive of a Native American tribe through the eyes of the captive. Throughout their stories, both authors utilize diction to produce a specific tone that conveys their overall theme. Through analysis of both authors’ diction choice, it is evident that Rowlandson’s hopeful tone supports her theme of exclusive belief in God, whereas Erdrich’s desperate tone supports her message that beliefs are susceptible to change. In her narrative, Rowlandson frequently alludes to the Bible and asserts her undying faith in God.
In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the protagonist Janie, is influenced by others to change her ideals. Hurston vividly portrays Janie’s outward struggle while emphasising her inward struggle by expressing Janie’s thoughts and emotions. In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening the protagonist is concisely characterized as having “that outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions,” as Janie does. Janie conforms outwardly to her life but questions inwardly to her marriages with Logan Killicks, her first husband, and Joe Starks, her second husband; Janie also questions her grandmother's influence on what love and marriage is. During Janie's first marriage, she outwardly conforms to the societal view of marriage, and the domestic wife, while inwardly questioning if she can learn to disregard her true
Foster develops the concept that an illness is never just an illness in How to Read Literature Like a Professor. This is evident in Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God through the symbolism of the illnesses that impact Janie’s life. Foster explains that a prime literary disease “should have strong symbolic or metaphorical possibilities” (Foster 224). Hurston utilizes this concept in her novel, the characters developing illnesses that represent Janie’s freedom and independence. Janie, bound to her husband, Jody, and obliged to do as he asked, looked for a way to freedom, but only felt more trapped.
Matrimony in eighteenth and nineteenth century England played a significant role in the lives of women. In hopes of obtaining a secure financial future, women often dedicated their lives to marrying wealthy men, without any regard to mutual affection. Wollstonecraft condemned such marriages, arguing instead that marriages should be based on true friendship. As Wollstonecraft affirms, “Friendship is a serious affection; the most sublime of all affections, because it is founded