Zora Neale Hurston believes that all struggles to realize personal goals are futile due to the unknowable forces that control reality. She believes that these unknowable forces are controlled by God and that He has an omnipotent presence in the lives of human beings. Therefore, all events are ultimately dictated by the arbitrary whims of God. This metaphysical view of reality is manifested in her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Implicit and explicit forms of her philosophy are not only present throughout the novel, but they are essential to the novel's development as well.
The explicit form of her philosophy is stated in the following passage: "Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men (Their Eyes, 1)." In effect, the passage is stating that all men have dreams and eventually these dreams will be "mocked to death by Time (Their Eyes, 1)." For some, those dreams "come in with the tide (Their Eyes, 1)." This is a metaphorical claim that some minds are functioning by default and they adopt the ideas that are indoctrinated into them by society. Their beliefs follow the tide wherever it leads. For the others, their dream's "sail forever on the horizon (Their Eyes, 1)" until eventually the "Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation (Their Eyes, 1)," at which point their dreams will also die.
The passage stresses the futility of man's desires and his efforts to achieve them. This is one of Hurston's main themes in the novel and quite possibly the most important theme to Hurston...
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...)." Hurston concluded the novel with Janie at "peace" as she "[...] pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net (Their Eyes, 193). Here Hurston is showing Janie's acceptance of her metaphysical reality. She is at peace with God's decision to take away the man of her dreams. Therefore, she is at peace with her futile struggle to realize her dreams.
Throughout the novel, Hurston stresses the theme of man's futility to achieve his dreams. This belief quite possibly stems from her social and philosophical beliefs. Even the title implies Hurston's metaphysical philosophy, "Their Eyes Were Watching God." The title implies that man is always watching God to see which fate he will dictate for them. They aren't watching their own life with confidence and self-assurance. Instead, they look to God with a complacent stare. They are "at peace" with his arbitrary rule.
Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. Harper Perennial Modern Classics: Reissue Edition 2013
Interpretations: Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987.
In, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the author takes you on the journey of a woman, Janie, and her search for love, independence, and the pursuit of happiness. This pursuit seems to constantly be disregarded, yet Janie continues to hold on to the potential of grasping all that she desires. In, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the author, Zora Hurston illustrates the ambiguity of Janie’s voice; the submissiveness of her silence and the independence she reclaims when regaining her voice. The reclaiming of Janie's independence, in the novel, correlates with the development and maturation Janie undergoes during her self discovery.
In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the main character, Janie, struggles to find herself and her identity. Throughout the course of the novel she has many different people tell her who she should be and how she should behave, but none of these ideas quite fit Janie. The main people telling Janie who she should be is her grandmother and Janie’s 3 husbands. The people in Janie's life influence her search for identity by teaching her about marriage, hard work, class, society, love and happiness. Janie's outlook on life stems from the system of beliefs that her grandmother, Nanny, instils in her during her life.
The author also vividly expresses that Janie has been through hard times and still managed to make it through because she is strong of mind and heart. Hurston’s sympathy seems to be coming out of admiration as well as affirmation.
Jordan, Jennifer. “Feminist Fantasies: Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God’.” Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature 7.1 (Spring 1988): 105-117. Literature Resource Center. Web. 9 Feb. 2011.
In the novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, by Zora Neale Hurston there were many contrasting places that were used to represent opposed forces or ideas that are central to the meaning of this work.
Works Cited Hurston, Zora. Their eyes were watching God. A novel. New York: Perennial Library, 1990. Print.
This was another reason her writing was often criticized, and the point of the story was overlooked. As a folklorist, Hurston knew to represent the characters correctly, she had to show how they would have been during the era, she wrote about, to open people up to the truth ("Harlem Renaissance). Growing up she was surrounded by successful African-American men and more importantly, women, so in her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston describes the experiences of an African-American woman named Janie, who struggles to develop her identity. Janie is forced into a marriage by her grandmother, who has raised her since her mother abandoned them. But because of living in slavery, her worldview has been morphed, and marrying off Janie is seen as crucial for her to gain security and status and her only option for success. Janie grows miserable and runs off with another man named Jody, she falls for and marries him. When he becomes mayor, shortly after he forces Janie to submit to his idea of the way he thinks she should behave. Finally, developing the courage to stand up to him, after he belittles her in public, Janie experiences something she never had before, a sense of independence and begins a relationship with God. Realizing how life changing it is, after Jody 's death, Janie stays unmarried for nine months, enjoying her freedom. She goes on with this, until she falls in love and re-marries to a man named Tea Cake, a social, free-spirited man who respects her. Later in their marriage a tornado hits and he is bitten by a rabid dog, falling into insanity, and is forced to kill him, when he pulls a gun on her. At the end of the novel, after being charged as not guilty for the murder of Tea Cake, Janie finally finds peace with him and her own identity as a confident African-American woman, capable of
Walker, Kristen. "Feminism Present in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God." 7 February 2007. Yahoo Voices. 27 January 2014 .
The somber and effusive tone of the selected passage from Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, is shown through its general diction and imagery. Hurston uses skillfully chosen words to enhance the imagery, and both devices contribute to the tone of this scene.
Interpretations: Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987.
This excerpt from Zora Neale Hurston’s book, Their Eyes Were watching God, is an example of her amazing writing. She makes us feel as if we are actually in her book, through her use of the Southern Black vernacular and admirable description. Her characters are realistic and she places special, well thought out sentences to keep us interested. Zora Neale Hurston’s art enables her to write this engaging story about a Southern black woman’s life.
... middle of paper ... ... Through Janie's experiences and feelings regarding the love of her life, his death, and the hurricane, it is obvious that Hurston meant for the reader to relate self-realization to questioning God. Although God is not a dominant theme in the novel, it is likely that Hurston was mirroring the people she came into contact with throughout her endeavors as a folklorist.
... Janie is free-spirited and unconcerned about what others think of her. When she returns to Eatonville after Tea Cake’s death, she shows no shame for what she has done or where she has been, because she is finally able to live the life she always wanted to lead. Hurston’s own struggles in life for individuality and an outlet for her suppressed spirit clearly contribute to the development of Janie’s character. Just as Hurston struggled for recognition, equality, and purpose in the literary world during the Harlem Renaissance, Janie’s struggle for the recognition, equality, and purpose in her relationships.