Fraudulent Interpretation

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Recommended: Their eyes were watching god essay zora neal hurston

Oprah took a classic literary work and butchered it beyond recognition to where not even Zora Neale Hurston’s main purpose in writing was evident. She altered the story line changing the role of characters which later affected their relationships. She removed scenes and significant symbols changing the meaning of the story all together. The reason behind the novel was very explicit but Oprah managed to annihilate the purpose.
Throughout the story there are multiple key symbols that portray a substantial meaning. The gate represented a momentous modification in Janie’s life but it was not even mentioned in Oprah’s rendition. Instead, Oprah used water to symbolize the alteration in Janie’s life. When Janie first kissed Johnny Taylor over the gate in the book, it signified a significant change for Janie’s life in that her childhood was taken from her. She was officially a woman in Nanny’s eyes. “Yeah, Janie, youse got yo’ womanhood on yuh… Ah wants to see you married right away” (Hurston 15). She was then forced to marry Logan Killicks and from there on the gate played yet another important part in the story. She met Joe Starks by the gate in the book and this meeting placed yet another side to Janie’s life; A life that was better than the present one. The omission of the gate in the movie caused Janie kissing Johnny Taylor, Janie marrying Logan killicks, Janie meeting Joe and other important scenes, to lose their symbolic meaning. When recreating a story from a book to a movie, symbolism is a must keep item or the overall meaning and purpose of the story is no longer indistinguishable. With that being said, Oprah withdrew the most significant sign of every important event that occurred in Janie’s life from the story and to...

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...rah changed the overall theme of the story and also modified the importance of the title altering the meaning of the novel.
Oprah’s version of the story was not what Zora Neale Hurston had intended her readers to interpret. She made many modifications to the story that changed the overall purpose of the story.

Works Cited

Ceptus, Barbara. "Our Eyes Were Watching God, Halle or Oprah." La Prensa San Diego. Applied Research Center, 1 Apr. 2005. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. .
Hurston, Zora N. Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2000. print.
Miller, JDove."Movie vs Book: Their Eyes Were Watching God. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. .
Their Eyes Were Watching God. Dir. Darnell Martin. Perf. Halle Berry. Harpo, 2001. DVD.

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