An Epic Search in Their Eyes Were Watching God In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston shows how the lives of American women changed in the early 20th century. Zora Neale Hurston creates a character in her own likeness in her masterpiece, Their Eyes Were Watching God. By presenting Janie's search for identity, from her childbirth with Nanny to the death of Tea Cake, Hurston shows what a free southern black women might have experienced in the early decades of the century. To the racial ties that would affect Janie all the way through this life long search. Janie's search for identity actually started long before she was born. Because Janie's search is her family's search. Nanny and Janie's mom gave Janie a reason to search. They were always held back by their owners, and their owners took advantage of them, and raped them. They raped them of their identity. Nanny signifies to evade the realities of her life and the life of Janie. When Nanny says, "Thank yuh, Massa Jesus," she is illustrating that although she is no longer a slave, the slave consciousness has caused her to view even her relationship with the deity about slave and master. This makes Janie the leader of her family's search. However Nanny realized this, and when she saw that Janie was old enough for love she had her married. This guaranteed that Janie would not continue a loss of identity. Even as a young girl, living in the materialistic world of her Nanny and her first husband, Logan Killicks, Janie chooses to listen to "the words of the trees and the wind" (23-24). This is the first evidence of her searching beyond her boring life. This then leads to her everyday life left empty, because she is always looking farther than where she is at the time. So day by day she gets more worked up into leaving Logan, and searching for love. When she leaves Logan to run off with Joe, she thinks to herself, "Her old thoughts were going to come in handy now, but new words would have to be made and said to fit them" (31). Joe aims to be a big voice and that is why he comes to Eatonville, Florida. He feels that he will have a better chance at being a big voice in an all black town than in a white man's town. The problem is that he has adopted white man's values and forces them upon the townspeople and, most notably, upon
and she wants to protect her from harm and danger. Janie's life as a young
In the beginning years of Janie’s life, there were two people who she is dependent on. Her grandmother is Nanny, and her first husband is named Logan Killicks. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, “Janie, an attractive woman with long hair, born without benefit of clergy, is her heroine” (Forrest). Janie’s grandmother felt that Janie needs someone to depend on before she dies and Janie could no longer depend on her. In the beginning, Janie is very against the marriage. Nanny replied with, “’Tain’t Logan Killicks Ah wants you to have, baby, its protection. ...He done spared me...a few days longer till Ah see you safe in life” (Hurston 18). Nanny is sure to remind Janie that she needs a man in her life for safety, thus making Janie go through life with that thought process.
that Janie is not happy with the way things are now and that she will probably
Nanny Crawford - Janie's grandmother. She is concerned for Janie and is sometimes overbearing when she makes decisions for Janie.
In the movie Their Eyes Were Watching God, Oprah Winfrey manipulates events that happened in the book by Zora Neale Hurston. Oprah morphs many relationships in the movie Their Eyes Were Watching God. She changes the role of gender, and also makes changes in Janie’s character strength. Oprah also changes the symbolism in the movie to where some important symbols in the book change to less important roles. Oprah changes many important events in the book Their Eyes Were Watching God, when she makes the movie.
Janie finds her way out when Joe Starks appears. The first thing Joe does after asking for a drink of water is to name himself: "Joe Starks was the name, yeah Joe Starks from in and through Georgy" (47). Hurston's naming of Starks is ironic for several reasons. The word stark is often used as a synonym for barren, and Joe Starks and Janie never have any children. Hurston hints at sexual problems that develop between the pair because of their separate beds and Janie's eventual verbal "castration" of Joe in the store. Starks's name is also ironic because of his focus on capitalistic pursuits. Starks's wealth gives him a false sense of power because the townspeople resent him and the things he does to gain his wealth. Starks's name could also be seen as a comment on his desire to be a "big voice." As Janie eventually finds out, there is not much behind the big voice; it is a facade for the starkness inside Joe.
He just stood in front of a chair and fell in it. That made her look at him all over. Joe wasn’t so young as he used to be. There was already something dead about him. He didn’t rear back in his knees any longer. He squatted over his ankles when he walked. That stillness at the back of neck. His prosperous-looking belly that used to thrust out so pugnaciously and intimidate folks, sagged like a load of suspended from his loins. It didn’t seem to be a part of him anymore. Eyes a little absent too.” (pg 77) Hurston describes this metaphor as a sign of Joe aging and how he’s slowing down. Hurston describes his image at the end Janie begins to recognize that Joe is not who he use to
The Roman Catholic Church dominated religion for many years in Europe and became an extremely powerful institution. Over the years, the Roman church became corrupt and immoral in many ways. The development of the Protestant Reformation, Lutheranism, was greatly influenced by political events in the years proceeding the 16th century. The declared aim of the original reformer, Martin Luther, was to restore the Christian faith as it had been at its formation, while salvaging what he considered valuable from the Roman Catholic tradition that had developed during the previous centuries. Luther broke the unity of the Catholic Church forever by exposing their faults and misguided notions. Lutheranism spread quickly due to the availability of the Christian Faith, as well as the close relationship between religion and the state.
In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, she utilizes an array of symbolism such as color, the store, and her husbands to solidify the overall theme of independence and individuality. Their Eyes Were Watching God is considered by many a classic American Feminist piece that emphasizes how life was for African Americans post slave era in the early 1900s. One source summarizes the story as, 1 ”a woman's quest for fulfillment and liberation in a society where women are objects to be used for physical work and pleasure.” Which is why the overall theme is concurrent to independence and self.
Through her three marriages, the death of her one true love, and proving her innocence in Tea Cake’s death, Janie learns to look within herself to find her hidden voice. Growing as a person from the many obstacles she has overcome during her forty years of life, Janie finally speaks her thoughts, feelings and opinions. From this, she finds what she has been searching for her whole life, happiness.
color of her eyes. Janie was worked hard by Logan. He made her do all
The Protestant Reformation: What it was, why it happened and why it was necessary. The Protestant Reformation has been called "the most momentous upheaval in the history of Christianity." It was a parting of the ways for two large groups of Christians who differed in their approach to the worship of Christ. At the time, the Protestant reformers saw the church- the Catholic church, or the "universal church- " as lacking in its ways. The church was corrupt then, all the way up to the pope, and had lost touch with the people of Europe. The leaders of the Reformation sought to reform the church and its teachings according to the Scriptures and the writings of the Apostles. They sought to simplify the church by returning to its roots, roots long lost by the Catholic church at the time, or so the reformers believed. After the fall of the Roman Empire, life in Europe declined rapidly into the Dark Ages. The Dark Ages were a time of misery and darkness. There were only two socioeconomic classes: the very rich nobility or the very poor peasants. Small kingdoms popped up everywhere, and were constantly at war with one another. Whole libraries were destroyed, and the only people who remained literate were the clergy of the Christian church. Life became such a struggle to survive that, for a period of five hundred years, very little artwork or literature was produced by the whole of Europe. Eventually, around the year 1000, the conditions in Europe began to get better. This marked the beginning of the Middle Ages. The Crusades began as an effort to revitalize the spirits of the people. However, things still weren't very good. Plagues ravaged the land, carried by rodents and destroying whole villages. With th...
Martin Luther was a representative during the 16th century of a desire widespread of the renewal and reform of the Catholic Church. He launched the Protestant reform a continuation of the medieval religious search.
Lady Macbeth’s atypical and complex character directly challenged the archetypal principles and beliefs of the Jacobean era which as a result, drew major fascination through the ages. Lady Macbeth was Shakespeare’s device to not only stimulate audience’s emotions, but to also provide historical context and elicit dominant themes which reflected Jacobean society. Her ambiguous character and remarkable influences in the play raised a lot of controversy and fascination amongst both modern and Jacobean audiences. She can either be seen as linked to the witches in a feminist bid to overthrow the balance of power, or as a representation of the evil side of Macbeth. Nevertheless, it was her distinct characteristics and actions which ultimately catalysed the chain of conflicts of the play. Again, this reinforces her important role in the play.
In 1500’s the Roman Catholic was all-powerful in Europe as there was no legal alternative at the time. The Church jealously guarded its position with so much force that if anyone went against the learning’s and the ways of the church was burned at the stake and labeled as a heathen. Some of the causes for Protestant reformation were the corruption within the Catholic Church because during the time of the black plague as soon as people knew they had the plague they knew they were going to die within a 3 day period after developing the symptoms of the black plaque, so the people affected would have paid their local catholic ministers for indulgences so they were guarantied to get into heaven and not go to hell or purgatory. Martin Luther exposed this particular practice in 1517 through the 95 theses, as he was upset that people and Catholic ministers could make God over look peoples sin just by being bribed through brought indulgences.