Contrasting Places in Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God
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.
In the novel, Eatonville and the Everglades were two contrasting places. Eatonville, Florida was a place where Janie experienced many things in life. Janie Crawford grew here where her grandmother raised her. Eatonville was also a place where Janie had no freedom or choices. For example, Janie was forced into adulthood and love. Eatonville was the place of hurts, and insecurities to her. Eatonville was where Janie tried to find herself. She lived there for a long time but still did not find what she was looking for. The Everglades, often referred to as the Mucks, was where Janie now knew who she was and what she was looking for in life. It is where she had true love unlike in Eatonville, Florida. Eatonville was a place of trials, hurts, and pains but the Everglades were where Janie knew who she was as a person.
The Everglades and Eatonville both represent Janie in two different ways. In Eatonville Janie was uncertain of who she was. Eatonville represents unsure, love, hate, abuse, and trials. The Everglades represents love, joy, and prosperity. Janie was now seeing the person she was or is and living that life. Janie found herself in the Everglades. This was what she was trying to do throughout her entire life. She was searching although she came across stressing situations for her identity.
In this novel the two contrasting places shows Janie as being loss and shows Janie as being found. This novel stands on that theme. Sometimes one would be loss but the problem comes in when they are never found. In Eatonville there was love of force but in the Everglades there was love of choice. Janie was able to find the bee pollinating the flower. “So this was marriage”. The contrasting places examine true love.
Over time Janie begins to develop her own ideas and ideals. In Their Eyes Watching God. Each principle character has their own perceptions. towards the end of marriage. & nbsp;
The pear tree, the ocean, the horizon, the hurricane are how Janie views nature. Hurston uses spring as a sign of fertility, blossoming sexuality, and a new start. The pear tree represents Janie blossoming into womanhood. In Janie’s eyes the pear tree represents beauty and freedom because she is able to reflect on her life, and her future. No one is telling her what to do when she sits under t...
What is one’s idea of the perfect marriage? In Zora Neal Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie has a total of three marriages and her best marriage was to Tea Cake. Janie’s worst and longest marriage was to Joe Starks where she lost her dream and was never happy. The key to a strong marriage is equality between each other because in Janie’s marriage to Joe she was not treated equally, lost apart of herself and was emotionally abused, but her and Tea Cake's marriage was based on equality and she was able to fully be herself.
..., she found her identity. It did not come easy for Janie. It took her years to find out who she really was.
Zora Hurston’s novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God” depicts the journey of a young woman named Janie Crawford’s journey to finding real love. Her life begins with a romantic and ideal view on love. After Janie’s grandmother, Nanny, soon grows fearful of Janie’s newfound sexuality and quickly marries Janie off to Logan Killicks, an older land owner with his own farm. Janie quickly grows tired of Logan and how he works her like a slave instead of treating her as a wife and runs away with Joe Starks. Joe is older than Janie but younger than Logan and sweet talks Janie into marring him and soon Joe becomes the mayor of an all African American town called Eatonville. Soon Joe begins to force Janie to hide not only her
Jefferson had made promises to Americans, some of his promises in particularly the increase of land for the yeoman farmer and promised not kept were decreasing National debt and Federal power. Jefferson’s presidency was to a certain extent a “Republican Revolution” but at the same time it had also become a continuation of Federalists policies. While making decisions for the best interests of Democratic Republicans, Jefferson had chosen the same path of the Federalist in order to keep his promises, and had to sacrifice some of the ideals and promises of the “Republican Revolution.”
For a short time Janie shared her life with her betrothed husband Logan Killicks. She desperately tried to become her new pseudo identity, to conform to the perfect "housewife" persona. Trying to make a marriage work that couldn't survive without love, love that Janie didn't have for Logan. Time and again Janie referred to love and her life in reference to nature, "Ah wants things sweet wid mah marriage lak when you sit under a pear tree and think... She often spoke to falling seeds and said Ah hope you fall on soft grounds... She knew the world was a stallion rolling in the blue pasture of ether"(24 - 25). Logan had blown out the hope in Janie's heart for any real love; she experienced the death of the childish imagery that life isn't a fairytale, her first dose of reality encountered and it tasted sour.
Modern Critical Interpretations: Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. Pondrom, Cyrena N. "
Shaw-Thornburg, Angela. “On Reading To Kill a Mockingbird: Fifty Years Later.” Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird: New Essays. Meyer, Michael J. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press, 2010. 113-127. Print.
The first time one experiences betrayal from a close friend is the hardest situation to go through. Betrayal is clearly defined as to break the faith of an enemy, or to disclose a violation of confidence; but more specifically, and with less clarity in real life situations, betrayal is a complex action that occurs to everyone at some point in life. For a person that has been betrayed before, the simple definition does not do justice to the effects betrayal has on their life or how one can be betrayed. Apparent examples can be seen in Their Eyes Were Watching God, for the main character is clearly betrayed many times in her life.
We should take careful notice of how Turner describes the role of native tribes in American history. The reason for this is that it proves to be very insightful into the kind of historical narrative that Turner presents to describe the ‘real reasons’ for why American’s expanded into the Western frontiers.
Esposito, John L., Darrell J. Fasching, and Todd Lewis. World Religions Today. 3rd ed. New
"To Kill a Mockingbird." Sparknotes LLC. 2003. Barnes & Noble Learning Network. 2 Nov. 2003 .
Hinduism is the 3rd most popular religion in the world followed by Buddhism, together they are followed by 22 percent of the world’s population. These two religions are alike in many ways, and are tied together by Asia, where they have deep roots in its culture and history. Although Hinduism and Buddhism are similar in many ways, very important and large differences separate the two. No one and nothing can ever truly prove either religion is better than the other because that is up to personal beliefs and opinions, but many more people around the world prefer Buddhism over Hinduism because of its beliefs and practices.
... 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.