Zora Neale Hurston, author of Their Eyes Were Watching God, presents many different symbols that all relatively revolve around two things; love and the fulfillment of Janie’s life. Janie frequently refers back to many things to guide her life, but her grandmother, “Nanny”, was the most prevalent of them all. As a child Janie spent almost all her time with Nanny who set guidelines for her. Nanny attempted to mold Janie’s mind to teach her to fend for herself, but to also find a man who could provide
Oprah Winfrey lied on the opposite end of Zora Neale Hurston’s spectrum when she produced her atrocious rendition of Hurston’s stellar novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. She modified characters and symbols, altered the theme and relationships, and utterly desolated the significance of the title, making it almost unrecognizable to someone who has read the book. Winfrey totally eviscerated Hurston’s unsurpassed novel, extrapolating what she thought important without going in depth in to the true
Janie's Metamorphosis in Their Eyes Were Watching God "Dey all useter call me Alphabet 'cause so many people had done named me different names," Janie innocently expresses (Hurston 9). The nickname "Alphabet" is appropriate in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God because she is indefinable to others and herself. From her early childhood, Janie Crawford searches for self-knowledge and grows through her relationships with men, family, and society. The main character continually
Self-Discovery through Symbolism Zora Neale Hurston was born in Alabama on January 7, 1891. "In 1937, she published her masterwork of fiction, Their Eyes Were Watching God (A&E Television Networks 2). Zora was a very energetic woman, she was so eager to learn even though she did not finish high school, but she prepared for college and got accepted to Howard University. She published her book Their Eyes Were Watching God, the story of a young girl named Janie looking for love and happiness in the south
Use of Clothing in Their Eyes Were Watching God In the novel Their Eyes were watching God Zora Neale Hurston portrays a woman named Janie's search for love and freedom. Janie, throughout the novel, bounces through three different marriages, with a brief stint at being a widow in between. Throughout these episodes, Hurston uses Janie`s clothing as a visual bookmark of where Janie is in her search for true love and how she is being influenced by those around her. Janie's
Men in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God tells the story of how a young woman, Janie, finds her place and identity in life. Deborah Clarke argues that slavery in this novel forces women to fade into the background, losing their identity and definition of self. Many critics, like Clarke, look at this work focusing on the development of a self-identity from a woman's perspective, completely ignoring the plight and journey of the
Janie Crawford, the main character of Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, strives to find her own voice throughout the novel and, in my opinion, she succeeds even though it takes her over thirty years to do it. Each one of her husband’s has a different effect on her ability to find that voice. The first time Janie had noticed this was when he was appointed mayor by the town’s people and she was asked to give a few words on his behalf, but she did not answer, because before she
Finding Hope in Their Eyes Were Watching God Their Eyes Were Watching God recognizes that there are problems to the human condition, such as the need to possess, the fear of the unknown and resulting stagnation. But Hurston does not leave us with the hopelessness of Fitzgerald or Hemingway, rather, she extends a recognition and understanding of humanity's need to escape emptiness. "Dem meatskins is got tuh rattle tuh make out they's alive (183)" Her solution is simple: "Yuh got tuh go there
Their Eyes Were Watching God is a story about one woman’s search for independence and true love. Metaphorically, the phrase, their eyes were watching God mean the creation of a new form of humanity--one that is no longer based on the master-slave dialectic. (Curren, African American Review) When Janie Crawford was only 16 years old, she believed that she could find true love on her own. Janie Crawford believed true love was all about each partner having equal love for each other. Janie experienced
“It’s uh known fact, Pheoby, you got tuh go there tuh know there…” (Hurston 192). The theme of identity can be seen throughout Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, of a story of a women’s journey for self-identification. Through symbolic imagery, such as the pear tree, Janie’s hair, and the horizon, Hurston ultimately shows a women’s quest for her identity. As a young teenager, Janie becomes infatuated with the idea of an idealistic romance: “She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the