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. The first way the author uses symbolism to show the overall theme is with color. Numerous times in the novel Janie is wearing a different color ostentatiously depending on what is taking place. Although the message is oblique, most can find meaning behind it. Starting in the first chapter the color Blue is mentioned. “ … Where's dat blue satin dress she left here in?” (pg.2) This is the beginning where Janie is coming back with nothing and the towns women are gossiping about her status and appearance. Even later the author shows that she wears blue because of Tea Cake, “Wait till you see de new blue satin Tea Cake done picked out for me tuh stand up with him in.” (pg. 115) Traditionally the color blue represents 2 depth and stability. It can also symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, and heaven. From early on Hurston is indicating that Janie will be some of those traits and through out the novel the reader realizes that Janie is actually loyal, stable,wise, and confident after she is introduced to Tea Cake. The next color the author uses is white. When Janie and Jody are about to build ... ... middle of paper ... ...James Robert Saunders, "Womanism as the Key to Understanding Zora Neale Hurston's `Their Eyes Were Watching God' and Alice Walker's `The Color Purple'," in The Hollins Critic, Vol. XXV, No. 4, October, 1988, pp. 1-11. Reproduced by permission. 1. c.Robert E. Hemenway, in his Zora Neale Hurston: A Literary Biography, University of Illinois Press, 1977, 371 p. 2. "Color Wheel Pro: Color Meaning." Color Wheel Pro: See Color Theory in Action! Color Wheel, 22 Jan. 2001. Web. 13 Feb. 2012. . 3. Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 51: Afro-American Writers from the Harlem Renaissance to 1940. A Bruccoli Clark Layman Book. Edited by Trudier Harris, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Gale Group, 1987. pp. 133-145. 4. Hurston, Zora Neal. Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York: Harper Collins, 1937. Print.
Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. Harper Perennial Modern Classics: Reissue Edition 2013
Hurston, Zora Neale. "Sweat." Norton Anthology of Southern Literature. Ed. William L. Andrews. New York: Norton, 1998.
Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937). : Urbana, Ill.: U of Illinois P, 1937.
Like Irish oral tradition, storytelling is an incredibly important event in both African and African American communities. Through this storytelling the principles and values of African American culture was depicted. The reader sees the dichotomy between Hurston’s use of the third person narrative
Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006
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.
Hurston, Zora N. Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1937. Print.
Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937). : Urbana, Ill.: U of Illinois P, 1937.
To most people, the name Zora Neale Hurston is associated solely with Their Eyes Were Watching God, her most famous work. In some cases her name is synonymous with the Harlem Renaissance. However, very few people are informed about the aspects of Zora's life that influenced her writing of Their Eyes , nor do they know about how she arrived in New York to become one of the most famous Black female writers of her time. Robert Hemenway's Zora Neale Hurston: A Literary Biography and Valerie Boyd's Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston both seek to educate people about the life of this writer and to give the reader information about her other literary works. Both authors also draw from other sources to tell the story of Zora's life, including interviews with friends and colleagues and Zora's own words.
As Pierpont recognizes that Their Eyes were Watching God seems to be a translation of Hurston’s beliefs into a story, the novel gains a new foundation of meaning. Thus, Their Eyes Were Watching God does not primarily advocate against the racial divide between black and white. Rather, the story stands as evidence for the fight for women's
One of the underlying themes Zora Neale Hurston put in her book, Their Eyes Were Watching God was feminism. Hurston used each of Janie’s three marriages to represent Janie moving closer to her liberation and freedom from male dominance. She finally found her liberation and became truly independent after graduating from her final relationship with Tea Cake by killing him.
Racine, Maria J. "African American Review." Voice and Interiority in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God 28.2 (1994): 283-92. Jstor. Black's Women Culture Issue, Summer 1994. Web. Dec. 2013.
Pondrom, Cyrena N. "The Role of Myth in Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God." American Literature 58.2 (May 1986): 181-202.
Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, Inc., 1990.
color of her eyes. Janie was worked hard by Logan. He made her do all