Through Janie, in “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, Zora Neale Hurston has created a character reflecting her own search for self-worth, self-love, and independence to show the audience how she, as a black woman in the twentieth century, had to struggle and go on her own journey to find her voice. It can be presumed that Hurston wrote the novel as a semi-fictional account of her own experiences. Zora Neale Hurston was raised in Eatonville, an all black incorporated town during the early twentieth century. During her life, Hurston was sheltered from the racial oppression that was occurring elsewhere in the world; this is what made her voice so unique compared to other writers of the Harlem Renaissance and also what caused criticism of her early works at the time they were published (Zora and Janie).
Other writers, especially men during the Harlem Renaissance, didn’t accept Hurston because she didn’t depict blacks as victimized, since she never experienced life this way. Janie’s journey is represented through men. As Janie moves from man to man, you not only observe a change in her, but a transition in Hurston’s writing style as well. This journey could be interpreted as symbolic because in the early twentieth century men had control. There weren’t many women writers, as they had to fight and earn the right to be heard. This not only shows that Hurston had to fight for her voice, but also why her voice is so unique. A comparison can be made between Janie’s relationship with Jody and Hurston’s relationship with writers of the Harlem Renaissance such as Langston Hughes. The writers that Hurston befriended had status, power, and money; which could help to further her career, just as Janie marrying Jody allowed her to climb i...
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... bodies housed souls that were, in essence, no different from those residing in white bodies” (Clarke).
Works Cited
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Dilbeck, Keiko. "Symbolic Representation Of Identity In Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God." Explicator 66.2 (2008): 102-104. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Dec. 2013.
Hurston, Zora N. Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006. Print.
"Zora and Janie - a Comparison. About the Life of Zora Neale Hurston and the Fictional Character Janie in Her Novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God"" Zora and Janie. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2013.
"Zora Neale Hurston Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2013.
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
In, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the author takes you on the journey of a woman, Janie, and her search for love, independence, and the pursuit of happiness. This pursuit seems to constantly be disregarded, yet Janie continues to hold on to the potential of grasping all that she desires. In, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the author, Zora Hurston illustrates the ambiguity of Janie’s voice; the submissiveness of her silence and the independence she reclaims when regaining her voice. The reclaiming of Janie's independence, in the novel, correlates with the development and maturation Janie undergoes during her self discovery.
The Web. 22 Apr. 2014. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Hurston, Zora. Their Eyes Were Watching God.
Pondrom, Cyrena N. "The Role of Myth in Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God." American Literature 58.2 (May 1986): 181-202.
Zora Neale Hurston an early twentieth century Afro-American feminist author, was raised in a predominately black community which gave her an unique perspective on race relations, evident in her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Hurston drew on her on experiences as a feminist Afro-American female to create a story about the magical transformation of Janie, from a young unconfident girl to a thriving woman. Janie experiences many things that make her a compelling character who takes readers along as her companion, on her voyage to discover the mysteries and rewards life has to offer.
Hurston, Zora N. Their Eyes Were Watching God: A Novel. New York: Harper Perennial, 2006. Print.
Hurston, Zora N. Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1937. Print.
The Harlem Renaissance was all about freedom of expression and the search for one's identity. Zora Neale Hurston’s, Their Eyes Were Watching God, shows these goals through the main character Janie and her neighbors. Janie freely expressed what she wanted and searched for her identity with her different husbands. Even though Janie was criticized by everyone except her friends, she continued to pursue. She lost everything, but ultimately found her identity. Hurston's writing is both a reflection and a departure from the idea of the Harlem Renaissance.
Hurston, sitting on her porch imagines it to be a theatre as she narrates her perspective of the passing white people. She finds a thin line separating the spectator from the viewer. Exchanging stances at will and whim. Her front porch becomes a metaphor for a theater seat and the passers Despite the current scrutiny that her race faces she asserts to the reader that her race and color define her as a person and does not determine her identity.
Within her article, A Society of One: Zora Neale Hurston, American Contrarian, Claudia R. Pierpont, a writer and journalist for The New Yorker, tells, analyzes, and gives foundation to Zora Neale Hurston’s backstory and works. Throughout her piece, as she gives her biography of Hurston, she deeply analyzes the significance of Richard Wright, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, as he accuses Hurston of “cynically perpetuating a minstrel tradition meant to make white audiences laugh”(Pierpont 3). By doing so, Wright challenges Hurston’s authority to speak for the “black race” as he claims that her works do not take a stance, rather she only writes to please the “white audience. ”As his critiques show to be oppressive, Pierpont reminds the reader the
Zora Hurston was an African American proto-feminist author who lived during a time when both African Americans and women were not treated equally. Hurston channeled her thirst for women’s dependence from men into her book Their Eyes Were Watching God. One of the many underlying themes in her book is feminism. Zora Hurston, the author of the book, uses Janie to represent aspects of feminism in her book as well as each relationship Janie had to represent her moving closer towards her independence.
Dilbeck, Keiko. "Symbolic Representation of Identity in Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God." Literature Online. N.p., Winter 2008. Web. 08 Dec. 2013. .
Through her use of southern black language Zora Neale Hurston illustrates how to live and learn from life’s experiences. Janie, the main character in Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, is a woman who defies what people expect of her and lives her life searching to become a better person. Not easily satisfied with material gain, Janie quickly jumps into a search to find true happiness and love in life. She finally achieves what she has searched for with her third marriage.
Appiah and Gates, 204-17. Hurston, Zora. Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, Inc., 1990. Wright, Richard.
This excerpt from Zora Neale Hurston’s book, Their Eyes Were watching God, is an example of her amazing writing. She makes us feel as if we are actually in her book, through her use of the Southern Black vernacular and admirable description. Her characters are realistic and she places special, well thought out sentences to keep us interested. Zora Neale Hurston’s art enables her to write this engaging story about a Southern black woman’s life.