Overview: Nora Zeale Hurston "Their Eyes Were Watching God"

Overview: Nora Zeale Hurston "Their Eyes Were Watching God"

Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God is the story of Janie Crawford’s quest to find independence, her voice, and the far horizon. Through Janie’s relationships with each of the three men in her life, we watch her develop from child to woman. Always seeking her place in the world and a way to put her many thoughts and feelings into words, this story chronicles not only Janie’s journey through life, but also her journey toward self-realization.
Janie’s journey began with her marriage to Logan Killicks. A farmer whom Janie’s grandmother wanted her to marry, Logan introduces Janie to her first taste of disappointment and suppression. Unable to love her husband, Janie realized that “. . . marriage did not make love (25).” With this realization Janie become a woman with an understanding of what life did, and did not promise her. One day, as the harsh reality of life became clear to her, Janie spoted a means of escape come whistling down the road. (27)
In the “cityfied (27)” man walking toward her, Janie saw a glimpse of freedom. Pumping him a glass of water and listening to his big talk Janie observed that “ . . .he did not represent sun-up and pollen and blooming trees, but he spoke of far horizon. He spoke for change and chance. (29)” So Janie ran away with the cityfied Joe Starks feeling that “her old thoughts were going to come in handy now, but new words would have to be made and said to fit them. (32)” However, what Janie longed for was not to be her’s yet. While she was given a bigger world and a softer place in it, “Jody” was not about to let her spread her wings. When Jody refused to let Janie make a speech when Jody became mayor of Eatonville, we sympathize with her loss of the voice that she thought she had gained. She hadn’t wanted to make a speech, but Jody’s refusing to let her do it “took the bloom off of things (43).” When Jody forces her to tie her flowing hair in rag, Janie came to grips with the fact that Jody wanted...

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