Hurston's Background

I wrote Hurston's backgroung in my paper because I thought that it is important to understand where she came from to better understand the novel. Zora Neale Hurston is one of the most influential writers of her time. Born on January 7, 1891, in Notasulga, Alabama, Hurston moved to Eatonville, Florida, when she was still very young. Hurston was a very talented woman, and she used her talents as a mean to get her way into the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. By 1935, she had published various short stories and articles and a novel. Hurston’s turning point came after she published the novel Their Eyes were Watching God in 1937. Hurston was one of the most important writers in the twentieth century African American literature. Her works influenced writers such as Ralph Ellison, Toni Morrison and Alice walker. The novel Their Eyes Were Watching God is a great example of African-American women’s role in society, and the personal struggles they had to overcome in their lives.

Title.

God is never mentioned throughout his story. Why the name of the story? Even though he wasn't mentioned, Hurston did mentioned nature a lot. The time she mentioned the sun, or the sky it appeared as if they were divine. It was almost as if nature was playing the role of God. It was as if nature had a mind of its own and it decided what to do with people and it also influenced the way the thought about themselves. Janie, as mentioned before, wanted to find herself, but she also had to find her place in the world in order to be comfortable with who she was. Their Eyes Were Watching God was ultimately about Janie and her quest to find her place in the world, and to be comfortable and happy with who she was.

Security and Independence

Janie married Logan Killicks at first, then she married Joe Starks, and finally she married Tea Cake. It seems like Janie couldn't find fulfillment in any of the men she had, even though she was very happy with Tea Cake, she was still missing something. It is important to understand that Janie had to find herself first in order to be happy. However, the pressure that society put on women, perhaps forced her to marry multiple times. Tea Cake was the one who helped her through all of these and so she becomes secure in herself. When Tea Cake died, she always felt like he was there with her. She was able to be independent and to continue her life focusing on herself. Even though all of these bad things happened, having had three marriages makes this a romantic story because we see how Janie evolves and is set free by love. This novel is a great representation of the life of a black woman whose desires in life motivate her to make the choices that will ultimately define who she is and how society will see her.

Authentic Blackness

This novel is very strong when it comes to “authentic blackness.” Hurston carefully wrote this piece making sure that everything was authentic in the African American culture. For example, the dialect in this novel is a great representation for authentic blackness. Words such as “Lawd” (Lord), “’bout” (about), and “’aint” (isn’t) are some of the words represented in the dialect of the novel. Also, one of the reasons why this novel is so authentic and real is because Hurston, an African American woman, wrote it. It wouldn’t have been the same story if a white person would’ve written this story. This is because Hurston knew the trials, the struggles, and the problem that black women encountered throughout their lives. It makes it so much more authentic because of who writes it and the knowledge the author has about black women.

Binary Themes

Some of the binary themes that emerged throughout the novel were the material versus the spiritual, and also the ideal woman versus the realistic women. One of the ways that this works relates to me as a person of faith is how Janie seemed to have found her freedom in men, but finding freedom in anything besides God it’s not fulfilling. All she wanted, had to do with material stuff when in reality the best way she could’ve fulfilled the holes in her life was by turning to God. Society formed what a woman should be and how she should act. A good example of this would be the British Victorian’s society. Women were expected to be perfect and to live up to the expectations of what the writers such as Patmore were writing. In this novel, Janie, as I mentioned before, was always the topic of conversation around the town. The other women were in a sense “perfect” because they weren’t doing many of the things Janie did—Janie married three times. I feel like Janie was being the realistic woman at that time because of the fact that she didn’t care of what society thought of her, she did what she felt was right for her.

Emancipation

Janie also gets emancipation. Throughout the novel, we see how different her relationship with Tea Cake is. He had something that her previous husbands didn’t. He knew how to treat her right, how to make her feel like a woman. She got the freedom she always wanted with Tea Cake. Death is a symbol extremely important in this novel. Every time someone she knew, her husband or her grandma, died, something inside Janie would change as well. It was as if death was meant to be in her life in order to get her in the position she was in. What I found most ironic was the death of Tea Cake. As I mentioned before, he was the love of her life, the person she really felt comfortable with. At the end of the novel, Tea Cake doesn’t die of natural causes; Janie herself has to take Tea Cake’s life. This is ironic in the sense that the person she loved the most and the person, who helped her feel like a woman, was the person she had to kill. It was as if she killed the little hope of happiness that she had in her heart.

Double Consciousness

Double Consciousness emerges at the moment she married Starks. Janie was being watched now more than ever. She had a role in society and that was something she had to follow. Her role as a black woman was to be a wife, and a politician. As a black woman, she wasn’t supposed to speak with white people because this was just not right at all, people would think of her as wanting to be considered white, and if the women in the town weren’t supposed to speak with white people, neither was Janie. As a wife, she was supposed to do as her husband said. She had to be a housewife and had to have the food ready when her husband came home from work. In other words, she was supposed to be submissive. As a politician’s wife, she was supposed to be perfect in everything she did. She had to dress right and had to be a good role model for the rest of the town people.