...Now, Janie feels nothing trapped as she returns to the home that Joe once trapped her in. Even though the downstairs is “shut and fastened”, it seems cozy and comforting instead of stuffy. Upstairs, the open windows give the room a sense of openness which, paradoxically, does not feel empty. Instead, it makes Janie have a sense of freedom. “On the train the next day, Joe didn’t make many speeches with rhymes to her, but he bought her the best things the butcher had, like apples and a glass lantern full of candies. Mostly he talked about plans for the town when he got there…” (34) - Voice 4 Unlike Logan, Joe doesn’t start off his marriage by using his voice - the theme of the quote - or embellishing a love that isn’t sincere. His words are directed towards his destination which is Eatonville and plan for the future. These reveals his ambition but not his emotions. He seems to think that objects and gifts are all that Janie needs, and this trend continues throughout their entire marriage. He never expresses his emotions or heart to Janie since he isn’t communicative while Janie becomes silent....
Words: 1638 - Pages: 7
...eyes were watching god” is a story about a girl named janie crawford and her quest in searching for love. Throughout her journey of trying to accomplish her dream the book walks us through how she slowly matures and enter her womanhood. In the novel “Their eyes were watching god” Hurston uses similes, metaphors, and symbols to display the moral that marriage and intimacy doesn’t bring love. Hurston uses similes as one of the ways to show that love doesn’t come by marriage or intimacy....
Words: 772 - Pages: 4
...on a journey for life fulfillment. Janie lives her life how her grandmother wants her too, and then tries to take her own course only to find out that she is still unhappy. Finally she finds happiness within herself. During the Harlem Renaissance Janie faces all of these feelings and conflicts. The Harlem Renaissance was a movement that included the new African-American cultural expressions across United States during the 1920’s. In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston uses the style element of conflict to reflect from the Harlem Renaissance ideal of asserting agency, while she departs from the ideals of the movement with her use of conflict to reflect from the Harlem Renaissance ideal of...
Words: 896 - Pages: 4
...Janie and Tea Cake first met eachother. Janie had been working at the store while everyone else had gone to a baseball game. Tea Cake had come into the shop to buy cigarettes and casually started up a conversation with Janie. The two clicked with each other and he offered to teach her how to play checkers. Janie had finally begun to feel as if she fit in again and did not feel as if she was being classed off just because she had been the mayor’s wife. I believe that Tea Cake helped Janie to break out of her shell and she finally realized she needed to stop caring about the other people in town and how they felt about her. I feel that Janie was finally beginning to become genuinely happy again after meeting Tea Cake because she felt accepted by him. I also believe that after meeting Tea Cake Janie came to the realization that it was finally time for her to move on and start her life up again. Evaluation/Analysis of Characters: In chapter eleven of the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, some people of the town had taken to notice Tea Cake and Janie hanging around one another quite often. Many people had come to Janie to warn her of Tea Cake and told her that he was only after her money. Janie...
Words: 2027 - Pages: 9
...different. Oprah does a wonderful job at completely destroying the morals of the time period, and the symbols shown in the book. The movie changes relationships making the main character stronger and more independent. The beautiful love story shown by Oprah became a ridiculous rendition of Zora Neale Hurston’s classic novel missing key elements from the book. Oprah Winfrey completely disregards the moral fiber of the time period. In the movie some scenes got extremely graphic with the kissing and love making. These scenes...
Words: 1309 - Pages: 6
...Zora Neal Hurtson, the main character Janie is desperate for love; over the course of the entire novel, she marries to 3 men, one being an African American man by the name of Joe Stalks, aka Jody. The author characterizes Jody as prideful, vain, overly ambitious man who has an obsession with feeling superior and powerful. Hurtson develops this characterization through Jody’s dialogue, treatment towards Janie, and his physical appearance. During this time period, women were considered inferior to men, and Jody strongly supports such ideals. Jody states "Somebody got to think for women and chillun and chickens and cows. I god, they sho don’t think none theirselves." This quote demonstrates Jody’s conception...
Words: 571 - Pages: 3
...“Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone.” (8) This powerful quote and many others are found in Zora Neale Hurston’s African American Literature Novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. Hurston writes of a young, light skinned, African American female named Janie who journeys through life trying to find the “perfect” relationship. As Janie goes through her life, she, along with her search, has taken turns for the worse and for the better. Janie has endured many conflicts through her relationships with Logan Killicks, Jody Starks, and Tea Cake. Throughout Janie’s relationships with men, she discovered that she did not want to live a marriage life full of fear, unhappiness, and sorrow. Her ability to dream and to act on her instincts allowed her to truly find her happiness within her last relationship. As stated above, the...
Words: 1169 - Pages: 5
...Were Watching God” the horizon symbolizes the hope that Janie has for her future every time that she moves on in her life and the dreams of equality and love she hopes to one day experience. Present throughout the entire book, the horizon manifests itself as Janie’s dreams for a better life. She travels along in the horizon in her marriages, always searching for her own ideal life. In her mind and adventures, the horizon gives her hope that a better life will be there for her allowing her to move on and grow as a person. The beginning of the book states that “Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board… For others they sail forever on the horizon.” (Hurston 1)These first parts of the book foreshadow Janie’s own personality and what she is going to do in the near future. This quote is Janie stating that all men have dreams and intentions, just like Janie, but even though they have an advantage over women they do not pursue their own dreams and so their intentions slip away. Janie is different,...
Words: 622 - Pages: 3
...supports your present, loves you and encourages your future,”perfectly blends with the book Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, as it describes the ideal man that the main character is searching for her whole entire life. Janie, the protagonist has several relationships with men to find her “blossoming bee” but, never did she know the true meaning of love. Through the relationships that she had, she comes to discover her true identity. The two relationships that impacted her life immensely are the two characters, Joe Starks and Tea Cake. In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Janie goes through multiple relationships that changes her beliefs, ultimately demonstrating that experiencing trails of love will eventually lead them to self-realization. Janie's relationship with Joe Starks constrains Janie from experiencing the outside life and shapes her into an emotionless person. Joe Starks is a working man who always wanted to have a big voice in the society. He meets Janie when she was working in Logan’s farm and grabs her attention. Soon after their encounter, they get married and move to Eatonville where Joe Starks becomes mayor. After Joe gives a speech, Janie is asked to say something. However, Joe responds, “Thank yuh fuh yo’ compliments, but mah wife don't know nothin’ bout no speech-making. Ah never married her for nothin’ lak dat. She’s uh woman and her place is in de home” (Hurston 43). Joe didn’t marry Janie...
Words: 994 - Pages: 4
...a muddy pond, beautiful and strong.” This quote is especially apparent in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God as Hurston uses symbolism to express Janie’s life experiences. Multiple uses of symbols can be found in this story such as the pear tree to follow in Janie’s journey of self awakening. Many symbols focus on aspects of Janie’s identity including the pear tree which is brought to attention throughout the novel. The pair tree in her...
Words: 827 - Pages: 4
...This quote represents the theme and connection of the film, “ Beasts in the Southern Wild, “ with the novel, “ Their Eyes Were Watching God. In both, the protagonist go through tough experiences and have a strong connection with nature. The movie, “ Beasts in the Southern Wild,” released in 2012 directed by Benh Zeitlin is about a young girl named Hushpuppy who lives in a peculiar isolated area which they call the “Bathtub.” Hushpuppy lives with her crazy, sick father which is her only parent figure in the film, and with a community full of brave and wild people. In the film, Hushpuppy and her community face a storm which ends up exposing...
Words: 1770 - Pages: 8
...contentment is shown in Hurston's imagery of a pear tree, which represents nature's beauty. The pear tree represents Janie's idealized views of nature, as it demonstrates her naive and romantic character which constantly seeks true love, and her idealism of the harmony in a marriage based upon love as she travels a path of self-discovery throughout the novel. She was lying across the bed asleep so Janie tipped on out of the front door. Oh to be a pear tree—any tree in bloom! With kissing bees singing of the beginning of the world! She was sixteen. She had glossy leaves and bursting buds and she wanted to struggle with life but it seemed to elude her. Where were the singing bees for her? Nothing on the place nor in her grandma’s house answered her. (11) In this part of the novel it deliberately describes the pear tree in this fashion to show the relation between a blossoming tree, which is blooming as it grows, to the significant character changes in Janie as she marries different men in an attempt to discover happiness in a loving marriage. As the bees interact with the tree's blossoms, she witnesses perfection in nature's simple beauty, which is captured in her imaginative description. This energy, passionate interaction, and blissful harmony are ideals Janie chases throughout the rest of the novel. As the protagonist...
Words: 1147 - Pages: 5
...it may trigger a certain thought process on trying to figure out what the title means. The title, Their Eyes Were Watching God, was only mention verbatim once throughout the entire novel. The title derives from a quote in the novel, “They seems to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God” (Hurston 187). The title, as well as the quote holds a significant meaning to the entire book. One thing to take from the title, is that even though the book is mainly about Janie, is does not say “her” but it says “their” eyes making it known that we as humans (all humans) are susceptible to God and His will. The title symbolizes the fact that we do not have absolute control over our lives and that we look to God for direction and answers. It is easy for us to forget how similar we all are in our vulnerability until we face a situation that is out of our control. Janie’s eyes were watching God because she knows that their lives are in His hands. Only He knows...
Words: 994 - Pages: 4
...In the beginning, Nanny’s insistence for Janie to get married and fulfill her life under a man’s power supported the new ideas of romanticism. Also, Janie’s desires to find love and live that fairytale life of “happily ever after,” which was what many people looked for to fulfill their life when they did not achieve their goals. The period of romanticism was all about rebellion against societal rules, heightened emotions, and interest in nature. That is why the “pear tree” represented Janie’s unfulfilled life desires. However, the book transitions from romanticism to realism. After the death of Jody, Janie realizes that she does not want marriage and would rather be free. She wanted to go back to a society in which the individual’s mind was valued over emotions. Janie realizes that she does not need love, even though Tea Cake comes along, and that she can develop her own character without the help of a man. For example, running the store by herself, wearing her hair down, and choosing to leave with Tea Cake. She goes on to pursue her dreams, things she never experienced under the oppression of her previous...
Words: 2197 - Pages: 9
...because we want to pursue an education and be someone in the world. Love is strange and fickle subject. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is the next story I will be discussing. I loved this story. The story is about an African American teenager named Janie. The story takes place during the times of slavery. I strongly believed that Janie is the true definition of self-reliant and independent individual. Janie is a free spirited character that I admire so much. I admire Janie for not settling for anything less than what she deserved. Janie was on the hunt for true love, in her journey she met 3 men that could potentially be the one. She did not find true love with the first two men, but a mere illusion of love. She discovered that it was not real love because both of those men tried to control and shape Janie into a person she was not. Being the independent person that Janie was, she decided to leave them and continue her journey. When she finally met the third guy (Tea Cakes) she found what she was looking for, it didn’t last too long because Tea Cakes dies later on. According to Hurston, Janie did not care what people said about her: Ah know all dem sitters-and-talkers gointuh worry they guts into fiddle strings till dey find out whut we been talkin’ ’bout. Dat’s all right, Pheoby, tell ’em. Dey gointuh make ’miration ’cause mah love didn’t work lak they love, if dey ever had any. (Hurston 226) Janie didn’t care what people said about her because she already experienced...
Words: 1795 - Pages: 8
