StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston - Book Report/Review Example

Cite this document
Summary
The paper “Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston” analyzes a novel by a leading African-American writer of the Harlem Renaissance. It follows the destiny of Janie Crawford, a woman living in the black town of Eaton, Florida as she experiences the very different men in her life…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER94.9% of users find it useful
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston"

Download file to see previous pages

Janie is a young woman who's grandmother, a borne slave for whom living in comfort implies being just able to sit on the porch and not be working every hour of the day for barren survival finds an older, conventional husband for Janie and insists her to marry. TEWWG is a symbol of the growth of the individual perception of the source and personification of the world. Janie is, the narrator tells us, "the world and the heavens boiled down to a drop" (page 72). And Janie's arousing stands not only for a personal change but for the making of a world.

Jannie's story begins with her entry into the forbidden area of sexuality when she kisses Johnny Taylor over her grandmother's hedge( and the prying Nanny at first feigning to overlook only to slap her later ) as if her "life commence[s] at Nanny's gate" (page10) since the whole scene almost echoed the Fall of the mythical couple the from the Garden of Eden because they ate the forbidden fruit of knowledge. We are introduced to Janie in a utopian garden, in which there is a tree of prohibited fruit-a pear tree symbolizing sexuality: "She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arches to meet the loving embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight" (page 11).

Janie is, obviously, lured to the fruit like Eve and soon eats of it by kissing Johnny Taylor over her grandmother's fence almost echoing the scene in Genesis where Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden., Janie's grandmother albeit spotter the physical closeness calls her into the house feigning not to have seen anything. Janie "half believe[s]" that her "Nanny" has not seen her, and her grandmother indirectly raises the topic and finally catch hold of Janie and "slap[s]" her "face violently" ( page 13), as if to enact The Genesis, where the all-knowing God obviously knows when Adam and Eve have eaten the forbidden fruit.

Yet, like Janie's Nanny, feigns to ignore first and at last, just as Janie's grandmother rebukes her by slapping and forcing her to marry Logan Killicks, so God curses Adam and Eve an exile from paradise and to come down to the world. Life on this world and its inbuilt violence do not mean that Janie has settled with it; her world is nowhere near finished. For Nanny, things are certainly different. She fears that Janie will become a "mule" to some man, so she plans Janie to marry Logan Killicks albeit older and farmer looking for a wife to maintain his home and help him in his work Janie as we have seen already has the idea that marriage must be sensuous beautiful like the bees pollinating the pear tree, the human-like to this natural phenomenon.

Yet even though she protests, Janie finally yields to her grandmother and marries Logan Killicks. Although she does not love Killicks, she forces herself to love him after since that is "what marriage [means]" (pag20) in spite of the fact that Janie is at least in words put through added violence, as Killicks tells her, "Ah'll take holt ax and come in dere and kill yuh!" (page 30). 

...Download file to see next pages Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston Book Report/Review, n.d.)
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston Book Report/Review. https://studentshare.org/literature/1503196-their-eyes-were-watching-god-by-zora-neale-hurston
(Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston Book Report/Review)
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston Book Report/Review. https://studentshare.org/literature/1503196-their-eyes-were-watching-god-by-zora-neale-hurston.
“Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston Book Report/Review”. https://studentshare.org/literature/1503196-their-eyes-were-watching-god-by-zora-neale-hurston.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale

The paper “their eyes were watching god by zora neale” focuses on the ways in which the novels “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston and “Run With The Horsemen” by Ferrol Sams demonstrate that the search for identity can be a conscious or an unconscious process.... In regard to the aforementioned facts, this paper aims to dissect and explicate the search for identity in the two novels namely "their eyes were watching god" by Zora Neale Hurston and "Run With The Horsemen" by Ferrol Sams....
3 Pages (750 words) Book Report/Review

Compare how women are inferior

In this regard, this paper aims to dissect, explicate, and compare how women are inferior in these books: "their eyes were watching god" (by Hurston) and "Chronicle of a Death Foretold" (by Marquez).... As a background, "their eyes were watching god" tells about Janie Mae Crawford's (the novel's lead character/protagonist) unique journey in her life.... The Women in "their eyes were watching god" The struggles and inferiorities of the female characters, especially the protagonist, are indeed evident as the story flows....
4 Pages (1000 words) Book Report/Review

Christ In Concrete by DiDonato

Yet, this life was never granted these immigrants by the god of the Catholic Church to whom they prayed.... This god, whose purpose for existence was to be of service to his people as they struggled for advancement in their new American home, offers no real help to Geremio and his family....
7 Pages (1750 words) Literature review

Their Eyes Were Watching God - Two Themes Presented by Zora Neale Hurston

A female child is Book Report/Review, English Topic: Two Themes presented in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston Introduction One has, perhaps, never heard a discussion, symposium or spiritual discourse on the topic, “Men-their role in the society....
3 Pages (750 words) Book Report/Review

Analysis of Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

The paper "Analysis of Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston" highlights that Zora Neale Hurston seeks to examine the fate of the few who dare to rise above the stereotypes and shows the reader how society chooses to alienate and even slander them for their effort.... They move to the everglades where they work as laborers, this relationship is however brutally ended when during the Hurricane Tea Cake is bitten by a rabid dog (“From their eyes…” 7)....
5 Pages (1250 words) Book Report/Review

Assignment 2

Janies relationship with Tea Cake in a patriarchal world points to the title ‘their eyes were watching god', and it lights up the main conflict… The wind returned with triple wrath and put out the light.... This is among the many forces antagonizing Janie, which included gossip of the porch culture, the sexism nature of Eatonville's men and antagonizing doctrines to which Nanny, Logan, and Jody adheres to (Domestic Violence In Zora Neale Hurstons their eyes were watching god: A Feminist Reading 122)....
5 Pages (1250 words) Book Report/Review

Discussion Question

However, the final of the story looks rather grim that Discussion Question of Learning Discussion Question The novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is a story of the life of the protagonist whose name is Janie Crawford.... their eyes were watching god.... Tea Cake “wasnt dead” for Janie (hurston, 1990).... She called in her soul to come and see (hurston, 1990).... rg/joeschaaf/files/2013/06/Their-Eyes-Were-Watching-god-rmrju9....
1 Pages (250 words) Assignment

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston: The Imagery Hidden in the Title

"Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston: The Imagery Hidden in the Title" paper analyzes the title that the author chose to give that piece of writing.... “their eyes were watching god” is a book that was written during a time of upheaval, uncertainty, racial tensions and a nation's attempt to gain its own identity.... The author, zora neale hurston, wrote the book in an era where the Racial Uplift Program was in direct resistance from the Harlem Rennaisance....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us