Their Eyes Were Watching God

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Introduction

The book, their eyes were watching God, was authored in 1937 by African-American

writer known as Zora Neale Hurston. It is renowned as one of the best books ever written by a

writer of black descent. The plot of the book revolves around the main character a girl Janie

Crawford’s "ripening from a vibrant, but voiceless, teenage girl into a woman with her finger on

the trigger of her own destiny

”. Growing up as a young girl, she expects a lot from her life, but

sooner she realizes that she has to strive and struggle just as other people go to God for

themselves. The paper traces and looks at the struggles in the life of Janie as she strives to adapt

to the themes of gender roles and power struggle in the community.

Themes and Analysis

The book is the most celebrated work among those published by Hurston for its masterful

capture and use of language, particularly the use of the black southern dialect. In the whole

novel, the nook utilizes a superb narrative structure, dividing and alternating the presentation of

the story between idiomatic discourse and high literary narration. The interchanging of the

discourse celebrates the rich culture of the voices in the Janie’s world.

The dominant theme in the book is power and conquest as means to self-gratification.

Whereas the main character Janie, strives to assert her place by following a spiritual journey

through self-awareness and love, Jody on his part tries to achieve contentment through exerting

power. He is hell-bent on controlling everyone and purchasing everything around him. By

exercising his authority, he attempts to subordinate his environment based on his wishes and

will. He is filled with an illusion that he can control everything around him and by doing so,

Hurston, Zora Neale. 2010. Their eyes were watching God. New York: HarperCollins.

http://ctdl.lib.overdrive.com/ContentDetails.htm?ID=D0D8269C-589D-48D1-9152-10FE2F502F71.

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achieve the required gratification and sense of fulfillment. He is not alone in using power and

authority as even Tea Cake, for instance encounters the hubris as the hurricane lashes up, he is

certain that he can wither through this using his mastery of the muck. To both Tea Cake and

Jody, the think and conceptualize that the natural world exposes the limitations of human power.

In using the struggles of the above two diverse characters, Janie and Jody, we can refer

and illustrate how the society and its inhabitants find themselves in similar struggles trying to

achieve sense of fulfillment from either power or through the journey of love and spiritual

intimacy. In the society, the struggle is still the same. There are people who follow the footsteps

like those of Jody and use their authority and power to earn respect and decimate their

environment and with that, they feel contented and fulfilled with their life

. On the contrary,

others apply love and spiritual guidance to achieve their purpose and mission in life, which

makes them, feel they have achieved a sense of fulfillment.

The other theme is relationships and love versus independence. The whole narrative in

the book is about how Janie acquires a strong sense of herself and appreciation of her

independence. However, the journey is not all rosy, as it might seem. Hurston uses gender

differences to emphasize that women and men provide each other with things that they do not

possess but need them. Janie on her part views the fulfilling relationships as reciprocal and bases

on mutual understanding, something she espoused in her relations with Tea Cake. This elevates

her into an equally outstandingly absent from her marriages. From a psychological point of view,

relationships form crucial part of human life. Without meaningful relationships, humans lack

nurturance, love, and independence. They feel decimated and their lives are termed as a failure.

Litwin, Laura Baskes. 2010. A reader's guide to Zora Neale Hurston's Their eyes were watching god. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers.

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Lack of relationships opens up avenues of social problems such as broken families, adultery and

drug abuse.

The issue is the gender roles in the lives of people living in a particular society. In the

book, the traditional gender roles are deeply analyzed together with the relationships between

women and men. In the book, nanny believes that Janie should marry a man who will protect her

as opposed to love and nurturance as it ought to be based on the bible. The first two husbands

that Janie has, Logan and Jody, both believe that they accepting to marry her should define Janie.

They both want her to come out as silent and domesticated. This shows the chauvinistic gender

roles set upon for women to follow while men are let off the hook in abiding with the set gender

roles

Conclusion

The book is a thrilling novel that is in line with the dominant societal expectations of

gender roles, power and authority, and role of love and relationships in life of human beings. The

chauvinistic gender roles have been given a huge airplay and reflect the current situation in the

Indian, African and other societies that believe marriage is the key to recognition of women in

society.

Litwin, Laura Baskes. 2010. A reader's guide to Zora Neale Hurston's Their eyes were watching god. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers.

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Bibliography

Hurston, Zora Neale. 2010. Their eyes were watching God. New York: HarperCollins.

http://ctdl.lib.overdrive.com/ContentDetails.htm?ID=D0D8269C-589D-48D1-9152-

10FE2F502F71.

Litwin, Laura Baskes. 2010. A reader's guide to Zora Neale Hurston's Their eyes were watching

god. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers.

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