Their Eyes Were Watching God Literary Analysis

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In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston uses metaphor and symbolism throughout to show Janie’s experiences, as she journeys through various marriages to fulfill her hopes and dreams. To Janie, the “horizon” symbolizes her dreams and hopes of a true marriage. The use of Horizon (a recurring image), by Hurston portrays the experiences of the main character, Janie. In the beginning of the novel, Hurston begins by saying that “ships at a distance have every man's wish on board," (Hurston 1). The “ships” metaphorically represents the dreams of the men. Their ships “sail forever on the horizon,” because these men do not do anything to achieve their dreams. Janie is the opposite of men because chases her horizon. Throughout the novel, she searches for her horizon and finds it as she is “pulled in her horizon like a great fish net,” (Hurston 182). She has received peace within herself as she achieves her horizon. Furthermore, Janie derives her thoughts for her horizon at the age of sixteen at …show more content…
As the novel continues, the narrative shifts from the third person to first person singular. This happens when Tea Cake comes into the picture. Tea Cake gives Janie a chance to voice out her opinion, thus the narration shifts from third to first person singular. As compared to Jody, “he did not represent pollen but he spoke of the horizon,” (Hurston 28). Janie’s perception ( good marriage and horizon) changes as he takes control over Janie and does not give her a chance to speak or voice out her opinion. When Jody slaps Janie,“something fell off the shelf inside her,” (Hurston 67) and she felt all her hopes and dreams of a good marriage were shattered when the “image of Jody tumbled,” (Hurston 67).An example of how Janie finds her voice is after the death of Jody. This is when she has a free conversation with Pheoby without being interrupted by the

Their Eyes Were Watching God Literary Analysis

In the book Their Eyes Were Watching God , the main character Janie struggles to have control over her own life. Janie is forced into marriage at a young age and grows up extremely fast. During most of her life she does not have much control, she struggles to find her freedom throughout this story. When Janie finds her freedom she is finally happy. At the age of sixteen Janie is forced into marriage by her grandmother. The man Janie is forced to marry is far older than…

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Their Eyes Were Watching God Literary Analysis

In the book, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie and Teacake decide to wait out a hurricane, even though everyone else, except a few others, left before it came. Janie and Tea Cake eventually strike out on their own. They must swim through the flood to reach safety, and since Janie is not a strong swimmer, Tea Cake has to hold her up. This exhausts both of them, and by the time they reach a stopping point, fleeing workers have crowded it so there is no room to stand. Luckily, they both survived,…

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Their Eyes Were Watching God Literary Analysis

In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the protagonist, Janie Starks journeys through life and transitions into her full womanhood. She wrestles with a codependent lifestyle that is forced upon her despite her yearning to be dependent on herself. She is suppressed through her relationships supported by society, and it is not until she breaks away from the people and environments that hold her back, she is able to flourish into her authentic self. Living with her grandmother…

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Their Eyes Were Watching God Literary Analysis

Zora Neale Hurston’s amazing novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) follows main character Janie Crawford, a woman who wishes to sculpt her own destiny, on her quest for true love, freedom and happiness. As a young woman, Janie fantasized of love and marriage believing would bring contentment, where “husbands and wives always loved each other” (Hurston 21). Someone who’ll love her physically and passionately; but finally once tasted, she felt her husband Logan slowly “desecrating the pear tree”…

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Their Eyes Were Watching God Literary Analysis

Their Eyes were Watching God is in many ways a novel about Janie's sexual awakening. Because it was written in the conservative 1930s, much of this sexuality is hid/hidden in (physical thing that refers to an idea or emotion). When Janie finally finds a "bee for her blossom," it is the man that she has been most sexually attracted to in her life. Hurston takes a nature-lover approach to sexuality. Unlike her grandmother, Nanny, who sees sexuality as threatening and upsetting (the balance of) and…

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Their Eyes Were Watching God Literary Analysis

For a long time, women’s struggle for rights has been a major issue in our world and there has been a low tolerance for women doing whatever they please. The novel, “Their Eyes Were Watching God” is set in the 1930s when the mistreatment and dehumanization of women was very common.Viewed as inferior, women were often overbeared with high, sometimes impossible expectations.The flow and structure of the novel shows the attitude towards women during that era, and shows how oppressed they felt due to…

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Their Eyes Were Watching God Literary Analysis

Within the time period of the piece Their Eyes Were Watching God written by Zora Neale Hurston, women were look at as submissive objects to men. They had a specific standard on how they were supposed to look and act; they had a purpose of serving to the men. Throughout the book, Janie starts out resembling that standard but we see her grow to her own standard, not society’s. In the book, Janie’s outlook on life and love resembled hope, loss, optimism, anger, and self-help. Within the novel, there…

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Their Eyes Were Watching God Literary Analysis

In Hurston's novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie, a young mixed girl growing up in the south, dreams of love and a fulfilling life shared with someone by her side. However, life seems to have another plan in mind, and she soon discovers that being a woman is challenging and that sometime, death can lead to new beginnings. From an early point in her life, Janie is determined to make love the center of her life, yet she regularly faces challenges and people who wanted anything but love to be…

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Their Eyes Were Watching God Literary Analysis

"Their Eyes Were Watching God" and "Jonah's Gourd Vine" are both written by Zora Neale Hurston. Authors often tend to display similarities in their writing styles across different works. This is also the case for these two stories written by Hurston. A close examination of these stories will reveal some of the similarities she uses in her writing style, which include character dialogue, setting, and the theme of finding love. First, in Hurston's books "Jonah's Gourd Vine" and "Their Eyes Were…

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Their Eyes Were Watching God Literary Analysis

Trust is by far one of the most important things a person can offer in life. To trust you must be able to understand the meaning of protecting something that was given to you with all your care. In the book Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston shows a moment in Janie’s life where she for the first time fully trust someone and does not feel as if she is being not being used for the first time in her life. In the book, Janie and Tea Cake just sold the store, got married, and ran off to a new town…

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