Major Works Data Sheet THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GODAP Literature and Composition

Title of Work: Their Eyes Were Watching God

Author: Zora Neale Hurston

Date of Publication: September 1937

Genre: Regionalism, Modernism and Bildungsroman

Characteristics of the Genre: The genre for Their Eyes Were Watching God is a Bildungsroman because it is a coming of age story for the main character, Janie. The story follows her life through three marriages and demonstrates Janie’s journey to becoming the woman she is. The novel can also be considered a Modernist novel because the narration goes in and out of different characters’ minds. The majority of the novel is narrated through a third person omniscient narrator but at times the narrator expresses the consciousness of characters such as Tea Cake and even the buzzards that hovered over the mule.

Regionalism is demonstrated in Their Eyes Were Watching God because the characters speak in a dialect common in a certain region of the United States which happens to be the south. Also, local color is illustrated in the novel by focusing on a specific region and their customs.

Historical and Biographical Information about the Period of Publication:Zora Neale Hurston is commonly linked to the Harlem Renaissance, which is an artistic and intellectual “coming to

fullness” in the 1910’s and 1920’s, and is also referred to as the “New Negro Movement”. This cultural movement was centered on Harlem area of New York, which is where the name Harlem Renaissance originated from. It is also referred to as the “New Negro Movement” because this was a time of development in African American literature. The main belief of the Harlem Renaissance is that any group, race, or nation that demonstrates artistic prowess will be respected and celebrated.

Hurston, in contrast to the Great Migration in her culture, returned to Florida, instead of moving toward the northern part of the United States to continue anthropological work and gain literary inspiration after being educated in the North (She had to lie about her age in order to finish high school). Hurston has grown up in Eatonville, Florida, which is the main setting of her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Eatonville is also the United States’ first black incorporated township, how Hurston most likely gained her inspiration for the novel.

Unfortunately, Hurston never received any kind of profit from her work, due to loopholes, and was also buried in an unmarked grave in a segregated cemetery, until Alice Walker restored her work and made her way to Florida to fix that. Alice Walker is also the reason Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God was published, since she rediscovered Hurston’s novel.

Plot Summary:Main character Janie has many rumors circulating about her life until a friend Phoebe come over to listen to her life story. Janie’s story begins as a young girl where she grows up living with her grandmother in the backyard of a white family until her grandmother saves enough money to buy them a house of their own. Having grown up in slavery, Janie’s grandmother is quick to marry Janie off young to Logan Killicks. Although Logan is kind to Janie, there is no love in their relationship and she soon becomes distracted by a swaggering older man Joe Starks. She soon runs off with Jody to live in a new all-black community in Eatonville Florida. Joe’s commanding leadership pushes him to the position of mayor of the town leaving Janie to run the store. There marriage is happy enough in the beginning, but about 7 years in she realizes she is being confined. Joe does not let her engage in playful conversation on the front porch and always forces her to keep her hair tied up. After 20 years of marriage, things finally fall apart when Joe becomes old and sick and isolates himself, causing the couple to essentially become strangers. When Joe is in the throws of death, Janie finally gives him a piece of her mind, and he dies. Janie does not inwardly mourn his death, but keeps up a show of mourning in front of the town. Six months after Joe’s death, Janie meets a younger man named Tea Cake who respects her and speaks to her as an equal. Their relationship grows, to the dismay of the town, until they finally run off to Jacksonville and get married. Tea Cake happily suggests that they go to live in “da muck” of the Everglades. He knows this is a fun place where they can have an easy life picking beans making friends. They do just that. Janie has a run in in the Everglades with a woman she believes Tea Cake is cheating on her with, but it soon becomes apparent that Tea Cake only loves Janie. After living in the Everglades about a year, warning signs appear that a hurricane is coming. Janie and Tea Cake ignore the warnings and soon find themselves in the midst of a horrible storm. They, along with their friend Motor Boat make a run for it and escape through the rising waters. Along the way, Janie is swept away and forced to cling to a cow with an angry dog on it’s back that is threatening to kill her. Tea Cake comes to the rescue but is bitten by the dog. They make it to Palm Beach where Tea Cake spends several weeks in the clean-up process, and they then run away back to the Everglades. They settle back down into a home and are reunited with many friends. Three weeks after their return, Tea Cake comes down with a mysterious illness that makes him unable to drink water and fills him with rage. Janie calls for the doctor, who tells her it is rabies from the dog and it is too late to save him. In his craze and paranoia, Tea Cake takes a pistol and aims it at Janie who has a pistol. Janie tries to stop him, but when Tea Cake shoots, Janie shoots back, killing him. She is put on trial, and while the black community blamed her for the death, the doctor pleaded her case that Tea Cake was out of his mind. Janie loved Tea Cake and built him an elaborate tomb. She then returned to Eatonville where the frame story ends with her explaining her life and its lessons to Phoebe.

Class Period: 2 Name: Alison Page

Description of the Author’s Style:

The author uses her own lyrical taste and the southern dialect of the characters in the book to create an overall contrasting style of writing throughout the novel. Her personal style is very intellectual and poetic, using lots of imagery and figurative language to outline the setting and outward details of the plot. The style of the characters’ dialogue is much more colloquial and informal, using slang and more personal diction to communicate the characters’ inner thoughts and outward behavior. This

Example that Demonstrates Style and Explanation:

“Seeing the woman as she was made them remember the envy they had stored up from other times. So they chewed up the back parts of their minds and swallowed with relish. They made burning statements with questions, and killing tools out of laughs. It was mass cruelty. A mood come alive. Word walking without masters; walking altogether like harmony in a song. ‘What she doin coming back here in dem overhalls? Can’t she find no dress to put on?—Where’s dat blue satin dress she left here in?” (2).The author is very descriptive in this passage and using lots of flowery word choice, similes, and metaphorical phrases to communicate her idea to the reader. Her voice is very appealing to the senses and helps the reader identify with her own emotions. This sophisticated introduction to the ladies’ thoughts gives their accusations validation, but at the same time contrasts with their language to shed light on the true barbarity of their allegations.

Memorable Quotations (5)

Quotation (and Speaker): Significance:

“When she got to where they were she turned her face on the bander log and spoke. They scrambled a noisy ‘good evenin’’ and left their mouths setting open and their ears full of hope. Her speech was pleasant enough, but she kept walking straight on to her gate” (2).

-The author describing Janie

This quote marks the return of Janie in Eatonville; its significance lies in the revelation of the reactions of the townspeople to her return. This passage shows just how eager they are to hear of what happened to Janie, and the author demeans them by characterizing their reactions as animalistic through the descriptions of their mouths and ears. They are seen as naïve and shallow by their greedy attitudes. Janie is perceived to be content, yet worn, through her indifference of their actions and her want to speak with no one. Because she remains composed as she faces her neighbors, it is revealed that Janie knows that she is better than their meaningless gossip, and she has much more important things to take to mind than their opinions of her.

“’Naw it ain’t neither. You ain’t put it where Ah told yuh tuh. If you’d git yo’ mind out de streets and keep it on yo’ business maybe you could git somethin’ straight sometimes. … Wid you heah, Ah oughtn’t tuh hafta do all dat lookin’ and searchin’. Ah done told you time and time agin tuh stick all dem apers on dat nail! All you got tuh do is mind me. How come you can’t do lak Ah tell yuh?’” (70-71).

-Joe Starks to Janie

By insulting Janie in front of the customer, Jody is insulting her and her freedom even more deeply in comparison to doing it in seclusion. He is using her small mistake to release his anger at her for not meeting his expectations as a wife in general. The realistic dialect employed by the author establishes a harmful degree of malice in Jody’s accusations, and helps the reader to really relate with the pain felt by Janie. Feminine oppression is established as a centralized theme of the novel in this scene, as marriage to Joe Starks in Janie’s second encounter with the harsh realities of committed love. Joe uses his mean words to create dominance over Janie, and hurts her feelings and pride as a result.

“’Ah’m older than Tea Cake, yes. But he done showed me where it’s de thought dat makes de difference in ages. If people thinks de same they can make it all right. So in the beginnin’ new thoughts had tuh be thought and new words said. After Ah got used to dat, we gits ‘long jus’ fine. He done taught me de maiden language all over’ (115).

-Janie to Phoeby

Janie is breaking down the barriers of age that defined the idea of a relationship during the setting of the novel. However, Janie is also revealing how she has found herself in Tea Cake by declaring how he has been the one to teach her that “thought makes de difference.” Janie and Tea Cake’s relationship differs, in a positive way, from Janie’s previous marriages because of her personal freedom acquired and the foundation of her own nature to think. Janie admits to the reformation she underwent as a result of her relationship from Tea Cake, but the light-hearted

diction used by the author reveals the good nature of the changes. The way Janie speaks of Tea Cake in this passage shows the respect she has for him, but also the equal understanding they share as partners without one’s voice trumping the other’s.

“In a little wind-lull, Tea Cake touched Janie and said, ‘Ah reckon you wish now you had of stayed in yo’ big house ‘way from dis, don’t yu?’ ‘Naw.’ ‘Naw?’ ‘Yeah, naw. People don’t die till dey time come nohow, don’t keer where you at. Ah’m wid mah husband in uh strom, dat’s all’” (159).

‘Conversation between Tea Cake and Janie

The simplicity of this conversation’s structure gives the content of the exchange all the more value. Because Tea Cake and Janie are able to so casually speak of their future, fate, past, and mistakes shows just how strong their bond is and how much they truly love one another. Tea Cake’s compassionate nature is revealed through his suggestion that Janie deserved to be living her previous lifestyle rather than being stuck in a storm with him. Janie’s fast response shows her matter-of-factness that she wanted nothing more than to be with Tea Cake, regardless of their circumstance. The simple syntax gives the dialogue a much more personal tone, and familiarizes the reader with the characters through the use of indirect characterization. In addition, the author’s allusion to death at this point connects Janie’s relationship with Tea Cake with her previous marriage/life with Joe Starks.

“’ So Ah’m back home agin and Ah’m satisfied tuh be heah. Ah done been tuh de horizon and back and now Ah kin set heah in mah house and live by comparisons. Dis house ain’t so absent of things lak it used tuh be befo’ Tea Cake come along. It’s full uh thoughts, ‘specially dat bedroom’” (191).

-Janie to Phoeby

The author concludes Janie’s story (the active plot of the novel) with this reflection to create an atmosphere of content in the town of Eatonville. Because Janie has now “been to de horizon and back” she can finally be content where she is; her constant quest for happiness in all of her marriages is ironically achieved in the death of her true love, Tea Cake, and the return to her old life. It is notable that Janie constructively looks at her past relationships as lessons to be learned from rather than feeling spite towards her ex-husbands. The house that she lives in and the emptiness that once possessed it represents her relationship with Joe Starks and the lack of substance in their love towards each other. Janie and Tea Cake’s marriage taught her how to be independent and an individual while depending on another person. The reference to the bedroom relates back to when Janie finally concluded the absence of her feelings of love towards Jody when their bedroom was no longer their “playground”, connecting, once again, Janie’s lessons about life learned through Tea Cake with the harsh realities revealed through her other relationships.

Major CharactersCharacter’s Name: Role (What role does this person

have in the story?):Significance (Why is this character significant to the story?):

Character Traits (What sort of person is this?):

1. Janie Protagonist She is the main character and all of the external conflict of the novel revolves around her and her actions, she develops the themes of feminism and individualism with her actions

Curious, never gives up on her dreams, doesn’t let other people get her down, confident

2. Johnny Taylor First boy Janie kisses His kiss transitions Janie from childhood into womanhood, he prompts Nanny to force Janie to marry Logan Killicks

Symbolic, explorative, provoking

3. Motor Boat A friend of Tea Cake and Janie Chooses to sleep in an old house as they are travelling to escape the hurricane and defies all odds by surviving without a scrape after the storm passes

Content, strong-willed, confident with his own intuition

4. Dr. Simmons Friendly white doctor from the muck

Confirms the inevitability of Tea Cake’s death after being bit by the mad dog, counters the cruelty of racism that is so prevalent at this time by assisting so many black families

Caring, selfless, has a good heart, helpful

5. Phoebe Janie’s best friend She is the recipient of Janie’s recounts of her life, she offers Janie clarity as she makes decisions regarding her relationships with Joe and Tea Cake

Loyal, non-judgmental, good listener, sympathetic

6. Tea Cake(VergibleWoods)

Janie’s third husband Helps Janie find herself through his unconventional way of living, although he is 12 years younger, he is the only man with whom Janie feels a real connection and real love

Resourceful, hopeful, indifferent to the opinions of others, understanding

7. Nanny Janie’s grandmother Raises Janie and wants her to lead a comfortable life, forces her to marry Logan Killicks which crushes Janie’s hopes of love in marriage

Caring, wants what is best for Janie, religious, traditional

8. Mrs. Turner Janie’s landlady in the muck Obsessed with her white features and hates black people, becomes friends with Janie because of her Caucasian looks and even sees Janie as an authority because of her ethnicity

Shallow, ignorant, racist

9. Logan Killicks Janie’s first husband His relationship with Janie is what reveals to Janie the fact that marriage does not always imply love, tries to make her happy but gives up

Plain, indifferent, uses Janie to gain personal advantage

10. Jody Starks Janie’s second husband, mayor and founder of Eatonville

Offers Janie a life of excitement and passion, but ends up as another sour relationship, disrespects Janie and sees her as an inferior

Rude, controlling, go-getter, motivated by work and popular opinion of himself, leader

Description of the Setting(s) and the Mood the Setting(s) Create:

1. West Florida- town where Janie is brought up, society is ruled by racism and traditional values; this setting creates the feeling of opportunity that lies in the rest of the world because of Janie’s seclusion here

2. Eatonville- black town built from the ground by Joe Starks, very small and everyone knows each other’s business; nothing in Janie’s life is private, keeping her under the constant eye of the townspeople, very nosy and secluded

3. The Everglades (“da muck”)- place where Janie and Tea Cake go after they get married, very poor, diverse with its population; creates a comfy atmosphere around the life of Tea Cake and Janie because they are no longer under the scrutiny of judgmental people who know every detail of their lives, relaxed and opportunistic for the couple to build a life of prosperity through their hard work, simplistic

4. Palm Beach- where the population of the Everglades go to reach suffrage from the devastating hurricane, worn down, beat up, over populated; creates a tone of desperation to stay alive because of the unwelcoming living conditions, lots of sorrow established through the burying of the dead in this place and the requirement for the inhabitants to help with the burials

Major Symbols, Motifs, Images:

Symbols-

Pear tree: what Janie hopes her life and love in life will be like, Janie’s dreams and aspirations to be happy and life the perfect life one day, Janie chases after this throughout the novel only to find her answers through multiple instances of devastation

Hurricane: the harshness of nature and the reality that life is not always what Janie wants/pictures it to be, causes the characters to question their being and look to God for strength because of the great magnitude of devastation it causes

Disease: the human aspect of Janie and Tea Cake’s love affair, shows Janie that all good things have to come to an end and that she cannot always control what happens in life

Motifs-

Community: the importance of community and the inevitability of the closeness felt between the occupants, be it good or bad

Racism: the less fortunate lifestyle of the black people is a direct reflection of white dominance at this time, specifically seen in the assignment of caskets to white folk after the hurricane blows through the Everglades

Significance of the Opening Scene:

The opening scene uses Janie’s final eventual return to Eatonville to introduce the main plot of her life in the form of a recollection. By using the conclusion of Janie’s search to find herself through her perils, the author creates a tiresome, yet hopeful, mood to ease the reader into a relationship with the main character. The Janie the author sees in the beginning is used as a comparison in the mind of the reader as the plot unfolds to reveal Janie’s life story.

Significance of the Ending/Closing Scene:

The closing scene relates back to the opening scene in order to remind the reader of the origins of the story and why it was being communicated in the first place. Janie is finally able to feel content in her own mindset because of the mistakes she made and the growth she experienced in each of her marriages, and her final product of a person is experienced through her concluding recollections; the way she is able to accept Tea Cake’s death and become comfortable in the her occupied life reveals her achieved maturity as a woman who does not need a man to define herself.

Themes:

Individuality vs. Identification in a Relationship- Janie faces a constant struggle of finding her identity throughout the novel. She begins as a young girl searching for love as her purpose in life. Her voice is stiffened by her first two marriages, as her dream for passionate love and understanding to be felt between a man and a woman is crushed by her husbands. It is only through her relationship with Tea Cake that Janie is able to realize the true content of her own voice and how to control the power she now is aware of.Oppression- Janie is constantly bossed around by the people in her life; through her Nanny forcing her to marry Logan Killicks, Joe Starks ordering her around, and the opinion of the people of Eatonville driving her decisions, Janie struggles to be her true self amongst the oppression from external forces. Being set free of the commitment of marriage—a marriage that she valued more than anything—is what ultimately sets Janie free to be herself. Through her struggles and the suffocation of her voice, Janie is able to find her horizon and be content with her life at that point in time.

Possible Topics/Questions for Discussion:

Is there any evidence of racism in Eatonville?What other relationships in the novel reveal oppression, other than Janie’s