A southern, black, woman in her mid 30's, named Janie Starks comes home from her recent relationship with a young, black fellow named Tea Cake. Residents of the southern town gather on Pheoby Watson's porch to gossip about why Janie came back in overalls all muddy and where Tea Cake was. Pheoby sticks up for Janie and resents the other women for talking about her like they did. Janie later reveals to Pheoby why she left Tea Cake in the Everglades, because she can no longer be happy there. .
Pheoby doesn't understand what Janie Starks means by not being able to be happy in the Everglades so Janie recalls her past. Janie's grandmother raises her, for her mother left and she never knew her father either. Janie and her grandmother, whom she calls Nanny, live in the back yard of a white couple's house, the Washburn's. Janie grows up playing with the Washburn's children, and later finds out that she is colored in a photograph. Nanny and Janie are prompted to their own land when Janie is being made fun of at school for living in the white people's backyard. .
Janie is sixteen and often ponders under a pear tree about life and her blossoming into a grown woman. Nanny wakes to find Janie kissing Johnny Taylor across the gate, she gets worried and decides it is time to marry off Janie to a wealthy, middle-aged, farmer named Logan Killicks. Though Janie at first protests she agrees to go along with it, all Nanny wants is to see her marry a prosperous and protective man before she dies. .
After Janie tells Nanny about her protests, Nanny recounts to Janie her hardships of growing up. Nanny had been born into slavery. Nanny was raped by her master and had her child Leafy, when the master's wife saw the baby she was furious, knowing it was her husbands she ordered to have Nanny whipped the next day and her baby, Leafy, sold when she was one month old. Meanwhile, the master was fighting in the civil war, and Nanny ran off with her baby until the war was over and went to work for the Washburn's.
(Their Eyes Were Watching God, Pg.14). ... Finally, Janie concludes that "a marriage does not make love" (Their Eyes Were Watching God, Pg. 24). ... (Their Eyes Were Watching God, Pg.44). ... (Their Eyes Were Watching God, Pg.107). ... (Their Eyes Were Watching God, Pg.140). ...
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is a novel about a young girl in search of her dreams. ... However, a large hurricane comes, and they leave in fear of their lives. In the midst of the hurricane, they pray and keep "their eyes watching God." ... Their Eyes Were Watching God is a story of hope and faith. ... Zora Neale Hurston writes this novel with such mastery, that Pulitzer Prize winner Alice Walker says about Their Eyes Were Watching God, "There is no book more important to me than this one." ...
The Search for Happiness in Their Eyes Were Watching God Their Eyes Were Watching God It is human nature to look for happiness. ... The standing in the community means a great deal, just like Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God illustrates. ...
My topic is how the character, Janie, is the true villain in the book, "Their Eyes Were Watching God." I have chosen this topic because I believe I can convince the reader that she is the antagonist in the story while others think she is the protagonist. I will support that she didn't truly love any...
Hurston uses a lot of imagery to characterize and distinguish between men and women in "Their eyes were watching god". ... For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time." ... Men have their sights set on things they will most likely never accomplish, and hope that their ship will dock and they will be able to live their dream. ... Women on the other hand have their sights set on dreams that are realistic and they don't just wait for their ship to dock, they "act and do...
Their Eyes Were Watching God The protagonist in Their Eyes Were Watching God is named Janie Crawford. In the novel she narrates her life story to her friend Pheoby Watson. Her life undergoes the process of self-discovery, as she evolves through her experiences with three distinctly different hu...
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, the narrator comments that "any man who walks in the way of power and property is bound to meet hate." ... The narrator's commentary in Their Eyes Were Watching God accurately describes how when individuals become wealthy, attitudes towards them change to more hatred, because of feelings of jealousy, despise, and many When Janine met Jody, she had no real idea or care about his wealth. ... Citizens are watching his every move, looking for a flaw so they can hold it against him, and get whatever power they want for their party or for the ideas they hav...
In her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the setting, in which was a black town, was the place where she grew up, Eatonville, Florida. ... Zora Neale is most known for her novel, "Their Eyes Were Watching God.... "Their Eyes Where Watching God" is an inspiring and motivating piece of literature. ... She began to give up on Logan and their unhappy marriage. ... Both Jody and Logan were abusive toward Janie, controlling, and thought they know what was best for her. ...
Despite its profound position, the novel Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston has been challenged of its place in high school student's education by parents and educational groups. ... However, Their Eyes were Watching God should contain its place in the high school English curriculum because of two reasons: its significance in American History and the moral of love and self-expression. ... "A parent objected to the novel [Their Eyes were Watching God]'s language and sexual explicitness" (Banned And/or Challenged Books from the Radcliffe Publishing Course To...
