Seminar in
American Literature
RESOURCES


Nora Zeale Hurston,
Their Eyes Were Watching God

See Discussion Questions (Voices from the Gaps) on Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Also, see Discussion Topics at HarperCollins Their Eyes Were Watching God Reading Guide.

Brief biographical sketch of Zora Neale Hurston (from Voices from the Gaps).



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Bibliography of works by and about Zora Neale Hurston (2002)

Zora Neale Hurston Bibliography (1997)
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Online Discussion of Their Eyes Were Watching God
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Zora Neale Hurston: Teacher Resource File
(Internet School Library Media Center)
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Aimée C. Taylor
English 7758
Dr. Nordquist
June 10, 2002

Report: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston 
Edition: Perennial Classics, Perma-Bound, 1998

Themes: Hurston’s novel is more than the black, female version of coming of age. Instead, she actually stays clear of comparing the lives of blacks to whites to prove one side better or more innocent than the other, which has over the years really upset a large population of black readers. Hurston is not compelled to focus on differences because her attempt is to show similarities in all humans. Ironically, through the use of stock black characters, she tells a profound tale of independence, love, and survival, but she does also show the power of roots for stability and identity. Such themes are intertwined with both the character development and prose style to portray life in these rural communities, show the plight of struggling youths, reveal the longings and feelings of a teenage girl as she gains an identity, as well as highlight the power of nature and spirit. Hurston masters the use of universal icons in order to lay a foundation for beliefs, fears, and cultural characteristics. For instance, the opening of the novel offers a subtle explanation as to why people act as they do by overlaying (overlapping) nature, religion, and routine in their lives.

The people all saw her come because it was sundown. [Their chores were finished because they worked without electricity.] The sun was gone, but he had left his footprints in the sky. [God and nature work together instead of existing as separate entities, showing the blending or personalization of beliefs for this culture. It also shows a melding of pagan and Christian beliefs.] It was the time for sitting on porches beside the road. It was the time to hear things and talk. [It was time to relax tired, sore bodies and have fun in the form of gossip.] These sitters had been tongueless, earless, eyeless conveniences all day long. [They had to act appropriately and only now could be themselves.] Mules and other brutes had occupied their skins. [They had worked like animals all day, and now they could be human. This also foreshadows how many people throughout the novel are treated as animals, especially Janie at the hands of a number of men.] But now, the sun and the bossman were gone, so the skins felt powerful and human. [Without either the sun or the bossman literally beating down upon them, they could breathe more easily. They could take on their roles of their inner society. In this special “secret” society, they had position, power, comfort.] They became lords of sounds and lesser things. They passed nations through their mouths. They sat in judgment. [They practiced their understanding of the power of words. They vent their frustrations about their workday but also describe their hopes for a better future. Unfortunately, most of the conversations are at the expense of someone they do not understand-Janie.] (Hurston 1)

Questions: Does Hurston attempt to unite too many themes in such a compact novel? Does the narration suffer? Is the story believable? Does Hurston “sell out” her black heritage with her portrayals or does she celebrate it/them? How so? 

Character Development:  As previously mentioned, Hurston does utilize stock characters. Nanny, the “freed slave," becomes a “Mammy” for the white family who graciously allows her to live in her little shack on the back of the property.  She suffered at the hands of whites, but the relationship she had with her master that produced her daughter, Leafy, sounds touching, real, but not plausible at the same time. Her “nature child,” Leafy, is doomed from the beginning. Nanny wants more for her child, but because she can not control outside factors, Leafy suffers a violent rape, a mental breakdown, and flees, leaving Janie to be raised by Nanny. Janie’s development is the real focus of the novel. Through her quest for identity, acceptance, and love, she develops as the novel’s only truly dynamic character. Janie struggles to understand her feelings as a teenager. She compares herself and is fascinated with the blossoming pear tree and other vegetation. She relates to the animals, birds, and shifts in the wind. She is part of nature but unsure of how to behave. Nanny takes care of that with the arranged marriage. In a loveless marriage, Janie begins to realize what she is missing. When opportunity walks up to her in the form of “Jody,” she mistakes it for love. She suffers for years without an identity because having one threatens her husband’s manhood and his position/place in society. It is amazing that Janie lasts as long as she does in this situation. Society mandates that she not leave this marriage before her husband’s death. This is an interesting idea because she left her first husband without much hesitation.  Only when she meets Tea Cake does she really learn about true love, sacrifices, and emotional pain, but she does so while second guessing herself the entire time. Whether or not the reader trusts Tea Cake is not important. What is important is the learning process that Janie goes through herself.  She has to believe in herself before she can believe in others. Tea Cake takes the extra time to assist her in gaining self-esteem and by also entertaining her along the way. Of course coming up with the perfect line at the perfect moment helps him win over Janie.  For example: “Thought Ah’d try tuh git heah soon enough tuh tell yuh mah daytime thoughts. Ah see yuh needs tuh know mah daytime feelings. Ah can’t sense yuh intuh it at night” (Hurston 106). [Tea Cake realizes that Janie thinks he is only after sex and possibly her money. He assures her that his feelings are not associated with such urges.]

Questions: Why does Janie take Jody’s abuse for so long? What does Tea Cake specifically offer her to help her change her perspective on herself and on life in general?

Prose Style: Even for the reader who finds the plot lacking plausibility, it will be difficult to disprove the success of Hurston’s prose style. As shown in Tea Cake’s flirtation, Hurston knows how people speak in real situations. Using the vernacular of blacks in the rural south, she creates poetry. Yes, because she tries to phonetically write how they would sound, the reading can be tedious, but once the reader feels the flow of the words, the dialogue gains credibility. In addition to the dialogue, Hurston writes incredible descriptions in her narration. Consider the following examples:

It [the pear tree] had called her to come and gaze on a mystery. From barren brown stems to glistening leaf-buds; from the leaf-buds to snowy virginity of bloom. It stirred her tremendously. How? Why? It was like a flute song forgotten in another existence and remembered again. What? How? Why? This singing she heard that had nothing to do with her ears. The rose the world was breathing out smell. It followed her through all her waking moments and caressed her in her sleep. (Hurston 10) [Hurston directly parallels Janie’s sexual desires with nature’s beauty, fertility, charm. She is not vulgar but honest, descriptive, and enchanting.] 

The day of the gun, and the bloody body, and the courthouse came and commenced to sing a sobbing sigh out of every corner in the room; out of each and every chair and thing. Commenced to sing, commenced to sob and sigh, singing and sobbing. Then Tea Cake came prancing around her where she was and the song of the sigh flew out of the window and lit in the top of the pine trees. (Hurston 192) [Hurston creates a sharp contrast in both the language and the images in this passage. The use of the hard “C” sound is harsh and cutting. It nicely parallels Tea Cake’s violent disease and death. Yet, at the same time, the use of the “S” softens the reaction to it. Janie is not screaming. She is sobbing which is less dramatic but equally as emotional. Janie is empty after Tea Cake’s death, and the language reflects such an emotion. Going back and forth with the “C” and “S” sounds echoes a rocking motion. The reader can picture Janie rocking to console herself, sitting, sobbing, singing, trying to find comfort. She finds that comfort through her memories of Tea Cake. Where is Tea Cake? Instead of saying that he is in heaven, Janie dreams that he too is in tune with nature, resting in the tallest of pine trees, reaching up to God but never out of Janie’s sight.]