Their Eyes Were Watching God

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Their Eyes Were Watching God

Zora neale hurston.

their eyes were watching god introduction essay

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Their Eyes Were Watching God focuses on the experiences of Janie Crawford , a beautiful and determined fair-skinned black woman living in the American South. The novel begins when Janie returns to Eatonville, Florida after having left for a significant amount of time. She is met by the judgmental gossiping of Eatonville's townspeople, whose conversations focus on the fact that Janie had left town with a young man named Tea Cake . Amidst their gossiping, Janie's friend Pheoby Watson stands up for Janie and goes to greet her friend. Janie tells Pheoby her life story, including what happened in the time since she initially left Eatonville, which is the story of the rest of the novel.

Janie spends her childhood being brought up by her grandmother Nanny , a former slave who, despite her controlling nature, has only the best intentions for her granddaughter. Before buying a new home for herself and her granddaughter, Nanny raises Janie in the backyard home of Mr. and Mrs. Washburn , a friendly white couple whom Nanny began working for after she was granted freedom. Nanny wishes for Janie to find improved social standing and financial security in life, and so when she sees Janie kissing a boy she quickly arranges for Janie to marry the wealthy farmer Logan Killicks.

Janie is not content with her marriage to Logan Killicks, but hopefully wishes that she will grow to love Logan. Unfortunately, her hopes are instead met by abuse by Logan, whom she feels treats her as an animal. Thankfully, one day Janie meets the handsome and ambitious Jody Starks , who courts her and eventually encourages her to run away from Logan. Janie complies, they marry, and head off together to Eatonville, Florida.

In Eatonville, Jody seeks political power and entrepreneurial control over the town, becoming both the mayor and the owner of the main store in town. Janie feels love for Jody at the very early stages of their relationship, but ultimately comes to feel stifled by his desire for control and power – especially because he regards Janie as nothing more than an accessory to all of his success.

Jody eventually becomes ill and his treatment of Janie worsens along with his deteriorating health. Finally, Janie speaks up for herself and Jody violently beats her in front of everyone in the store. While Jody is on his deathbed, Janie ceases to be silent, and tells Jody all about how terrible he made and makes her feel. Soon after these conversations, Jody dies.

Following Jody's funeral, Janie does not feel as though she is in a state of mourning, but instead feels free and excited about her life and fulfilling her dreams for the first time in decades. She begins to wear her hair down – not in the mandatory head rag Jody made her wear – and white clothing, to alert potential suitors to her new availability. One day while Janie is working in Jody's former store, a handsome young man named Tea Cake walks in, flirts with Janie and invites her to play checkers with him. Despite Janie's initial ambivalence, she is charmed and spends the rest of the evening with Tea Cake. Because of Tea Cake's younger age and lower social status, the townspeople worry about Janie going out with him, but Janie disregards their judgment and listens to her feelings instead. She and Tea Cake eventually run off together to the Everglades and get married.

Janie and Tea Cake's married life together in the Everglades (or "the muck") is not perfect: he steals money from her, whips her once to assert power over her, and wrestles playfully with another girl in town named Nunkie . A woman in town named Mrs. Turner causes tension in their marriage, too, as she repeatedly tells Janie to leave Tea Cake for her lighter-skinned brother, demonstrating tremendously racist views. That said, Janie feels better with Tea Cake than she had felt with either of her other husbands: Tea Cake treats her as an equal and their marriage is built on authentic love and mutual respect. In the muck, they have many friends and host frequent informal parties at their home.

Their happy life in the muck comes to an end one day a massive hurricane hits the area. During the storm, a rabid dog attacks Tea Cake and infects him with the disease. At first, Tea Cake is unaware of his condition, but quickly worsens and begins to go mad. Janie calls for a doctor who tells her of his disease, but assures the worried Janie that he will send for medicine. Janie realizes, however, that in his ill and manic state, Tea Cake has convinced himself of Janie's infidelity, and has been hiding a loaded pistol beneath his pillow. Janie is forced to kill Tea Cake in order to save her own life. She is brought to court, but found innocent by an all white, male jury after delivering a heartfelt testimony about her true love for Tea Cake.

At the end of the novel, Janie returns to Eatonville – this return is the point at which the novel starts – and concludes her story to Pheoby. Despite her sadness about Tea Cake's death, Janie tells her friend that she is happy to be back, now feeling that she has reached the horizon and has access to her dreams. Tea Cake, Janie feels, is still a presence in her life, as their love provided her with the fulfillment of her desire for a voice and a sense of independence, things she had never known before him.

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  • > New Essays on Their Eyes Were Watching God
  • > Power, Judgment, and Narrative in a Work of Zora Neale Hurston: Feminist Cultural Studies

Book contents

  • Frontmatter
  • Series Editor's Preface
  • 1 Introduction
  • 2 The Personal Dimension in Their Eyes Were Watching God
  • 3 “Crayon Enlargements of Life”: Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God as Autobiography
  • 4 The Politics of Fiction, Anthropology, and the Folk: Zora Neale Hurston
  • 5 Power, Judgment, and Narrative in a Work of Zora Neale Hurston: Feminist Cultural Studies
  • Notes on Contributors
  • Selected Bibliography

5 - Power, Judgment, and Narrative in a Work of Zora Neale Hurston: Feminist Cultural Studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2011

THE first time we see the hero/ine of Their Eyes Were Watching God, she is sauntering down a road, the knowing subject of gossiping judgment. Janie is an expressively sexual woman (her buttocks and “pugnacious breasts” are immediately mentioned). She is black, but her “great rope of black hair” operates as a marker of her racial mix, and an evocation of the internal color lines in the African-American community. She is all of forty – too old, according to her neighbors, collectively termed “Mouth-Almighty,” to change, adventure, or express sexuality. And finally, her overalls are a nice bit of cross-dressing, signifying equality and sexuality in gender terms, and in class terms signifying her double class status as property (petty-bourgeois – local notable) annealed to “poverty” (agricultural day worker). Janie can be seen from the very first moments of the novel to be made of signs, like “Alphabet,” her childhood nickname. These signs of Janie are constructed by Hurston to be conflictual and heterogeneous in the array of race, gender role, age, class, and sexual markers. However, as the early incident of the photograph pointedly tells, the multiplicity and plurality of “Alphabet” are focused suddenly: “Aw, aw! Ah'm colored!” (9). The paradox of Janie – her fascination – is Hurston's narrating Janie's efforts to spell her life with more than that one word “colored,” while necessarily, her life is focused by the social, economic, and cultural meanings of blackness.

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  • Power, Judgment, and Narrative in a Work of Zora Neale Hurston: Feminist Cultural Studies
  • By Rachel Blau Duplessis
  • Edited by Michael Awkward
  • Book: New Essays on Their Eyes Were Watching God
  • Online publication: 01 March 2011
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511570346.006

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Introduction, love as a catalyst for personal growth, marriages of conformity, true love and self-expression, navigating racial boundaries, challenging social hierarchy, janie's journey: a symbol of resistance.

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their eyes were watching god introduction essay

Their Eyes Were Watching God

By zora neale hurston, their eyes were watching god essay questions.

Analyze Hurston's personification of Death and of Doubt. Why does she capitalize these two abstract concepts?

Consider Janie's three husbands seperately. What distinguishes them from one another? What do characteristics do they share?

How does the mule's treatment in Eatonville reflect the condition of the black female? Does Joe's gesture of buying him have symbolic value?

How does the porch work as a personified symbol? Trace its use throughout the novel.

Does this novel have a moral? What attitudes does Hurston prescribe towards race? Money? Family?

Is Nanny a sympathetic character? Is Janie's abandonment of her justified?

At what point does the division between men's activities and women's activities break down? Which activities where formerly designated as male activities?

Why did Hurston include Mrs. Turner in the novel? Were Tea Cake and his friends' attack on her cafe justified?

Who does the pronoun in the title refer to? Janie and Tea Cake? African-Americans in general? Explain how the title relates to the content of the novel.

Is Hurston's vision of God religious or secular? Do her characters view him as merciful or vengeful?

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Their Eyes Were Watching God Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Their Eyes Were Watching God is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Nature, in the form of buzzards, is able to articulate Janie's rage, and speak for the mule. The chief buzzard is seems like a religious figure; Hurston refers to him as the Parson. When the Parson asks what killed the mule, the other buzzard's...

What is the difference between men and women, according to the text,

I would say the closest is:

  • Men are often secretly scared and self-doubting, whereas women are bold and brave

What kind of death has Janie witnessed?

Janie sees Joe's death. He died from kidney failure.

Study Guide for Their Eyes Were Watching God

Their Eyes Were Watching God study guide contains a biography of Zora Neale Hurston, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

  • About Their Eyes Were Watching God
  • Their Eyes Were Watching God Summary
  • Character List

Essays for Their Eyes Were Watching God

Their Eyes Were Watching God literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Their Eyes Were Watching God.

  • The Importance of Dreams
  • Getting in Touch with the Feminine Side
  • Living for Yourself in Their Eyes Were Watching God
  • Their Eyes Were Watching God: Double Consciousness as an Indicator of Growth
  • A Voice of Abandonment

Lesson Plan for Their Eyes Were Watching God

  • About the Author
  • Study Objectives
  • Common Core Standards
  • Introduction to Their Eyes Were Watching God
  • Relationship to Other Books
  • Bringing in Technology
  • Notes to the Teacher
  • Related Links
  • Their Eyes Were Watching God Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for Their Eyes Were Watching God

  • Introduction

their eyes were watching god introduction essay

84 Their Eyes Were Watching God Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best their eyes were watching god topic ideas & essay examples, 📌 most interesting their eyes were watching god topics to write about, 👍 good research topics about their eyes were watching god, ❓ their eyes were watching god essay questions.

  • Tea Cake and Janie in Their Eyes Were Watching God – an Integral Character The role of Tea Cake remains to be crucial in the story as well as in the whole life of Janie as his passion, creativity, and desire to create the best living conditions promote safety […]
  • Review of “Their Eyes Were Watching God” Book The paper will discuss how Hurston exemplifies the Harlem movement in her book.’Their Eyes Were Watching God is an award-winning novel first published in the late 1930s and is considered one of the classics of […]
  • Identity in Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God In the story, the author offered a comprehensive discussion of identity, its elements, importance, and relation to modernism. These two elements contribute to the fact that a person has a particular position in society, and […]
  • Janie’s Search for Her Freedom and Independence in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Z. N. Hurston Though Janie does not feel her duty to clear out herself, she explains the story of her life to her friend. The reader observes the development of Janie’s character and the changes in her attitude […]
  • African American Studies. “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Hurston Janie’s appreciation of her independence is depicted when she refuses to be bound to Logan for the rest of her life because of material things.
  • Jody Sparks in Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God” Joe’s entry into Janie’s life is at an appropriate moment, since Janie is on the verge of breaking up with her former husband due to mistreatment, and Joe creates the opportunity that Janie has been […]
  • “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora N. Hurston When Janie decides to move in with Tea Cake, she secretly conceals two hundred dollars in her shirt pocket, and fears to reveal the secret to Tea Cake. Tea Cake’s role in the novel is […]
  • The Life of Zora Neale Hurston As Hurston later glorifies in her literary works, the town was the first to offer African Americans the chance to live freely and independent of the Whites, as they desired.
  • One Woman’s Search for her Self-Identity. A Review of Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston Janie’s maturity of voice is a direct indicator of her inner growth, and the activities at the courtroom may be plotted too much as to draw the parallels in her inner self.
  • Zora Neale Hurston: Their Eyes Were Watching God One of the peculiar features of the work is the form chosen by the author. Just like a mule, Janie is forced to work in the field with her husband.
  • The Use of Symbolism and Metaphors in “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Hurston
  • The Use of Silence to Gain Power, and Power to Gain Voice in “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston
  • True Love in “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston
  • The Transformation of Janie in “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston
  • The Significance of the Blue Dress in Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God” and “Seraph on the Suwa”
  • The Struggle for Fulfillment in “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston
  • Woman’s Search for Identity in Hurston’s “Seraph on the Suwanee” and “Their Eyes Were Watching God”
  • The Sentiment of Oprah, Not Hurston in “Their Eyes Were Watching God”
  • The Love and Relationship Dynamic in “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston
  • The Life of American Women in Zora Neale Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God”
  • The Dilemma of Control in “Their Eyes Were Watching God” and “Stranger in a Strange Land”
  • The Life and Education of Zora Neale Hurston and Her Literary Work “Their Eyes Were Watching God”
  • The Theme of the Individuality and Strength of Women in “Their Eyes Were Watching God” and “The Woman Warrior”
  • What It Was Like to Live as a Black Woman in Zora Neale Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God”
  • The Harlem Renaissance in “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston
  • The Use of Motifs of Settings, Language, and Symbols in “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston
  • The Problem of the Female: Marriage and “Sistergirl” Relationships in Zora Neale Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God”
  • The Use of Southern Language and Dialect in “Their Eyes Were Watching God”
  • The Unimportance of Riches in a Relationship, Portrayed in Zora Neale Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God”
  • The Literary Symbols of Racial Health in “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston
  • The Meaning of Love and Marriage in “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston
  • The Issue of Domestic Violence in Zora Neale Hurston’s Novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God”
  • The Three Marriages and Three Lessons in Hurston’s Book “Their Eyes Were Watching God”
  • Voice and Language in “Their Eyes Were Watching God”
  • The Role of Female as Explored in “The House of Mirth” and “Their Eyes Were Watching God”
  • The Discrimination of Blacks by Whites in the Novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston
  • Zora Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God” as a Creation Story
  • The Depiction of Marriage in “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston
  • Tone Analysis From a Passage in “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston
  • The Concept of Idea in “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston
  • The Value of Silence in “Their Eyes Were Watching God”
  • The Maturity of Janie Through Her Marriage to Logan Killicks in “Their Eyes Were Watching God”
  • The Use of Clothing in the Novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston
  • The Theme of Friendship in Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God”
  • Universal Themes of Womanhood Nora Zeale Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God”
  • Women’s Inferiority to Men in “Their Eyes Were Watching God”
  • Use of Metaphors in “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Hurston
  • The Effects of Attitudes in “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston
  • The Human Nature’s Quest for Happiness in “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston
  • Wright’s Critiques on Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God”
  • The Need for Power and Recognition of Joe in “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston
  • The Imagery of Creation Myths in “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston
  • Using Vernacular to Reflect Self Image in Zora Neale Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God”
  • In What Ways Does Janie Violate Typical Gender Boundaries in “Their Eyes Were Watching God”?
  • How Does Janie Develop Her Ideas of Love in “Their Eyes Were Watching God”?
  • Why Do People Today Love “Their Eyes Were Watching God”?
  • How Does Love Influence Our Lives in the Story of “Their Eyes Were Watching God”?
  • What Are Traditional Stereotypes of Men and Women in “Their Eyes Were Watching God”?
  • In What Ways Does Janie Fit the Typical Feminine Stereotype in “Their Eyes Were Watching God”?
  • Is “Their Eyes Were Watching God” Primarily an Anti-Racism Novel?
  • How Does Janie’s Identity Vacillate Between White and Black Factions in “Their Eyes Were Watching God”?
  • To What Extent Is Janie’s Life Already Determined at Birth in “Their Eyes Were Watching God”?
  • How Did Slaves’ Positions as a Sub-Class, Those Not Considered Human at All, Affect Nanny’s Outlook on Life?
  • Does Joe Succeed in Achieving His Goals in “Their Eyes Were Watching God”?
  • Why Does Janie Feel So Trapped in Her First Two Marriages in “Their Eyes Were Watching God”?
  • How Is Race Generally Linked to Class in “Their Eyes Were Watching God”?
  • Why Is Janie Happy Living With the Lowest of the Low Social Classes – The Migrant Workers in the Everglades?
  • What Is the Significance of the Title “Their Eyes Were Watching God” to the Novel?
  • Does Tea Cake Free Janie or Is It Just the Escape From Her First Two Husbands in “Their Eyes Were Watching God”?
  • Why Did Hurston Include Mrs. Turner in “Their Eyes Were Watching God”?
  • How Is Death Associated With Freedom, Especially in Janie’s Last Two Marriages in “Their Eyes Were Watching God”?
  • What Does the Idea of the Horizon Symbolize for Janie in “Their Eyes Were Watching God”?
  • How Does Janie’s Experience Under the Pear Tree Set Up Her Dreams in “Their Eyes Were Watching God”?
  • What Role Does Mrs. Turner Play in “Their Eyes Were Watching God”?
  • How Do Janie’s Visions and Hopes for Her Future Differ From the Hopes of Her Peers in “Their Eyes Were Watching God”?
  • What Is the Role of the Porch Sitters in “Their Eyes Were Watching God”?
  • How Does the Mule’s Treatment in Eatonville Reflect the Condition of the Black Female in “Their Eyes Were Watching God”?
  • Is There a Moral in the Novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God”?
  • How Does the Porch Work as a Personified Symbol in “Their Eyes Were Watching God”?
  • Is Nanny a Sympathetic Character in “Their Eyes Were Watching God”?
  • At What Point Does the Division Between Men’s Activities and Women’s Activities Break Down in “Their Eyes Were Watching God”?
  • Who Does the Pronoun in the Title Refer to in “Their Eyes Were Watching God”?
  • Is Hurston’s Vision of God Religious or Secular in “Their Eyes Were Watching God”?
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COMMENTS

  1. Essays on Their Eyes Were Watching God

    5. "The novel 'Their Eyes Were Watching God' is a timeless work that continues to resonate with readers, offering a glimpse into the complexities of African American experiences and the universal journey toward self-realization." 📝 "Their Eyes Were Watching God" Essay Introduction Paragraph Examples. 1.

  2. Zora Neale Hurston: Their Eyes Were Watching God Essay (Book Review)

    Their Eyes Were Watching God is a novel written by Zora Neale Hurston in 1937. It is a story about an African American woman, Janie Crawford, her lifelong search for love and self-assertion. Get a custom book review on Zora Neale Hurston: Their Eyes Were Watching God. In 1937, the times of the Great Depression, the novel did not get recognition ...

  3. Their Eyes Were Watching God Critical Essays

    I. Thesis Statement: The setting in the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God is directly related to the hierarchy of power that each location uses. II. Janie's pear tree. A. The revelation is ...

  4. "Their Eyes Were Watching God": A Journey towards Empowerment and

    Introduction. Their Eyes Were Watching God is a novel written by Zora Neale Hurston and published in 1937. Set in the early 20th century, the novel tells the story of Janie Crawford, an African American woman on a quest for self-discovery and empowerment. Through Janie's journey, the novel explores themes of love, power, identity, and the search for freedom.

  5. Their Eyes Were Watching God

    Introduction of Their Eyes Were Watching God. Termed as the classic book from the Harlem Renaissance, Their Eyes were Watching God created a niche in the American African literature within the category of American literature. Zora Neal Hurston published it in 1937 when the Harlem Renaissance was at its peak.

  6. Their Eyes Were Watching God Study Guide

    Full Title: Their Eyes Were Watching God When Written: 1936-1937 Where Written: Hurston wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God while doing fieldwork in Haiti in 1936-1937. When Published: 1937 Literary Period: Hurston's work coincided historically with the Harlem Renaissance, though she is actually known for diverging with the politics and ideologies of many writers of the movement, including ...

  7. Their Eyes Were Watching God Analysis

    Gay Wilentz, "Defeating the False God: Janie's Self-Determination in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God," in Faith of a (Woman) Writer, edited by Alice Kessler-Harris and ...

  8. Their Eyes Were Watching God

    Critical Overview. When Their Eyes Were Watching God first appeared, it was warmly received by white critics. Lucille Tompkins of the New York Times Book Review called it "a well-nigh perfect ...

  9. Introduction (Chapter 1)

    IN Dust Tracks on a Road, an autobiography written at the urging of her editor, Bertram Lippincott, Zora Neale Hurston expresses some dissatisfaction with her second novel, Their Eyes Were Watch ing God, which was published in 1937. She says of the novel: I wrote "Their Eyes Were Watching God" in Haiti. It was dammed up in me, and I wrote ...

  10. Their Eyes Were Watching God Summary

    View all. Their Eyes Were Watching God focuses on the experiences of Janie Crawford, a beautiful and determined fair-skinned black woman living in the American South. The novel begins when Janie returns to Eatonville, Florida after having left for a significant amount of time. She is met by the judgmental gossiping of Eatonville's townspeople ...

  11. Their Eyes Were Watching God: Summary, Main Themes, and Evaluation Essay

    Their Eyes Were Watching God is a novel written by an African-American writer Zora Neale Hurston. This book secures a special place in American literature and remains the most famous work of the author. In this essay, the summary of the narrative and description of the main characters and themes will be provided.

  12. Power, Judgment, and Narrative in a Work of Zora Neale Hurston

    1 Introduction; 2 The Personal Dimension in Their Eyes Were Watching God; 3 "Crayon Enlargements of Life": Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God as Autobiography; 4 The Politics of Fiction, Anthropology, and the Folk: Zora Neale Hurston; 5 Power, Judgment, and Narrative in a Work of Zora Neale Hurston: Feminist Cultural Studies

  13. Their Eyes Were Watching God Study Guide

    Alice Walker (the author of The Color Purple) was instrumental in bringing Their Eyes Were Watching God into the modern literary canon. She became Hurston's champion, searching the South for Hurston's unmarked grave, and inscribing on it: "Zora Neale Hurston, A Genius of the South." Walker's characterization of Hurston as a southern writer was ...

  14. PDF Their Eyes Were Watching God

    Introduction to the Book Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) begins with our eyes fixed on a woman who returns from burying the dead. Written in only seven weeks while on a Guggenheim Fellowship in Haiti, Zora Neale Hurston's novel chronicles the journey of Janie Mae Crawford from her grandmother's plantation shack to Logan Killicks' farm, to all-

  15. Their Eyes Were Watching God Suggested Essay Topics

    2. Write a dialogue between two or more characters based upon the card game at the end of the chapter. Try to be consistent with the novel's use of dialogue. Chapter 15. 1. Discuss how you would ...

  16. Their Eyes Were Watching God Essays

    Their Eyes Were Watching God. "It [the tiny bloom] 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" (13). Zora Neale Hurston, an African-American author,...

  17. Argumentative on Their Eyes Were Watching God

    Introduction. The novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is widely recognized as a groundbreaking work of American literature. Set in the early 20th century, the story follows Janie Crawford's journey as she navigates love, self-discovery, and independence in the face of societal expectations.

  18. Their Eyes Were Watching God Essays and Criticism

    Their Eyes Were Watching God is a book about a woman's journey of self-discovery, but also about a woman's exploration of the physical and social worlds available to her. If it were a simple tale ...

  19. Their Eyes Were Watching God Essay Questions

    The Question and Answer section for Their Eyes Were Watching God is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel. chapter 6. Nature, in the form of buzzards, is able to articulate Janie's rage, and speak for the mule. The chief buzzard is seems like a religious figure; Hurston refers to him as the Parson.

  20. 84 Their Eyes Were Watching God Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

    Jody Sparks in Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God". Joe's entry into Janie's life is at an appropriate moment, since Janie is on the verge of breaking up with her former husband due to mistreatment, and Joe creates the opportunity that Janie has been […] "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora N. Hurston.