Their eyes were watching God
- Author: Zora Neale Hurston
- Nationality: American
Purpose: to create the life of a black woman who tries to find herself through experiences while using symbols throughout the story that symbolize different things: eternity, power, love, etc. It also shines a light on the way of life black Americans lived in the South around the 1930s.
Summary
The novel begins with the main character, Janie Starks, who is returning to what seems like her hometown. Although she is returning, not a lot of people seem content with this, but envious instead. They’re mostly jealous of the way she looks like her long hair. With major gossip going around, one resident, Phoeby, comes to her defense and tells her everything the people are saying. In this case, assuming. The gossip doesn’t phase Janie and she confides in Phoebe of the real reason she left. She explains that the man she used to be with, Tea Cake, isn’t around anymore and she’s not happy anymore. Phoebe seems puzzled so Janie further explains her story.
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She goes on to explain how her grandmother was her mother. She doesn’t know who her parents are and that she grew up shadowing Mr. and Mrs. Washburn. Throughout her young life, she grew up believing that she was caucasian until a picture of her was shown. Then she explains how she was bullied and teased. Her grandmother later on buys a house to fulfill a good life for Janie. It shifts to now when she is 16 years old and usually hanged around under a blossom tree to avoid chores. She ends up kissing a guy who lives there, under the tree, Johnny Taylor, but she is caught by her grandmother. Her grandmother lectures her frantically about what to do with her future and how she cannot just go around kissing any guy. So in response to this, she arranges a marriage for Janie to Logan Killicks. Janie tries and refuses this saying how she is not a woman yet. Her grandmother tells her she is a woman and is going to marry this person. Still young, Janie thought that you could automatically love your partner when you get married or that it just came naturally over time.
Since Janie continues to refuse, her grandma goes into her life as a child and what she had to encounter. She explains that she was a slave when she was little and was also raped by the master who impregnated her with her daughter, Leafy. Shortly, after the nanny got away she began her life again working for Mr. and Mrs. Washburn. Unfortunately, Janie’s mother Leafy was raped by a teacher and had her, but ran off and didn’t see the importance of life. So that’s how her grandma took care of her.
Janie gets mentally prepared for her marriage with her new husband. The wedding is huge, but Janie realizes she doesn’t feel anything for the man. She goes to her grandmother, but she doesn’t tell her any different. Nanny passes away a month later and one year into the marriage, Janie still doesn’t love this man. Her husband, Logan, becomes very patronizing telling Janie how spoiled she is and how she needs to work. While he goes out to obtain another mule Janie sees another guy, but this time catches her eye. Every day after that, they have a growing interest in each even to the point of Joe Starks, having a nickname of Jody. The two set out to a new life together and fled.
They both arrive in a Florida town. Jody wants to see a mayor so he asks two guys. They both say it’s nonexistent. After talking with more people, it is revealed that they are in Eatonville Florida. With all the money Jody has, he buys land and declares what he is going to do with it. After it opens, he is pronounced mayor. To make a speech, Jody belittles Janie saying she cannot make a speech simply because she is female. After a while, it becomes clear he is not very proactive with the town anymore and does nothing more, but just show off his wealth.
Since the years have passed, she feels the conquer over her and how much power Jody has. She wants to run away but doesn’t see any good coming out of it. After another fight now in the store, Janie is fed up with the insults of her appearance from Jody and tells him about himself. He gets angered and hits her. Later on, he becomes very sick to the point of having to stay in bed and knowing his kidneys are failing. She comes to see him, but it is a waste of a conversation. He passes away and now Janie knows she’s mourning.
She still maintains his store but doesn’t feel fully free. One day at a big baseball game, everyone goes, except this one man named Tea Cake. They play a nice game of checkers. A day where Tea Cake tells Janie about his feelings for her, but she doesn’t feel as strongly as he does. After he leaves unannounced again, Janie gets worried that she was used, but he comes back with a car. He wants to take her on a picnic and after gossip goes around about them. Back to the present, Phoebe was informed of a lady whose husband died being with a younger guy, but he was unfaithful. So she tells Janie about it but says Tea Cake treats her well. She confides and tells her she wants to sell the store and marry Tea Cake. She said she wants to live her way now.
Later when she meets Tea Cake in Jacksonville, they get married. A short untrustworthy moment happens when he steals some of Janie’s money and spends it on a big dinner for his coworkers. He then tells her he will pay her back for his good gambling skills. They become settled into the Everglades. He teaches her many things about the life in Everglades. Tea Cake’s house becomes a major hangout area.
When the new season starts, a recurring woman, Mrs.Turner brings her brother to show off to Janie. Tea Cake shows his ownership over Janie by hitting her. On the weekend, a fight happens in Mrs.Turner’s restaurant. Tea Cake tries to help, but Mrs.Turner ends up getting hurt. An upcoming hurricane is coming towards this area where a lot of Natives were migrating to avoid it. A lot of people decided to evacuate, but Tea Cake wanted to stay. One person stays with them and waits for the storm to pass. They come out when they notice a flood and go through a major journey of trying to get to safety. Janie nearly gets hurt by a dog trying to attack her, but Tea Cake comes to her safety after being bit by the dog. He shows signs that he is sick and a local doctor reveals he doesn’t have much time. He becomes very uncontrollable and acts very crazy almost killing Janie with his gun. She has to shoot him in self-defense. Her courtroom hearing goes better than expected and Tea Cake has a nice funeral.
After the funeral, she returns home to Eatonville and shifts back to the present. She says that she is happy to be living back here again and says she has been to the “horizon and back.”
Critique:
I think that this novel was very intriguing and heartfelt when I read this. The many encounters that Janie went through were things that weren’t new to me and thankfully I didn’t identify myself as being relatable. I think the book did a great job of describing the unfortunate things black women have to deal with like being dominated by men constantly and racism every corner you turn. I felt pity for the character of Janie simply because she wasn’t born in such good conditions and lived most of her life concealing her emotions because she is a female. However, an issue I have thought about is that she should have fought harder when dealing with men beating down on her and showing their dominance over her. I think that it does show some relevance towards today because women are still not equal to men. The symbol of mules correlates with this since women are the mules of the world since we are used most of the time. The book relates to class because it talks about the lives of black Americans in South Florida and how slavery played a role in how these people lived, spoke, and thought. Slavery wasn’t that long ago since Janie's grandma was born into slavery. Many of her grandmother’s ways came from living a life like that conforming to men and obeying the white man and not having the chance to live life equally. This is still portrayed in today’s society because as far as black Americans have made it in America, we haven’t made it that far and racism isn’t still a problem. If I was the author the only thing I would consider changing is highlighting the struggles of black life more instead of portraying it as very passive and normal. If someone asked me if they should read it I would say yes, but only if they are willing to constantly read over it due to the heavy south dialogue used. It’s a very intriguing book and also has a movie so that’s also a good reason to read it. It would be good to compare both and see if the symbolism was delivered the same in both.
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