Critic Roland Barthes has said, “Literature is the question minus the answer.” What is the central, universal question Zora Neale Hurston raises in Their Eyes Were Watching God? (If you had to write an EQ for Their Eyes Were Watching God, what would it be?) How does her portrayal of Janie provide an answer to this question?
Please type a response of 250-300 words.
The essential question in this book has to be "What does love do to a person? What does it do for them?", because in the book, there are several different depictions of love, and not just romantic, but familial and platonic friend-like love. Janie is meant to experience all of these loves, and she is supposed to react to them as any person would in her situation. She is not perfectly smart, perfectly brave. She is a normal person going through a strange, but not unique situation, and the readers are supposed to see her survive it, enjoy it, and thrive from it.
ReplyDeleteAnother question Hurston explores is "What is love and how is it expressed?" Throughout the Novel Janie interacts with different people who have different definitions of the word love. This is most clearly seen in her three marriages. In Janie's first marriage, love and marriage is basically just a convenience and holds very little emotional weight. The opposite can be said for Janie's third marriage. Through these three relationships Hurston is able to depict a wide range of relationships which all seem to stem from some kind of love. These contrasting relationships help to introduce the reader to a range of loves, each more complex than the last. Janie is thrown into each marriage with a very limited idea of what love is, only the knowledge that she desperately wants to experience it. She learns from each relationship and begins to develop her own personal definition of love through what she feels is missing in her relationships. Janie’s personal development through all of this is a journey that the reader gets to experience as well. Hurston uses Janie’s experience with love to develop a working definition that is expanded and complicated with each new relationship.
ReplyDeleteThe book ultimately questions what love really means or what it entails. Janie’s interest in love really became noticeable with her relationships with her grandmother, Nanny. The need for her love to be reciprocated implies her need for love throughout her life. She seeks out that very thing. Even in her marriage that she felt very unsettled in. Although she didn’t gain much in her marriage, she realizes that marriage isn’t always love. When she meets Joe, a man she think she actually loves, he turns out to be selfish and cruel to her. Throughout the marriage, Janie loses pieces of herself through Joe’s degrading words. She wanted love to come so instantly because it’s what she’s always wanted, but couldn’t find that with Joe. As the story progresses, she realizes that she shouldn’t have to mask who she is to please anyone. Love has to be reciprocated. She finds that with Tea Cake. Although flawed, their relationship was by far more real and closer to love than any of her other relationships. She went through all the feelings associated with love including distress, jealousy, happiness, etc. Even in the end when mourning Tea Cake’s death, she feels fulfilled, knowing that she has loved someone who, in turn, loved her back. She gains love for herself and independence through that relationship and treasures all their memories together.
ReplyDeleteA central universal question raised by Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God is, "What is the woman's place/role in society and in her relationship? And how does that contrast or compare to her own values or expectations?" This question can be seen explored through Hurston's conflicting emotions caused by her relationship with her second husband Jodie, about her role as a woman in a position of power. Jodie wants her to stand still and be quiet, not entitled to give a speech or mingle with the townspeople, meanwhile she wants to act upon her desired want for individuality and freedom by being able to act, say, and dress as she pleases. This question can also be seen in society's expectation of Janie as a widow, one who has moved on to love Teacake. The town is surprised that she has moved on so quickly, especially to a man that had less than Jodie. They expected her to continue wearing black and marry a man in Sanford who had an abundance of wealth and property. However, she chose to stay true to her heart by loving Teacake and no longer wearing black as she no longer mourned nor grieved.
ReplyDeleteA central universal question raised by Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God is, "What is the woman's place/role in society and in her relationship? And how does that contrast or compare to her own values and expectations?" This question is explored through Hurston's depiction of Janie's relationship with her second husband Jodie. Throughout her marriage, Jane experiences conflicting emotions about her role as a woman in a position of power. Jodie wants her to stand still and be quiet, he does not wish for her to talk with the townspeople nor wear her hair down for other men to stare at, meanwhile Janie wants to act upon her desired want for individuality and freedom by being able to act, say, and dress as she pleases. This question can also be seen conveyed through society's expectation of Janie as a widow, one who has moved on to love Teacake. The town is surprised that she has moved on after two months of Jodie's death, especially moving on to love a man of a lower class. They expected her to continue wearing mourning over her husband and later on, marry a man in Sanford who had an abundance of wealth and property. However, she chose to stay true to her heart by loving Teacake and no longer wearing black as she no longer mourned nor grieved. By defying society's expectations of her role as a woman of power (only until the icon of masculine egotism in her life was no longer present) Hurston questions women's ability to uncover their individuality and freedom. Additionally, Hurston further explores this question through contrasting Janie's relationship with Teacake and her relationship with Jodie, illustrating different kinds of love and how those types of love affect a woman's role in and out of society.
ReplyDelete(I wanted to revise mine)
A central universal question raised by Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God is, "What is the woman's place/role in society and in her relationship? And how does that contrast or compare to her own values and expectations?" This question is explored through Hurston's depiction of Janie's relationship with her second husband Jodie. Throughout her marriage, Jane experiences conflicting emotions about her role as a woman in a position of power. Jodie wants her to stand still and be quiet, he does not wish for her to talk with the townspeople nor wear her hair down for other men to stare at, meanwhile Janie wants to act upon her desired want for individuality and freedom by being able to act, say, and dress as she pleases. This question can also be seen conveyed through society's expectation of Janie as a widow, one who has moved on to love Teacake. The town is surprised that she has moved on after two months of Jodie's death, especially moving on to love a man of a lower class. They expected her to continue wearing black and mourning over the death of her husband and later on, marry a man in Sanford who had an abundance of wealth and property. However, she chose to stay true to her heart by loving Teacake and no longer wearing black as she no longer mourned nor grieved. By defying society's expectations of her role as a woman in a position of power (only until the icon of masculine egotism in her life was no longer present) Hurston questions women's ability to uncover their individuality and freedom. Additionally, Hurston further explores this question by contrasting Janie's relationship with Teacake and her relationship with Jodie, illustrating different kinds of love and how those types of love affect a woman's role in and out of society.
ReplyDelete(I wanted to revise mine)