Their eyes were watching God

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Novel Analysis

The novel Their Eyes Were Watching God ' was written by Zora Hurston in 1937 . It is known that it took only seven weeks for Hurston to complete her novel during her anthropological research . The novel sheds life on treatment of African-Americans in the South . However , she was criticized for creating of rosy picture of African-American life in the South . She was said to betray African-Americans , because she didn 't portray demoralization and hostile treatment that blacks have suffered (Hurston 1990

Actually the novel raises

lots of important themes for African-American population such as money , power , racial prejudice , sexuality consumerism and job opportunities . The author sprinkles the novel with optimistic overtones , though the title of the novel seems to be rather pessimistic . The main characters are all Christians and their thoughts and ideas reflect Christian belief . However , the title has little to do with belief in God and with human emotions . The title simply means that the heroes seemed to be staring at the dark , but their eyes were watching God (Hurston 1990

It is necessary to say that in many ways the novel is about the sexual awakening of the main heroine - Janie . Nevertheless , the novel is written in the years of controversy and thus sexuality is skillfully masked with the help of shrewd metaphors . For example , when she finds bee for her blossom , the authors wants to show that she is sexually attracted . The novel actually is naturalistic approach to discussing sexuality . Different attitudes towards sexuality are presented in the novel . For example , Janie 's grandmother , Nanny , thinks that sexuality is negative , because it destabilizes and threatens people . Janie was punished for kissing a boy and Hurston admits that it is an integral part of person 's identity . From the very start the Janie 's sexuality is linked to nature , because she learns about it from bees ' example instead of from human mentor (Hurston 1990

The next theme involved in the novel is the question of power especially black power . It is known that Harlem Renaissance paid special attention to it . Main characters in the novel are provided with different attitudes towards the power , because the world is dominated by white population . Janie 's grandmother , for example , has fixed idea that her Janie has to marry a wealthy powerful man , because in such situation she won 't worry about her financial stability . Joe , second Janie 's husband , gains power due to his position of leadership . He is compared with whites , because he uses the same traditional approaches to dominate others . Concerning Janie , it is apparent that she is attracted by man 's personal power . Janie thus believes that a person 's power is derived not from their material possessions , but from their personal experiences , and their manner of relating to others

The concept of black autonomy is one of the most notable aspects of novel , because the novel is decidedly apolitical . During 1930s , the South was till under the influence of...