Zora Neale Hurston: Their Eyes Were Watching God

[veggiedog]

Has anyone here read Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston? I was forced to read it for my American Literature class...and found myself enjoying it (the horror!) a lot! If anyone else liked it, I'd be interested in discussing it.

I especially liked the language in the book. It set the right tone. But I was a little confused by the shifting narrators. Sometimes it is Janie speaking to Pheoby, sometimes it is Janie remembering, and sometimes it is a third-person narrator. Did Hurston decide to this to bring out the whole story (as in using Janie's voice to make her experiences more personal, and the third-person to give us details Janie couldn't possible know) or what?

Anyway, if anyone else liked (or disliked) the book, I would like to discuss it. I guess I already made that quite obvious by creating a thread for it.

 

[venusunfolding]

I loved the book. I read it because Alice Walker was always mentioning it.

I think the dialect that it's written in really gives you a feel for the characters. I find it amazing that writers of the time gave Hurston a hard time for using dialect in her book.

I've read it twice. I reread it before the Oprah produced movie aired. I never had an issue with the shifting narrative. I guess it's because I got so pulled into the story that I didn't notice.

 

[Libra6Poe]

Hello! I haven't read this since I was 15. I remember having a hard time because of the phonetic spelling (is that what you call it?)/the language. But the more I got into it, the less I noticed it and was able to really enjoy the story. I don't really remember the shifting of narrators, but I do plan on rereading this in the near future.

Anyway, I'm glad you liked it!

 

[veggiedog]

I'm glad you guys liked it too! I just wrote an impromptu paper about it at school today. I think I did okay (for the first time ever) and am actually looking forward to peer evaluations tomorrow .

I noticed that the book was called Their Eyes Were Watching God (I'm sure you all noticed that too ) yet there was barely any mention of Christianity or any organized religion. There was a vague Bible reference or two and mention of a church in chapter 12 (I think) and the word 'god' dropped here and there in the same way that teenaged girls say 'oh my god.' Other than that, there was almost nothing. No mention of Janie being a church-goer or a believer in pagan gods or anything. Obviously 'god,' is an important or even central idea in the book, since it is part of the title. This led me to believe that the reference isn't to a religious god, but to a higher order of nature or something of the sort. Nature has huge weight in the novel. Janie frequently mentions the sun, moon, sky, sea, horizon and other natural wonders. I don't mean to say that the novel conveys nature as a god, but I think that Hurston may be implying that nature has more power and beauty than humans often admit. Am I correct in assuming this, or just plain stupid?

 

[Ronny]

I've not read the book yet but saw the movie so maybe it's quite different but in the movie Janie would say she was "watching god" when she was looking up at the sky.

 

[veggiedog]

I've not read the book yet but saw the movie so maybe it's quite different but in the movie Janie would say she was "watching god" when she was looking up at the sky.

Yes, in the book Janie never did mention god in that sense. The only time any indication of "watching god" was in the first paragraph or two of the book. I like the idea of people watching god rather than god watching them, with a leary eye and taking notes on every little mistake we make like an incarnation of Santa Claus, putting us all on a 'naughty' or 'nice' list. I can't really imagine why they would be watching god, though. Are they expecting him/her/them to do something? awaiting fate? In the beginning of the book, it mentioned something about dreams and the way that women seize them and men wait for them to come true. Are they waiting for god to make their dreams come true? Is Janie waiting for god to grant her love (the entire book is about the journey of discovering love after all)?

Was the movie any good? You must read the book and tell me how they compare!

 

[venusunfolding]

The movie is a good adaptation. It's not perfect, but I really think they did a good job.

I'm not sure how to explain it, but I think Zora was trying to show us the power of nature. Sort of like in The Color Purple where Shug talks about how all the trees dance and do everything to get us to notice them.

I think for Janie, Nature is one of the ways she can feel God, maybe it's not God with a big G, but god in the sense that nature is its own being.

Just look at the way they talk about the peach blossom in the start of the book. Then look at how Nature took what Janie had.

 

[Ronny]

I really liked the movie and added the book to my ever growing TBR list right after I got home from seeing it at my friends. I do think (in the movie at least) when she said she was watching god she was really just marveling at nature and seeing him in it. I hope I find the book soon so I can start reading it

 

[veggiedog]

The movie is a good adaptation. It's not perfect, but I really think they did a good job.

I'm not sure how to explain it, but I think Zora was trying to show us the power of nature. Sort of like in The Color Purple where Shug talks about how all the trees dance and do everything to get us to notice them.

I think for Janie, Nature is one of the ways she can feel God, maybe it's not God with a big G, but god in the sense that nature is its own being.

Just look at the way they talk about the peach blossom in the start of the book. Then look at how Nature took what Janie had.

That's what I thought.

Nature has huge power. It can be beautiful and devastating. It made Janie's life and tore it apart. It bestows both happiness and sorrow. Janie is awed (I think) by the greatness and magnificence of Nature. It is the giver and the taker, the way some people view god(s).

I think I read somewhere that Huston was an anthropologist. She studied Carribean (spelling?) culture, and part of that was the Carribean view of Nature. The respected and treasured Nature in the way that many Americans respect and treasure their gods and religions. Nature wields a great deal of force and presides over our fate. Almost every religion includes some recognition of the power of nature.

That was how I read it, at any rate.

 

[venusunfolding]

She was an anthropologist. She traveled and collected folklore. She wrote a book of the collected folklore, she also wrote one about voodoo.

In the book Speak So You Can Speak Again, it comes with a cd of Zora singing and retelling some of the tales she collected.

She was an amazing woman. It's horrible to think she died in poverty, and her work was almost totally forgotten until Alice Walker wrote an essay about her journey to find Zora's unmarked grave and recognize her!

That's what I thought.

Nature has huge power. It can be beautiful and devastating. It made Janie's life and tore it apart. It bestows both happiness and sorrow. Janie is awed (I think) by the greatness and magnificence of Nature. It is the giver and the taker, the way some people view god(s).

I think I read somewhere that Huston was an anthropologist. She studied Carribean (spelling?) culture, and part of that was the Carribean view of Nature. The respected and treasured Nature in the way that many Americans respect and treasure their gods and religions. Nature wields a great deal of force and presides over our fate. Almost every religion includes some recognition of the power of nature.

That was how I read it, at any rate.

 

[veggiedog]

She was an amazing woman. It's horrible to think she died in poverty, and her work was almost totally forgotten until Alice Walker wrote an essay about her journey to find Zora's unmarked grave and recognize her!

I completely agree. I still can't believe that such an amazing woman could have been so ignored during her time. She was criticized by other writers of the Harlem Renaissance (again, spelling?) for not being 'black enough'. As far as I can tell through some essays she wrote, she didn't think of herself as a black human, or a woman human, but as any other human. She was just herself. In There Eyes Were Watching God, Janie didn't realize that she was 'colored' until she saw a photograph of herself. She didn't think of herself as somebody different because of her different skin color, but because she was a unique human being with a unique heart and a unique mind. Color never even occured to her. While the Harlem Renaissance was about pride in being black, Hurston never stated herself how wonderful she was because she was black. She was proud of herself because she was an intelligent, accomplished, talented person. I think this sets her apart from the other African-American writers of her time.

 

[veggiedog]

Does anyone notice that throughout the novel, Janie is battling with herself for which she values more: love/marriage or independence?

It seems like Janie spends a lot of time looking for love, but she also puts forth a lot of energy looking for and protecting herself. She stands up to Joe and Tea Cake. She doesn't

Spoiler

marry anyone for a long time after Joe dies

because she is reveling in her newfound freedom.

Spoiler

With Tea Cake, Janie was able to find both love and independence...to some extent. Tea Cake still limited her. He did things that showed that he didn't respect her as an equal, whatever his other words and actions may have implied. Although not as blatant as with Joe, Tea Cake's disrespect for Janie provided a heavy foreshadowing of the end of their marriage. At the end of the book, Janie, although alone, is still happy regardless. She doesn't have Tea Cake, but she has his memories, and her independence, which satisfy her well enough.

Her life's journey has ended, and she is content.

Which do you think Janie values more, love or independence? Or does she value them both equally? What about Hurston?

 

[BooknaMug]

I just finished reading this book and I am so glad I took my sisters recommendation to read it. Somehow, I missed reading it in school, so I didn't have the opportunity to discuss it in a group setting. I wrote about it on my blog, but didn't seem to really come to any conclusion (see link in my signature). Reading some of your comments helps me grasp some of the meaning and figure out some things about it in my mind.

The only time in the book I remember Hurston using the phrase "their eyes were watching God," was during the hurricane. So, the whole idea of Nature that ya'll talked about makes total sense. It's like they all just watched to see what would happen because they knew they couldn't do anything to stop the hurricane. Janie had been like that in her past, but she knew how to stop watching and try to do something.

I also think the title refers back to how judgemental all the characters are. They always have some opinion of Janie - they're always passing judgement on her. But she doesn't care. She does what she wants when the time comes - she marries Tea Cake despite all the rumors and disapproval.

Overall, this book is rich, warm, and just beautiful. Read it if you haven't already.