Zora Neale Hurston
Paperback | Pages: 219 pages Rating: 3.91 | 245455 Users | 12370 Reviews
Present Regarding Books Their Eyes Were Watching God
| Title | : | Their Eyes Were Watching God |
| Author | : | Zora Neale Hurston |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 219 pages |
| Published | : | May 30th 2006 by Amistad (first published 1937) |
| Categories | : | Young Adult. Fantasy. Science Fiction |
Explanation Conducive To Books Their Eyes Were Watching God
Janie saw her life like a giant tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone. Dawn and doom was in the branches.
I've spent many years wanting to read this book, but also not wanting to read it because the title made me think it was going to be heavy on religion, which is something I generally avoid in books. It's not, though. It's a wonderful, lyrical tale of a woman's life and search for independence.
Now I'm fascinated by interpretations of the title because religion and God don't feature much in the story at all. I’ve been reading about the idea that the title implies how Janie must look to God - not white people, not husbands, not well-meaning family members - to determine her future. While this theory doesn't give her much agency, it does fit with her search for a life outside of others' expectations (except God's).
It's set in Florida in the early 20th Century, at the height of Jim Crow. The novel begins with Janie Crawford sharing her life story with her friend Pheoby. We are taken back to her youth and sexual awakening-- an event that triggers her grandmother's insistence that she marry for protection. Nanny, herself, is fascinating. You feel both Janie's frustration toward her controlling grandmother, and Nanny's desire that Janie will have a better life and be taken care of.
"She was borned in slavery time when folks, dat is black folks, didn’t sit down anytime dey felt lak it. So sittin’ on porches lak de white madam look lak uh might fine thing tuh her. Dat’s whut she wanted for me – don’t keer whut it cost. Git up on uh high chair and sit dere. She didn’t have time tuh think whut tuh do after you got up on de stool uh do nothin’."
As you can see from above, the novel's dialogue makes strong use of dialect and colloquialisms.
Through three marriages and many instances of physical abuse, Janie remains fierce and unapologetic. It was a terrible time in America for a black woman to find freedom and independence, but Janie pursues it nevertheless. It's now eighty years after the book's first publication and Janie's indistinguishable spirit is as captivating as it surely always was.
In the end, the book is about defying expectations and living for oneself. Everyone in Janie's life wants and expects something from her. Her Nanny wants her to marry for protection, white men want to keep her down, darker-skinned African-Americans feel she should emphasize her lighter skin, each of her husbands wants her to behave and dress in a way that suits them. But Janie remains wholly herself throughout. I love her.
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Itemize Books Concering Their Eyes Were Watching God
| Original Title: | Their Eyes Were Watching God |
| ISBN: | 0061120065 (ISBN13: 9780061120060) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Characters: | Eleanor, Sam Watson, Shelby, Janie Starks, Pheoby Watson, Nanny, Leafy, Johnny Taylor, Logan Killicks, Jody Starks, Tea Cake, Pearl Stone, Mrs. Sumpkins, Lulu Moss, Mis' Washburn, Mr. Washburn, Miss Nellie, Mayrella |
| Setting: | Florida,1928(United States) Everglades, Florida(United States) |
| Literary Awards: | Audie Award for Solo Narration - Female (2001) |
Rating Regarding Books Their Eyes Were Watching God
Ratings: 3.91 From 245455 Users | 12370 ReviewsEvaluation Regarding Books Their Eyes Were Watching God
Here is a woman who led a wretched life for years, doomed to stagnate in the drab depths of oblivion even after her death which had gone under the radar and generated no nostalgia-soaked, emotional obituaries. She lay in an unmarked grave in the Garden of Heavenly Rest, Florida, treated by her own contemporaries like an outcast because of a difference in perspectives, to be resuscitated and acknowledged as one of the foremost powerful voices that ever reverberated across the African-AmericanI recently reread this book, in February 2011 and wrote a new review. It's a lengthy review, but I learned a lot on the second reading, hence the length. I posted that review on my blog, so here's the link: http://left-handedright-brained.blogs.... ***I decided to remove the original review I posted for this book due to the new review I wrote in February 2011. The original review I posted for this book is no longer how I feel about the book and therefore wanted to move forward with the 2011
Written in lush prose that blossoms around lines of vernacular dialogue, Their Eyes Were Watching God follows Janie Crawford as she wades through three turbulent marriages toward a state of financial and emotional independence. The story begins at its end, with a forty-something Janie returning to her old town after years spent elsewhere; her best friend Pheoby calls upon her, and Janie begins to recount her many travels and experiences to Pheoby. But, despite the frame's promise that Janie will
This is a wonderful novel and I would recommend it. The speech is not easy to follow initially, but is easy to get the hang of if you persist and is well worth the effort.The story of the life and loves of Janie Crawford; told in her own words and in a strong clear voice. It has had a mixed history in terms of reviews. Ralph Ellison criticised its calculated burlesque and others regarded it as not being serious fiction. Then there was the debate about racial uplift and improving image; an
A Classic That Hasn't Finished Saying What It Has to Say Seeing Within You More than Before Their Eyes Were Watching God should be more highly revered as an American classic. Italo Calvino defined a "classic" as "a book that has never finished saying what it has to say. The current racial turmoil brewing in the United States today leaves no doubt that this Zora Neale Hurston classic still hasn't finished saying what it has to say. Ms. Hurston's decision to attain a verisimilitude by using the
4★Uh woman by herself is uh pitiful thing, she was told over and over again. Dey needs aid and assistance. God never meant em tuh try tuh stand by theirselves. But our protagonist Janie Crawford is determined to find out about livin fuh [herself]."After reading the two forewords explaining the literary history of this novel, and upon completion, I have come to regard this as the little book that could. After publication it was out of print for 30 years.Dismissed by the male literary
Another book that I recently re-read that stands up well to a second reading. Hurston's novel, unlike many classics, is as impressive and as relevant today as it was when written.Hurston's story of Janie, a fair-skinned black woman caught in the time period between the end of slavery and the civil rights movement, is the first woman in her family who has the opportunity to be defined as something other than property. Despite this, Janie is unable achieve self-actualization or seek out the
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