Their Eyes Were Watching God Book Report 1. Title: Their Eyes Were Watching God 2. Author/Date Written: Zora Neale Hurston/19373. Country of Author: 4. Characters Janie Mae Crawford- The book’s main character.
She is a very strong willed, independent person. She is able to defy a low class, unhappy life because of these factors, even though the environment that she grew up and lived in was never on her side. Pheoby Watson – Janie’s best friend in Eatonville. Pheoby is the only towns person who respects and cares for Janie. She is trustworthy and kind.
Sam Watson – Pheoby’s husband. Sam deals with problems in the community by using humor. His presence makes Janie more at ease, and comfortable. Nanny Crawford – Janie’s grandmother.
She is concerned for Janie and is sometimes overbearing when she makes decisions for Janie. Mr. and Mrs. Washburn- The Washburns were very sweet to both Nanny and Janie. They supplied Nanny with a job after she became free and they aided in raising Janie. Johnny Taylor – During her adolescent years, Janie kissed Johnny.
This is what caused Nanny’s decision for Janie to marry Logan Hicks. Logan Killicks- Janie’s first husband. He is financially stable, yet unloving to Janie. She finds that she would be happier with Jody Starks. Jody Starks – Janie’s second husband.
During their marriage, he becomes a powerful man and his ambitions and high set goals cause him to lose connection with Janie. The marriage ends soon after. Tea Cake – Janie’s third husband. He is understanding and warm. As he accepts her as herself, he also gets worked up and harms her a few times.
The Term Paper on Tea Cake Janie Jody Nanny
... no success. Logan Killicks - Logan Killicks was Janie's first husband. Nanny coerced Janie into marrying him because she valued financial security and respectability ... took the money she inherited from Jody Starks, her deceased husband. Pheoby criticizes them for their malicious gossip and then visits Janie's ...
Motor Boat – A close, dear friend from the Everglades who attempts to avoid the hurricane with the couple. (Tea Cake and Janie).
Annie Tyler and Who Flung – Annie was a rich woman from Eatonville who became engaged to a younger man. Early into their relationship he takes her money and is never seen again. This story inspires Janie not to be so trusting and actually causes her to fear that Tea Cake will steal her money and leave. 5.
Settings The major places are: West Florida, Eatonville, Jacksonville, and the Everglades. West Florida is where Janie grows up, and is raised by Nanny and the Washburns. Eatonville is a second home to Janie. This is where she begins and ends her journey with Jody Starks and where she comes home to rest at the novel’s conclusion. Both of her stays (during the plot), were rather uncomfortable for Janie. For example, the battling with Jody and the patronizing from the townspeople when she returns without Tea Cake makes the reader feel a little at edge and suspicious of Eatonville’s population.
Jacksonville is the first place that Janie and Tea Cake live together. Right from the beginning, their stay has an uncertain feeling. Tea Cake’s dishonesty and act of theft makes Jacksonville seem like a hard, uneasy place to reside. Their decision to move to the Everglades gives the reader a feeling of a new, fresh beginning and it’s refreshing to know that they were able to start again.
6. Plot The narrative begins as Janie Crawford enters her hometown, Eatonville. Many wonder what she is wearing, where she has been, and what has happened to her youngest and most recent husband, Tea Cake. Many are opposed to her presence in town, but her best friend, Pheoby Watson sits with her on the front porch and listens to her story. Her story begins by explaining that she was raised by her Grandmother, Nanny. Nanny cared deeply for Janie and wanted her to have a healthy, stable home.
So she has Janie become engaged to Logan Killicks. It was an unsatisfying marriage. As Janie’s life slips further and further into the crack of unhappiness, a man named Jody Starks enters her life and she runs off and marries him. The newly married couple moves to Eatonville where Jody’s high political dreams begin to come true. He becomes the mayor and Janie begins to feel neglected by him.
The Essay on Janie Tea Cake 2
... their relationship to new heights. To Eatonville, Tea Cake is just a young man who is interested in Janie s property. When Pheoby confronts her ... became the center of the town and overshadowed Janie. At the town meeting, after Jody was elected mayor, her first prominent martyr ... head rag for him, sacrificing what she wanted for Jody s feelings. Janie begins to imagine a different future for herself, a ...
She again feels unsatisfied and searches for something else. She believes that her life style is underprivileged and she longs to be part of society’s more prominent exciting side. Yet, Jody holds her back from mingling with the crowds and the “common” people. She changes herself to make Jody happy, which hurts her more that just disappointing her husband. Their unhappy marriage finally ends when they publicly humiliate and beat each other. Months later, Jody dies.
Once Jody is dead, Janie is on the prowl again, and loves being with herself and not having to depend on ANY man. Yet, a younger man named Tea Cake grabs her attention and they marry soon after. They leave Eatonville and travel to Jacksonville. Their first week of marriage is testing to both nerves and emotions, but they overcome their differences and move to the Everglades. They socialize and farm and life has never been happier for Janie. As their marriage grows and prospers, a deadly hurricane strikes their home in the Everglades.
Motor Boat, Tea Cake, and Janie attempt to escape and Tea Cake is attacked by a small pack of rabid dogs. He becomes infected with rabies and does not realize his condition until a while after they had escaped the hurricane. Tea Cake begins to go slowly mad from the disease and attempts to shoot Janie under the accusations that she is cheating on him. Janie finds that she must kill Tea Cake, her first love, in order to protect herself. She is immediately put on trial and the white judge and all white jury find her innocent.
At this point, Janie’s story meets up to where she currently is- on her front porch, with a good friend- telling the story of her life. 7. Themes A major theme is “Love as opposed to independence.” During the majority of her relationships, Janie feels held back and uncomfortable. When she is out of a relationship, she feels that she is free and able to do as she please and she cares for herself. Yet, when she finds the right man, (Tea Cake), the relationship enables her to be both independent and in love. When Janie found the person who was right for her, she was able to accomplish all of the things that she wanted to do for herself, and was also able to keep a healthy relationship with Tea Cake, which she had been unable to do with her other husbands.
The Essay on Drenched In Light – Their Eyes Were Watching God
There are many similarities and differences which set apart and bring together the main ideas of the short story, “Drenched in Light”1924, and the novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God” 1937, each written by Zora Neale Hurston. “Drenched in Light” is a short story which Zora displays the outrageous relationship between a young fantasist African American girl named Isis and her domineering ...
Another theme appears in a quote. It helps the reader to understand “two things everybody’s got t uh do fun themselves. They got t uh go t uh God, and they got t uh find out about liv in’ fun themselves.” This shows the priorities of the people, God and establishing a sense of self. These two factors are the things that Janie actually built her life around. They helped her to gain strength and knowledge. 8.
Symbols Overalls- Janie’s overalls make her feel independent and she feels comfortable with herself. Even though others look down upon her apparel and her lifestyle, Janie knows that all she needs is to be happy with what she is and always remain true to her independence. She is wearing overalls when she returns to Eatonville. She is confident despite their criticism and speculation. The Pear Tree- The pear tree blossoms and grows; as does Janie. It illustrates a place where she can go and connect with God.
As she sits under the tree she is in full tranquility. It is in a way a symbol of God and nature in one. The Hurricane – The hurricane is a symbol of destruction. The relationship that Tea Cake and Janie shared was torn apart due to the side effect of the hurricane (wild dogs scattering away from the storm).
It shows that nature can be beautiful, like the pear tree, and it can also be destructive and ruin everything that you have worked for. 9.
Significant Imagery The court house scene’s description’s biggest quote is this: .”.. and the bloody body, and the courthouse came and commenced to sing a sobbing sigh out of every corner in the room; out of each and every chair and thing.” This is a disturbing passage. It applies not only to sight, but also the sense of sound. The image of the bloody body and the crying allows a really eerie effect to possess the reader. The portion of her story where Janie remembers the pear tree also holds a lot of adjectives that place a picture into the reader’s mind. “From barren brown stems to glistening leaf-buds to snowy virginity of bloom.” The descriptions and color schemes used really supplied a realistic and very vivid portrait of what Janie was seeing and remembering.
The Essay on Their Eyes Were Watching God Janie Speaks Her Ideas
... even ignored. In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, the main character Janie would sometimes speak her ideas and they would often ... she was kissing another boy under the pear tree. At the cost of Jody's embarrassment, Janie got smacked. There were times when the ... The author, Zora Neale Hurston, gives Janie many chances to speak and she shows the reader outcomes. When dealing with all of ...
When Mrs. Bogle exclaims, “We ” ll walk in de light, de beautiful light. Come where the dew drops of mercy shine bright. Jesus, the light of the world,” you see what the characters believe in; you see the way that they worship and the way that they see and interpret God and Jesus. They make the reader see that their world is bright and that the characters are thankful for what they have been given by faith alone. 10.
Significance of title Their Eyes Were Watching God does not mean that they were watching the actual God. In this work, the events and nouns in nature symbolize the presence of God; whether it is beautiful and giving such as the pear tree, or destructive and vengeful such as the hurricane. Many events of the book revolve around the weather and the climate, the seasons, and it shows that religion is open-minded, and that it can be interpreted in many different forms. 11. Techniques The techniques used by Hurston include foreshadowing, language and sympathy.
When you begin the first chapter, Hurston includes questions from characters standing on the side-lines that in a way that shows what will be present in her story and what questions will be confronted as she speaks. The author also vividly expresses that Janie has been through hard times and still managed to make it through because she is strong of mind and heart. Hurston’s sympathy seems to be coming out of admiration as well as affirmation. The language used also gives a feeling of the characters’ lives and personalities.
It made me feel as if they were unique because of the way they talked. If the dialect had been printed using proper spelling, then the characters would have had far less personality.
