By Kathleen Syvrud
Their Eyes Are Watching God, written
by Zora Neale Hurston, is a great story of a woman who discovers and learns to
be herself, even when it goes against what others think is right and proper.
The main character of this novel is Janie, a strong woman from Florida. The
novel follows her story from when she is just a teenager all the way into her
middle-aged years, with all the trials and triumphs she encounters along the
way. She encounters people who try and tell her what she should do and who she
should be, and instead of submitting to these ideas she insists on being
herself and not who people expect her to be. It takes her time to learn how to
do this but slowly she starts to figure out who she really is and what she
wants, not what anyone else wants whether they are her Grandma, Logan, or even
Joe.
The
word that best suits the theme of this book is independence. The story is all
about Janie trying to do things her own way. The problem is that she is
continually confronted with people telling her either how to do things or that
she cannot do them at all. She longs for freedom and independence even from the
very beginning. An example of this early longing is when she kisses Johnny Taylor
as a way to find herself, but her grandma suppresses this and forces her to marry
Logan. We see that it is not really what she wants. Because she is so young,
she does not know what she really wants or what to stand up for in her life. She
lets her grandmother talk her into marrying Logan even though she does not love
him. As the story goes on she becomes a strong independent woman who can make
decisions without others help or opinions. We can see how much she has grown up
after her second husband Joe dies. When all the men of the town tell her that
she needs to get married again to another respectable man, and she is able to
disregard what they say and stand up for what she wants even under a male-driven
society that says she cannot know what is right for her.
The
theme is solidly supported and worked out by the book’s primary conflict which
is Janie’s attempts at breaking free of each oppressive person or situation in
her life. This is seen especially well in the following examples from her three
marriages. The first example is from her first husband, Logan. He expects her to take care of the house and
do what he asks her to do. He does not care for her and what she wants and
needs. A second example of oppression she encounters (and eventually overcomes)
is how Joe tries to put her down to make himself feel better, “You gettin’ too
moufy, Janie”. He speaks to her more as
a child than as an equal. The final example of conflict comes when Tea Cake
tries to shoot her because of the mad dog that bit him. She has to stand up to
him and not accept what he is trying to do-which is to kill her. She does this even though she loves him
because she has to defend herself. The fact that she shoots him does not
belittle her love for him, but shows that she has learned how to stand up for
herself as a woman and as a person with value. The conflict shows just how far
she has come and that she has discovered who she really is.
In
this book Hurston uses many symbols to help convey her message of independence for
women. The first symbol we see is the pear tree she lays under in the beginning
of the story. The pear tree represents the perfect world for which Janie longs.
She sees the bees coming and “kissing” the tree and this symbolizes her idea of
the perfect romance. This idea is backed up because after we hear about the
pear tree we see her try to make this “perfect world” become reality by kissing
Johnny Taylor. This does not end up as she had dreamed, but she starts to
pursue her dreams and desires instead of others. There are two other symbols
that are in the book that relate to each other. They are Janie’s hair and the
head rags that Joe makes her wear. Her long beautiful hair represents her
strength and independence. When Joe makes her wear her head rags this
symbolizes his oppression of her. It represents how he is ruling over her and not
caring about her interests or own needs. Instead, he wants to make her seem
small and diminish her beauty so that he can feel better about himself in
comparison to her.
Hurston
uses Janie to show the growth and confidence necessary to stand up for oneself.
I greatly enjoyed the insightful perspective of this story. Because of all
this, I give it a rating of nine out of ten only because the beginning of the
story proved to be difficult to follow and it was tempting to stop before even
reaching the great story that Janie shares with Pheoby. Hurston weaves together
characters, theme, conflict, and symbols to wonderfully present her message of
women’s independence and strength.