Worth Books - Summary and Analysis of Their Eyes Were Watching God: Based on the Book by Zorah Neale Hurston

Summary and Analysis of

Their Eyes Were Watching God

A Novel

Based on the Book by Zora Neale Hurston

Contents

Context

Set in the post-Reconstruction era when Jim Crow laws were at their peak, Their Eyes Were Watching God follows one womans journey to find her voice and independence at a time when gender roles often categorized women as the property of men. Zora Neale Hurston was inspired by her own experiences growing up in the Deep Southusing her childhood in the all-black town of Eatonville as the storys backdrop and basing the character of Tea Cake on a real-life lover.

Controversial in 1937 when it was first published, for its use of vernacular and dialect, the books soulful dialogue provides a poignant and personal way of understanding the struggles faced by people of color in the American South, and preserves the oral history of African American culture.

Emerging as an author of distinction during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, Hurston resisted the Uplift agenda of other writers of the daya framework in which Negro intellectuals were expected to cast positive images and be role models for their race. She once explained that her work didnt have a broad focus on racial issues: I am not interested in the race problem, but I am interested in the problems of individuals, white ones and black ones.

Their Eyes Were Watching God initially had an underwhelming receptionoften criticized for promoting stereotypes that portrayed blacks in a negative light. At one point the book went out of print, becoming dangerously close to fading into obscurity when Alice Walkers 1975 essay, In Search of Zora Neale Hurston for Ms. magazine brought a renewed interest to the authors work. Today, Their Eyes Were Watching God has reclaimed its place as one of the 20th centurys most essential novels.

Overview

Ethereal and bold, Janie Crawford returns to Eatonville after almost two years away. The object of gossip from the townspeople for running off with a younger man, Janie is unaffected by the petty moral judgments of the porch sitters. Sitting in the moonlight with her loyal friend Pheoby Watson, Janie reports that her man, Tea Cake, is gone. Then, under the cover of darkness, she recounts the story of her life in painstaking detail.

Its the early 1900s in Florida. Janie is abandoned as a baby and left to be raised by her grandmother, Nanny. The two live in the yard of a white family for whom Nanny works. Janie enjoys an idyllic childhood thats so insulated from segregationist attitudes that she doesnt realize shes colored until the age of 6.

At 16, Janie lies beneath a pear tree daydreaming of true love and entertaining erotic feelings that are new to her. Janies childhood ends when Nanny witnesses an innocent kiss between her granddaughter and the neer-do-well Johnny Taylor. Fearing that Janies budding sexuality will get her mixed up with a man wholl use her to wipe his feet on, Nanny arranges a loveless marriage to a dull, middle-aged man named Logan Killicks.

Logan never abuses Janie, but he also shows her little affection. Disenchanted and weary, Janie abandons her illusions of married love to become a woman on her own terms. Nanny dies soon thereafter.

When the slick and confident traveler Joe Starks (Jody) shows up at her gate, Janie decides to risk uncertainty over the slow death of her soul. She runs away with him and takes him for her second husband. They settle in Eatonvillea self-governed, all-black town in West Florida. Joes ambitious and enterprising nature soon elevates him to mayor, giving Janie a high-class status she doesnt really want.

The Starkses move into a grand house. They own and run the local general storea place where men gather and tell fantastical stories. Janie loves listening to their tales and wishes she could participate, but Jody wont have it. Feeling increasingly threatened by Janies intelligence, Jody resorts to public criticism and private beatings in an attempt to keep her in line.

The futility of fighting back turns Janie inward. She keeps her thoughts and feelings buried. Only when Jody falls ill and dies is she free to let her magnificent self reemerge.

The newly widowed Janie has many suitors in Eatonville, but she prefers to wait for someone special. One evening, a drifter and gambler twelve years her junior walks into her store and steals her heart. A man called Vergible Woods, who goes by the name Tea Cake, is flirty, engaging, and not intimidated by Janies feminine strength and spirited opinions.

Feeling shes known Tea Cake all her life, they soon marry and build a rich and satisfying life in the Everglades (the muck) as tenant farmers. After their first season picking beans, a dramatic hurricane devastates the area and almost kills them. They survive the storm, only to find that Tea Cake has contracted rabies from a dog bite. The disease progresses rapidly and Tea Cake descends into madness, putting Janie in a situation where she must shoot him dead to save her own life.

Though vilified by his friends, Janie is acquitted for Tea Cakes murder. Brokenhearted, she arranges a lavish funeral for her husband then returns to Eatonville to live in peace with her precious memories.

At the end, she passes a hard-won lesson on to Pheoby: No one can tell you how to live your life; you must find that out for yourself. Janies enduring faith in herself and in the power of love proved to be her salvation.

Cast of Characters

Janie Crawford (Killicks, Starks, Woods): The bewitching protagonist and narrator of the story, Janie is intelligent, strong, and sensual with an almost limitless capacity for unconditional love and compassion.

Logan Killicks: Uncultured and hardworking, Logan is Janies unattractive, middle-aged first husband; when it comes to marriage, hes more interested in domestic help than female affection.

Joe (Jody) Starks: The main antagonist and Janies ambitious second husband, hes the first Mayor of Eatonville, Florida. A natural-born leader, he often repels people with his arrogant and self-righteous ways.

Mrs. Turner: The colored-struck neighbor who thinks dark Negroes are inferior to lighter-skinned black folks like Janie. She tries to convince Janie that shes too good for the darky Tea Cake.

Nanny: An ex-slave and Janies grandmother, she raises Janie after her mother abandons her. Although Nanny may have good intentions, she mistakenly projects her own fears and unfulfilled dreams onto her granddaughter with disastrous results.

Pheoby Watson: Janies oldest friend, Pheoby is trustworthy, emotionally mature, and loyal. She and her husband, Sam Watson, have a solid married life.

Sam Watson: Pheoby Watsons levelheaded and supportive husband. He has a wicked sense of humor and is the voice of reason and tolerance; he is unafraid to stand up to town gossip.

Vergible Tea Cake Woods: A tall, purple-lipped wanderer and a risk-taker by nature, Tea Cake is Janies happy-go-lucky, devoted third husband and soul mate.

Summary

Returning home after almost two years, Janie Starks walks past the porch sitters who she knows are judging her harshly. Since she believes gossip and jealousy have a way of diminishing ones strength, she simply continues on without saying a word. The townspeople in Eatonville feel justified taking the moral high ground given that Janie is a 40-year-old woman who ran off with a younger man.

With a plate of mulatto rice in her hands, Janies kissin-friend Pheoby Watson welcomes her back with open arms, and, after hearing the news of Tea Cakes passing, the two settle in under the moonlight and Janie tells her story.