Their Eyes Were Watching God

Bibliography:Hurston, Z.N. (2006) Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York, NY: Harper.

Genre:Fiction--Adult Crossover

Reading Level/Interest Age:16+yrs

Reader's Annotation:Janie struggles to find satisfaction in her life and on the way finds true love.

Author:Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) was relatively unknown until recently. Alice Walker is largely responsible for a revived interest in Hurston. Zora Neale Hurston wrote several plays and was a contemporary of Langston Hughes and the other Harlem Renaissance artists.

Plot Summary: Janie Crawford was married at a young age to a respectable, established farmer named Logan Killicks. Janie's grandmother encouraged the match, but Janie was never happy with Mr. Killicks. When another man (the younger, more attractive Joe Starks) shows up one day, Janie runs off and marries him. Janie and Jody live together in apparent pleasantness for many years; Jody rises in polictical importance to become mayor. On the outside they have a happy marriage, but Janie is never happy with Jody. She wants to be free of him and his demands upon her. After a violent interaction between them, Jody falls ill and dies. Janie rejoices in her freedom. When Tea Cake arrives one day, he and Janie fall in love. This is the love that Janie always dreamed of having: wild, passionate and true. Tea Cake and Janie move to the Everglades in Florida, where the people and weather are unpredictable and beautiful.

Critical Evaluation:This novel is composed in dialect, but it is easy to follow the dialogue. Janie's character changes a good deal throughout the novel, in response to each of her husbands. It's important to remember that she is quite young when she first marries Logan. During their short marriage, she learns enough about life to know that she wants more than he can provide. She has no qualms about leaving her husband; she does not feel any duty to him or her committment. In her next relationship, Janie is objectified for her physical beauty. Jody is possessive of her and treats her like a trophy. After he dies, Janie again has no lasting feelings of obligation to him. She does not value their life together. It is only when Tea Cake enters her life that she finds satisfaction. A good deal of this is physical. While the novel usually avoids explicit detail of the sexual relationships Janie has with her husbands, Hurston does describe a strong physical connection between Janie and Tea Cake. It is also implied that Janie did not have this kind of relationship with her previous husbands. The physical love that Janie and Tea Cake share is significant because it leads to Janie's contentment--and her ability to be at peace with her life. Younger readers of this novel might not pick up on the sexual nature of their relationship, but it is hard to miss. If parents or teachers are unwilling to address this aspect of adult relationships, they should avoid this novel.

Curriculum Ties:Harlem Renaissance, African American literature, literature written by women

Book Talk Ideas:Read a section of the novel, introdue Janie as a young woman before she marries (versus after her marriage)

Challenge Issues:sexuality, mysogony, violence, racism, language

Why was this text included in this project?A few years ago, Their Eyes Were Watching God was made into a TV movie and it was selected as an Oprah Book Club title. Both of these are indicators of its popularity, and some teenagers might want to read the book because of that. It is also part of some high school curriculum.