Their Eyes Were Watching God
| Written by: | Zora Neale Hurston |
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| Synopsis: | |
| First published: | September 18, 1937 |
Their Eyes Were Watching God is a 1937 novel by Zora Neale Hurston. It's considered a hallmark of African-American literature, women's literature, and the Harlem Renaissance. At the time of its original release, it was heavily criticized by other African American authors, mainly for its use of phonetic accents for dialogue of the characters and the theme of division between light and dark skinned blacks. Hurston died in relative obscurity, but in modern times her works have been widely studied as a staple of Harlem Renaissance literature.
The book begins with the main character Janie Crawford, a black woman in her early 40s, returning to Eatonville in central Florida. There, she is reunited with her best friend Pheoby and tells the story of her life. Starting with her earliest childhood memories, Janie describes the many phases of her life and how she grew throughout the years. In particular, she focuses on her marriages to three different husbands: Logan Killicks, who did not view her as a equal and tries to dominate her; Joe Starks who, though initially charismatic and charming, turns out to be jealous and abusive to Janie and Tea Cake, the husband who was the most loving and treated Janie as an equal human.
Was made into a TV movie in 2004 starring Halle Berry and Michael Ealy, produced by Oprah Winfrey.
- But Not Too Black: Janie is notably light-skinned for a black woman. Self-hating dark-skinned black woman Mrs. Turner thinks the world of Janie entirely because of this, and even wants Janie to dump the dark-skinned Tea Cake for her own lighter-skinned son.
- Christmas Cake: Janie, if you believe her.
- Domestic Abuse: Janie's second husband, Joe Starks, strikes her when she fails to cook a good dinner for him despite her best efforts and also tries to emotionally control her by forcing her to cover up her beautiful hair against her wishes.
- Tea Cake did too; see Values Dissonance on the YMMV page.
- Domestic Abuser: All of Janie's men save for Logan Killicks definitely were this.
- Double Standard Abuse (Female on Male): Janie gets possessive of Tea Cake and actually hits him on numerous occasions. Of course, being her, it is absolutely justified.
- Also note that he sometimes hits her for similar reasons, and in both cases it's presented as romantic. It does, at least, emphasize that they are equals.
- Earn Your Happy Ending
- First-Person Peripheral Narrator: Phoeby, sort of.
- Framing Device: The story starts and ends with Janie telling her story (the bulk of the book) to her friend Phoeby.
- Funetik Aksent: All the dialogue.
- Gossipy Hens: The first scene of the book.
- Hannibal Lecture: Janie does this to Starks shortly before he dies.
- Happily Married: For Janie, the third marriage's the charm. Of course, it can't last.
- Her Heart Will Go On: Janie after Tea Cake's death.
- How We Got Here: Janie telling her story to Phoeby.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl / One Head Taller: All of Janie's romantic relationships turn out to be like this.
- I Am What I Am: Janie
- Jerkass: Most people in the story.
- Karma Houdini: Janie has a clean conscience and receives very little backlash for spending her whole life being a jerkass.
- Likes Older Women: Tea Cake marries Janie despite being at least ten years her junior.
- Love Martyr: Janie and Tea Cake.
- Moral Dissonance: Somehow, it's not alright when your rather old husband wants you to help with the work and it is wrong for your very successful husband to give you treatment which was Fair for Its Day and only occasionally smack you, but it's alright for a tall drifter to marry you, smack you around, make you do work, and try to control you?
- Moral Myopia: Janie exhibits this when she turns into a female version of Starks and begins mistreating Tea Cake.
- Nobody Thinks It Will Work: How everyone perceives Janie and Tea Cake.
- One Head Taller: When Janie isn't in Huge Guy, Tiny Girl, she has this trope.
- Plucky Girl: Janie.
- Realistic Diction Is Unrealistic
- Reality Is Unrealistic: Back then, girls were raised to be quiet and assist their husbands, but when Janie has to do it, she revolts or only does it grudgingly.
- Shoot the Dog: Tea Cake gets bitten by a rabid dog and becomes Ax Crazy and Janie is forced to kill him.
- Title Drop: "They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God."
- You Are What You Hate: Ms. Turner.