582 Hurston, Zora Neale
Hughes succeeds in redeeming African Americans
as heroes who, even in the face of death, refuse to
subordinate their race to the will of the oppressors.
It is this lesson of survival against all odds that
Hughes ultimately believes will allow the black race
to achieve equality.
Tanfer Emin Tunc
HurSTon, zora nEaLE Their Eyes
Were Watching God (1937)
Although contemporary critics consider Zora Neale
Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God to be one of
the literary masterpieces of the Harlem Renaissance,
critics did not like Hurston’s novel when it was first
published. Known for its use of African-American
vernacular, Hurston’s novel captures the sound and
rhythms of African-American life at the beginning
of the 20th century.
Readers of the novel generally remark on the
main character’s journey from young, innocent
womanhood to maturity. The novel begins with
Janie’s return to Eatonville, the only all-black town
in the United States. While her neighbors are curi-
ous about what has happened to her, they refuse to
ask her and she refuses to tell. Instead, Janie tells her
story to her friend Phoebe saying, “mah tongue is
in mah friend’s mouf,” giving Phoebe permission to
retell the story if she so chooses. Janie’s story is one
of growth through the relationships she experiences
with men. She “marries” three times, each of which
teaches her something about her own identity and
what she wants in life.
Henry Louis Gates argues that Their Eyes is a
“speakerly text” because it requires the reader to
“hear” the voices of the characters in the characters’
speech. Some readers find the book challenging
because of this, but many find it easier if they read
aloud. In this way, the reader has a sense of the char-
acters’ voices beyond the page.
Nancy Cardona
Gender in Their Eyes Were Watching God
In counseling her granddaughter about the realities
of the world, Nanny tells Janie “[D]e white man
throw down de load and tell de nigger man tuh pick
it up. He pick it up because he have to, but he don’t
tote it. He hand it to his women folks. De nigger
woman is de mule of de world so fur as Ah can see.”
Although the language that Nanny uses is no longer
considered “politically correct,” the observation that
she makes guides Janie in her journey in the novel.
Janie goes from a girl who lives her life according to
how others around her tell her to do so, to becom-
ing a woman who makes her own decisions on her
own terms.
Janie begins her journey with a decision that has
been made for her; after Nanny sees Janie kissing
a young man, Nanny decides that Janie needs to
be a married woman who will be provided for. She
chooses Logan Killicks, a local farmer who owns his
farm, house, and organ. Janie chooses to go along
with her grandmother’s choice, deciding that she
will learn to love Killicks. And for the first year,
Killicks treats her well. But soon he begins to treat
her as just another person who works on his farm.
Janie is disappointed that she hasn’t learned to love
him and tells Nanny this. Nanny responds that Janie
should be happy with the stability that Killicks pro-
vides, making the best of the life that she has.
Janie refuses to settle for less than her ideal
notion of romantic love, so when Joe “Jody” Starks
arrives, speaking of an all-black town, Janie’s hopes
for romantic love are reignited and she leaves Killicks
to go with Starks. Janie believes that she will be an
equal partner in this second marriage, as Joe seems
to be a man of ambition. What she does not know is
that he is a man who is interested in his own ambi-
tion and is willing to sacrifice Janie’s dreams for his
own. He becomes mayor and a store owner. He treats
Janie as one of his possessions, making her wear her
hair in a head scarf and forbidding her to talk with
the people who congregate on the store porch. Janie
soon learns that Jody’s idea of a better life is centered
on making his own life better, not theirs as a couple.
Janie lives out the marriage, doing as Jody dictates.
When Jody dies, she takes control of her life
again. She removes her head scarves and burns
them after Jody’s funeral, symbolizing her refusal
to live according to Jody’s dictates. She soon begins
to interact with the people on the porch, play-
ing checkers and telling jokes. When she is asked
when she will marry again (because certainly she
needs someone to take care of her), Janie just laughs