Their Eyes Were Watching God

Their Eyes Were Watching God
source
Name	Their Eyes Were Watching God
Author	Zora Neale Hurston
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Novel, African-American literature
Publisher	J. B. Lippincott & Co.
Pub date	1937
Pages	286

Their Eyes Were Watching God

*Their Eyes Were Watching God* is a 1937 novel by American author Zora Neale Hurston. It is considered a seminal work of African-American literature and a classic of the Harlem Renaissance, chronicling the life of Janie Crawford, a Black woman in the early 20th-century American South on her quest for identity, love, and self-realization. The novel's profound exploration of Black womanhood, racial identity, and personal liberation has cemented its status as a foundational text in discussions of feminism, civil rights, and the American literary canon.

Plot summary

The novel is framed as the story of Janie Crawford telling her life story to her friend Phoeby Watson upon returning to Eatonville, Florida, one of the first all-Black incorporated towns in the United States. Janie recounts her life through three marriages. Her first, arranged by her grandmother Nanny Crawford, is to the older farmer Logan Killicks, which she finds loveless and stifling. She then runs away with the ambitious Joe Starks, who becomes the mayor and leading citizen of Eatonville. While providing material comfort, this marriage also becomes oppressive as Joe seeks to control Janie and silence her voice, treating her as a symbol of his status. After Joe's death, Janie meets the younger, fun-loving Tea Cake Woods, with whom she finally experiences a passionate, if tumultuous, reciprocal love. They move to the Everglades and work together on the muck of the bean fields. The novel's climax occurs during a devastating hurricane and flood in the Florida Everglades, during which Tea Cake is bitten by a rabid dog while saving Janie. In a tragic turn, Janie is forced to shoot Tea Cake in self-defense when his illness drives him mad. Acquitted at her trial, Janie returns to Eatonville, having fulfilled her journey of self-discovery.

Themes of race and gender

Hurston's novel is a pioneering exploration of the intersection of race and gender in early 20th-century America. While the story is set against the backdrop of Jim Crow segregation and racial violence, its primary focus is on Janie's internal world and her struggle against the patriarchal constraints placed upon her by both Black and white society. The novel critiques the limited roles available to Black women, whether as a domestic laborer, a "mule of the world" as Nanny describes, or as the ornamental wife of a bourgeois figure like Joe Starks. Through Janie's journey, Hurston asserts a Black woman's right to her own voice, her own sexuality, and her own dreams, independent of the expectations of men or the broader community. The theme of finding one's identity through experience, rather than through the definitions imposed by others, is central to the narrative.

Connection to the Harlem Renaissance

*Their Eyes Were Watching God* is a key literary product of the Harlem Renaissance, the flourishing of Black artistic and intellectual life centered in Harlem, New York City, in the 1920s and 1930s. Hurston was a major figure in this movement, alongside contemporaries like Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, and Countee Cullen. However, Hurston's work often stood apart for its focus on the rural Southern Black experience and its use of a rich, lyrical vernacular dialect. While the novel was published near the end of the Renaissance period, it embodies the movement's core goal of expressing a distinct Black cultural identity and consciousness. Its celebration of Black folk life and speech patterns was a direct application of the anthropological work Hurston conducted under Franz Boas at Barnard College.

Feminist and civil rights interpretations

The novel's reception and interpretation have evolved dramatically, particularly since its revival in the 1970s. Initially criticized by some male peers in the Harlem Renaissance, like Richard Wright, for not being overtly political, it was later championed by Alice Walker and other Black feminist scholars as a profound proto-feminist text. Walker's 1975 essay "In Search of Zora Neale Hurston" in Ms. Magazine was instrumental in bringing Hurston's work back into the literary canon. Critics now read Janie's quest for self-definition as a powerful allegory for Black liberation and women's liberation. Her refusal to be defined by her marriages, her assertion of her voice, and her ultimate self-sufficiency resonate deeply with the goals of both the feminist movement and the Civil Rights Movement. The novel is seen as arguing that personal freedom and love are themselves radical political acts for a Black woman in a racist and sexist society.

Publication and critical reception

Published by J. B. Lippincott & Co. in 1937, *Their Eyes Were Watching God* received mixed reviews upon release. While some white critics praised its authenticity, several prominent Black critics were harsh. Richard Wright, a leading proponent of the social realism school of Black writing, famously criticized it in New Masses for lacking a serious theme, message, or political edge, accusing it of perpetuating "minstrel" stereotypes. This criticism contributed to the novel falling out of print and relative obscurity for decades. Hurston herself faced severe financial hardship and died in a state of obscurity. The novel's revival, led by authors like Alice Walker and scholars like Henry Louis Gates Jr., led to its rediscovery. It has been celebrated for its innovative narrative structure, its lyrical use of the Black vernacular, and its nuanced portrayal of a Black woman's interiorung. It is now a staple of the American literary canon and a staple of the American literary canon.

Literary significance and legacy

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