Abstract
The paper examines the complex tradition of white hegemonic racial and gender based values that occur within Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes are Watching God". The paper examines how the character development in this novel dictates the gender role issues that arise from the patriarchal domination of Janie's various husbands. The paper describes how she does not often meet success due to the overtly racial divisions that have been imparted by white culture onto that of African Americans from the colonial era until the novel's era after World War I.

Tags:god, african, american

Abstract
The attempts of black feminists to accommodate the often-conflicting imperatives of individual transformation, feminine bonding, and racial communalism have had a powerful effect on the reinterpretation of Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God". The novel is seen as a vehicle of feminist protest through its condemnation of the restrictiveness of bourgeois marriage and through its exploration of intraracial sexism and male violence.

Tags:hurstons, their, eyes

Abstract
In this paper, the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston provides a gender construct that involves normative male/female gender roles, but ultimately provides a liberating feminist resolution for Janie. Also, the generational issue of traditional female roles models found in Nanny's character, provide more insight into how women are victimized and brought into situations that deny hem their freedom from aggressive men. Through a succession of marriages that ended with Janie being subjected to male misogyny throughout much of her life.

From the Paper
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Tags:hurston, gender, god

Abstract
In this paper, the racial construct of the 'Their Eyes Were Watching God' by Zora Neale Hurston relies on slave history and the white hegemonic society that continually oppresses Janie. Janie plays a central role as she tries to raise herself to higher social spheres, but is often thwarted due to the economic and social limitations that white people impart upon her. Her marriages set the pace of plot, which antagonizes Nanny's desperate urge to deny Janie her own life, as she often reflects on horrors of slavery.

From the Paper
"This literary study will examine the racial construct of the early 20th century within the novel: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. In many ways, racism plays a large part in the way that Janie relates to the men in her life, as her marriages continually struggle beneath the oppression of a white hegemonic society. The racial construct in the novel is social and economic, as Janie has a difficult time finding stability in her life due the affects of racism. In essence, this literary study will examine the racial construct of this novel within the early 20th century. Janie Crawford is a woman that tells her life story to a close friend, Pheoby."

Tags:hurston, god, race

Abstract
This paper first explains that, in "Their Eyes Were Watching God", Zora Neale Hurston leads the reader on a journey of Janie's life through her experiences, thoughts and feelings. Next the author describes this journey, and Janie's "conscious life", which begins under a pear tree, a symbol throughout the book of Janie's yearning to discover her identity and connection with God and of the embodiment of which is in the men she marries. The paper concludes that this book, with its themes of God and self is relevant to everyone, not just women but also men, which makes it a truly exceptional piece of literature.

From the Paper
"As Jody and Janie's relationship further develops, Joe increasingly diverges from a Creator and moves toward a white, patriarchal God of Judgment. He is controlling towards Janie, keeping her from self discovery by taking away her voice. He keeps her from making a speech to the townspeople, not "giving her a chance to say anything one way or another that took the bloom off of things." He acts as a white slave owner, with the townspeople, including Janie, as his slaves. His house "had two stories with porches, with banisters and such things.""

Tags:answers, pear tree, creator husbands power

Abstract
This paper takes a couple of passages out of "Their Eyes Were Watching God" and examines the text. It shows how Hurston creates a voice marked by weaving Black vernacular and standard American English to create a steady, flowing narration. This use of free, indirect discourse is used throughout the narrative.

From the Paper
"The New Historian critical approach to text investigates how power is distributed and draws on the works of American cultural anthropologist, Clifford Geertz. Anthropologists have used the works of Clifford Geertz to - illuminate the integrative significance of cultural symbols with particular communities? ( Lears,1985,p.573) in the belief that certain subordinate groups participate in their own domination through the work of cultural symbolism. Not unlike Geertz, German-American anthropologist, Franz Boas emphasized the importance of environment in the evaluation of individual capabilities. Boas also accentuated the magnitude of linguistic analysis from internal linguistic structure and pointed out that language is a fundamental aspect of culture. (Rassman. 1999,personal communication). Author Zora Neal Hurston studied anthropology with Franz Boas at Barnard College when she was about 35 years old (Gates,1990, p. 212). Boas? influence on the importance of language as cultural collateral is evident in Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God by virtue of her use of free indirect discourse and signifying."

Tags:narration, african, american

Abstract
This paper presents a functional, sociological, and psychological analysis of the character of Tea Cake from "Their Eyes Were Watching God".

Abstract
This paper examines how in Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God, the author uses metaphors to show the underlying strengths and weaknesses of the main character, as well as some of the authors perceptions of how black women have traditionally been treated by men. It analyzes the four main metaphors used throughout the novel, the pear tree, the mules, Janie's hair and the title of the book itself. It looks at how all of these metaphors have great significance throughout the book and how they all have a much deeper meaning when examined in light of the main character, Janie.

From the Paper
"The first metaphor, that of the pear tree, comes from a passage in the book where Janie is lying underneath a pear tree and watching a bee land in one of the flowers. She sees it as a marriage between the bee and the flower, as well as simply a lovely sight to watch. Janie believes that this marriage between the flower on the pear tree and the bee that lands in it is symbolic of the intensity and sensuality between lovers. Because of this, Janie comments in the book that she would like to be a tree, any tree, that is in bloom. She realizes at this point what is missing from her life and from her marriages. She comments that she believed she was lying under that pear tree and witnessing the courtship between the flower and the bee in order to be party to a revelation (Bush, 1027)."

Tags:janie, pear, tree, mules, hair, marriage

Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the book, "Their Eyes Were Watching God," by Zora Neale Hurston. It discusses the book's three major themes and illustrates how Hurston makes them work.

From the Paper
"When Hurston's book was first published in 1937, black readers were more critical of it than white readers were. They felt Hurston portrayed Negroes as always happy - singing and dancing, and that she did not show their lives in the South realistically. Today, English classes commonly study the book, and critics give it wide acclaim. The story takes its title from the passage, "They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God."

"One of the main themes of the story is learning about yourself. Janie, the main character, is a mulatto woman who has lived most of her life the way other people thought she should. Her mother abandons here when she is young, and her grandmother (Nanny), raises her. Nanny has a very strict moral code, and specific ideas about freedom and marriage. Janie marries the man Nanny says she should, because he has land, and he will keep her "safe and protected," that is Nanny's idea of freedom. However, Logan Killicks is not the man for Janie, and their marriage only lasts a year. "

Tags:novel, book, review

Abstract
This essay explores the connection between status and happiness. Using Zora Neale Hurston's novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God" as a model, this essay reveals that the search for status often leads to unhappiness and dissatisfaction.

From the Paper
"A common element in many cultural novels is the search for social status. Many of the characters in Zora Neale Hurston's novel, "Their Eyes Were Watching God", attempt in various ways to achieve personal satisfaction by improving their social status. Through the eyes of the narrator, the reader learns that although many of the characters are either searching for or seem to have found their place in society, it does not always bring them happiness. For Janie, the main character, the search is a bit different. What she is seeking is simply herself. Three other characters, all of whom want to limit Janie's freedom, display different ways in which people understand status. Nanny, Joe Starks, and Mrs. Turner all seem to find what they feel is an improved rank in society. Although these three characters achieve status, their attitudes about status ironically make them and those close to them unhappy."

Tags:happiness, theme, analysis, book