A Biographical Novel
A Review of the book Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
In
the many years since I’ve learned to read, I have never read a book that so
reflects the story of the author herself as Their
Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. Everything from the first
page to the last has a piece of her life embedded into it. Hurston, a masterful story teller, writes from
the perspective of Janie, an African American woman, as she moves through life
in the 1920s and 30s. Through the message, the changing conflicts, people and
things with meanings that run deep, and Janie, the main character, Hurston’s
life story has obviously had a strong impact in shaping this great piece of
American literature.
The
theme of the story is this: if you’ve got a strong will and determination, life
will take you where you are meant to be. The entire book speaks of Janie’s
strong mind and will, and how she was determined not to let the badness of life
take over her personality. Hurston’s story very much parallels the stories of
the people in the book in this theme. Hurston led a life filled with troubles:
from being expelled from school because of financial problems to her mother’s
death and their family’s difficult times. As life led her towards college, she,
like Janie and so many other characters, were looked down on for her heritage
and race. She did not let this stop her. Hurston finished her Anthropology
degree and was the only African American to enter Barnard College in New York
City. The people in her book work hard at whatever task they’ve been given:
farming, owning a store, running the town, and other businesses. Through her life, Hurston displayed the theme
of this novel: work hard and have a strong will, and it will take you far.
The
primary conflict in this novel is Janie’s internal one. It is a conflict
between her need for love and her desire to be independent of all authority.
Janie has always been spirited. We see that from the start where she nearly
gets into fights with the children she goes to school with. Janie dreams of
being in love with the perfect man, yet so desires to remain a single entity
that she gets herself in trouble. When her grandmother catches her kissing the
no-good boy in town, she sets off to marry Janie to a farmer. Janie’s marriage,
much like Hurston’s first marriage, does not last long. The impetuousness of
Janie’s decision to run off with her second husband Joe Stark is a perfect
example of that. As time wears on, Janie becomes bored with her life with Joe
and longs to be someone else and to be free from her obligation as Joe’s wife.
Hurston’s desire to be her own person comes through in the decisions, both good
and bad, that Janie makes throughout the novel.
Many symbols in
the book reflect the author’s life as well: from the peach tree that starts it
all, to the town she lives in, to the hurricane that brings in the end. The
peach tree where Janie dreams of life in love with the perfect man symbolizes
Hurston’s own desire for the very same thing. In 1939, Hurston married a second
time. This time, however, it was to a man who was 23 years old. And she was 48.
This marriage was fueled by a desire for love that is new and young, much like
Janie’s marriage to Tea Cake was. People were amazed at both Janie and Hurston
when they made their decisions to marry much younger men. Hurston’s marriage did
not last long, however, and was broken after seven months. The peach tree shows
us that Hurston’s desire for love was just a strong as Janie’s.
The second symbol
happens to be the setting for nearly half of the book. Eatonville, Florida was
a free town of African Americans. It was run, operated, and governed entirely
of black people, and they were proud of it. Hurston spent most of her childhood
in this town. She watched her father become the mayor, like Janie watched her
husband do. The town came to symbolize and prove Hurston’s adamant belief that
African Americans were far better off if they would stay segregated from the
white people. She believed that African Americans were capable of doing
whatever they set their minds to. Hurston’s belief in the capability of her
people was emphasized and symbolized through the town of Eatonville.
The last symbol
that stuck out to me was the hurricane. In the book, Janie and her third
husband Tea Cake set out for the Muck, also known as the Everglades, to harvest
the bean crop. They rent a house and make many new friends. However, this
beautiful life they are leading is brought crashing down when a hurricane rips
through the Everglades, sending Janie and Tea Cake fleeing for their lives.
Eventually, the after affects of this hurricane kills Tea Cake (I won’t tell
you how so I don’t spoil it). Janie’s life is left in pieces, so she makes her
way back to where she started in Eatonville. The hurricane symbolizes Hurston’s life. It
was a beautiful thing that was brought to a screeching halt later on. Hurston’s
works and life went downhill after the late 1930s, and she was soon back to
being a maid, a substitute teacher, and free lance writer just to pay the
bills. She died and was buried in an unmarked grave. Janie’s life, much like
that of Hurston’s, came tumbling down very quickly.
All
throughout this review, Janie and Zora Neale Hurston have been compared. Why?
Because Janie very well could be Hurston herself. We can’t know exactly what
was going on in Hurston’s mind as she wrote this book, but perhaps it was meant
to be a fictional telling of her story. Her story weaves into Janie’s. Hurston’s
father was the mayor of Eatonville while Janie’s husband was the mayor. Hurston’s
father also worked as a farmer for a time, which could have led to Janie’s
first husband being a farmer. Both married a younger man. Through Hurston’s
experiences and life influenced the making of Janie, the main character.
Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora
Neale Hurston is a powerful testimony to the life of its author. From page one,
we are able to see that Hurston’s life has influenced nearly every chapter and
page of the book. Her ability as a storyteller is compelling, and setting the
book into African American dialect brings out her life and times. All in all, this
is a profound read that is full of stories that can be connected back to the author
herself. I rate this book to be 4 out of 5 stars because of its weaving of the
story of Zora Neale Hurston into the lives of the characters of the book, making it a powerful story about love, loss, and finding your purpose.