In literature, as in life, a reader can either be comfortable or out of place. The way one of these feelings is decided is through atmosphere. In Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston gives her readers a great deal of atmosphere. This ambiance is provided through both her narration and her dialogue, and it's not always consistent.
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Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dream mocked to death by time. That is the life of men. (TEWWG, 2).
The novel opens with this creative and beautiful piece of imagery. Hurston immediately sets the tone of her novel by giving the reader this flowingly metaphoric explanation of the workings of the minds of men. From the first sentence she has the reader thinking, wondering what it all means and what it tells us will come. It would have been very easy for the tale to begin like a lot of others do, by giving us a physical description of what to imagine. Instead she gives us this introduction, not so much an account of physical properties, but of emotional ones. She begins to have us think about the emotions and the minds of not what's to come, but who is to come.
Tea Cake ain't been no boy for some time. He's round thirty his ownself.
Don't keer what it was, she could stop and say a few words with us. She act like we done something to her/ She de one been doin" wrong. (TEWWG, 3).
Barely two pages after Hurston's charming introduction, she presents us with lines like these. We have been introduced to the town's people, and the mood has surely shifted with them. Hurston's use of dialect aids in this shifting of the tone. We are no longer given flowing and pretty words of the narration but choppy harsh and unintelligent banter of the people. However, even with the changing of mood, the reader is still left questioning.
(Their Eyes Were Watching God, Pg.14). ... Finally, Janie concludes that "a marriage does not make love" (Their Eyes Were Watching God, Pg. 24). ... (Their Eyes Were Watching God, Pg.44). ... (Their Eyes Were Watching God, Pg.107). ... (Their Eyes Were Watching God, Pg.140). ...
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is a novel about a young girl in search of her dreams. ... However, a large hurricane comes, and they leave in fear of their lives. In the midst of the hurricane, they pray and keep "their eyes watching God." ... Their Eyes Were Watching God is a story of hope and faith. ... Zora Neale Hurston writes this novel with such mastery, that Pulitzer Prize winner Alice Walker says about Their Eyes Were Watching God, "There is no book more important to me than this one." ...
The Search for Happiness in Their Eyes Were Watching God Their Eyes Were Watching God It is human nature to look for happiness. ... The standing in the community means a great deal, just like Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God illustrates. ...
My topic is how the character, Janie, is the true villain in the book, "Their Eyes Were Watching God." I have chosen this topic because I believe I can convince the reader that she is the antagonist in the story while others think she is the protagonist. I will support that she didn't truly love any...
Hurston uses a lot of imagery to characterize and distinguish between men and women in "Their eyes were watching god". ... For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time." ... Men have their sights set on things they will most likely never accomplish, and hope that their ship will dock and they will be able to live their dream. ... Women on the other hand have their sights set on dreams that are realistic and they don't just wait for their ship to dock, they "act and do...
Their Eyes Were Watching God The protagonist in Their Eyes Were Watching God is named Janie Crawford. In the novel she narrates her life story to her friend Pheoby Watson. Her life undergoes the process of self-discovery, as she evolves through her experiences with three distinctly different hu...
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, the narrator comments that "any man who walks in the way of power and property is bound to meet hate." ... The narrator's commentary in Their Eyes Were Watching God accurately describes how when individuals become wealthy, attitudes towards them change to more hatred, because of feelings of jealousy, despise, and many When Janine met Jody, she had no real idea or care about his wealth. ... Citizens are watching his every move, looking for a flaw so they can hold it against him, and get whatever power they want for their party or for the ideas they hav...
In her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the setting, in which was a black town, was the place where she grew up, Eatonville, Florida. ... Zora Neale is most known for her novel, "Their Eyes Were Watching God.... "Their Eyes Where Watching God" is an inspiring and motivating piece of literature. ... She began to give up on Logan and their unhappy marriage. ... Both Jody and Logan were abusive toward Janie, controlling, and thought they know what was best for her. ...
Despite its profound position, the novel Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston has been challenged of its place in high school student's education by parents and educational groups. ... However, Their Eyes were Watching God should contain its place in the high school English curriculum because of two reasons: its significance in American History and the moral of love and self-expression. ... "A parent objected to the novel [Their Eyes were Watching God]'s language and sexual explicitness" (Banned And/or Challenged Books from the Radcliffe Publishing Course To...
