"Their Eyes Were Watching God" Question 8

"Their Eyes Were Watching God" takes place in the post-Civil War era in various places of Florida.  There are still a lot of corruptions floating around America at this time, left over from the Civil War.  Racism is of course not as prominent, but still occurring during this time.  The south is still in recovery mood, and that is shown through out this novel frequently.  You can see it in Eatonville.  It is a completely African-American town determined to prove themselves and prosper as a democracy, but they are so used to being led and not leading that it takes no time at all for someone, in this case Joe Starks, to swoop in and take the position of authority and soon have is own empire flourishing.  They haven't quite returned to a state of mind where they can make decisions for themselves and go through with them you could say.  What responsibilities does the author believe exist between various groups in society, such as workers and bosses, men and women, blacks and whites, etc.?  There is definitely a prominent men-women role-playing going on in this book.  I think that the author believes that the man is to be the authority figure in a household, but at the same time the women still has a say and can be an individual.  We are given two examples in Janie's first two marriages of what that type of relationship should NOT be.  In her first marriage with Logan Killicks, he tries to force his responsibilities onto Janie.  He takes her for granted and attempts to push off his load on top of hers.  Next you have Joe Starks, who takes away all of Janie's responsibilities.  Her freedom of speech, her freedom to do with her appearance as she pleases, he even tries to take away her right to socialize with other people.  I think the author believes that a man does indeed wear the pants in a relationship, but you must always remember the women is probably the one who sewed and put those pants on the man in the first place.  Zora Neale Hurston was actually a member of Eatonville, Florida, the first all-black town after the Civil War.  Her father actually served as mayor.  This definitely must have been an influence for her while writing "Their Eyes Were Watching God."


Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God: A Novel. New York: Perennial Library, 1990. Print.