GROUP FINAL PROJECT: THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD
INTERPRETIVE PROJECT: SYMBOL EVALUATION BY CLAIRA
INTERPRETIVE PROJECT: PASSAGE REWRITE BY ZACK
This is an addition to Chapter 19—the passage related to Tea Cake’s work burying the dead after the hurricane of 1928. For context, read the following passage just after reading Tea Cake making the comment, “‘Look lak dey think God don’t know nothin’ ‘bout de Jim Crow law’” (170).
The man working beside Tea Cake met Tea Cake’s gaze with a knowing smile that only two colored men could share. The stranger said, “Lawd knows dese white folk wud rather forgit ‘bout dem Jim Crow laws. S’been what, ‘bout thirty years since the gubnent said we wuz sep’rit but equal? Sho’ don’t feel equal to me pulling apart dis black and white body-puzzle only to place the white folk in boxes and dump the black folk in a common hole. I heard dat white feller from de Red Cross—the one yonder in de vest—sayin’ dat dis here storm killed off half the population of Palm Beach; and darn near three of every four dead wuz colored folk. Can you b’leve dat?"
Tea Cake slowly shook his head from one side to the other. Thinking out loud, he replied, “Ah shore can. Makes me wonder if things would be diff’rent today if those numbers were flipp’d. Bet dere’d be ‘nuff coffins for all dem white folks anyhow. How’d dem bosses try to explain equal den? During de storm, my Janie said Ole Massa was doin’ His work. I reckon Ole Massa and Jim Crow will sort out all dat sep’rit but equal bidness up there in heb’n.”
“Bet yer right about dat, Tea Cake. You shore is smarter’n you look!”
“Lucky us!” Tea Cake cackled. “We’ve got a comedian here to entertain the dead.”
Remembering that these dead were once mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers of people just like them, the pair fell silent as they returned to the job at hand. The sun crept across the sky casting shadows across the bruised and battered families that had been pummeled by Nature’s wrath. The two men fought through the aches and pains they felt throbbing throughout their bodies and their souls —all the while feeling quite thankful to be alive and even more thankful that their loved ones were not pieces of the horrific puzzle the two men were disassembling at the behest of the armed bosses standing watch over them.
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Bibliography
Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006.
“Florida's forgotten storm: The Hurricane of 1928.” http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-ahurricane14sep14-story.html
“Jim Crow Laws.” http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/freedom-riders-jim-crow-laws
INTERPRETIVE PROJECT: LITERARY CRITICISM REVIEW ARTICLE BY GRETA
Zora Neale Hurston’s, Their Eyes Were Watching God, is an authentic testament to the hardships a woman in the early twentieth century was expected to face. As readers, we first meet Janie when she is returning from what seems to be a tiring time away from home. Janie was raised by her grandmother, who she refers to as Nanny because her mother left her when she was just a baby. If you have knowledge of Hurston’s background, then you know that her mother died when she was young as well, so Janie is most likely a reflection of how Zora saw herself. As Janie walks back into town the way, Hurston portrays her helps the reader understand that Janie is a very feminine woman with beautiful hair that sways at her waist. However feminine she is not weak but instead appears to be very fierce, and one can assume the years of living oppressed by those who surrounded her made her strong.
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Janie experienced oppression from not just men throughout her life but actually first from her grandmother. Nanny thought it would be best that Janie is married before she died to guarantee Janie’s ‘safety’ after she was gone. Janie realizes much later that she resents Nanny greatly for forcing her into a marriage she never wanted, and that resulted in an oppressive relationship with a man who treated her like property rather than a human being. However, Janie being young and resilient showed her strength as a woman and left the man she called a husband named Logan Killicks. This forced marriage leads her into a new relationship in which she spends the majority of her life and all of her ‘youthful and prime’ years with Joe Starks, a man who promises her the world.
Janie’s relationship with Jody becomes cold and emotionless, and soon Janie becomes his own personal ego booster. It is as if she is an employee rather than a wife or a woman. Joe Starks has no respect for Janie, and she doesn’t know how to stand up for herself against his degrading remarks and ordering around. Janie understands later in their relationship that he is merely self-conscious and purposefully directs the attention and laughter of the town towards her in order to protect himself. However, there comes a time when Janie finds her voice, and towards the end of their relationship, she is done being put down by him and subsequently everyone around her. Janie begins to stand up for herself and directs the rude comments back at Joe Starks when he attempts to make her feel bad about herself. Jody’s inability to accept Janie as a person results in him turning the town against Janie and making her look like the villain. The love between the two of them is gone, but Janie still cares and attempts to seek help for him in his final years. Once Jody is gone the town believes Janie to have poisoned him, just because she no longer wanted to live under his thumb and so she stood her ground.
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Being widowed Janie is seen as a weak woman who needs managing and help with all her money. Men repeatedly attempt to become the next husband to her, but Janie turns them away each time because she knows they want only her money and someone to tell what to do. Janie soon meets Tea Cake, a man who wants nothing but love from Janie and she happily gives it to them. Nevertheless, even their relationship is not immune to the powers of a mans need to feel superior, and Tea Cake hits Janie to show his claim he has on her. Janie walks away from yet another relationship when she has no choice but to shoot Tea Cake dead and prove yet again that she is a strong woman.
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Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, does an excellent job at accurately portraying the life of a woman in this time era. Janie was not a hero that everyone read about in the paper, she wasn’t publicly recognized for the hardships she faced, and she undoubtedly was not a man. Janie was a representation of the everyday woman of this time. Women were expected to deal with the oppression of their male counterparts, and they were supposed not speak about it. However, Janie was strong enough to outlive the majority of her oppressors and finally find love with a man that tried his best to treat her right. The story deserves its praise as a feminist novel, and it deserves the recognition of telling a story as true to its time as possible.
INTERPRETIVE PROJECT: CHARACTER LIFE MAP BY LEAH
CONTEXTUAL PROJECT: NOVEL SYNOPSIS BY CLAIRA
The novel Their Eyes Were Watching God follows the life of a woman named Janie. We see her go through her life searching for a love that is true and kind. The setting through the book Their Eyes Were Watching God changes as the plot progresses. As Janie’s character changes the plot changes. The setting starts out with Janie living at Nanny’s house. Then when she has to marry a man named Logan Killicks she moves out to live with him. This changes her character out of the carefree child and into a forced marriage. Janie meets Joe Starks when her and Logan’s relationship is in a bad place. So Janie leaves with Joe and they settle down in Eatonville. In Eatonville her character starts out enjoying life until Joe becomes more and more oppressive on what she does. After Joe’s death Janie lives in Eatonville until she meets and marries Tea-Cake Woods, who is much younger than her.
Tea-Cake Woods is the first man that has shown her love and she loves him back so they decide to run away together. They live and work together in the Everglades. Then a hurricane comes and they are forced to leave their home or be killed by the water. While they are running Tea-Cake saves Janie from a mad dog, but he gets bit by the dog in the process. Through Tea-Cake saving Janie she says this, “Once upon uh time, Ah never 'spectcd nothing Tea Cakebut bein' dead from the standin' still and tryin' tuh laugh. But you come Hong and made some thin' outa me. So Ah'm thankful fuh anything we come through together (167).” After a little time Tea-Cake gets sick and the doctor says that it is from the mad dog. Tea-Cake get suspicious and crazier as the sickness gets worse. Janie is forced to shoot Tea-Cake after he tries to shoot her. After being found innocent in court Janie has a nice funeral for him. She then returns to her old home in Eatonville.
This story deals with issues such as racism, sexism, and the trials of life. Janie has to go through all of these things being a black woman and living in the areas that she lived. This story also shows that true love can never die, once it is with you it will stay with you until you die. On the last page of the novel Janie thinks to herself, “Of course he wasn't dead. He could never be dead until she herself had finished feeling and thinking (193).”
CONTEXTUAL PROJECT: CAST OF CHARACTERS BY LEAH
Cast of Characters
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Janie Mae Crawford:
Janie plays the role of the protagonist in this novel. She is a black woman who has straight hair, which is unusual. She defies the stereotypes by pushing to be independent. She is curious and and wants to go experience the world. She recognizes others cruelty and ignorance.
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Nanny Crawford:
Nanny is Janie’s grandmother. She has very strong values consisting of things like financial security and respect. Janie disagrees but learns to respect her values eventually.
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Tea Cake:
Tea Cake is Janie’s third husband, her one real love. He impresses her with his free spirit. He is also twelve years younger than her. He holds genuine affection and understanding of Janie and he treats her with respect and compassion. Although, he steals from her and beats her one time. This just adds to the realism behind his character, he is not perfect.
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Jody Starks:
Jody is Janie’s second husband. He is a power crazy man. He became mayer and storekeeper and the biggest landlord in Eatonville. He treats Janie more like a possession rather than a person. Their marriage falls apart, he passes away, and she moves on.
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Logan Killicks:
Logan is Janie’s first husband. This marriage was arranged by Nanny. Logan treats her well for about a year and then he starts treating her more like a mule than a person.
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Pheoby Watson:
Pheoby is Janie’s best friend. She does not play into the gossip from the townspeople. Pheoby is also the audience in this book.
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Motor Boat:
Motor Boat is one of Janie and Tea Cake’s friend from the Everglades. He flees with them from the hurricane and stays in the abandoned house not continuing with them.
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Leafy Crawford:
Leafy is Janie’s mother. She was born just after the end of the Civil War. She also ran away right after giving birth to her daughter Janie.
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Nunkie:
Nunkie is a girl from the Everglades who flirts with Tea Cake. Janie gets jealous of her. That is the only scene she is present in.
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Johnny Taylor:
Johnny is the boy Janie kissed when she was sixteen years old. Kissing him is what drove Nanny to seek out a husband for Janie.
CONTEXTUAL PROJECT: AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY BY GRETA
Zora Neale Hurston was an African American author, civil rights activist, and feminist. Hurston is best known for her story Their Eyes Were Watching God published in 1937. She was also an integral piece in the Harlem Renaissance setting. Zora Neale Hurston was born on January 7 in 1981 in a town called Notasulga, Alabama to two former slaves. However, she claims she was born in a town called Eatonville, Florida, the setting of many of her stories, because she was moved there as a toddler. Her mother died when Zora was young and her father, who was a pastor, moved their family to Eatonville, Florida and remarried. Although January 7th is Hurston’s recorded birthdate, it could also be the 15th according to Biography.com because she was known to change the year she was born. Hurston left high school early and began to work as a maid to a traveling theater actress so she could pay for a higher education. Hurston ended up studying at Howard University where she earned an associate’s degree in 1920. After university, Zora moved to New York’s Harlem neighborhood, where she truly cultivated her career as an author. During her time in Harlem, Hurston met another remarkable author from the Harlem period, Langston Hughes and many other significant authors of the era. Hurston’s home became a hub for the famous writers of Harlem to gather, and after some time in Harlem, Hurston earned a scholarship to Barnard College. While at Barnard, Zora studied anthropology alongside Franz Boas. Hurston is known for using a real cultural background for her stories, and she returned to Florida to closer study the African American culture that was prevalent there for her books. With the use of her gathered studies, Hurston published Mules and Men in 1935. Furthermore, Zora wrote for magazines during this time like the Journal of American Folklore. Hurston also went to work on plays and experienced some controversy regarding one she worked on with Langston Hughes called Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life which ultimately resulted in the end of their friendship. The first novel Hurston had published was Jonah’s Gourd Vine in 1934 and two years after the release of this novel she received the Guggenheim fellowship. This fellowship is what allowed Zora Neale Hurston to work on her critically acclaimed novel Their Eyes Were Watching God which was published in 1937. While Hurston wrote the novel, she was traveling throughout Haiti and studying local voodoo practices and then in Jamaica researching anthropological studies. Hurston went on to publish an autobiography called Dust Tracks on a Road which was published in 1942 and received much praise. Nevertheless, Zora Neale Hurston’s career and life took a turn for the worse in her final years. She was charged with molestation of a 10-year-old boy even though she was out of the country at the time and did not commit the act, therefore her works that followed received very little recognition if any at all. She was also frowned upon for the stand she took against de-segregation in the Brown vs. Board of education. Hurston lived her final days poor and alone, and when she passed in 1960, she was laid to rest in an unmarked grave. Despite the tumultuous last years of Hurston’s life an author named Alice Walker later breathed life back into the works of Zora Neale Hurston, and she received much of the recognition she deserved and continues to today.
Works Cited:
THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD
Zora Neale Hurston
*I ranked the creativity of my symbols with a 1-5 scale. 1 being the least creative and 5 being the most creative.