Their Eyes Were Watching God
Overview and Annotation Instructions
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Setting: Eatonville, Florida and the Everglades (muck) in 1920’s
Historical Context: Great Depression; literarily, the Harlem Renaissance
Historical Importance
o Janie’s breaking away from the traditional roles of the African American woman
o novel was a reflection on life within a solely African-American world; opened eyes
of the literary world to lives of African-Americans at that time
Style –
o Even though the novel is Janie’s story, it is not told in first person; instead, a
narrative voice tells most of the story.
o Dialogue is written in dialect - (the language spoken in a certain area of the
country or by a particular group, especially in the writing of dialogue) Example:
“No sich a thing!” = “No way”= It could not be true.
o Story is a flashback, Janie is telling her story to Phoeby after returning home at
age 40.
Themes (annotate these where you see them):
 Search for self
o During her journey through life with her Nanny and her three husbands,
o Janie struggles to discover what will bring her true happiness
 Language and meaning/finding one’s voice
o Language and speaking gives a person status and membership in a community.
Janie does not “find her voice” until the she tells her life story to Phoeby.
 Race and racism
o Class differences within the African-American community (Eatonville is unusual,
it is a powerful town made up entirely of African-Americans; the Muck is a
community of workers entirely of the same race as well)
 The Journey (Janie’s)
o story follows the tradition of a young person’s journey from home to face
adventure and various dangers followed by a triumphant homecoming.
Symbols and Motifs: (annotate these when you see them)
 Nature – pear tree, sun, hurricane, etc.
 Horizon – represents the search for happiness
 The Mule – represents mistreatment; betrayal
 Clothing and Hair – represents a quest for identity/individuality
 Gateways – the need for freedom
 Porches – gathering and community
Figurative Language: (annotate any that you find)
 metaphors
 imagery
 personification, especially for natural environmental elements (storm, sun, winds etc)
 Biblical allusions
BioFacts—Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960)
 considered a pioneer in recording African American culture, but died penniless in an
unmarked grave in a racially segregated cemetery
 grew up in Eatonville, Florida, a fully incorporated African American township
 studied at Harvard and Barnard where she studied the folklore of the African American in
the southern United States
 became part of the Harlem Renaissance (the strong resurgence of African American
literature and art)
 all of her many works were out of print when she died, even TEWWG written in 1937
 one male critic wrote that Their Eyes Were Watching God was simply out of step with
the more serious trends of the times and her characters were “pseudo primitives”.
 another female critic said, “I loved the language of this book, but I mostly loved it
because it was about a woman who wasn’t pathetic…who defied everything that was
expected of her…and wasn’t broken, crushed and run down.”
 “the novel’s unique contribution to black literature [is that} it affirms black cultural
traditions while revising them to empower black women” (Foreword xii).
 Eatonville, a town established and governed exclusively by African Americans, is real.
 Eatonville was Hurston’s childhood home
Sensitive Issues:
The novel includes language and attitudes toward African Americans that are considered
offensive today. Remember that this novel was published in the 1930s and concerns
experiences of African Americans during that time period.