Their Eyes Were Watching God By: Cesar Sanchez Gutierrez
THEME
Universal Truth: An interpretation of the values of this work is that, at "its beginning, romantic love is passionate and exciting — so enjoy the ride."
This theme is evident in the novel, because it is solely based on the story of a young girl who dreams of a love she's never had, believing that love should be passionate and exciting, then having the kind of love she wanted to, at the end, and she then reflects on it as a distant but enjoyable past memory.
1.- "Love is lak de sea. It’s uh movin’ thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from de shore it meets, and it’s different with every shore.”(Hurston 182).
2.- "Janie looked down on him and felt a self-crushing love. So her soul crawled out from its hiding place" (Hurston 122).
3.- "She was a rut in the road. Plenty of life beneath the surface but it was kept beaten down by the wheels" (Hurston 72).
CHARACTERIZATION
Logan Killicks: He is Janie’s first husband. He's old and ugly- according to Janie, he has feelings, but he does unknown how to express them, therefore he shows little-to-no affection.
"Ah thought you would ‘preciate good treatement. Thought Ah’d take and make somethin’ outa yuh. You think youse white folks by de way you act." (4-42)
Logan seems to think that a black woman can’t demand any respect or good treatment and ought to be happy as her husband’s workhorse. If she demands anything better, Logan thinks that Janie is putting on airs. This shows indirect characterization because Logan exhibits a close-minded personality, full of inexperience, and lack of compassion and empathy towards Jane's situation.
"Considerin’ youse born in a carriage ‘thout no top to it, and yo’ mama and you bein’ born and raised in de white folks back-yard." (4-40)
Logan looks down on Janie for having lived as the white people’s servant and ward her whole life. He considers himself, in his freedom and hard-earned living, classier than Janie. Considering that she comes from a lower social situation, he thinks she doesn’t have the right to act independent or have many opinions. This shows direct characterization, because, Logan, exhibits his ideology towards women,and how his past has, shaped his personality to be more strict, but also close-minded to other ideologies.
Janie Starks: Janie has a tragic backstory, dealing with racism and sexism, she is the heroin though, by toughing out 3 marriages, and personal quests.
"But Ah ain’t goin’ outa here and Ah ain’t gointuh hush. Naw, you gointuh listen tuh me one time befo’ you die. Have yo’ way all yo’ life, trample and mash down and then die ruther than tuh let yo’self heah ‘bout it. Listen, Jody, you ain’t de Jody ah run off down de road wid. You’se whut’s left after he died. Ah run off tuh keep house wid you in uh wonderful way. But you wasn’t satisfied wid me de way Ah was. Naw! Mah own mind had tuh be squeezed and crowded out tuh make room for yours in me. " (8-39)
Janie makes plain to Joe one way that men try to keep women down—by silencing their voices (often by speaking louder than their women or ignoring their pleas). Because a person’s words are a direct product of their mind, Janie recognizes that Joe’s attempts to silence her are an intrusion on her very thoughts. This shows indirect characterization because Jannie speaks her mind out on this part of the story, which is something her Nanny, had always prioritized, however, she is also easy to influence, for the god or the bad of herself.
"Dey gointuh make ‘miration ‘cause mah love didn’t work lak they love, if dey ever had any. Then you must tell ‘em dat love ain’t somethin’ lak uh grindstone dat’s de same thing everywhere and do de same thing tuh everything it touch. Love is lak de sea. It’s uh movin’ thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from de shore it meets, and it’s different with every shore." (Ch.20-Pg.7)
Janie lectures Pheoby that love is not a fixed thing that is the same for everyone who experiences it. Instead it is as fluid and changing as the sea, only shaped by the shores (or men) it meets. Society has a normative and inflexible idea of what love is, when actual love is different for everyone. This shows direct characterization because it shows that Janie, is very propense to feelings, to a point that, she would let herself be guided by them, and explaining, how every love experience, shows that it is better to love and not to be loved, than to be loved but never love
SYMBOL
Pear Tree
The inspiration behind Janie's acts is search for love, are blossoming at age 16, when Janie witnesses sexual union for the first time, between a bee and a pear blossom. She seems to live vicariously through it, is enchanted by it, and devotes her whole life to recreating that rapturous emotion.
In the bee's interaction with the pear Tree, she happened to witnesses a perfect moment in nature, full of erotic energy, passionate interaction, and blissful harmony, which reflects the ideal she chases after, throughout the rest of the book.
''It had called her to come and gaze on a mystery. From barren brown stems to glistening leaf-buds; from the leaf-buds to snowy virginity of bloom. It stirred her tremendously. How? Why?''
The Pear tree is a symbol for passionate romanticism,and love for the passion that the protagonist, Janie, experiences as she grows through her relationships with different men during this
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