An Addendum

Ever since I read this book, I haven't stopped thinking about it.  There's so much more than the report I gave it on August 14, 2021.  What I wrote is true, but the novel is so much more.   

What I couldn't get out of my head was the title, Their Eyes Were Watching God.  What did the title mean?  

I finally resolved my conundrum when I remembered an old joke.  

A flood was predicted and authorities told the people to leave.  Everyone was to abandon their homes and go to assigned shelters.  But one misguided person said he trusted God would save him so he wasn't leaving.

       The rain came and flooded the first floor of the house. The man moved up to the second floor. The police came and tried to talk the man into coming with them.  He refused saying, "He trusted that God would save him."

       The water level rose to the second floor. This time the fire department came in a rowboat and tried to talk the man into coming with them.  He refused saying, "He trusted that God would save him."

        Now the man was on the roof watching the water threatening to wash his entire house away.  The National Guard came in a helicopter and through a bullhorn told the man to come with them.  Once again the man refused saying that he trust God would save him.

         Finally, the man drowned.

         When the man arrived in heaven, the first thing he did was ask God, "Where were You?"  God calmly responded, "Who do you think sent the police, the firemen, and the National Guard"?

In Their Eyes Were Watching God there is a terrible hurricaine.  It is the climax of the story.  The major characters, Janie and Tea-Cake watched the birds flea.  The animals leave too. The Seminoles left en masse, too.  When Janie asked them where they were going, they said they were seeking higher ground because a hurricaine was coming.

Tea-Cake and Janie stayed, along with a few others because they trusted that God would save them.  That's the explanation for the title, Their Eyes Were Watching God, not heeding all the hints God gave them to move out.

 

Indirect Discourse

 Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is my first time reading "indirect discourse." This novel has a narrator explain the character's thoughts and feelings within the story, rather than expressing them directly.

"Ah'd ruther be dead than for Jody tuh think Ah'd hurt him," she sobbed to Phoeby. "It ain't always been too pleasant, 'cause you know how Joe worships de works of his own hand, but God in heben knows Ah wouldn't do one thing tuh hurt nobody. It's too underhand and mean."

Janie is the major character, living in the South, around the early 20th century. She married her first husband for protection, like her grandma advised. But it was a loveless marriage. Janie's second husband married her for a trophy and as a helpmate. The problem was that Janie hated the work her husband had her do--run the store. That marriage also became loveless. In Janie's third marriage, she found the love she always dreamed having.

A hurricane changed everything. Janie ends by going back to the home her second husband built for her, which is how the novel began--she is the topic of gossip.

Although the characters are black, I don't consider Janie's story any different than any race in that place and time. The poor in the South worked hard and women, especially so. A poor woman would have looked for protection in marriage, like Janie's first husband. Working hard like Janie did in the store and even after is the plight of the majority of people. Janie's story is real and told in a masterful manner.