There Eyes Were Watching God: Zora Neale Hurston
By Guest Blogger Jennie R Poston
Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God is a tapestry of contrasts, which gives the reader insight into the characters’ mind sets. Used in several key scenes of the novel, such as Jody and Tea Cake’s funerals, this contrast emphasizes Janie’s love for Tea Cake. Despite her grief,
she is able to rediscover hope through the seeds that Tea Cake planted within her.
After Jody’s death, Janie is able to feel pity for the first time in years though she is also saturated with a sense of relief. She tore off the kerchief from her head and let down her plentiful hair, releasing herself from her constraints. To cover her emotions Janie [starches] and [irons] her face, forming it into just what people wanted to see. Jody’s funeral is extravagant, the finest thing Orange County has ever seen with Negro eyes. Hurston equates Jody’s departure to that of an Emperor with the out-streched hand of power.
During the funeral, Janie retreats behind a wall of appearances. Outside there is death, eternity, weeping, mourning, and darkness, yet under the expensive black folds were resurrection and life. After the funeral, Janie burns her head rags as a symbol of her liberation. Despite her newfound autonomy, Janie is still haunted by her past though she now possesses the strength to confront her enmity towards her grandmother.
Nanny had taken the biggest thing God ever made, the horizon – for no matter how far a person can go the horizon is still way beyond you – and pinched it in to such a little bit of a thing that she could tie it about her granddaughter’s neck enough to choke her. She hated the old woman who had twisted her so in the name of love. Joe’s death has renewed her spirit and allowed her to find a jewel deep down inside.
Janie’s reaction to Tea Cake’s death is a strong contrast to Jody’s death, despite similarities between the funerals. Janie is wrought with sorrow and guilt. Unlike Joe’s funeral where she was too busy feeling grief to dress like grief, Janie spares no expense for Tea Cake’s burial: Tea Cake was the son of Evening Sun and nothing was too good. The service overflowed with people, the band played, and Tea Cake rode like a Pharaoh to his tomb.
Despite Janie’s sorrow, the memory of Tea Cake and the seeds of love he planted allow her to look past her grief to find hope on the horizon. The kiss of his memory made pictures of love and light against the wall. Here was peace. She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see.
Although, Janie’s response to Jody and Tea Cake’s deaths were vastly different, Hurston utilizes them as one to demonstrate the love and devotion Janie has for Tea Cake. The horizon no longer symbolizes limitation and oppression, but opportunity. Through her relationship with Tea Cake, Janie is able to face the future with optimism.
About the Author:
Jennie R Poston is a young, up and coming artist living in South Carolina. She specializes in metal sculpture. To
see her work and read more of her writing, please visit her website.
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