Their Eyes Were Watching God, Digital Fire | 9780860685241 | Boeken | bol (2024)

FAQs

Why is Their Eyes Were Watching God controversial? ›

Add to that a story dealing with rape, inter-racial relationships, murder (even if it was in self-defense), and forced marriage it illustrates how it would be considered controversial from the start, but these subjects are just as emotionally charged in modern times: in 1997, a parent complained of language and sexual ...

In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston writes in a language so rich it is sometimes nearly unintelligible. The dialogue is expressed in dialect and the imagery is culturally specific which immerses the reader into a fully-realized world.

Critics also dislike the book because they misunderstand the themes of the story. There is often a focus on Janie's reliance on men and the story is misinterpreted as either a love story or a story about toxic relationships.

In 1997, a parent objected to “sexual explicitness and language” in this book when it was assigned to their child at Stonewall Jackson High School in Brentsville, Virginia.

A story about patriarchy: how a beautiful woman can trade her beauty for material security, but not autonomy, and only fleetingly for love, if she is willing to follow her man anywhere. You feel for the characters yet its written to be as disturbing as possible and is perverted in many ways.

Wright claimed that the problem wasn't that Hurston couldn't write, but rather that she intentionally chose to oversimplify and distort the character of African Americans in a way which he thought pandered to racist white audiences.

Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Richard Wright's main criticism of Their Eyes was that the novel perpetrates a stereotypical image of “quaint” Blacks, thus pandering to the tastes of a white audience.

In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston offers a moving call for black people to embrace a new kind of love, one based upon partnership and not ownership. “'Their Eyes Were Watching God' continues to challenge readers to find themselves again and again.”

What lesson does Janie learn in Their Eyes Were Watching God? Janie learns that she has a voice and her dreams and desires are just as valid as those of the men around her. She learns that she can be happy with a partner or by herself.

Zora Neale Hurston's masterpiece, Their Eyes Were Watching God, is taken as one of the black Americans literary classics and one of the most outstanding works in modern literature of black feminism which focuses on woman's quest for rights and dignity.

What is the central idea of Their Eyes Were Watching God? ›

Their Eyes Were Watching God explores traditional gender roles as one of its main themes – specifically the way that stereotypical ideas about relationships between men and women empower men and disempower women.

Zora Neale Hurston

Set in the rural South, the novel vividly captures the cultural and social context of the time, including issues of race, gender, and class. Janie's story is a powerful exploration of identity, resilience, and the quest for autonomy in a society marked by racial and gendered oppression.

Perhaps the strongest inspiration for Hurston's writing of Their Eyes Were Watching God was her former lover Percival Punter. Hurston writes in her autobiography that the romance between Janie and Tea Cake was inspired by a tumultuous love affair.

Throughout the novel, the protagonist, Janie Crawford, embarks on a journey of self-discovery and independence, seeking to find her own voice and define her identity. Her journey is metaphorically represented by the idea of "watching God," which implies a quest for meaning and purpose.

Their Eyes Were Watching God is a book about women. It is about a woman's right to equality and personal development. The book is about men too – about masculine impediments to female growth and development.

Hurston drew criticism from some African American intellectuals, including novelist Richard Wright, for writing dialogue in rural African American dialect and for presenting her characters in ways that other writers and critics considered backward or inappropriate.