Author Biography: Zora Neale Hurston

“Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It’s beyond me.”

– Zora Neale Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston was born in the year 1891 to a preacher father and a teacher mother. At a very early age, her family moved to Eatonville, Florida, the very first African-American run town in the United States, established in 1891. It was in this town where Hurston is first exposed to the rich culture of the blacks in the Southern United States. Considering this her hometown, she learned here of freedom for blacks and the strength of her native culture. She had seven other siblings, whom their mother told to “jump at de sun” in pursuing their dreams. Hurston later reflects, “We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground.” Hurston was a vibrant, colorful woman; a free spirit. Hurston did not get along with her father because of their strikingly different personalities. At age thirteen, when her mother died and her father remarried, Zora left her home.

The next years in Hurston’s life are an un-chronicled mystery where she pursued adventure and travel. Eventually she joined a group of travelling performers called Gilbert and Sullivan to work as a maid for one of the singers. The lively girl enjoyed this excitement and adored the environment in which she developed and learned. When the company came to the town of Baltimore, Hurston decided she should pursue an education by receiving her high school diploma. In 1917, the young woman crossed ten years off her age so that she would be sixteen instead of twenty-six. This way she could receive the free education offered by the public schools.

Two years later she began her college education at Howard University. This is when her writing career began. She joined the literary club at Howard and wrote short stories in the next years, including “John Redding Goes to Sea” and “Drenched in Light.” Her works were noticed by Dr. Charles S. Johnson who edited the journal Opportunity. He invited her to come to New York to work for him in the 1920s. She transferred to Barnard College and received her B.A. in anthropology in 1927. She was exposed to the Harlem Renaissance and became acquainted with other notable writers and people who were active in this movement, including the poet Langston Hughes. Her sparkling, spunky personality made her a popular figure. During this time, she did not make very much money, nor did she publish frequently.

Breaking away from the theme and focus of other Harlem Renaissance writers, Hurston began work for a lady named Charlotte Mason. Under her direction, Hurston studied the anthropology and folk tales from the southern blacks. “Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose,” Hurston says. She was able to travel to Haiti and Jamaica to actively pursue the learning of southern tradition.

These studies were incorporated into Hurston’s fictional writing to be captured by characters that embrace the true spirit from this culture. After a slow beginning in the 1930s, her work was finally realized by a publisher who would like to publish a novel of hers. She began her writing of novels and produced seven books in her lifetime, along with numerous short stories and dramas.

It was in 1937 that Hurston wrote her most notable work in seven weeks, today considered a classic of her era, the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. She wrote it while in Haiti studying the Voodoo religion. Before she wrote this novel, however, Hurston experienced a deeply emotional love affair with a man who was nearly half her age, which is said to have influenced the writing of her novel. Hurston says, “I did not just fall in love. I made a parachute jump.” She married twice in addition to this, but neither marriage lasted long because Hurston always focused on her career as a priority. Much of her work illustrated black women with an independent, vibrant nature. Instead of addressing racial issues, she was more prone to tackle the position of women in her culture. She often spoke first of the pursuit of dreams and second of cultural tiebacks, emotion, and spiritual fulfillment. She was a creative genius and poured her imagination into her writing.

Hurston was involved in the writing of many musicals. When she worked under Mason and another organization named the Julius Rosenwald Foundation, she found that the restrictions and requirements were too confining for her nature. She found her enjoyment in the atmosphere of the South and the Caribbean islands. She studied the mystical voodoo religions in the south and many of her observations can be seen through her work.

In the 1940s Hurston wrote her autobiography and many smaller works for magazines. She differed from her contemporaries in that she did not necessarily believe that desegregation between blacks and whites was necessary. After the publishing of her novels, Hurston’s career started to go downhill. It was in 1948 when Hurston was accused of molesting a boy of ten years old. She had an alibi for the alleged time of the crime and was proven to be innocent, but unfortunately this occurrence devastated her life. After this, she attempted work as a maid for a kind of writer’s sabbatical. Apart from an occasional article, she worked odd jobs in the 1950s including teaching, reporting, and being a librarian.

Hurston, still suffering the effects of humiliation, was a pauper when she died of heart disease in 1959. Her grave was unmarked until 1973. She says, “I do not weep at the world I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife.” Even though she was poor materially throughout her life, her dreams were fulfilled in her life of adventure and storytelling.

Completed by: Madeline Reimer

Cast of Characters

Janie Crawford When the story begins, sixteen-year-old Janie is the protagonist of the novel. Janie has a natural curiosity about the world. She embarks on a journey of self-discovery that includes three husbands along the way.

Nanny Crawford Janie’s grandmother who was born into slavery. She raises Janie and teaches her that financial security is a good reason to marry. She and Janie clash over values.

Mrs. Washburn She is Nanny’s employer after Nanny becomes a free woman. Mrs. Washburn, a white woman, provides a house in her backyard for Nanny and Janie. She helpes with raising Janie.

Johnny Taylor He kisses Janie over the fence when she is sixteen years old. Nanny becomes concerned that this is a signal that Janie will allow any unworthy man to get close to her.

Pheoby Watson She has been a friend and confidante to Janie for more than twenty years. Janie’s best friend in Eatonville, she is the audience for the novel.

Sam Watson Sam is Pheoby’s husband and is a good-natured man.

Logan Killicks Janie’s first husband, whom she marries at a young age. A hard-working man picked by Nanny to provide Janie with future security. Janie doesn’t love him and soon grows tired of the hard-work associated with Logan.

Joe Starks A selfish man with ambitions for recognition and power, he is Janie’s second husband. Nanny would have wanted a man like Joe for Janie as he represents everything she thought was important in a marriage. He establishes himself as Eatonville’s mayor and owns and runs the general store in town. He is abusive to Janie and squelches her independent nature.

Vergible “Tea Cake” Woods The third husband to Janie and 12 years her junior, he is the only husband Janie truly loves. He proves to be the catalyst that helps Janie continue her journey of self-discovery. His love for Janie is unconditional.

Amos Hicks He is one of the first residents of Eatonville to meet Janie and Jody. He is interested in Janie, at first, and tries to make her leave Jody. He views himself as a “lady’s man.”

Matt Bonner He is the owner of the mule that provides a pivotal point in the novel. He is one of the porch sitters.

Hezekiah Potts Hezekiah is a seventeen-year-old boy who helps Janie in the store after Joe Stark’s death. He starts to take on some of the characteristics of the now deceased Joe Starks.

Annie Tyler and Who Flung Annie was widowed at fifty-two-years old. She meets a younger man whose name is Who Flung. He eventually leaves her, but not before taking her money. She is devastated and leaves to live with her daughter. Many townsfolk think Janie will end up like Mrs. Tyler as a result of her relationship with Tea Cake.

The Porch Sitters Townsfolk whose recreation is to gossip about Janie and other members of the community. They represent the community and include: Matt Bonner, who owned the mule, Walter Thomas, Lige Moss, Hambo, the preacher Brother Davis, Guv’nor Amos Hicks, Lee Coker, Tony Taylor, Sam Watson, Pearl Stone, and Mrs. Sumpkins.

Motor Boat A gambling friend of Tea Cake, who waits out the hurricane sleeping in the upper-story of an abandoned house. He is a worker in the muck, which is a group of migrant workers in the bean fields of the Everglades.

Other Workers in the Muck They are friends with Tea Cake. They are a fun-loving bunch. Their names are: ‘Lias, Bootyny, Sterrett, Stew Beef, Sop-de-Bottom, Ed Dockery, and Coodemay.

Mr. and Mrs. Turner Residents in the Everglades who run a small restaurant. Mrs. Turner tries to introduce Janie to her brother. She is a mean woman and is racist toward Tea Cake.

Dr. Simmons A doctor who comes to see to Tea Cake when he after he becomes ill. He informs Janie that Tea Cake will probably die from the rabid dog’s bite. He is a respected white man.

Nunkie She is a young girl living in the Everglades who flirts with Tea Cake.

Completed by: Emily Broden

Historical Context

Socio-economic context
It is in this context that Janie seems to fluctuate throughout the novel. At the end of chapter three Janie learns that marriage does not make love and although she was not interested emotionally or physically to Logan she submitted to her Grandmother’s push to marry him. Janie finds herself in a rather stable economic state with Logan, there is food and a house, but her relationship with Logan is rather dry and pitiful. The idea of romance with Logan seems to really disgust her and she does not really seem to understand his actions. An example of Janie not being interested in Logan can be found in chapter 3 when Janie shares her feelings towards her grandmother about Logan, Janie says, “Ah’d ruther be shot wid tacks than tuh turn over in de bed and stir up air whilst he is in dere.” The grandmother had earlier pointed out that Logan “Got a house bought and paid for and sixty acres uh land right on de big road.” The assets that Logan has do not seem to impress Janie and she feels obligated to be obedient towards here grandmothers advice about the matter. It is have this decision to marry Logan that she expresses a change in her understanding about marriage and that it did not make love. Finally, Janie does not seem to understand Logan, after being called out to the barn Janie sees that Logan is leaving, she asks, “Where you goin’?” he responds “Over tuh Lake City tuh see man about uh mule.” Janie does not understand why Logan needs two mules. There just does not seem to be any connection between Logan and Janie, although her economic needs are met, something still seems to be missing.

The next socio-economic context that Janie finds herself in is when she decides to leave Logan for Joe Starks. The first thing that the reader learns about Joe is that he is a “stylish dressed man” and it seems as though she is attracted to Joe more than she is to Logan. As Janie gets to know Joe a little bit more at the water pump the learner learns that Joe is very wealthy, “been workin’ for white folks,” and was interested in becoming a part of the “town all outa colored folks.” Joe was also someone that she could talk to, a piece to Logan and Janie’s relationship that was never there. Janie ends up leaving Logan for Joe, moving to the all colored town and watches as her husband rises to the top of the colored society in the town while she runs the town store. Janie finds herself in a different socio economic context again with Joe, yet as their relationship continues Janie is still in search of the horizon, she feels that her personality is being bound by Joe, and although she was all the money and comforts that she wants something still seems to be missing.

The third and final socio-economic context that Janie is in comes after the death of her second husband Joe. Shortly after his death Janie meets another man, Tea Cake. It is her relationship with Tea Cake that she begins to realize what a relationship is truly about. It seems that will the first two men, financial stableness, a nice home, and even attractiveness did not satisfy her with Joe because he eventually got old and fat. Tea Cake comes along and treats Janie as an individual, as an equal in the relationship. Tea Cake seems to have no promise of money and as the story continues he learn that he has periods of irresponsibility. Something that Joe and Logan did not seem to have. It is with Tea Cake that she does not feel bound, even though financial at times they were. Janie also builds relationships with other people in the town and become rather popular which is also a significant difference from her previous relationship situations.

Political Context
The only area of politics that Janie seems to be involved in would be her relationship to Joe Starks, her second husband, who was the mayor of Eatonville. The reader learns that this is the first all colored community. Although slavery has ended, there still seems be much disconnect with blacks, whites, and Indians. This become quite clear at the end of the story when the Indians are passing by to get to high ground and Janie does not think highly of them, “Indians are dumb anyhow, always were,” and when the whites and blacks that died in the hurricane are being buried different. There does seem to be some connections that Tea Cake and Janie make with the “American crowd” due to their presents in the “Glades.” Tea Cake also seems to be turned off to the most of the white community when he voices his concern of Mrs. Tuner’s comments about black people.

Arts & Entertainment Cultural Context
There is not much mentioned during Janie’s short relationship with Logan, but during her relationship with Joe, the topic of playing checkers comes up and Joe does not think Janie could handle the game mentally and orders her back to working in the town store. In chapter six there is also the introduction of “the mule-talkers” this seems to be a type of entertainment for the people of Eatonville where they get to make fun and crack jokes about “Matt Bonner’s yellow mule.” There also seems to be discussions on the porches that are more then just gossip sessions that seems to be a form of entertainment for the culture. There seems to be a topic and two or three people engage in an rational argument, making there cases about the way something is or isn’t. When Tea Cake and Janie move to the glades and make friends with the white people there seems to be dances that are held nightly around a fire which would be both part of the arts and entertainment in this context. Janie also learns how to fish and shoot a gun from Tea Cake. There is also the reference right before the coming of the hurricane to people dancing to the picking of a guitar, so there seems to also be a musical aspect to Janie’s culture.

Completed by: Grant Bostrom

Novel Synopsis

The story begins as Janie Crawford, a middle-aged black woman, returns to Eatonville, Florida after a long absence. The women in the town are gossiping about her return but her best friend Pheoby sticks up for her. Pheoby goes to visit Janie and Janie tells what has happened in the twenty years that she has been gone.

Janie explains that her grandmother raised her after her mother ran away. Nanny loves Janie but after her life as a slave and her experience with her own daughter, Nanny has a twisted worldview. Nanny wants Janie to have all the things that she never had. Her strongest desire is to have Janie get married as soon as possible to a husband that can provide for her. Despite Janie’s protests, Nanny finds an older farm-hand, Logan Killicks, and arranges for the two to be married.

After moving in together, Janie is miserable. Nanny had given her the idea that love comes after one is married rather than the idea that a couple should be in love before they are married. Because of this, Janie wants a love that will make her feel good all the time. But Logan makes Janie work hard and he cares very litter about her opinions. So when Joe Starks, a good-looking and ambitious man, comes along, Janie is sure that he is her ticket to love.

Joe and Janie run off together to Eatonville, Florida, the first all-black town ever. Joe hopes to have a big voice in the town and soon becomes the mayor, storekeeper, postmaster and biggest landowner in the town. Joe’s “voice” in the town soon becomes too large for Janie because Janie is never able to speak her mind. Janie realizes that her marriage to Joe is not all that she wanted in a relationship. Janie wants to be a part of the town and have a social life, but Joe doesn’t want her to spend time with common people. After twenty years of marriage, Joe dies and Janie feels free for the first time in years. She is no longer being repressed and can live her life according to what she wants.

One day, a man named Tea Cake comes into the store and Janie senses an instant connection. Janie begins to date Tea Cake despite the gossip of the townspeople. Tea Cake allows Janie to speak for herself and carry on like a normal person which is something that she loves. To the town’s shock, Janie marries Tea Cake only nine months after Joe’s death and they move to Jacksonville together. During the first week of their marriage, Tea Cake steals Janie’s money and leaves her alone one night, making her question her decision to marry him. Tea Cake returns and explains why he took Janie’s money. After this, they decide to share everything with each other.

Janie and Tea Cake then move to the Everglades, where they work harvesting beans and sugar cane. During the off-season, they socialize with the others living on “the muck.” They live off of the money they make and are happy in love. Tea Cake and Janie’s friendliness soon make their house an attraction for all of the town’s entertainment.

Two years after Janie and Tea Cake are married, a hurricane hits the Everglades. As they are trying to flee the high water, a rabid dog bites Tea Cake. Three weeks later, Tea Cake gets ill and in a bout of rabies-induced delirium, he tries to kill Janie. Janie is forced to save her life by killing Tea Cake. She is then put on trial for his murder, but the jury finds her not guilty. Janie returns to Eatonville where she faces the malicious gossip of her former neighbors who think that Tea Cake has left her and taken all her money. The story ends as Janie finishing recounting her experiences to an impressed Pheoby. After Pheoby leaves, Janie feels Tea Cake’s presence and is finally at peace with herself.

Completed by: Jennifer Barber

Novel Advertisement courtesy of Madeline Reimer

Worldview Analysis

What is Janie’s Worldview?

It seems that Janie’s worldview can be seen in her interaction with both the analogy/imagery of sitting under the pear tree and thinking along with her constant pursuit of the “horizon.” The narrator throughout the story gives clues as to when Janie’s worldview is changing. The first example of this I think is when Janie’s grandmother catches her kissing Justin Taylor, and her grandmother’s suggestion of Logan Killicks who “was desecrating the pear tree.” Janie really did not like Logan nor was she attracted to hi, yet she felt that her grandmother new best about relationships and what a woman wants so she agreed eventually to marry Logan. Janie in this period of her life that Janie begins to asks questions about marriage, “did marriage end the cosmic loneliness of the unmatched? Did marriage compel love like the sun day? With these questions it can be seen that Janie is feeling lonely due to her feelings about being matched poorly with Logan and that here understanding of marriage is beginning to shift. From a Christians’ perspective, Janie reveals her need her for someone to fill this feeling of loneliness. Janie begins to think well maybe Logan will fill this need of being matched, and maybe marriage brings love rather than loving leading to marriage. This loneliness is a human characteristic, one designed by God in order that he might fill these desires completely and no other person can. Janie, here, is realizing her need to be in relationship, something else God designed, as He Himself is in fellowship with the Father Son and Holy Spirit.

As Janies first marriage begins to deteriorate, at the end of chapter 3, Janie reveals another truth, that marriage “did not make love.” It seems as though the worldview of Americans today is marriage does make love, a reason for the high divorce rate. Getting marriage does not cause one to fall in love. Getting married does not even force one to love. The biblical ground to contrast this worldview can be found in 1 John 4:19, “We love because he first loved us.” I do not think Janie understands this aspect about love, which is why she has trouble with all of her intimate relationships with men. Marriage does not make love, economic satisfaction does not make love. Too things that Janie seems to going after in her first two marriages. The reference to Janie letting her hair down has many sinful tendencies I think. The letting her hair down while drawing water for Joe, while in the store, while sitting under the pear tree reveals something bigger going on inside Janie. She wants to feel independent, she wants to relieve herself of the pain that she is in, she wants to change her situation, and I think most sinfully she just wants to be noticed by her husband, but also others. Now, wanted to be noticed is not sinful in and of itself, but it seems as though the neglect her first two husbands has caused her too look else where for satisfaction. It seems as though the hair being let down is a reference to Janie really saying, “I am not satisfied where I am at now, I need a change, I want someone to notice me.” In which God would say, “I died for you, you are sinner in my eyes, but Christ is willing to take that burden of sin from you if you would just believe in me, do not settle for these other men, do not settle for money, do not settle for comfortability, you will need be satisfied in these things and I made it this way in order that I (God) would be made much of not you.” Only by giving herself to Jesus would Janie be able to comfortably keep her hair up, which would reveal her dependence on God and her satisfaction in him is the thing that makes everything else have satisfaction.

So, where is Janie’s worldview consistent with the Christian worldview? Janie recognizes the hurricane as God “mocking” the weakness of man. It is after the realization that danger is coming and Tea Cake and Janie are going to having to leave that Janie reveals her feelings for Tea Cake, “Ah wuz fumblin’ round and God opened the door,” which seems to be that Janie recognizes the relationship she had with Tea Cake as a gift from God, and only through this could she “so satisfied” with Tea Cake. I also think that is it with the treat of losing Tea Cake that she truly sees the blessings that Tea Cake had been in her life. It is through the hurricane that Janie beings to see the bigger picture of life and also the futility of life. This is often times how God works in peoples lives ordains certain things to happen, that might even cause pain, in order that people might recognize the work of God and believe in the salvation that he has provide through Jesus. There are those that search and search and search and never seem to find satisfaction, the opening lines to the novel illuminate this fact, and it is after the death of Tea Cake and her better understanding of life that she is able to share her growth with her friends. I am not suggesting that Janie came to know the Jesus through these events, but it does seem that Janie got a taste of death, satisfaction, and comfort only for it all to be taken away through on event and Janie has a much bigger picture of what it means to truly live.

Completed by: Grant Bostrom

Novel Soundtrack: Track 1

Their Eyes Were Watching God: The Soundtrack

Compiled by Jennifer Barber

1) I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman by Britney Spears

Event: Not all of the lyrics in this song directly relate to the novel, but the general idea of the song does. In the beginning of the novel, Janie’s grandmother catches her kissing Johnny Taylor and gets very upset about it. When Nanny is talking to Janie, Janie says, “Naw, Nanny, naw Ah ain’t no real ‘oman yet.” At this point Janie is still figuring out what she wants in the love department and her grandmother is arranging her marriage. The lyrics in the song relate to Janie feeling a little lost about love.

Lyrics:

I used to think

I had the answers to everything,

But now I know

Life doesn't always go my way, yeah...

Feels like I'm caught in the middle

That's when I realize...

[Chorus:]

I'm not a girl,

Not yet a woman.

All I need is time,

A moment that is mine,

While I'm in between.

I'm not a girl,

There is no need to protect me.

It's time that I

Learn to face up to this on my own.

I've seen so much more than you know now,

So don't tell me to shut my eyes.

[Chorus]

I'm not a girl,

But if you look at me closely,

You will see it my eyes.

This girl will always find her way.

I'm not a girl

(I'm not a girl don't tell me what to believe).

Not Yet a woman

(I'm just trying to find the woman in me, yeah).

All I need is time (All I need),

A moment that is mine (That is mine),

While I'm in between.

I'm not a girl

Not yet a woman

All I need is time (All I need),

A moment that is mine,

While I'm in between.

I'm not a girl,

Not yet a woman.

Novel Soundtrack: Track 2

2) Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Katherine McPhee

Event: This is the point in the story when Janie has married Logan Killicks and they are living together. She is unhappy with her life and wishes for a love that is greater than what she has with Logan. This song can relate to Janie’s feelings at this point because she is still wishing that something, or someone, better will come along.

Lyrics:

When all the clouds darken up the skyway

There's a rainbow highway to be found

Leading from your window pain

To a place behind the sun

Just a step beyond the rain

Somewhere over the rainbow

Way up high

There's a land that I heard of

Once in a lullaby

Someday I'll wish upon a star

And wake up where the clouds are far behind me

Where troubles melt lemon drops

Away above the chimney tops

That's where you'll find me

Somewhere over the rainbow

Bluebirds fly

Birds fly over the rainbow

Why then oh why can't I

If happy little bluebirds fly

Beyond the rainbow

Why, oh, why can't I