Their Eyes Were Watching God

Rating:
Summary: Eye on the prize, telling a good tale, and creating a legacy
Review: To write such a seminal novel as Their Eyes Were Watching God, and for it to become a signature piece says quite a bit for a book that went out of print not long after its first appearance. Coincidentally, it stayed out of print for nearly 30 years. Like the proverbial lore of the Phoenix rising, it not only adds resilience to the author's legacy but proves without a doubt that good works'even neglected ones should be reexamined for overall viability and content analysis despite determined imperviousness to shame. The previous statement alludes itself to efforts by the establishment not understanding the style in which it was written, and the authors' ways of languishing (albeit negatively) in the public's eye. To understand this novel, one first need to know that Zora doesn't write directly about black people in the context of a white singular world, but writes exclusively within the confines of black expressionism. This is a book that, despite its lofty status as a classical force of a national epic, it offers a people his or her own spoken language freshly caught on paper and raised to the heights of poetry.

Their Eyes'has universal implications for women in that it protests against the restrictions and limitations imposed upon women by a masculine society. Zora illustrates and give credence to a heroine, Janie Crawford, who must make a major decision about the course of her life. This fluid love story full of thoughtful interpretative realism, pays tribute to a black woman, who, thought constricted by the signs of the times, still demanded to be heard. The characters resonate with colorful imagery: Janie's three husbands, Mir. Killicks, Mayor Starks, her best friend Phoeby, Tea Cake, and the other images that she allows to come to life. The story is rather awkwardly told by both Janie, and an omniscient narrator, and is revealed, for the most part, in a flashback to Phoeby Watson. The key to the novel is Janie's idea of marriage, which is pitted against other, less romantic ideas of a perfect union. Janie ends up on trial for the murder ' in self-defense 'of the man she loved. The people who knew the couple side against her at the trial, hoping to see her hanged. It is the whites 'the judge and jury, and a group of women originally gathered just for curiosity's sake ' which see into the anguished depths of a black woman's love and acknowledge her dignity and ultimate innocence. Janie feels no compulsion to justify herself to the town, but she gives more homage and insightful explanation to Phoeby.

This is a book that should be read by all, with its main thrust toward life and the fact of it being an affirmation rather than denial of why women possess much more strength than men'at least in this adaptation. I like it because it speaks for the self, for equality, for the pursuit of happiness instead of possessions, and lastly, it speaks for and seems to recommend a way of life uncluttered by tradition, sterotypes, and materialism. Zora had the right idea and made statements. She left us with a good signature, reminding us that we may yet learn the possibilities of ourselves only 'If you kin see de light at daybreak, you don't keer if you die at dusk wit so many people never seein' de light at all. Ah wuz fumblin' round and God opened de door'. This is Zora at her best!

Rating:
Summary: A fair read!
Review: The author's description of Mrs. Turner was very interesting. I think you can find people like that even today. That statement "if it wuzn't for so many black folks it wouldn't be no race problem......" is classic. The author makes a very strong point here.
I also found the author's description of the hurricane that devastated the land, absolutely terrific.
I had problems with the plot, which I found simplistic at times.
Those silly mule jokes and the nature vs. caution topic didn't add anything. I also had a problem with the book starting at the very end when Janie Starks returns home.

Rating:
Summary: Hurston's masterpiece.
Review: My experience (as is most's experience) with this book was initially, required reading, having relatively low expectations, knowing relatively nothing concerning the book. However, as i began to read, i found myself more and more immersed into Janie's world. As a young woman, i could find situations that i had experienced, feared, etc. Some say that this is a diffucult read, however, i believe quite the contrary-I read this freshman year in high school and had no problem, nor did i find it a "romance novel" as some have called it. Hurston's novel deals with everpresent human themes of age, love, passion, race. Furthermore, the novel depicts southern life nearly immpeccably. This novel has something to say to everyone, whether white, black, male, female, gay, straight.

Rating:
Summary: An Enjoyable Read,
Review: It took me several attempts to actually complete this book. I was easily frustrated and distracted by the novel's rhetorical composure. But I am happy to say that upon adjustment I was able to enjoy this novel in its entirety. The many situations experienced in this book,I could easily identify with, since I myself am a young black female. This book may not be an easy read at first (it definitely wasn't for me), but it is sure worth the additional effort. Highly Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Their Eyes Were Watching God...Great!
Review: This book is very powerful in the struggles of a beautiful lady named Janie. Living a horrible life of heartbreaks and no love from her 3 marriages, Janie still moved on. She looked for a better life to live to recieve better treatment and be someones wive and not slave. When she finds Tea Cake, she realized that her life became better with him and that she could live a happier life. She realized that she didn't deserve all that [stuff] that she has been through from her other 3 marriages. This book is great and i would recommend it to everyone to read.

Rating:
Summary: Their Eyes Were Watching God: What did Hurston want?
Review: When I picked up the HarperPerennial Classic Their Eyes Were Watching God, I didn't know what to think. Everyone was quite amazed at the book in class and it seemed as if this was going to be a great read. So, on a lazy Sunday afternoon, with a fire ablaze in the fireplace, I relaxed on the couch and began to read Hurston's classic. It was not a delightful evening.

In the book the main character Janie goes through life wondering what true love actually is like. Her elder Grandmother arranges a marriage with the stinky and church going man Logan after an Janie has an innocent kiss with a young man. The marriage is not what Janie desires. She has no love for this man, and he really doesn't have any desire for her. It seems to be a set up marriage where one expects the other to function in a team. There is no love in this relationship.

Time passes on and Janie yearns even more to get out of this marriage. Then, out of the blue, a man by the name of Joe Sparks appears, or better known as Jody. Jody is a man with goals in life. He talks of great wealth and hoping to get involved in a town that consists of nothing but African-Americans. Janie is so amazed by this man's personal ambitions that she agrees to leave Logan and head out with Jody for a new start.

Joe is a man who cares for Janie, but it seems as if he doesn't really love her. All he believes is that personal wealth will bring a woman to him. This is not the case for Janie. Janie is a woman wantsto love and be loved. Joe is just a man who gages things in personal wealth and just wants Janie to look pretty like all the possessions he holds. This does not set well with Janie.

In time the relationship between Jody and Janie fades away like beams of sun when eclipsed by a cloud. As Jody becomes ill Janie tells him what she thinks about him as being just another possession of his. This enrages Jody and he passes on. It is the beginning of a liberation that took so long for Janie to have.

Janie is established financially and runs Jody's old store. When attending to her business on an idle afternoon, as everyone in town had gone to some game, an unknowing character comes around, good old Tea Cake. The man that Janie yearns for is Tea Cake. He shows Janie how to have a good time by playing checkers, going fishing, and socializing with others. This is the beginning of Janie becoming herself. Tea Cake loves her deeply and will do anything for her. Janie loves Tea Cake and will do anything as well. The love that she imagined underneath the pear tree in bloom is finally around.

All good stories have some sort of odd-ball situation that occurs that stirs up a conflict. Hurston decided to have a hurricane arrive that causes a great heroic rescue. In the storm a lake is about to flood the great muck plains that encompasses the two lovers. They decided to escape when the situation gets rough. In the desperate journey for dry land, Janie becomes in dire need to be rescued. She grabs hold of a cow, which for some reason has a rabid dog on it. The going gets tough as the dog is trying to attack Janie. Tea Cake sees the trouble and comes to the rescue killing the dog and being bitten in the process.

A month goes by and the two lovers are safe from the hurricane and living life to the fullest. Tea Cake is coming down with a sickness. A doctor diagnoses it as rabies, and Tea Cake loses his sanity. Eventually Tea Cake tries to kill Janie, is denied by her, and she shoots him. A trial occurs over the murder, she is found innocent and the story ends.

This novel is a read for the romance enthusiast. I can say that in no way I am one of those individuals. In class it seemed a good chunk of the class loved the book and the women just yearned for a Tea Cake of their own. Yes, he was the best husband and wanted to have Janie be herself. He loved her and she loved him. The thing though is that this novel's ending is one of the oddest things I've ever read. The circumstances where a cow has a dog on it! What are the odds of this?!!? Do hurricanes produce circumstances that cats ride dogs? Also, the trial scene came out of nowhere too. The novel could have ended with the death of Tea Cake, granted some editing would have to be done. I'm not one to say one way or the other, Hurston's story is hers, but I am not a fan of it.

To recommend anyone to read Their Eyes Were Watching God, I would ask just one question to someone who was wondering about the novel, "Do you like romance novels?" If yes, then this is a must read. If not, I would recommend the drunken antics and lost generation attitude of Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises. Hurston shows that true love will triumph over death, but the way she portrays it is not entirely well rounded.

Rating:
Summary: Poor, Poor, Janie!
Review: I listened to the audiotape of this very moving book. As a result, I was spared the anguish of threading through page after page of difficult to read broken English. I am therefore recommending that others follow in my foot steps.

The character, Janie, is presented in three different stages of her growth and development as shown through her three different marriages. I highly recommend this book to anyone who would enjoy experiencing life as a Black women in the south around 1900. I recommend that you get the audiotape if you believe it would detract from your enjoyment if you had to read throught pages of southern dialect. --Beverly C. Sanders

Rating:
Summary: Free, free, free
Review: Can you be a woman in the South, in the early part of the century fo America. America that holds us close and bites our csouls trhough our flesh. Passion, sexual freedom in a lover too young, too young to be anything but a transition, a transition to freedom. A Black love story, Black literature that throbs, that vibrates with power, and ends with the baptism of the land, of Janie. Washing away tears of infidelity, of grief, of dread, of poverty, of fear and replacing them with the eyes that were watching God and God looked down and cried onto the land, onto Janie onto the fields where her fingers had bled, where her hands had split, where her tongue was kept silent and held to converse life and moisture.
Share your freak with whomever because it's a beautiful thing.

Rating:
Summary: 1st
Review: This book was interesting but at the same time confusing. The main character seems to not be in control of her feelings, or in other words the author does not seem to be in control of her feelings. The character feels one way about something and then in the next moment it turns up side down because the author dosn't seem to be sure of what she wants the character to feel. That is until Tea Cake comes in. Then it seems that the author had been leading up to that and knew exactly what was going to happen and what was going to be felt.
Because the majority of this book is about Tea Cake I found very exciting.

Rating:
Summary: great book
Review: we read this book for a class and I enjoyed it very much. the story was nice and the symbolism we explored were very interesting. it is beautifully written and although i've never read any other of Hurston's books, this book has made me want to read more of her works.