Hurston Blog

As I begin reading Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, I am finding it difficult to follow the story at times because the African American dialect used throughout the novel is confusing and hard to understand. However, there is a very real and authentic quality about Hurston’s writing. The African American dialect makes me feel as if I am in the south and I can really hear these characters talking. In the first few pages of the novel when the townswomen were all talking about Janie as she walked into town, I felt as though I could actually see and hear the women gossiping and chatting amongst themselves. Hurston’s writing has a unique quality in the way that it can bring out imagery for the reader.

As the novel continued, I saw a real connection between this novel and Johnson’s, The Biography of an Ex-Coloured Man. When Janie discovered that she was African American after she saw a picture of herself and her white friends it was reminiscent of how the narrator realized that he was African American after he was told in school in front of his peers. For each of these characters, it seemed to be a significant moment when they discovered their identity as an African American.

So far in this novel, Janie’s life has been a whirlwind. She goes from being a poor girl living with her grandmother to being a mayor’s wife. It all seemed to have happened very quickly, even too quickly for Janie herself to understand. I wasn’t surprised when Janie left her first husband because she didn’t love him but what I am surprised about is that she hasn’t found love with her second husband, Joe. It seems to me that Janie did not think through her relationship with Joe. She just took off with him without knowing anything about him. I thought that she would find love and happiness with Joe but instead Janie is expressing feelings of being “far away from things and lonely” (46). I don’t think that being a mayor’s wife is quite what Janie expected when she ran off with him. Now Janie has suddenly found herself in the upper class of African American society. This is a stark contrast from her life before and I don’t think that she is comfortable with this new role. Janie is used to the lifestyle that her grandmother raised her in as a servant. This new lifestyle will certainly be an adjustment for her. I’m very interested in seeing how Janie reacts to this new situation.