AP English Lit/Mr. Kirby
Name: Hannah Williamson
LITERARY ANALYSIS DATA SHEET
Significant biographical details about the author:
Title: Their Eyes Were Watching God
Author: Zora Neale Hurston
Date of Publication: 1937
Sources:
Information about the period (literary, historical, artistic,
philosophical, etc.):
The literature of the 1930s brought the Depression and an end
to the cultural openness that had allowed the Harlem
Renaissance to flourish. As the Depression worsened, political
tension increased within the United States; cultural production
came to be dominated by “social realism,” a gritty, political
style associated with left-wing radicalism. The movement’s
proponents felt that art should be primarily political and
expose social injustice in the world. This new crop of writers
and artists dismissed much of the Harlem Renaissance as
bourgeois, devoid of important political content and thus
devoid of any artistic merit.
Zora Neale Hurston attended Howard University and her first story
was published in 1921 in the university’s literary magazine. She
moved to New York in 1925 where she became a significant figure
in the Harlem Renaissance. In 1928, Zora, Langston Hughes, and
Wallace Thurman organized the journal Fire! Hurston’s life in
Eatonville, Florida and her extensive anthropological research on
rural black folklore greatly influenced her writing. She refused to
bow to gender conventions, and her behavior often seemed shocking
if not outrageous. Hurston fell into obscurity for a number of years.
By the late 1940s, she began to have increasing difficulty getting her
work published. By the early 1950s, she was forced to work as a
maid.
Identify the genre and specify how this work fits its
characteristics:
Fiction because the novel is a made up story with invented
characters and nonfactual information. A bildungsroman, a
coming of age novel, which it entails the process of self
development.
Provide a brief synopsis (include exposition, main conflict(s), climax, resolution, and major plot points):
Their Eyes Were Watching God follows the life of Janie Crawford, a girl of mixed black and white heritage around the turn of the
century. As an adolescent, Janie sees a bee pollinating a flower in her backyard pear tree and becomes obsessed with finding true love.
From there, the novel documents her emotional growth and maturity through three marriages.
Janie’s first marriage to farmer Logan Killicks is planned and executed by Janie’s well-intentioned grandmother, Nanny. In this
marriage, Janie chafes under the uninspired but reliable Logan. After he threatens to kill her for not obeying him, she leaves Logan for
the suave and ambitious Joe Starks.
Joe takes Janie to Eatonville, Florida America’s first all-black city, where she lives the high life as the mayor’s wife. However, Janie
finds that her husband has very rigid definitions of a woman’s role. Joe often silences Janie and refuses to listen to others’ opinions. As
Joe grows old, he tries to divert public attention from his failing body by accusing Janie of acting too young for her age. Finally, Janie
can’t bear it anymore and lashes out at Joe, insulting his manhood and pride. Joe is deflated and takes to his deathbed, refusing to let
Janie visit him. In his final living moments, Janie busts into his room and speaks her mind to Joe.
After his untimely death, Janie dons widow’s clothes and lives happily single until she meets a slick and fun-loving vagrant named Tea
Cake. Though Tea Cake is twelve years younger than Janie, with him she finds the true love she has dreamed of all her life. In their
relationship, both sides experience bouts of jealousy, yet Janie and Tea Cake eventually find happiness working in the fields of
Everglades and mingling with the migrant workers.
Disaster arrives in the form of a hurricane. Tea Cake is given plenty of warnings about its coming and even an opportunity to flee from
it, but he chooses to stay on the "muck" for love of money. The hurricane strikes with divine ferocity, forcing the entire Everglades’
inhabitants to either leave or die. While fleeing the storm, Tea Cake saves Janie from a ferocious dog, but is himself bitten. From this
unfortunate event, Tea Cake gets rabies and his natural jealousy turns into aggressive suspicion and paranoia over Janie. In the end,
Janie is forced to shoot her husband to protect herself. Though she is put on trial for murder, she is pronounced innocent.
After Tea Cake’s funeral, Janie returns home to Eatonville. There, she meets up with her old friend, Pheoby Watson, and tells her the
whole story. This narration to Pheoby provides the framing for the whole novel.
Literary Analysis Data Sheet
page 2
Identify and explain the use and effect of three literary
techniques:
Cite and quote one example of each:
“’Tain’t no need uh you not knowin’ how tuh handle shootin’ tools.
Foreshadowing is used to display how the story will unfold.
Even if you didn’t never find no game, it’s always some trashy
rascal dat needs uh good killin’” (Hurston 130).
Symbolism is used to guide the reader through the plot and
allows the reader to see more deeply into actions and
occasions.
"Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. For some they
come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon,
never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes
away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time"
(Hurston, 1).
Imagery is used to make the reader understand what is going
on in the book and adds emphasis and details to the
characters and events in the book.
“The monstropolous beast had left his bed. The two hundred miles
an hour wind has loosed his chains. He seized hold of his dikes and
ran forward until he met the quarters; uprooted them like grass and
rushed on after his supposed-to-be conquerors, rolling the dikes,
rolling the houses, rolling the people in the houses along with other
timbers.” (Hurston, 161)
Significant Quotes
Cite and quote three significant passages:
Explain the significance of each passage or explain how it relates to
the work as a whole:
“Ships at a distance have every man’s wish
on board. For some they come in with the
tide. For others they sail forever on the
horizon, never out of sight, never landing
until the Watcher turns his eyes away in
resignation, his dreams mocked to death by
Time. That is the life of men. Now, women
forget all those things they don’t want to
remember, and remember everything they
don’t want to forget. The dream is the truth.
Then they act and do things accordingly.”
(Chapter 1)
This passage establishes the novel’s unusual perspective on gender
difference. Because it is the story of a woman and because it was the first
major novel published by a black woman, Their Eyes Were Watching God
is often classified as a feminist novel. But feminism is often associated
with the idea that men and women are absolutely equal; here, the narrator
immediately establishes a fundamental difference between men and
women. Finally, the passage foreshadows the novel’s thematic concerns:
the statement about women is proud and defiant, saying that while men
never really reach for their dreams, women can control their wills and
chase their dreams. As the novel unfolds, Janie acts according to this
notion, battling and struggling in the direction of her dreams.
“The wind came back with triple fury, and
put out the light for the last time. They sat in
company with the others in other shanties,
their eyes straining against crude walls and
their souls asking if He meant to measure
their puny might against His. They seemed to
be staring at the dark, but their eyes were
watching God.” (Chapter 18)
“Listen, Sam, if it was nature, nobody
wouldn’t have tuh look out for babies
touchin’ stoves, would they? ’Cause dey just
naturally wouldn’t touch it. But dey sho will.
So it’s caution.” “Naw it ain’t, it’s nature,
cause nature makes caution. It’s de strongest
thing dat God ever made, now. Fact is it’s de
onliest thing God every made. He made
nature and nature made everything else.”
(Chapter 6)
This quotation neatly summarizes the central conflict of the novel, as Janie,
Tea Cake, and Motor Boat seek refuge from the raging hurricane outside.
The struggle at the heart of the novel is set forth in the starkest terms:
humans against God, Janie and the others against nature. It is significant
that Motor Boat joins Janie and Tea Cake in their house and that the
narrator notes that everybody is united in the same struggle. We see here
that the bonds of human interaction and intimacy provide refuge against the
forces of nature. Tea Cake and Janie share an intimacy that allows them to
struggle and survive these forces. The sense of self that Janie gains from
the love that she shares with Tea Cake enables her subsequently to endure
another hostile force—the mean-spirited scorn of the black women of
Eatonville—and maintain her inner peace.
This interchange is an excerpt from a lively debate between Lige Moss and
Sam Watson on the porch of Jody’s store. In addition to being an excellent
example of Hurston’s use of dialect and idiomatic English, this dialogue
speaks to Janie’s developing understanding of herself in relation to the
world. Here, Sam and Lige argue about the relationship between mankind
and God and between themselves and the world around them. In modern
terms, it is a discussion of nature versus nurture. Lige argues that humans
are taught everything that they know; such a perspective implies a
fundamental antagonism between humanity and the natural world.
Literary Analysis Data Sheet
page 3
Characters
Record information for each significant major character in the work
Name
Role in the story
Significance or Purpose
Adjectives
Janie Mae
Crawford
Protagonist; main
character
Defies gender stereotypes by
being independent and
experiences the world
Curious,
independent,
confident
Tea Cake
Janie’s third
husband and first
true love
Has an understanding of Janie
and treats her with respect
Witty, fun loving,
calming
Jody Starks
Janie’s second
husband
Travels from Georgia to
Eatonville and is a businessman
and politician
Cruel, conceited,
uninterested
Logan Killicks
Janie’s first
husband
Treats Janie respectfully and
takes care of her physically and
financially
Convenient,
workaholic
Phoeby Watson
Janie’s best friend
in Eatonville
Audience of Janie’s story and is
a true friend to Janie
Nonjudgmental,
loyal, dependable
Nanny
Crawford
Janie’s
grandmother
Strong concern for financial
security and respectability;
clashes with Janie
Strong willed,
protective
Literary Analysis Data Sheet
page 4
Describe the setting(s) and explain its/their significance:
Identify and explain the theme(s) of the work:
The slave culture of the southern U.S., though dead by the time of Janie’s
life, has a profound effect on the book, grounding all discussion of racism
and emerging most strongly in the character of Nanny. Janie spends time
in both rural and urban parts of the state of Florida. Rural spaces seem to
represent periods of innocence and relative happiness for Janie. These
rural settings emphasize Janie’s poverty and the relative decency and
integrity of the lower classes, giving a sense of naturalness and
righteousness to Janie’s innocence. The central urban setting, Eatonville,
is a center of vice and corruption. There, chafing under her marriage to
Joe, Janie loses her innocence most profoundly and discovers in herself
the ability to deceive.
Racism and Equality: throughout the novel, the
author uses race and gender to show what life
was like during the Depression and how it
affects Janie and the people around her.
Identify and explain key metaphors, symbols, or motifs:
Community: Janie wants to be a part of the community,
the social life, which offers safety and warmth for her.
Janie doesn’t care about the negatives but still cares what
others think.
Love and Relationships vs. Independence:
Janie’s goal is an idealized romantic love and
finding true love makes Janie feel satisfied, and
she feels love is essential to life. However, at the
end of the novel, Janie becomes alone from her
unfulfilling relationships. She becomes content
and does not feel alone. She becomes secure in
her independence.
The Horizon: it symbolizes the possible and that which
Janie can dream about. With Tea Cake, Janie has found
everything she has always dreamed of all at once. Even
after Tea Cake’s death, Janie finds she will always have
access to the horizon
Pear Tree: Janie’s first interaction with passionate and
erotic energy is under the pear tree where she realizes what
the horizon is like.
Hurricane: it represents destructive fury of nature. It shows
the chaos and pain of the world. Janie and the community
begin to question who they are and how they can survive
in a world of such chaos and pain.
Write at least three questions or topics for class discussion:
Gender and Race
How is race generally linked to class? Do white people occupy a higher class than black people?
Is the novel a more feminist or racism novel?