Chu Hwang
Professor Railton
ENAM 312: American Literature Since 1865
24 April 2002
Black Culture, White Culture: Finding Happiness in Their Eyes Were Watching God
Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God is a celebration of embracing one’s
own culture, particularly African-American culture. Hurston uses characters in the novel to
express that by accepting one’s cultural heritage, one can live a fulfilling life. Janie Crawford is
the heroine who seeks to accept herself by embracing her African-American heritage. As she is
on her quest for acceptance of her black self, she encounters several characters who try to thwart
her self-fulfillment and who haunt her both physically and emotionally: Jody Starks, her second
husband; Annie Tyler, a notorious woman in the town of Eatonsville; and Mrs. Turner, one of
her neighbors on the muck. These black characters refuse to embrace their cultural roots and are
set upon imitating or idolizing white culture; because of their inability to accept AfricanAmerican culture, Hurston portrays them to be pathetic figures who are unable to find fulfillment
in their lives like Janie.
Janie’s second husband Joe Starks attempts to live a “white” life. Joe is attractive to
Janie when she runs off with him because of his “whiteness”: “He was a seal-brown color but he
acted like Mr. Washburn or somebody like that to Janie…. Janie tooks lots of looks at him and
she was proud of what she saw. Kind of portly like rich white folks” (27, 34). His assertion to
establish an authority system in the all-black town of Eatonville, Florida with himself as mayor
echoes white culture and contrasts with the lack of central authority in black society on the
muck. Joe’s personal habits and tastes also reflect his attempt to be white: his big white house
with porches and banisters, the important-looking swing-around chair behind his desk, and the
gold-looking spittoon that looked like the one his old white boss used to use (47). The very
1
whiteness that established his role as mayor, postmaster, landlord, and storekeeper of the town
and that had attracted Janie at first sight were stifling Janie and thwarting her ability to embrace
black culture. Janie expresses frustration at her inability to feel fulfillment through her heritage
by blaming Joe on his death-bed that he had imposed his own imitation of white culture onto her:
“‘You wasn’t satisfied wid me de way Ah was. Naw! Mah own mind had tuh be squeezed and
crowded out tuh make room for yours in me’” (86). Because of Joe’s refusal to accept his
African-American cultural roots, Hurston portrays him as a pathetic and unfulfilled figure as he
is dying.
As Joe’s health is deteriorating, he tries to avert attention from his body to Janie’s by
pointing out her aging body. Janie, in a flash of speaking her mind, of which Joe disapproves,
insults Joe’s manliness and tells him in front of his friends, “‘You big-bellies round here and put
out a lot of brag, but ‘taint nothin’ to it but yo’ big voice. Humph! Talkin’ ‘bout me lookin’ old!
When you pull down yo’ britches, you look lak de change uh life’” (79). Janie’s insult disgraces
Joe to all his friends and the town people, who will now see him as a weak figure:
Janie had robbed him of his illusion of irresistible maleness that all men cherish,
which as terrible…. She had cast down his empty armor before men and they had
laughed, would keep on laughing. When he paraded his possessions hereafter,
they would not consider the two together. They’d look with envy at the things
and pity the man that owned them (79-80).
The details of Joe’s failing body—his baggy body “like bags hanging from an ironing board….
A sack of flabby something hung from his loins and rested on his thighs when he sat down”
(81)—showed him as a pitiable man. On his deathbed, he is powerless to resist Janie’s speech
on how his “white” mannerisms stifled her and made her life with him unhappy (86). His
unfulfilled life is further emphasized by Janie’s pity for him when he dies: “‘Dis sittin’ in de
rulin’ chair is been hard on Jody,’ she muttered. She was full of pity for the first time in years.
2
Jody had been hard on her and others, but life had mishandled him too. Poor Joe!” (87). Unlike
the death of Tea Cake Woods, her third husband who does embrace his African-American
heritage, Joe’s death does not elicit from Janie immense grief and a sense of thankfulness “for
giving her the chance for living service” (184). Joe’s emulation of white culture does not permit
him die a happy and content man.
Another African-American who tries to imitate “white” life and lives an unhappy and
unrewarding life is Annie Tyler, a minor character who haunts Janie in her mind. Annie Tyler
attempts to become white through her appearance: “Mrs. Tyler with her dyed hair, newly
straightened and her uncomfortable new false teeth, her leathery skin, blotchy with powder”
(118). Mrs. Tyler’s sense of beauty is defined as looking young and white with straightened hair
and a powdered face. The image of Mrs. Tyler haunts Janie as she runs off from Eatonville to
Jacksonville to meet Tea Cake. Mrs. Tyler had ran off with her lover Who Flung, who later
deserted her penniless. Her pitiful state is portrayed through her sad appearance after Who
Flung’s desertion: “Hair all gray and black and bluish and reddish in streaks…. The corset gone
and the shaking old woman hanging all over herself…. She was broken and her pride was gone”
(119). Annie Tyler, who tried to imitate “white” beauty, was abandoned by Who Flung with
neither happiness nor pride left. Janie’s escape with Tea Cake is contrasted with Mrs. Tyler’s
misfortunes. Janie leaves with just a new blue dress, not Tyler's powdered face and the “silken
ruffles” dresses Janie used to wear for Jody (41) that are representative of white beauty. As Janie
contemplates the parallels between her situation and Mrs. Tyler’s misfortunes, she hears the
sound of guitar music (120), representative of black folk culture. Tea Cake, unlike the moneyseeking Who Flung, embraces African-American, not white, culture. Hurston contrasts these
two relationships: Annie Tyler and Who Flung who imitate white culture have an unsuccessful
3
and unfulfilling relationship while Janie and Tea Cake maintain a satisfying relationship through
the celebration of their cultural roots.
Mrs. Turner, Janie and Tea Cake’s neighbor on the muck, is also resistant of black
culture. She idolizes whites and holds blacks whose skin colors are darker than hers in disdain.
She is proud of her own Caucasian features and admires anyone with “whiter” features:
Mrs. Turner was a milky sort of a woman that belonged to child-bed…. Mrs.
Turner’s shapes and features were entirely approved by Mrs. Turner. Her nose
was slightly pointed and she was proud. Her thin lips were an ever delight to her
eyes. Even her buttocks in bas-relief were a source of pride. To her way of
thinking all these things set her aside from Negroes. That was why she sought out
Janie to friend with. (140)
Janie’s light skin and straight hair makes her more Caucasian in Mrs. Turner’s eyes. Unwilling
to embrace her own African-American background, Mrs. Turner “‘can’t stand black niggers,’”
African-American songs and customs, and their “‘whoopin’ and hollerin’ and laughin’ over
nothin’’” (141); instead, she worships a shrine to Caucasian characteristics (145). Mrs. Turner’s
attack on black culture is expressed not only through her tirades against black culture to Janie but
also through her attempt to steal Janie away from the “black” Tea Cake for her less “black”
brother.
Mrs. Turner’s anti-black sentiments haunt Janie when Tea Cake becomes jealous of Mrs.
Turner’s brother whom Mrs. Turner has decided is more suitable for her “whiter” friend.
Because of Mrs. Turner’s attempts to come between Janie and Tea Cake, Tea Cake becomes
physically violent towards Janie: “‘I didn’t wants whup her last night, but ol’ Mis’ Turner done
sent for her brother tuh come bait Janie in and take her away from me. Ah didn’t whup Janie
‘cause she done nothin’. Ah beat her tuh how dem Turners who is boss’” (148). This physical
violence, however, is reflective of black culture; the neighbors interpret the violence as jealousy
and sexually aggressive behavior (147). Even when Tea Cake becomes unreasonably jealous
4
after becoming infected with rabies, the Turners are still unable to come between the love of
Janie and Tea Cake, which is reflective of the warmth and fulfillment of black culture. Janie
assures him that her love is true, “‘Tea Cake, ‘tain’t no use in you bein’ jealous uh me. In de
first place Ah couldn’t love nobody but yuh. And in de second place, Ah jus’ uh ole woman dat
nobody don’t want but you.’” His jealousy eventually gives way to his words of love to her:
“‘You’se uh pretty woman outside uh bein’ nice…. Everytime Ah see uh patch uh roses uh
somethin’ over sportin’ they selves makin’ out they pretty, Ah tell ‘em ‘Ah want yuh tuh see
mah Janie sometime’” (180-1). Both physically and symbolically, Tea Cake had beaten the
Turners. During a brawl in the Turners’ eating house, Mrs. Turner is infuriated that a black man
like Tea Cake had pushed her on the floor and her weak husband took no action: “‘How kin you
set and see yo’ wife all trompled on? You ain’t no kinda man at all. You seen dat Tea Cake
shove me down! Yes you did! You ain’t raised yo’ hand tuh do nothin’ about it’” (152).
Despite the symbolic triumph of the celebration of black culture over the idolization of white
culture, the Turners are characters that haunt Janie and Tea Cake as the ever-present white
culture that threatens to crowd out African-American cultural heritage.
Their Eyes Were Watching God rejoices in African-American culture and heritage and
emphasizes the importance of recognizing one’s cultural roots. Through the contrasting of the
characters Joe Starks, Annie Tyler, and Mrs. Turner to Janie and Tea Cake, Hurston reveals that
accepting and celebrating one’s cultural background can lead to the happy and fulfilling life that
Janie and Tea Cake discover. At the end of the novel, Janie finds peace in her memories of the
love she and Tea Cake shared, which was strengthened by the self-expression of black culture:
“[Tea Cake] could never be dead until she herself had finished feeling and thinking. The kiss of
his memory made pictures of love and light against the wall. Here was peace. She pulled in her
5
horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her
shoulder. So much of life in meshes! She called in her soul to come and see” (193). Joe, Mrs.
Tyler, and Mrs. Turner are not able to find such peace as Janie through their imitation and
worship of white culture. Only through the acceptance of one’s own cultural roots like Janie can
one become fulfilled and happy.
6
Works Cited
Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York: HarperCollins, 1998.
7