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Their Eyes Were Watching God
by Zora Neale Hurston
Study Questions
Foreword by Mary Helen Washington
1. What do you learn here about ZNH including when she lived and died plus her claim to fame?
2. When was TEWWG written and published?
3. Why were writers/critics such as Richard Wright so condemning of the novel?
4. What caused a revival of interest in ZNH and TEWWG in the 1970s?
Chapter 1
1. How are men and women different with regard to their dreams and lives, according to the first two
paragraphs?
2. What does the reader learn about Janie in paragraph three that none of the other characters in chapter
one knows about her? Define the literary term dramatic irony and explain whether this secret
information we learn about Janie exemplifies dramatic irony or not.
3. What type of incident could have caused Janie to bury people as mentioned in paragraph three? Why
do you suppose that ZNH keeps that and other particulars about Janie from us?
4. Except for Pheoby, how do the women on the porch regard Janie? Why are they so negative about
her? What inferences do they make about her? Upon what are these inferences based?
5. Do the men on the porch regard Janie as the women do or differently? Explain.
6. How does Pheoby react to the other women's criticism of Janie? Why does Pheoby visit Janie? What
does Pheoby want to learn from Janie?
7. How did Janie obtain her money she left town with? Who is Tea Cake, and what is his relationship to
Janie? How much older or younger is he than Janie? What is your reaction to their age difference?
Why?
8. What is Janie's reaction to the gossip from the women on the porch?
9. According to Janie, what gossip about her from the women on the porch is untrue? Is Janie poor?
What is the truth about Janie's life, as far as she reveals it in this chapter?
10. What evidence is there in the first chapter that the novel is set in Florida in the late 1930s, focusing
on African-Americans, with a woman as its main character, a woman trying to discover her voice and
true identity?
11. What is a frame story? Is TEWWG a frame story? Explain.
12. What is the novel's point of view: first person, third person limited, omniscient, objective, or
something else? Explain.
13. Who is the novel's narrator? What do you know about the narrator? Describe the voice and diction
of the narrator and how it is different from the language of the novel's characters.
14. What is your reaction to the novel's use of black dialect? Explain. Do you find the dialect difficult
to read? Explain. Do you consider the dialect demeaning to African-Americans? Why? How does ZNH
justify her use of black dialect?
15. What is Janie's motivation to tell Pheoby her life's story, which begins in the second chapter? (see
bottom of page 6) What seems to be Pheoby's main function in the novel?
16. What unanswered questions-implied, not stated-are motivation for the reader to continue? Do these
questions "hook" your interest? Why? Do you think you already know the answers to these
"questions"? Explain.
Chapter 2
1. At the beginning of the chapter, the narrator says, "Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf . . . ."
How was Janie's life "like a great tree in leaf"? Explain.
2. What discovery about herself did Janie make when she was about six? What was her reaction to this
discovery?
3. Why was Janie raised by her grandmother, Nanny, instead of by her parents? How would you
describe Janie's childhood with Nanny? Explain.
4. Why kind of life had Nanny had as a young woman? Who had fathered Nanny's child, "Leafy," who
would grow up to become Janie's mother? What ever became of Janie's father?
5. Why had Nanny taken her baby and escaped from the plantation? What would have happened to her
and her baby if they hadn't got away? Why?
6. What incident involving Janie causes Nanny to decide that she will have Janie marry Logan
Killicks? Why does Nanny believe Killicks will be a good husband for Janie? What is Janie's feeling
about the idea of marrying Killicks? Why? Do you believe Janie should marry Killicks? Why or why
not?
7. Nanny says to Janie, "Ah wanted to preach a great sermon about colored women sittin' on high, but
they wasn't no pulpit for me". What plans had Nanny had for Janie's mother, and how did her plans
relate to the quotation? What happened to Janie's mother at age 17? What became of Janie's mother
afterwards? What does Janie have to do with Nanny's quotation?
8. Who was Janie's father? What has become of him?
9. At the end of the chapter, Nanny says, "Put me down easy, Janie, Ah'm a cracked plate." Explain
what Nanny means by that statement. How is she like a "cracked plate"? Do you agree? Why?
Chapter 3
1. At the beginning of the chapter, Janie asks, "Did marriage end the cosmic loneliness of the unmated?
Did marriage compel love like the sun the day?" What answers to those questions does she find as the
wife of Logan Killicks? Explain.
2. Is Nannny sympathetic or unsympathetic about Janie's feelings about her marriage so far with Logan
Killicks? Why? With whom do you agree more-Janie or Nanny? Explain.
3. Nannny says to Janie, "Lawd have mussy? Dat's the very prong all us black women gits hung on. Dis
love!" (22). What is Nanny talking about? Do you agree or disagree with her? Why? What dream of
Janie's is "dead" as a result of her marriage to Logan Killicks? (See 24).
Chapter 4
1. How had Logan Killlicks begun to treat Janie differently from when they were just married? Explain.
2. Why is Logan planning to buy two mules? What does he intend Janie to do with regard to the mules?
What is her reation to Logan's plans?
4. How does Janie meet Joe Starks? Describe how he looks and acts.
5. As soon as we learn Joe Starks's name, explain how we already know that Janie will marry him,
move to Eatonville, their marriage will end, she will leave Eatonville with another man for south
Florida, and later return home to Eatonville without the other man. Even though we already know
these facts, what about them do we not know yet? Explain.
6. To Janie, Joe Starks "did not represent sun-up and pollen and blooming trees, but he spoke for far
horizon. He spoke for change and chance.” What does this quotation mean, literally, in your own
words? Explain.
7. What justification does Logan give for being a good husband to Janie? Do you agree with him?
Explain.
8. What justification does Janie give herself for leaving Logan to run off with Joe Starks? Do you agree
with her decision? Explain.
9. Who is most to blame for the failure of Janie and Logan's marriage-Janie, Logan, or Joe Starks?
Explain.
10. Do you believe that Joe Starks was right or wrong in courting Janie, a married woman, and offering
her an opportunity to run away from her husband to live to marry and live with him instead? Explain.
11. Do you feel sorry for Logan Killicks after Janie leaves him? Why? Explain what you think Logan
will do next and tell why.
12. "From now on until death she [Janie] was going to have flower dust and springtime sprinkled over
everything. A bee for her bloom" . Explain in your own words what this quotation means.
13. What is your reaction to Janie's marrying Joe Starks when she is still married to Logan Killicks?
What is polygamy? Could Logan have had her arrested for polygamy? What could have been Janie's
punishment, if found guilty? Do you think it's likely that he will? Why? Do you think Logan will try to
take revenge on Joe Starks for stealing Janie from him? Why? Explain. What do we already know that
might influence our opinions about these questions?
Chapter 5
1. Where do newlyweds Joe and Janie go to live? How does this town figure in the life of ZNH? Why
has Joe chosen this town as a place to live?
2. What is Joe and Janie's first impression of Eatonville? Why?
3. Who are Amos Hicks and Lee Coker? What information about Eatonville do Joe and Janie learn
from them? What incorrect inference about Janie does Amos make?
4. Why is the idea of Joe Starks' buying land from Captain Eaton so funny to the gathered men?
5. How do the men of Eatonville regard Janie? What does Hicks attempt to do with Janie? What is the
result? What does Coker mean when he says to Hicks, "You can't get her wid no fish sandwich" ?
6. What is Hick's reaction to the idea of Starks's putting up a store with a post office in it? Why?
Explain.
7. What is Joe Stark's favorite expression? What do you think it means?
8. What is Joe Starks's motive in building a general store and post office other than to sell store goods?
9. What honor do the citizens of Eatonville give Joe Starks?
10. Why does Joe not want Janie to give a speech?
11. What does Joe order for the town from Sears, Roebuck, and Company? How does the town react to
this gift? Explain.
12. Joe ask Janie, "Well, honey, how yuh lak bein' Mrs. Mayor?". In your own words, how does she
respond? What is your reaction to Janie's feelings? Why?
13. "There was something about Joe Starks that cowed the town.” In your own words, explain what the
narrator means by this statement.
14. What was the town's reaction to Joe's getting Janie a lady-sized spittoon with little sprigs of flowers
painted all around its sides? Explain.
15. What did Joe do when he caught Henry Pitts with a wagon load of Joe's sugar cane? What were the
townspeople's reactions to what Joe did? What is your reaction? Why?
16. What's the town's reaction to how Joe treats Janie, especially regarding how she must dress and
behave in the store and how he treats her in front of other people there? Explain. What is your reaction?
Why?
Chapter 6
1. What does the narrator mean by saying people sat on the porch of the store and "passed around the
pictures of their thoughts"? Explain.
2. According to Sam, what have the "womenfolks" been using Matt Bonner's yellow mule for?
3. According to Lige, what saved the Roberts' "chillun" from being "trompled . . . to death by Matt
Bonner's yellow mule?
4. Why doesn't Joe want Janie to participate in "mule talk" with those that hang out on the porch of the
store?
5. Why has Janie "come to hate the inside of that store"? Explain.
6. What had Joe caught Walter doing to Janie's hair one night in the store? What is Joe's reaction?
Why? What is your reaction? Why? What is Janie's reaction to Joe's demands? Are your more
sympathetic here to Janie or to Joe? Why?
7. Why does Joe buy Matt Bonner's yellow mule? What is Matt's reaction after the sale? What does Joe
use the mule for? What is Janie's reaction to Joe's buying the mule and his plans for it? According to
Janie, what does Joe (Jody) have in common with Abraham Lincoln?
8. When the mule dies, how do the people of the town dispose of its body? What is your reaction?
9. Why doesn't Joe allow Janie to attend the mule's funeral? What is ironic or funny about the elaborate
funeral Joe and the others give to honor the dead mule? Who are the Parson and his followers who have
a separate funeral for the mule after Joe and the other townspeople leave? What is your reaction to this
scene? What do you think is ZNH's reason for including this entire mule story (48-58) in her novel? Is
it important to the plot? Explain.
10. "Everybody can't be like you, Jody. Somebody is bound tuh want tuh laugh and play". Explain what
Janie it talking about, how she and Joe disagree, and whether she bends to his will on this issue or not.
11. Sam and Lige love to play "the Dozens," that age-old black ritual of graceful insult. Who, in your
opinion, wins their argument, "What is it dat keeps uh man from getting' burnt on uh red-hot stovecaution or nature?" Who is Big John de Conquer, and how does he fit into the discussion?
12. Describe the "playacting" that goes on among the men and women, especially Jim, Dave, and
Daisy. Does this kind of kidding around go on today among you and your peers? Explain.
13. "The bed was no longer a daisy-field for her and Joe to play in" Explain this quotation and how it
symbolizes Janie's changed perception of Joe and their marriage.
14. What is your reaction to the scene involving Mrs. Tony Robbins? Do you find it funny,
embarrassing, or insulting? Explain.
15. "It's so easy to make yo'self out God Almighty when you ain't got nothin' tuh strain against but
women and chickens." What motivates Janie to say this to Joe? What is his reaction? What is your
reaction? Why?
Chapters 7-10
1. How old is Janie at the start of Chapter 7, and what changes have occurred in her outlook on life, her
happiness in marriage, and her future plans? How long has she now been married to Jody?
2. Explain what the following passage means and what it is saying about reading: "She didn't read
books so she didn't know that she was the world and the heavens boiled down to a drop. Man
attempting to climb to painless heights from his dung hill"
3. What changes have occurred in Joe? How old is he now?
4. "Takin' 'bout me lookin' old! When you pull down yo' britches, you look lak de change of life (75).
What has prompted Janie to say this to Joe? What effect does this have on him? With whom are you
more sympathetic here-Janie or Joe? Why?
5. What changes in his life does Jody make, as described in Chapter 8, What is Janie's reaction to these
changes? Why?
6. How is death personified in Chapter 8? Explain.
7. In your own words, describe the final conversation between Janie and Joe. What is her purpose in
saying what she does? What is Joe's reaction? What is your reaction? Why?
8. "Years ago, she had told her girl self to wait for her in the looking glass". Explain what the narrator is
saying about Janie. What does Janie see in the mirror?
9. What change does Janie make in her appearance the day following Joe's funeral? What is your
reaction? Why?
10. The words horizon/horizons are used three times in Chapter 9. What special meaning does the word
horizon have as it's used here? What realization about herself and life does Janie discover following
Joe's death? Why is Janie so critical of Nanny's view of life and how she raised her?
11. Explain the meaning of this quotation: "Like all the other tumbling mud-balls, Janie had tried to
show her shine"
12. Following Joe's death, how do the gentlemen suitors treat Janie? What about her are they most
interested in? What was the one thing none of them would mention to the "widow of Joseph Starks?"
Why? What does Janie mean when she says, "To my thinkin' mourning oughtn't tuh last no longer'n
grief" What's the difference as she means it between mourning and grief?
13. Describe Tea Cake. What is his actual name? How is he different from other suitors? How does
Janie respond to him? What is it about him that attracts her? What is your initial reaction to Tea Cake?
Why? What do we already know will happen with them? What do we not know about their
relationship?
Chapters 11-13
1. What reservations does Janie have about her interest in Tea Cake? Who is Hezekiah (Kiah), and
what opinion of Tea Cake does he express to Janie?
2. What is the age difference between Tea Cake and Janie? What concerns does she have about it?
What is Tea Cake's reaction to their age difference? What is your reaction to their age difference?
3. Tea Cake "could be a bee to a blossom-a pear tree blossom in the spring" Explain what these feelings
of Janie toward Tea Cake mean. What connection does this description have with the blooming pear
tree Janie reacted to at Nanny's as a teen?
4. After his pleasant evening visit with her, why does Tea Cake come back to see Janie the following
morning? What does this morning visit have to do with what Janie had said to him the night before?
5. What evidence (Ch. 11 ) is there that Janie and Tea Cake have become lovers? What is your
reaction? Do you think Tea Cake is sincere or only after her money? Do you think they'll get married?
Why?
6. What is the town's reaction to Janie's relationship with Tea Cake? Why?
7. Why does Janie decide to sell the store? Why doesn't she simply let Tea Cake run it for her?
8. What does Pheoby mean by saying, "Ah jus lak uh chicken. Chicken drink water, but he don't peepee"?
9. How is Janie dressed when she leaves Eatonville? How does this relate to the beginning of the
novel? Where does she go to meet Tea Cake? What mode of transportation does she use? Right after
she arrives, what does she and Tea Cake do first?
10. Briefly relate the story of Annie Tyler that Janie remembers. What parallel does Janie see between
Annie' Tyler's story and her own? What evidence is there that this incident with Tea Cake will have an
unhappy ending? What evidence is there that it will have a happy ending? Which do you expect at this
point? Why?
11. How had Tea Cake spent most of the $200 he had taken from Janie? What does he have left to show
for it? How much money did he return home with? What is Janie's reaction to this episode? What
additional information does this episode reveal about Tea Cake? What is your overall opinion of him
now? Do you think he's a good husband for Janie to have or not? Why?
12. What happens when Tea Cake goes out gambling again? What injuries does he sustain? Who does
it? Why? Financially, did Tea Cake take a loss or make a profit? Explain. What is Janie's reaction to
this episode? Does this latest episode change your opinion of Tea Cake? Explain. As Ch. 13 ends, what
plans does Tea Cake have for him and Janie? What is your reaction to these plans?
Chapters 14-17
1. Describe some of the things Tea Cake and Janie do to earn money when they first arrive in the
Everglades. What are some other activities they do together? What is Tea Cake waiting for in hopes of
earning large amounts of money?
2. What new skill does Janie develop? Chekov, the famous Russian dramatist, once said that a gun
hanging on the wall in the first act must come down and be used during the final act. What is your
reaction to Janie's new skill? Do you see this information as an unimportant detail, or, as Chekov, an
ominous portent of something ugly to come? Why?
3. Describe the workers that poured in from all parts of the country. Why were so many of them
coming to this part of Florida?
4. Why does Tea Cake urge Janie to get a job picking beans? What is Janie's reaction to his request?
5. Describe in your own words what is going on in the story at the end of Chapter 14. What do you
suppose is ZNH's purpose for including this scene?
6. What did Tea Cake do with Nunkie that made Janie jealous? Whom do you find at fault: Tea Cake,
Nunkie, both, neither? Why? What did Janie do to correct the problem? What is your reaction to this
short chapter? Why?
7. Describe Mrs. Turner. Why is she so negative toward "Negroes"? What does she see as some
undesirable characteristics of blacks? Why is such a hatred ironic, coming from her? Why is she
attracted to Janie?
8. What is Mrs. Turner's opinion of Booker T. Washington? Why? What is Janie's reaction to Mrs.
Turner's view?
9. What would Mrs. Turner like see happen between her brother and Janie? Why? What is Janie's
reaction to such an idea?
10. What is Tea Cake's opinion of Mrs. Turner? Why? What is Mrs. Turner's opinion of Tea Cake?
Why?
11. For what reasons does Tea Cake whip Janie? What reaction does this action cause to Tea Cake's
friends and fellow workers? Why? What is your reaction? Why?
12. Describe the incident that occurs at Mrs. Turner's eating house involving Tea Cake, Stew Beef, Sopde-Bottom, Bootyny, Motor Boat, Coodemay, Sterrett, and others. What seems to be the cause? What
other, underlying reason could have caused it? Do you find any of this episode funny? Explain.
Chapter 18
1. Explain how the following react to sign that a hurricane is coming: (A) a band of Seminoles, (B)
various animals, (C) Lias, (D) the men who gather at Tea Cake's house
2. Explain the meaning of this quotation from Motor Boat: "Big Massa draw him chair upstairs. . . Old
Mass is doin' His work now. Us ougha keep quiet"
3. Besides suffering damage to buildings that could result from high winds and rain as with any
hurricane, in what additional danger are the people on the muck as a result of this storm? Why?
4. Why had Tea Cake, Janie, and the others with them not evacuated?
5. Explain the meaning of the quotation near the top of page 160 that contains the title of the novel.
Why do you suppose ZNH chose this title for her novel? Do you fee it's a good title? Why? (If not,
what would be better? Why?)
6. What startling discovery do Tea Cake and Janie make about the lake? Why do Tea Cake and Janie
decide to leave, finally? Why does Motor Boat decide to stay? Were there any other options? What
would you have done in their situation? Why?
7. Explain how Tea Cake saves Janie's life. What injury does Tea Cake suffer as a result? What could
be some possible complications from such an injury?
8. What's Janie's reaction to Tea Cake's actions in saving her life?
9. How does what we know about Tea Cake up to this point in the story contradict the gossip on the
porch about him from Chapter One? What is your opinion of Tea Cake up to this point in the story?
Why?
10. What unanswered questions from Chapter One have now been answered? What unanswered
questions from Chapter One remain? What is your guess to these unanswered questions? Explain.
11. ZNH has planted some subtle foreshadowing in this chapter-as well as earlier--as to how the novel
will end, especially with regard to Tea Cake and Janie. Although you won't know for sure until you
read the final two chapters, what do you suppose those foreshadowing clues might be? What ending do
you think they suggest? Why? If you aren't sure, tell whether you believe the story will happily or
tragically, and why.
Chapters 19-20
1. Describe the situation facing Tea Cake and Janie in Palm Beach at the beginning of Chapter 19.
2. What unwanted job does Tea Cake get "hired" to do? What would likely have happened to him if he
had refused to take the job?
3. Explain how the title of the novel is again suggested-although not stated explicitly-in the middle of
page 170.
4. How are the burial arrangements different for whites and blacks? What is Tea Cake's reaction? What
is your reaction?
5. When Tea Cake and Janie get back to the muck, whom among their friends do they learn did not
survive the storm? What has happened to Motor Boat?
6. What happens to Tea Cake the fourth week back from the hurricane? What does he guess is the
cause? What does Janie do for him? What does Dr. Simmons report to Janie about Tea Cake's
condition?
7. What is Janie's reaction to Tea Cake's condition? What danger is Janie in as a result of Tea Cake's
condition? Why?
8. What is Tea Cake's only chance for survival? What does Janie do to try to save him?
9. What does Tea Cake accuse Janie of? Why? How have his behavior and reasoning been affected by
his illness? What frightening object does Janie discover under Tea Cake's pillow? What additional
danger does that put her in?
10. What is the climax of the novel? What is Janie's reaction? What is your reaction? Did Janie have
any other options under the circumstances? Explain. What is your reaction to this violent scene?
11. Some critics have said the trial scene that follows is unnecessary, one of the weakest parts of the
novel? Do you agree? Why? Why do some of the people Janie and Tea Cake had known testify against
her at the trial? What is Janie's reaction? What is your reaction? Was the outcome of the trial ever in
doubt? Why?
12. Describe Tea Cake's funeral in your own words. How does it compare with Joe Stark's funeral?
Explain how Janie and Tea Cake's friends who had testified against her are able to make up and forgive
one another. Is this making up believable? Explain.
13. Why does Janie return to Eatonville? How does Pheoby say she has changed as a result of listening
to Janie's story? ZNH uses the word horizon twice more (191- 193); how does the word relate to the
story's theme? Explain. How would you describe Janie's outlook on life a the end of the novel? Explain.
What do you believe the future holds for her? Why?
Afterward: "Zora Neale Hurston: 'A Negro Way of Saying'" by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (pages 195-205).
1. What other types of writing (include titles) did ZNH produce besides novels?
2. When was ZNH the "dominant black woman writer in the United States"?
3. Who are some contemporary black women's writers ZNH paved the way for?
4. With regard to point of view, explain "free indirect discourse"; identify and briefly explain an
example of it in TEWWG.
5. What is Tea Cake able to do for Janie that her first two husbands couldn't?