Literature review

The novel Their Eyes Were Watching God is a phenomenal one. It portrays a little girl turned woman, not falling subject/prey to the traditional role of women; the mule of the world. Zora Neale Hurston, the author went against the norm in putting pen to paper with this novel. I chose to write a literature review simply because I am opinion oriented and I have some strong opinions in the form of criticisms as well as praises for the critical points of this novel. Also in this review I will explore the authors creative use of narrative techniques in building this extraordinary novel.

In this review I will be using a few key terms these are: point of view (3rd person narrative), oral tradition, descriptive and literary devices namely metaphor and symbolism. Point of view is defined as the perspective from which the story is being told. Oral tradition as it states is the oral; word of mouth relation of an event or events much like o narrative technique Jamaican story telling. Descriptive technique is as it suggests, the narrative technique used when describing; painting a picture or creating a specific character, scene or setting. Literary devices are tools used to convey the writers message or intention in various creative ways. The two literary devices at hand here are metaphor and symbolism. A metaphor is used to compare two unlike things without the use of comparative words as or like. Symbolism is used when representing one thing or another.

Hurston wrote the novel in third person narrative, hence the story is told from Janies point of view. Janie, a middle aged woman comes home after her three (3) decade long love searching adventure and tells her story on her front porch to her best friend Pheobe in one day (evening). From this word of mouth relation of the story, arises another narrative technique, oral tradition. The use of these techniques help the reader to get the story straight from the horses mouth, thus enabling the reader to better understand Janie and the novel at large. In doing this Hurston uses the flashback technique; Janie sits back unwinds, reflects and relates her story.

The use of colloquial language is also very evident in the novel, in fact it beautifully decorates it. The dialect of the common people helps the reader to become more comfortable, appreciative of it and better relate to it. Janie relates her story using her own language; American English with a southern accent. This language is also paralleled with the authors, as Hurston too was a southern girl.

Another technique brilliantly used in the novel is descriptive technique. The story is set in South Florida, the southern tip of North America. Eatonville, Janies second (2nd) hometown was also one of Hurstons hometowns. She was not writing of a ficticious place, she actually lived and experienced it, hence she can readily relate this place to us. Hurston uses beautiful visual imagery in describing all of Janies abiding cities. Imagery is also used to describe the characters and this description was excellently done. When Hurston describes each of Janies husbands the reader can picture them with their minds eye. When Logan Killicks, Janies first (1st) husband, is portrayed to us, we picture a fat, unattractive middle-aged man with huge lumps at the back of his head and an enormous fat-filled belly. With Joe Starks, Janies second (2nd) husband, we see a much more attractive young adult probably wearing nice suits with shoes and a hat to match, a smooth gentleman. Finally with Tea Cake (Vergible Woods), Janies third (3rd) and final husband, we see the height of attraction, he is very cute, sexy, young, he has great sex appeal and he has that spark about him. We picture him as being the husband that other females would be ready and willing to steal.

Hurston also uses metaphors and symbols to bring across the characters feelings. For instance when Janie was in the midst of a chromatic mix/twist of emotions(the instance in which she was about to shoot Tea Cake), Hurston adds just the right pinch of flavour by seasoning it with metaphor thus leaving us the reader/s feeling Janies exact emotions from her deepest fears to her immediate yet persistent thoughts.

Hurstons work in this novel can be paralleled with her life, one can even argue that is a mirror, Hurston is real and Janie is the reflection. According to critic Tom Wilhermus Hurstons work is the majority of the time a reflection of her own self and her own life experiences. Here in lies the parallels. Hurstons father formulated the laws that governed Eatonville, similar to how to Janies second (2nd) husband Joe Starks after their move to Eatonville, became the towns mayor. Hurstons mother, Lucy Hurston, died while she was at the tender age of thirteen (13). This is mirrored with the absence of Janies mother, though she was not dead, she neglected Janie quite early, took off and left Janie with Nanny, Janies grandmother. Another dead on parallel is that of Hurstons appearance this definitely mirrored Janies. Hurston is described in her biography as being and I quote she was a handsome, bigboned woman with playful yet penetrating eyes, high cheek bones and a full, graceful mouth that was never without expression. She had to lie about her age; being ten (10) years younger in order to obtain to obtain employment and her young and attractive look just strengthened her charade. We can see the obvious comparison. Janie was always a beautiful girl from age sixteen (16) when her first

(1st) husband Logan Killicks was so caught up in her outward beauty that he did everything in and around the house and all he required of her was basically to just stay. To the real test of looks and charm- this brings us to her third (3rd) and final and favourite husband Tea Cake. Janie was almost twice his age but ther was not one female he admired and enjoyed more than her. At age fourty (40) plus Janie was sexier, more attractive and more sex appeal than women half (1/2) her age. Hence even though younger women flirted mercilessly with Tea Cake, he never strayed.

The final parallel I want to shed some light is that of the hypocritical elite, the porch sitters. When Hurston lived in Eatonville watching, criticising and even anticipating her next move and she inserts this into her novel. We can see the porch sitters portraying their judge and jury duties with Janies life. Janie becomes their hot topic while in Eatonville and bearing the name Mrs. Joe Starks, until she left to become Janie Woods (Mrs. Vergible Woods/Mrs. Tea Cake) and on her return as plain Janie.

Although Hurstons novel was an extraordinary one and it has its praises and credits it is widely criticised. Richard Wright called the novel a minster-show turn that makes white folks laugh and said it showed no desire whatever to move in the direction of serious fiction. Another critic Ralph Ellison said the book contained a blight of calculated burlesque. Hurston is also criticised for her phonetic spelling of the dialect used in the novel. What I found hypocritical though is the criticism she received from many prominent authors that were a part of the Harlem Renaissance. They were upset that Hurston exposed the divisions between the light-skinned African Americans and those of a darker shade. She brought this division to personified life with the character Mrs. Turner. We see Mrs. Turner constantly in Janies ears, like a mosquito, urging her to leave Tea Cake and even trying to set her up on her light-skinned brother, because she was of the belief that because he was of a darker shade he was no good and Janie could do much better.

This novel is of the highest quality and as such deserves a review of the highest standard and I have tried my utmost best to give it just that. With this being I will leave you with a quote of Janies, theres two things everybody got to find out for themselves: they got to find out about loving and they got to find out about living, and these Janie did indeed find out about.

DANIELLE THOMAS 12-1