Notes from Last Class on Their Eyes Were Watching God

  “In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston explores the natures of black women and black men; the ways in which their natures are shaped by their individual and collective experiences within American and African American cultures; and how their experiences inform their self-knowledge, their connection with the world around them and their relationships with others. More specifically, Their Eyes Were Watching God is concerned with a young black woman’s quest for self-discovery beyond the false values imposed on her by a society that allows neither women nor black people to exist naturally and freely. Through her female protagonist, Janie Crawford, Hurston critiques the status of black women and the roles available to them within American and African American cultures; and she offers them an alternate frame of reference for their unique experiences within the world and an alternate path to self-determination and autonomy.” (Smith)

•   Hurston begins the book with an extended metaphor. What are the dreams of men? How are they different from the dreams of women? Who doesn’t get disappointed?

Chapter 1

   "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."

•   Why does Nanny say she is a “cracked plate”? What is Janie’s response? What does Nanny mean by this?

She has been used up in her long life. She didn’t exactly lead an exciting (a       common life serving a purpose like a plate) but her experiences have left her broken in many ways.

•   How does Logan view Janie's role in their marriage?

      Chapter 4

"Six months back he [Logan] had told her, "If Ah kin haul de wood heah and chop it fuh yuh, look lak you oughta be able tuh tote it inside. Mah fust wife never bothered me ‘bout choppin’ no wood nohow. She’d grab dat ax and sling chips lak uh man. You done been spoilt rotten."

       Chapter 4

       "Janie got up with him the next morning and had the breakfast halfway done when he bellowed from the barn.

"Janie!" Logan called harshly. "Come help me move dis manure pile befo’ de sun gits hot. You don’t take a bit of interest in dis place. ‘Tain’t no use in foolin’ .  round in dat kitchen all day long…"

"You don’t need mah help out dere, Logan. Youse in yo’ place and Ah’m in mine."

"You ain’t got no particular place. It’s wherever Ah need yuh. Git uh move on yuh, and dat quick."

•   What are your predictions for Janie’s new marriage? How does it differ from her first?

       Chapter 4

       "[Joe to Janie]: "You behind a plow! You ain’t got no mo’ business wid uh plow       than uh hog is got wid uh holiday! You ain’t got no business cuttin’ up no seed p’taters neither. A pretty doll-baby lak you is made to sit on de front porch and       rock and fan yo’self and eat p’taters dat other folks plant just special for you."

       Chapter 5    

“[Tony Taylor when Joe is made mayor]: "And now we’ll listen tuh uh few words uh encouragement from Mrs. Mayor Starks."

The burst of applause was cut short by Joe taking the floor himself.

"Thank yuh fuh yo’ compliments, but nah wife don’t know nothin’ ‘bout no speech-makin’. Ah never married her for nothin’ lak dat. She’s uh woman and her    place is in de home."

       Chapter 6

"Somebody got to think for women and chillun and chickens and cows. I god, they      sho don’t think none theirselves."

"Ah knows uh few things, and womenfolks thinks sometimes too!"

"Aw naw they don’t. They just think they’s thinkin’. When Ah see one thing Ah understands ten. You see ten things and don’t understand one."

•    How does Hurston use porches in the novel? Who sits on them and what are they doing while they are sitting on the porch?

       Chapter 1

       “It was time for sitting on porches beside the road. It was the time to hear things and talk. These sitters had been tongueless, earless, eyeless conveniences all day long. Mules and other brutes had occupied their skins. But now, the sun and the bossman were gone, so the skins felt powerful and human. They became lords of sounds and lesser things.”

"What she doin coming back here in dem overhalls? Can’t she find no dress to   put on? – Where’s dat blue satin dress she left here in? – Where all dat money her        husband took and died and left her? – What dat ole forty year ole ‘oman doin’ wid her hair swingin’ down her back lak some young gal? – Where she left dat young    lad of a boy she went off here wid? – Thought she was going to marry? – Where he left her? – What he done wid all her money? – Betcha he off wid some gal so young she ain’t even got no hairs – Why she don’t stay in her class?

It is a place where information is traded (gossip and fact). It is also where Nanny     tells her story and Janie’s mother story (Which are both stories of caution). This is     why Nanny wants her to marry Logan--he is stable. She hopes to break the cycle.

       Symbolism of Janie’s hair:

Chapter 6

“This business of the head-rag irked her endlessly. But Jody was set on it. Her hair     was NOT going to show in the store. It didn’t seem sensible at all. That was        because Joe never told Janie how jealous he was. He never told her how often he    had seen the other men figuratively wallowing in it as she went about things in the        store. And one night he had caught Walter standing behind and brushing the back of his hand back and forth across the loose end of her braid ever so lightly so as to        enjoy the feel of it without Janie knowing what he was doing. Joe was at the back      of the store and Walter didn’t see him. He felt like rushing forth with the meat        knife and chopping off the offending hand. That night he ordered Janie to tie up her hair around the store. That was all. She was there in the store for him to look at, not those others.”