Their Eyes Were Watching God Literary Analysis Literary Analysis

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Literary Analysis on Their Eyes Were Watching God

The Eyes are Watching God is written by Zora Neale Hurston, a 1935 classic novel that received great acclamation and criticism. The novel is about a white girl, Janie, and her life with three husbands and her grandmother. Life chronicles also detail facts about the people she knows or comes in contact with, which greatly shape her life experiences.

Hurstons novel is mainly enlightened by racism and diversity with her explanation of the cultural complications and Black diversity unveiling. The concept of horizon, which is the main focus of the paper, is displayed differently for Janie and has numerous interpretations in each of her life experiences distinctly.

The concept of horizon has a complex interpretation. The readers could comprehend it in their ways as per their understanding of the novels context. Since the main character of the novel Janie has been through hard times in poverty and hardship, being a female, the horizon could have symbolized self-acceptance, confidence, and entirety, opening new doors to happiness, security, and self-acceptance, or completion.

The author uses this symbol several times within the novel. For example, when Janie married Logan Killicks, her thoughts embarked upon her feelings when Jody Starks appeared to her as an indication of the horizon. It again shows that she was hoping for a better life and could have gathered dreams about how happy she could be if she were with Jody. However, throughout the novel, it was noticed that Janie could not reach up to that horizon for which she wished so desperately. If she could find love, she would be deprived of peace and independence.

Since the novel is mainly an exploration of self, which, for Janie, keeps evolving with her age as she explores herself from being a girl to being an attractive woman (Bernard, 2007). The concept of horizon keeps on changing as well. The words used above to portray what...…voice of the author herself, and narrating it by Janies grandmother, there is a distinctly individual context for each time the horizon is symbolized. The past, present, and future wishes have been intermingled with a strict sequential narration of the dynamic elements related to Janies life. Janie, being a human, and her relationship with the lifes incidents that link her with nature create a deep connection with the horizon that is explicit in diverse scenarios.

The symbolic use of the horizon presents her plans, aspirations, and longings Janie hopes to achieve one day. In contrast, she still knows it is impossible as the horizon is just a visual reference point and never could be touched. It is interesting to note that whenever a person goes further, wishing to get to the horizon, the farther it moves away. It is a mere possibility, opportunity, ambition, or sometimes limitation that Janie undergoes several times in several scenarios with a different perspective of the…

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Bernard, Patrick. “The Cognitive Construction of the Self in Hurston’s Their Eyes were Watching God.” CLC Web: Comparative Literature and Culture, vol. 9, no. 2, 2007. Purdue University Press, https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1221&context=clcweb


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