Study Questions & Essay Topics
Study Questions
1. Discuss the
role of conversation in Their Eyes Were Watching God.
In particular, discuss the effect of Hurston’s narrative technique
of alternating between highly figurative narration and colloquial
dialogue.
One of the most interesting aspects of Their
Eyes Were Watching God is Hurston’s interweaving of Standard
Written English on the part of the narrator and early twentieth-century
Southern black vernacular speech on the part of her characters.
The extended passages of dialogue celebrate the language of Southern
blacks, presenting a type of authentic voice not often seen in literature.
In addition to asserting the existence and richness of Southern
black culture, Hurston’s use of dialogue articulates thematic concerns
of the novel. For example, Hurston uses language to express the
difference between Janie’s relationship with Tea Cake and her relationship
with Jody. When Janie meets Jody, we do not hear her speak to him;
instead, the narrator tells us, in Standard Written
English, that they talk, giving us few of their actual words. Janie’s
interactions with Tea Cake, on the other hand, are full of long
passages of vernacular dialogue, a reflection of their genuine connection
and mutual respect for each other. Throughout the novel, Janie struggles
to find her own voice; Hurston demonstrates the importance of this
quest with her use of dialogue as a narrative device.
2. Explain
the significance of the book’s title. How does it relate to Janie’s
quest and the rest of the book?
One important feature of the title Their
Eyes Were Watching God is that the first word is plural,
which anticipates the issues of community and partnership with which
the novel concerns itself. As much as the story is about one woman’s
quest, it is also the story of how that quest is achieved both through
and against community and partnership. The title is drawn from a
moment in which three people act together against a threatening
force—the hurricane, in Chapter 18—but soon
afterward, Janie and Tea Cake split up with Motor Boat, and Janie
is later forced to shoot Tea Cake. The “Their” in the title seems
a fragile construct.
The novel’s concept of God, the other pregnant word in
the title, is most clearly articulated when the narrator describes
Mrs. Turner’s obsession with white features and social norms. Gods,
the reader is told, require suffering, and this suffering is the
beginning of wisdom. The lesson that the hurricane seems to offer
is that God is all-powerful and will damn the proud like Tea Cake,
who believes that his mastery of the muck will allow him to weather
the hurricane. The novel’s overall tenor, however, is hardly one
of awed submission and humility. Janie is focused on understanding
herself, not God, and exhibits a high degree of autonomy in achieving
this goal. Though external forces and circumstances may demand sacrifice and
suffering, Janie herself still determines the course of her life.
3. Why is Janie
initially attracted to Jody? Why does this attraction fade?
Jody comes along at a transitional period
in Janie’s life. She is still partially under the spell of her grandmother’s
philosophy, prizing material wealth and status, but at the same
time has begun to search for something greater. She is unsure what
that something is but knows that it involves more than
what she has with Logan Killicks. When Jody arrives, full of bluster
and ambition, he reconciles Janie’s upbringing with her desire for
adventure. His talk of power and conquest soothes Janie’s disenchantment
while his ambitious social climbing satisfies the values that Nanny
has imparted to her.
Janie’s interest in Jody ultimately wanes because she
discovers that the role he wants her to fit offers her no fulfillment.
She learns that there are two reasons that Jody will never help
her achieve her dreams. First, Jody’s quest is for material and
social gain. He wants wealth, power, and status. No accumulation
of such things, however, will help Janie in her spiritual quest.
Second, Jody defines himself through his control of others, especially
through his silencing of Janie. Their marriage fails because Janie
refuses to tolerate Jody’s inflated sense of himself any longer.
His egotism, based on power over others, demands that he control
and dominate Janie, which prevents her from exploring and expressing
herself.
Suggested Essay Topics
1. In 1937,
Richard Wright reviewed Their Eyes Were Watching God and
wrote: “The sensory sweep of her novel carries no theme, no message,
no thought. In the main, her novel is not addressed to the Negro,
but to a white audience whose chauvinistic tastes she knows how
to satisfy.” In particular, Wright objected to the novel’s discussion
of race and use of black dialect. Why might Wright have objected
to Their Eyes Were Watching God? Do you agree or
disagree with Wright’s interpretation of the novel?
2. Discuss the idea of the horizon
in the Their Eyes Were Watching God. What does
it symbolize for Janie?
3. Compare and contrast Janie’s
three marriages. What initially pulls her to each of the three men?
How do they differ from one another? What does she learn from each
experience?
4. In her marriage to Jody, Janie
is dominated by his power. At several points, however, it is obvious
that he feels threatened by her. Why does Jody need to be in control
of everyone around him? How does Janie threaten Jody and his sense
of control?
5. Their Eyes Were Watching
God is concerned with issues of speech and how speech is
both a mechanism of control and a vehicle of liberation. Yet Janie
remains silent during key moments in her life. Discuss the role
of silence in the book and how that role changes throughout the
novel.
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