Their Eyes Were Watching God

The language Hurston uses in this book is incredible. The “double-voiced discourse” between the narrator and the vivacious Janie is jarring at first, but, because it is so masterfully wrought, becomes the novel's heart beat.

At the beginning, Janie is simply “the woman,” a clearly separate entity from the narrator. Later, the two voices almost seem to meld. These undulations and trills created an interesting discussion about the narrator's identity in my book club. Some thought 3rd person omniscient, some Janie's inner self, some Phoeby, and others the author or an anthropologist. I finished on the side of an anthropologist; Hurston was a well-educated anthropologist, who collected folklore throughout the South, including stories about survivors of the Lake Okechobee hurricane in the 1920s.

There are certainly biographical elements to the novel, but they are embedded in the story and characters more so than the narrator's voice in my opinion. For example, Hurston wrote the novel in Haiti (while there to collect folklore) after ending a passionate relationship with a much younger man. She also knew what it was to be shunned by your community for being different; note the reaction of Harlem Renaissance authors to her work, especially Richard Wright's searing criticism that this book was simply a minstrel show for the white folks and had no plot, theme, or substance. Listening to the first few pages of the novel read by Ruby Dee brings out the poetic lyricism of Hurston's writing (to hear a 7-minute excerpt, go to the author's official website at http://zoranealehurston.com/books/#their-eyes-were-watching-god). Would my Chicago accent sound like a joke if transcribed faithfully and would you think it came from an educated woman? Probably yes to the first and no to the second.

Some critics classify this story as a Bildungsroman. There are elements of the coming-of-age tale here, but there are many mythical or almost biblical elements, as well. Truly, there is a strong, independent woman depicted in this novel; while the economics and cultural mores of the 30s placed much greater constraints on Janie than they would today, she nonetheless understands that she has great value and she must find people who accept her as she is. It's “their eyes” watching God, not Janie's. Janie is a woman who searches for and is finally able to ensnare the promise of the horizon. And that's a story worth reading.