Their Eyes Were Watching God

Title: Their Eyes Were Watching God

Author: Zora Neale Hurston

Pages: 184

Genre: Classic

Grade: B

Synopsis: This book describes the life of Janie Crawford in the small town of Eaton, Florida in the 1930's. Janie had been married to three men, was tried for the murder of one of the men and was often scorned by the town's inhabitants. Janie didn't really care what other people thought about her because she made sure to always do what's best for her and not what other people expected her to do under the circumstances.

My Review: This was a bit of a tough read. It shouldn't have taken me nearly as long as it did to read but it was one of those books that it almost felt like a chore to read. There were parts of the book that I really liked and there were other parts that required a bit of trudging. The book is well-regarded for its historical context and is chock-full of symbolism (most of which I'm sure I missed). This book does get you thinking and made me grateful for the time in which I live.

From the Book: "(p. 79) So Janie began to think of Death. Death, that strange being with the huge square toes who lived way in the West. The great one who lived in the straight house like a platform without sides to it, and without a roof. What need has Death for a cover, and what winds can blow against him? He stands in his high house that overlooks the world. Stands watchful and motionless all day with his sword drawn back, waiting for the messenger to bid him come. Been standing there before there was a where or a when or a then. She was liable to find a feather from his wings lying in her yard any day now. She was sad and afraid too. Poor Jody! He ought not to have to wrassle in there by himself. She sen Sam in to suggest a cisit, but Jody said No. These medical doctors wuz all right with the Godly sick, but they didn't know a thing about a case like his. He'd be all right just as soon as the two-headed man found what had been buried against him. He wasn't going to die at all. That was what he thought. But Sam told her different, so she knew. And then if he hadn't the next morning she was bound to know, for people began to gather in the big yard under the palm and china-berry trees. People who would not have dared to foot the place before crept in and did not come to the house. Just squatted under the trees and waited. Rumor, that wingless bird, had shadowed over the town."

"(p. 133) Mrs. Turner was a milky sort of a woman that belonged to child-bed. Her shoulders rounded a little, and she must have been conscious of her pelvis because she kept it stuck out in front of her so she could always see it. Tea Cake made a lot of fun about Mrs. Turners shape behind her back. He claimed that she had been shaped up by a cow kicking her from behind. She was an ironing board with things throwed at it. Then that same cow took and stepped in her mouth when she was a baby and left it wide and flat with her chin and nose almost meeting."