Reading Guide for Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937)

 

 

1)  Hurston creates/re-creates rural black folk culture.  Ponder the consequences of her fictional subject matter.

 

--tends to be a nostalgic discourse, preserving what is being lost because of massive migrations to the industrial North
--thus:

--very aesthetically appealing vernacular dialogue/images

--but few "time" markers indicating historical change

--not a protest novel (about, say, exploitation of black laborers on the "muck": does this disturb you at all?)

                       

2)  How does Hurston convey complex "meaning" if the text emphasizes folk dialogue (frame of Janie/Phoebe, Nanny's story, Teacake's apology to Janie, etc.)?

 

--figurative folk expressions to reveal character's interiors ("I'm a cracked plate")

--repeated images (tree, mouth, high stuff, inside/outside)

--echoes of title (God images)

--comparison b/w Joe/Teacake (hitting Janie, playing checkers, "I God"/Sun god)

 

3)  Does Hurston endorse the judgments/behavior/talking of the folk community, which is male dominated?

           

--what is Joe's favorite expression?

--can the verbal exchanges ("playing the dozens") hurt?

--what mouth images do you recollect?

--what do the men hope to accomplish through their talk?

--how would you characterize the talk between Janie and Pheobe?

           

4)  It's clear that Hurston opposes mouthy ("I God") males, and it's clear that she endorses the sisterly relation of Janie and Phoebe.  But what else does she subvert or endorse?

           

--is Teacake irresponsible? does he make rational, bourgeois decisions? is he cerebral?

--why does Hurston suggest that Janie is attracted to Teacake's gambling/game playing?

--how does gambling relate to images/passages related to the title (i.e., judgments, watching God, the hurricane as fate)?

--could Their Eyes be said to fit with a Romantic vision of life (i.e. Whitman/Blake's celebration of God as manifested in the physicality/pleasures of the universe)?

                       

5)  The narrative begins with the horizon/memory passage.  How do you relate this passage to what one might call a life trajectory? 

 

--does Janie grow or mature?

--does Janie seek the "horizon"?  What do you make of the novel's last image?  Is it expansive or the reverse?

--does she achieve an independent voice?

--do you recall what Janie said in response to being beaten by Teacake?

--whose voices do you hear during the court scene?

--do you recall Janie telling any "big stories" on the muck?