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Their Eyes Were Watching God

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Their Eyes Were Watching God, (1937), set in the Southern states of the US in the late 19th century, is perhaps Zora Neale Hurston's most well-known novel, and is considered by many to be a quasi-autobiographical novel.

The book was adapted into the 2005 film Their Eyes Were Watching God by Suzan-Lori Parks and was produced by Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions (Winfrey served as the host for the broadcast). It aired on ABC on March 16 2005 and received very high ratings.

The main character, Janie, embarks on an epic journey. Her search for self-fulfillment as a woman and as an African-American is paralleled with that of Odysseus as her journey takes her far and wide and pits her against the forces of nature and "monsters" that try to stop her from reaching self-actualization. Through Janie's trials, Hurston makes the claim that African-American women are marginalized by their society and admonishes the Negro race to reject the materialistic attitudes of their white masters and to obey only God. Hence, the title, which suggests passive submission to the will of the Creator.

The book, written in black southern dialect, has attracted criticism by those who claim it portrays African-Americans as ignorant (despite the fact that Hurston is, herself, African-American). Similar criticisms have been leveled at Twain's Huckleberry Finn.

Biblical allusions

Page numbers are from the Perennial version of this novel (ISBN 0060931418)

  • "They sat in judgment." (pg 1)
  • "Lemme scrub mah feet." (pg 5) - See Genesis 28:4, Exodus 3:5, Acts 7:33, Genesis 19:2
  • "Sam say most of 'em goes to church so they'll be sure to rise in judgement." (pg 6)
  • The "pear tree" scene (pg 10-11) - See Genesis 2-4, Consider Janie as a prelapsarian figure.
  • "A highway through de wilderness" (pg 16) - See Matthew 4:1
  • "Isaac and Rebecca at de well" (pg 42) - See Genesis 24:13-15
  • "And when Ah touch de match tuh da lamp-wick let de light penetrate inside of yuh, and let it shine, let it shine, let it shine." (pg 45) - See Genesis 1:3
  • "He felt like rushing forth with the meat knife and chopping off the offending hand." (pg 55) - See Matthew 5:30
  • "the thing that Saul's daughter had done to David" (pg 79) - See I Samuel 18-19
  • "...he'd be walkin' da water lak old Peter befo' he knowed it." (pg 101) See Matthew 14:28-29
  • "Ah'm de Apostle Paul tuh de Gentiles." (pg 104)
  • "You got de keys to de kingdom." (pg 109) - See Matthew 16:18-19
  • The "Flood" in Chapter 18 - See Genesis 6-9
  • "The wheel kept turning round and round." (pg 166) - See Book of Ezekiel
  • "His pale white horse had galloped over waters and thundered over land." (pg 168) - See Book of Revelation 6:2


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