Karl Viamonte-Lyons
9-11-11
Period 4AB IB Jr English
Mrs. Townzen
For the very first sentence of the book, Hurston chooses to talk about men. Not just men, but the dreams and goals of men. “Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing…” (1) Hurston is describing how some men’s dreams just come naturally, but in contrast, some men can chase their dreams forever, never fully reaching them. I found it interesting how she starts the book talking about men chasing their dreams, when the focuses on Janie. The answer could lie in the third line of the book, “…never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by time.” (1) The title of the book is Their Eyes Were Watching God. In that line, “the Watcher” is capitalized, maybe suggesting that “the Watcher” is God. I find it very interesting how closely that relates to the title, maybe Hurston could have a much deeper meaning to the first lines then just talking about men’s dreams.
I’m very intrigued in how closely the line “the Watcher turns his eyes” relates to the title of the book, I wonder if there is a reason for that. Does the first paragraph have more to do with the book then meets the eye? Why does Hurston to choose to start a book about the life of a girl, with the dreams of men?
One thing that really stood out to me was Hurston’s reference to plant life. “She was sixteen. She had glossy leaves and bursting buds” (11), and right after, “Through pollinated air she saw a glorious being coming up the road.” (11). After a few sentences she kisses that “glorious being” (Johnny Taylor). Hurston described the air as “pollinated” was that a very quick and decisive foreshadow to their kiss? It may foreshadow something later on in the book. It seems as though Hurston likes to use plants and other natural things to contrast to human life. Later on, Hurston has Janie describe her Nanny as “…[Nanny’s] face looked like the standing roots of some old tree…” (12) Hurston chooses to describe Janie’s Nanny as an old tree. This could be portraying Janie’s thoughts of her grandmother’s old-fashioned view of love, and how “status” is ultimately more important than love, according to Nanny. In the third chapter, Hurston usually uses spring time to describe Janie’s life, “So Janie waited a bloom time, and a green time and an orange time.” (25) Also, in the beginning of the second chapter, “Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed, things done and undone. Dawn and doom was in the branches.” (8) What could Hurston be foreshadowing in the rest of the book?
I find it curious how Hurston describes the seasons by the color of the plants during each season; does this have something to do with Janie’s three marriages? Why else would Hurston only use three seasons instead of four? Will Hurston use more nature to describe Janie’s feelings about life later on?
Another curious thing about the first few pages is that Hurston likes to put contradicting words in the same sentence. On page 2, while talking about Janie being judged by the porch sitters, Hurston describes the porch sitters making “burning statements with questions, and killing tools out of laughs. It was mass cruelty.” (2) and then no more than a line away, Hurston describes their actions as “walking altogether like harmony in a song.” I think it’s very strange how she uses such contradictory terms so close together. Hurston describes the “porch sitters” as having a sort of mob mentality. I wonder if during the 1930s that was very common and inspired her.
Was Hurston’s life influenced by “porch sitters”? Why does she make them have such an impact on the story line? Will Hurston keep using contradictory words later in the book? Why does she use this style?
