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Their Eyes Were Watching God |
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Zora Neale Hurston |
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This is the story of Janie, a black woman in Florida during the early part of the 20th century. She is raised by her grandmother, marries early, and leaves her first husband for the hope of love. In the next man she finds happiness for time, but it does not last. The third husband is Tea Cake, son of the Evening Sun, a younger man who teaches Janie that love can be found by everyone, no matter how many times they try and find it and fail. This the story of Janie Crawford's life. As one reads, she changes, becoming something she wasn't before. Hurston has captured the essence of youth and love, and how they intertwined in the life of one woman. The symbolism and imagery in this book are perhaps the reason it has endured for more than 60 years. It is beautifully written, half in the spelled-out dialect of men and women with strong Southern accents, and half in the prose of the ancients. "It was like a flute song forgotten in another existence and remembered again. What? How? Why? This singing she heard that had nothing to do with her ears. The rose of the world was breathing out smell. If followed her through all her waking moment's and caressed her in her sleep. It connected itself with other vaguely felt matters that had struck her outside observation and buried themselves in her flesh. Now they emerged and quested about her consciousness." Readers might also enjoy: Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton |
