Their Eyes Were Watching God

Already in the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston a lot of events have been described. In chapter one, the reader learns that Janie Starks, the main character, has returned back to her southern hometown. Janie explains to her friend Phoeby that after she discovered that she was not happy living in the Everglades with her spouse, "Tea Cake," she realized that it was time for her to go back home.

In chapter two, Janie begins to tell Phoeby a story of how she and her grandmother "Nanny" used to live in the backyard of the Washburns house (a white couple), and how the children at her school used to make fun of her for living in a white couple's backyard. Soon, Nanny buys land and a house because she believes that it will be better for Janie. As Janie begins to grow up, she lusts to kiss a boy, Johnny Taylor. When Nanny finds out what Janie has done, she informs Janie that she wants to see Janie get married to a middle-aged man named Logan Killicks. Nanny explains that she wants Janie to have protection, which she believes Killicks can supply. As Janie protests, Nanny tells Janie a story of how she too went through hardships in her life. Nanny then describes how she was raped by her master and became pregnant with Leafy, Janie's mother. When the wife of the master sees Leafy, immediately she realizes that the baby was a product of Nanny and her husband. The wife threatens Nanny and tells her that along with the beating Nanny will receive, when the baby turns one month old, she will send the baby away from the plantation. Scared, and determined to protect her child, Nanny wraps the child up and escapes into the swamps. A short time after the incident with the wife, Nanny begins to work with the Washburns and sends Leafy to school. However, at seventeen, Leafy is raped by her school teacher and becomes pregnant with Janie. Soon after Janie is born, Leafy vanishes and Nanny chooses to take care of Janie.

Although I have read chapters 1-5, there is too much information to write in this one blog. However, I believe that chapters one and two were perhaps the most important chapters so far in the novel. Both of these chapters set the stage for why Janie decided to return to her hometown (which is still unclear), and they include vital information that help the reader understand the following chapters.

As of now, I enjoy this book. However, the most difficult issue that I am being faced with while reading this novel is the dialect. I find the dialect forces me to ponder what I am actually reading. Even though this may be a good thing, at times it is frustrating because all I want to do is read and find out what happens. Instead when I come to the dialect parts in the novel I have to stop and read extremely slowly, or else I have to re-read the entire page (talk about annoying).