Their Etes Were Watching God

Rebekka Westermeyer

Dugranrut

Period 7 English 3 Honors

19 May 2014

The Horizon and Hurricane – An essay analyzing the figurative language of symbolism

        Throughout Zora Neale Hurston's “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” Janie's exploration and journey paints the beauty and realism of life through imagery and symbolism. The horizon serves as the manifestation of Janie's desires for betterment, juxtaposed by the unfeeling, raw force of the hurricane, a representation of destruction in the world. Hurston uses these two symbols of nature to illustrate that the world both encourages one to aspire and dream and incurs realist and wistfulness throughout the progression of the story.

        In earlier stages of Janie's life, the horizon symbolized the potential one could achieve. Since Logan was bound to his realist life, he is never associated with it, and the horizon becomes especially prominent when Jody Starks converses with Janie, speaking “for far horizon..., for change and chance.” These “others” who pursue their dreams “sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns.” While one chooses whether or not to pursue the horizon, it is the unshakable divine power of God or fate that enables the fulfillment of dreams. When the recurring comment that “their eyes were watching God” appears, the people are looking to both the horizon and, instead of begging or threatening as a means of hopefully reaching the horizon, they allow fate to play it out; there is some understanding that a person's free will is subject to the unbiased yet often whimsical will of God.

        The hurricane punctuates the realization of the power of God over that of free will; Janie and Tea Cake made the decision to stay in the Everglades even with the warnings of a storm, Their free will did not trigger the destruction and havoc of the hurricane at all, but rather it was a natural force, destructive regardless of its targets. The hurricane fulfills its duty in leveling the Everglades, but Tea Cake's eventual death comes as a side effect. Eventually, Janie accepts his death as a part of fate, understanding that they can only watch God in all their own power. During the storm “their eyes [were] straining against crude walls and their souls asking if He meant to measure their puny might against His,” further emphasizing that the free will of man cannot even be close in measuring up to God.