Their Eyes Were Watching God Essay - 2362 Words

Ashlyn Brown Angela Ivey AP Literature and composition 5 June 2015 Their Eyes Were Watching God Essay In Zora Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, she focuses on the life of the main character, Janie Crawford. The novel takes place in a small town down south called Eatonville in the 1930’s. Janie is on a quest to find her true identity or in other words, her horizon. Along Janie’s quest for true happiness, she faces numerous obstacles that continue to hinder her from finding her true identity and a man she can truly love. As the expectations of others control her life, Janie keeps pushing and is determined to find a true inner happiness. Janie has to fight the expectations of others all throughout the novel until she reaches a point†¦show more content†¦It all starts when Nanny catches Janie kissing Johnny Taylor and tells Janie, â€Å"Ah wants to see you married right away (chapter 2)†. Janie’s first marriage escalates from her love of the blossoming pear tree where â€Å"She had been spending every minute that she could steal from her chores under that tree for the last three days (chapter 2).† As Janie lays under the pear tree listening to the buzzing of the bees, â€Å"she saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight (chapter 2).† Janie suddenly thinks what she has just watched is indeed what marriage is. After she witnesses the â€Å"marriage† between the pear tree and the bee, Janie looks for similar marriages elsewhere (Weatherspoon,2008). At the age of sixteen, Janie is curious and wants answers. Johnny Taylor is coming up the road and before she knows it, Nanny â€Å"bolted upright and peered out of the window and saw Johnny Taylor lacerating her Janie with a kiss (chapter 2).† Janie was no longer a child but instead Nanny says, â€Å"Yeah, Janie, youse got y o’ womanhood on yuh (chapter 2).† Nanny demands Janie to get married immediately. Janie ends up marrying a man named Logan Killicks, who Nanny says, â€Å"spoke to me ‘bout you long time ago (chapter 2).† Nanny expects