Their Eyes Were Watching God (MAXNotes Literature Guides) [Paperback]

Christopher A. Hubert (Author), English Literature Study Guides (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0878910530 | ISBN-13: 978-0878910533 | Publication Date: January 2, 1996

MAXnotes offer a fresh look at masterpieces of literature, presented in a lively and interesting fashion. Written by literary experts who currently teach the subject, MAXnotes will enhance your understanding and enjoyment of the work. MAXnotes are designed to stimulate independent thought about the literary work by raising various issues and thought-provoking ideas and questions. MAXnotes cover the essentials of what one should know about each work, including an overall summary, character lists, an explanation and discussion of the plot, the work's historical context, illustrations to convey the mood of the work, and a biography of the author. Each chapter is individually summarized and analyzed, and has study questions and answers.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

At the height of the Harlem Renaissance during the 1930s, Zora Neale Hurston was the preeminent black woman writer in the United States. She was a sometime-collaborator with Langston Hughes and a fierce rival of Richard Wright. Her stories appeared in major magazines, she consulted on Hollywood screenplays, and she penned four novels, an autobiography, countless essays, and two books on black mythology. Yet by the late 1950s, Hurston was living in obscurity, working as a maid in a Florida hotel. She died in 1960 in a Welfare home, was buried in an unmarked grave, and quickly faded from literary consciousness until 1975 when Alice Walker almost single-handedly revived interest in her work.

Of Hurston's fiction, Their Eyes Were Watching God is arguably the best-known and perhaps the most controversial. The novel follows the fortunes of Janie Crawford, a woman living in the black town of Eaton, Florida. Hurston sets up her characters and her locale in the first chapter, which, along with the last, acts as a framing device for the story of Janie's life. Unlike Wright and Ralph Ellison, Hurston does not write explicitly about black people in the context of a white world--a fact that earned her scathing criticism from the social realists--but she doesn't ignore the impact of black-white relations either:

It was the time for sitting on porches beside the road. It was the time to hear things and talk. These sitters had been tongueless, earless, eyeless conveniences all day long. Mules and other brutes had occupied their skins. But now, the sun and the bossman were gone, so the skins felt powerful and human. They became lords of sounds and lesser things. They passed nations through their mouths. They sat in judgment.

One person the citizens of Eaton are inclined to judge is Janie Crawford, who has married three men and been tried for the murder of one of them. Janie feels no compulsion to justify herself to the town, but she does explain herself to her friend, Phoeby, with the implicit understanding that Phoeby can "tell 'em what Ah say if you wants to. Dat's just de same as me 'cause mah tongue is in mah friend's mouf."

Hurston's use of dialect enraged other African American writers such as Wright, who accused her of pandering to white readers by giving them the black stereotypes they expected. Decades later, however, outrage has been replaced by admiration for her depictions of black life, and especially the lives of black women. In Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston breathes humanity into both her men and women, and allows them to speak in their own voices. --Alix Wilber --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"There is no book more important to me than this one." -- Alice WalkerA --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Research & Education Association (January 2, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0878910530
• ISBN-13: 978-0878910533
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #373,534 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #7 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Religion & Spirituality > Other Practices > African American
  • #12 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > General

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hurston is a powerful, intriguing writer, June 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Their Eyes Were Watching God (MAXNotes Literature Guides) (Paperback)

I've been reading anything I could find for over thirty years and Their Eyes is one of my top ten favorites. Janie's growth as an individual mirrors the emergence of all women's belief in their power and worth as human beings. The dialect can be daunting at first, but with a lttle effort you will soon be swept into this magnificent story. Set in Florida in the 1930's, Janie struggles to satisfy first her grandmother, and then the men in her life. When Teacake contracts rabies, forcing Janie to shoot him defending herdelf, the tragedy seems to overpower her life. Yet, Janie's courage and belief in herself bring a sense of peace to the ending. Bravo Hurston!

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank you, MAXnotes, January 26, 1999

By 

Daniel Robuck (Campbell, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Their Eyes Were Watching God (MAXNotes Literature Guides) (Paperback)

"Their Eyes..." is a masterpiece of African-American literature, make no doubt of that. But Hurston's wonderful use of dialect, folklore, and idiomatic syntax can at first be daunting. I casually read "Eyes" with the MAXnotes by my side. I got 50% more out of the book that simply would have been lost. Way to go, MAXnotes!

5 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I gave it 1 star because you can't give it any less, April 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Their Eyes Were Watching God (MAXNotes Literature Guides) (Paperback)

If I knew how bad this book was going to be, I would have rather spent the time stabbing my self with toothpicks, than reading it. DON'T WAIST YOUR TIME!!!