Their Eyes Were Watching God

Their Eyes Were Watching God Plot Summary

Introduction

In the vast landscape of American literature, few voices shine with the authenticity and creative force of Zora Neale Hurston. Born in the deep South at the turn of the 20th century, Hurston emerged as a luminous figure who defied categorization and expectation. She was simultaneously an anthropologist, folklorist, and novelist whose work celebrated the richness of African American culture when many of her contemporaries focused primarily on racial struggle. With her distinctive literary voice and unapologetic personality, Hurston carved a unique path through a world that often tried to limit both her gender and her race. What makes Hurston's story particularly compelling is not just her artistic accomplishments but the remarkable journey of her legacy. After achieving significant recognition during the Harlem Renaissance, she experienced a dramatic fall into obscurity, dying in poverty and buried in an unmarked grave. Yet decades later, her work would be rediscovered and elevated to canonical status, revealing the enduring power of her insights into the human condition, cultural identity, and the distinctive beauty of African American vernacular traditions. Through Hurston's remarkable life, we witness not only the evolution of a brilliant creative mind but also the complex interplay between art, race, gender, and American culture during one of its most transformative periods.

Chapter 1: Early Life and the Formation of Identity

Zora Neale Hurston was born on January 7, 1891, in Notasulga, Alabama, though she would later claim Eatonville, Florida as her birthplace. This early act of self-invention spoke volumes about Hurston's relationship with identity and storytelling. Eatonville, where her family moved when she was still a young child, was one of the first self-governing all-Black incorporated towns in the United States. This unique environment profoundly shaped Hurston's worldview and provided her with an early foundation that was relatively sheltered from the direct effects of racism that dominated much of American society. Growing up in Eatonville offered Hurston something rare for African Americans of her generation: a childhood largely free from the consciousness of racial inferiority. As she would later recall, she never felt the weight of being "tragically colored." Instead, she absorbed the vibrant oral traditions, folktales, and community dynamics of an all-Black town. The porch of Joe Clarke's store became her first classroom in anthropology, where she observed the art of "lying" – creative, exaggerated storytelling that was a cherished form of entertainment and cultural expression. These early experiences would later inform her anthropological approach and her distinctive literary style. Hurston's sense of self was deeply affected by her mother's death when she was nine years old. Her mother, Lucy Ann Potts Hurston, had encouraged Zora's education and independent spirit, famously urging her to "jump at de sun." After her mother's passing, Hurston's life took a difficult turn. Her father, John Hurston, a Baptist preacher and carpenter, quickly remarried, and relationships with his new wife were strained. Zora found herself shuttled between relatives, and her education became irregular at best. By the age of fourteen, Hurston was working as a maid for a traveling theatrical company, an experience that broadened her horizons beyond the boundaries of Eatonville. This early independence, though born of necessity, cultivated in Hurston a fierce self-reliance and determination that would characterize her approach to life. She developed a remarkable ability to adapt to new environments while maintaining her distinctive perspective and voice. Despite interrupted formal education, Hurston never abandoned her intellectual curiosity or her dream of further schooling. In 1917, in a remarkable act of self-invention, the twenty-six-year-old Hurston presented herself as sixteen in order to qualify for free public high school education in Baltimore. This creative approach to obstacles—rewriting her own story when necessary—would become a hallmark of Hurston's life, blurring the lines between fact and fiction, not out of dishonesty but from a deep understanding that identity itself is partly a creative act.

Chapter 2: Education and Intellectual Awakening

Hurston's educational journey was unconventional but transformative. After completing her high school studies at Morgan Academy (later Morgan State University), she attended Howard University intermittently between 1918 and 1924. At Howard, Hurston was exposed to the emerging intellectual currents of the Harlem Renaissance. She studied with philosopher Alain Locke, who would later be known as the "Father of the Harlem Renaissance," and published her first short story in the university's literary magazine. These early forays into writing revealed her natural talent and distinct voice. In a remarkable turn of events that would alter the trajectory of her life, Hurston received a scholarship to Barnard College in 1925, becoming the institution's first Black student. At Barnard, she studied anthropology under the renowned Franz Boas, often referred to as the father of American anthropology. Boas's approach, which emphasized cultural relativism and rejected hierarchical rankings of cultures, profoundly influenced Hurston's intellectual development. Under his mentorship, she began to see her intimate knowledge of Black folk culture not as something to transcend but as a valuable intellectual resource. While attending Barnard, Hurston also became immersed in the vibrant cultural scene of the Harlem Renaissance. She formed relationships with luminaries such as Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Wallace Thurman. Together with Hughes and several other writers, she created and published Fire!!, a literary magazine that challenged the more conservative approaches of established Black publications and embraced controversial themes with unflinching honesty. Although the magazine produced only one issue before financial difficulties forced it to fold, it represented Hurston's commitment to artistic independence and authenticity. After graduating from Barnard in 1928, Hurston embarked on extensive anthropological fieldwork in the American South and the Caribbean, supported by research fellowships. She collected folktales, songs, and religious practices, documenting cultural expressions that had previously been overlooked by the academic establishment. This research would form the basis of her groundbreaking works of anthropology, including "Mules and Men" and "Tell My Horse," but it also deeply informed her fiction, giving it a richness and authenticity that distinguished it from the work of her contemporaries. Hurston's dual training as an anthropologist and creative writer allowed her to develop a unique approach to representing Black culture. Unlike many educated African Americans of her era who distanced themselves from folk traditions, Hurston embraced these cultural forms and presented them without apology or explanation to white audiences. She rejected the notion that Black cultural expressions needed to be "elevated" or modified to gain legitimacy. Instead, she celebrated their inherent value and artistic merit, an approach that was revolutionary for its time but would sometimes put her at odds with other Black intellectuals who worried about reinforcing stereotypes.

Chapter 3: Literary Voice and Artistic Innovation

Hurston's literary career bloomed in the 1930s with the publication of her first novel, "Jonah's Gourd Vine" (1934), which drew heavily on her father's life. However, it was her 1937 masterpiece, "Their Eyes Were Watching God," that would eventually secure her place in the literary canon. Written in just seven weeks while Hurston was conducting anthropological research in Haiti, the novel tells the story of Janie Crawford's journey to self-discovery and fulfillment through three marriages. The work stands as a powerful assertion of Black female autonomy and desire, revolutionary in its portrayal of a Black woman as the hero of her own quest for self-realization. What distinguished Hurston's fiction most dramatically from that of her contemporaries was her use of language. She pioneered the use of Black vernacular speech not merely as colorful ornamentation but as the narrative voice itself. In her hands, the rich idioms, metaphors, and rhythms of southern Black speech became a sophisticated literary language capable of expressing profound philosophical insights and poetic beauty. This approach represented a radical departure from the literary conventions of her time, which often treated dialect as a marker of inferiority or used it only for comic effect. Despite the artistic achievements of "Their Eyes Were Watching God," the novel received mixed reviews upon publication, particularly from male critics within the Black literary establishment. Richard Wright, who had risen to prominence with his sociologically oriented protest novel "Native Son," criticized Hurston's work for lacking political content and pandering to white audiences with what he considered stereotypical portrayals of Black life. This criticism reflected a fundamental difference in artistic vision: while Wright and many of his contemporaries viewed literature primarily as a tool for social change, Hurston insisted on the right of Black characters to exist beyond the narrow confines of racial struggle. Throughout the late 1930s and 1940s, Hurston continued to produce significant works, including "Moses, Man of the Mountain" (1939), which reimagined the biblical Exodus story with distinctly African American cultural overtones, and "Seraph on the Suwanee" (1948), which broke new ground by focusing on poor white characters in Florida. She also published her autobiography, "Dust Tracks on a Road" (1942), a complex and sometimes contradictory self-portrait that, like much of her work, defied simple categorization. Hurston's innovation extended beyond her literary output to her theatrical productions. She founded a school of dramatic arts at North Carolina College for Negroes (now North Carolina Central University) and staged all-Black theatrical productions that showcased authentic African American folk culture. These productions often faced financial difficulties and lack of institutional support, but they represented Hurston's commitment to creating artistic spaces where Black culture could be presented on its own terms, without the mediating lens of white expectations.

Chapter 4: Cultural Anthropology and Folk Traditions

Hurston's anthropological work represents a groundbreaking contribution to the documentation and preservation of African American folk culture. Under the guidance of Franz Boas, she conducted extensive fieldwork throughout the American South, particularly in her native Florida, collecting folktales, songs, games, and religious practices. What set Hurston apart from other anthropologists of her era was her unique position as both insider and trained observer—she had the academic tools to document these cultural expressions systematically but also the cultural fluency to access communities and gain trust in ways that outsiders could not. In 1935, Hurston published "Mules and Men," the first major collection of African American folklore by a Black author. The work was revolutionary not just in its content but in its approach. Rather than presenting the material as exotic curiosities or primitive survivals, Hurston situated herself within the narrative, showing how these stories functioned within their communities. She revealed the complex layers of meaning in seemingly simple tales, demonstrating how folklore served as a vehicle for social commentary, resistance, and the preservation of cultural wisdom. Her work challenged the prevailing academic view that dismissed folk traditions as unsophisticated and instead revealed their sophisticated aesthetic and philosophical dimensions. Hurston's anthropological interests extended beyond the United States to the Caribbean, where she conducted research in Jamaica and Haiti. This research resulted in "Tell My Horse" (1938), a groundbreaking study of Haitian and Jamaican spiritual practices, particularly Vodou. With remarkable sensitivity and respect, Hurston documented religious ceremonies, beliefs, and social structures at a time when such practices were routinely sensationalized or denigrated by outside observers. Her willingness to participate in the rituals she studied—at one point becoming initiated into certain Vodou practices—reflected her commitment to understanding cultural expressions from within rather than imposing external judgments. What distinguished Hurston's anthropological approach was her rejection of the common tendency to view Black cultural expressions primarily through the lens of their relationship to white culture. Instead, she presented Black communities as complete cultural systems with their own internal logic, aesthetics, and values. This approach represented a radical departure from the deficit-oriented perspectives that dominated much social science research on Black communities, which tended to focus on what these communities lacked relative to white norms rather than on what they created and sustained. Hurston's anthropological work had profound implications for her fiction. The techniques of storytelling, the rhythms of speech, and the philosophical worldviews she documented in her folklore collections became the raw material for her novels. Unlike many writers who treated folklore as decorative elements to be inserted into otherwise conventional narratives, Hurston allowed folk aesthetic principles to shape the very structure and language of her fiction. This integration of anthropological insight and creative expression produced works that were simultaneously authentic cultural documents and innovative literary creations. Despite the significance of her contributions, Hurston's anthropological work faced criticism from some quarters. Some academic critics questioned her methodology, particularly her blend of scientific observation and personal narrative. Others, particularly within the Black intellectual community, worried that her unflinching portrayal of rural Black life, with its superstitions, colorful language, and sometimes controversial social practices, would reinforce negative stereotypes. Yet time has vindicated Hurston's approach, as contemporary anthropology has increasingly recognized the impossibility of pure objectivity and the value of reflexive approaches that acknowledge the researcher's position within the research context.

Chapter 5: Their Eyes Were Watching God: Masterpiece of Black Feminism

"Their Eyes Were Watching God" stands as Hurston's most enduring literary achievement, a novel that powerfully articulates a Black feminist vision decades before such a concept was widely recognized. At its center is Janie Crawford, a character whose quest for self-fulfillment and authentic love challenges the restrictive expectations placed on Black women. Through Janie's journey through three marriages—from the security-minded Logan Killicks to the ambitious but controlling Jody Starks to the free-spirited Tea Cake Woods—Hurston explores the tension between social expectations and personal desire, between security and passion, between silence and voice. The novel's opening establishes its revolutionary perspective with a distinction between men's and women's dreams: "Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon... That is the life of men. Now, women forget all those things they don't want to remember, and remember everything they don't want to forget. The dream is the truth." This passage signals Hurston's intention to center women's subjective experience and to validate women's ways of knowing and being in the world. What makes the novel particularly significant in the context of Black women's literature is its rejection of the prevailing narrative that positioned racism as the central problem in Black lives. While Hurston never denies the reality of racial oppression, she deliberately creates in Eatonville a space where Black characters can exist as full human beings concerned with love, power, self-discovery, and community—the universal stuff of human drama. Within this space, she explores how gender operates as a system of power that shapes women's lives even in the absence of white oppression. Jody Starks, with his insistence that Janie cover her beautiful hair and refrain from participating in community conversations, becomes a symbol of patriarchal control that constrains Janie as surely as racial prejudice might. The language of the novel represents one of its most significant achievements. Hurston employs a narrative technique that moves fluidly between standard English in the third-person narrative sections and richly rendered vernacular in the dialogue and in passages of free indirect discourse that give readers access to Janie's consciousness. This technique creates a complex layering of voices that mirrors Janie's evolving identity as she navigates between social expectations and her own desires. The novel's famous closing lines—"She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see"—exemplify how Hurston elevates vernacular speech to philosophical heights. Despite its current status as a classic of American literature, "Their Eyes Were Watching God" received a hostile reception from many of Hurston's male contemporaries. Richard Wright's scathing review criticized the novel for lacking "theme," "message," and "thought," accusations that revealed more about the gendered expectations of "serious" literature than about the novel's actual content. What Wright and others failed to recognize was that Hurston's focus on a woman's internal journey and intimate relationships was not an evasion of serious themes but a radical expansion of what could be considered significant in Black literature. The novel's treatment of female sexuality was particularly groundbreaking for its time. Hurston portrays Janie's awakening desire without shame or moralization, using the sensuous image of a blossoming pear tree to represent her emerging sexuality. In an era when respectability politics demanded that Black women present themselves as models of propriety to counter racist stereotypes, Hurston's frank depiction of female passion—particularly in Janie's relationship with the younger Tea Cake—represented a bold claim for Black women's right to sexual agency and fulfillment.

Chapter 6: Struggles, Decline and Disappearance

Despite her significant literary accomplishments, Hurston's later years were marked by increasing financial difficulties and declining public recognition. By the late 1940s, her work had fallen out of critical favor, and she struggled to find publishers for new projects. Her final novel, "Seraph on the Suwanee" (1948), which focused on white characters in Florida, failed to resonate with critics or readers who had come to expect her to write exclusively about Black life. Increasingly, Hurston found herself at odds with the emerging civil rights movement and its strategies, further isolating her from the Black intellectual community. Hurston's political views became increasingly conservative in her later years, a shift that alienated her from many of her former associates in progressive circles. She opposed aspects of the New Deal, criticized the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, and worked briefly for right-wing senator George Smathers. These positions have often been attributed to her fierce individualism and suspicion of government intervention, but they also reflected her complex and sometimes contradictory relationship to questions of race and racial advancement. For Hurston, the celebration of Black cultural achievement and self-sufficiency always took precedence over integration or appeals for white recognition. Personal scandals further contributed to Hurston's declining fortunes. In 1948, she was falsely accused of molesting a ten-year-old boy, and although the case was eventually dismissed (she was able to prove she was in Honduras when the alleged incident occurred), the damage to her reputation was considerable. This incident, coming at a time when her career was already in decline, dealt a devastating blow to her public standing and emotional well-being. Financial hardship became a constant in Hurston's later life. Despite having published seven books and numerous short stories and articles, she never achieved financial security. Royalties were minimal, and she survived through a combination of short-term jobs, including working as a maid, substitute teaching, and freelance writing for magazines. In 1950, she was working as a maid in Miami when a white journalist discovered her, creating a brief flurry of publicity about her reduced circumstances. Pride prevented her from accepting charity, and she continued to work at whatever jobs she could find to support herself. Hurston's health began to decline in the 1950s, further limiting her ability to work and write. After suffering a stroke, she entered the St. Lucie County Welfare Home in Florida in 1959. She died of heart disease on January 28, 1960, at the age of 69, and was buried in an unmarked grave in the Garden of Heavenly Rest, a segregated cemetery in Fort Pierce, Florida. The circumstances of her death—poor, largely forgotten, and buried without a marker—seemed a stark repudiation of her earlier prominence and achievements. In a final indignity, when Hurston died, her neighbors in Fort Pierce took up a collection for her funeral expenses, but the amount fell short. The funeral home director covered the remaining cost, and her few possessions, including the manuscripts of several unpublished works, were burned because no one came forward to claim them. This destruction represented an incalculable loss to American literature and African American cultural history. Hurston's obscurity after her death was so complete that when literary scholar Robert Hemenway began researching her biography in the early 1970s, many of her books were out of print, and even specialists in African American literature were only vaguely familiar with her work. It seemed as though Hurston, once a central figure in American literature, had simply disappeared from cultural memory, her contributions erased from the literary canon and historical record.

Chapter 7: Legacy and Rediscovery

The remarkable resurrection of Zora Neale Hurston's literary reputation represents one of the most significant recuperations in American literary history. This revival began in earnest in the 1970s, spearheaded by writer Alice Walker, who had become interested in Hurston's work while researching her own novel. In 1973, Walker traveled to Florida to locate Hurston's unmarked grave and placed a stone marker that read: "Zora Neale Hurston: A Genius of the South." This symbolic act initiated a broader reclamation of Hurston's literary legacy that would fundamentally reshape the American literary canon. Walker's 1975 essay "In Search of Zora Neale Hurston," published in Ms. magazine, introduced Hurston to a new generation of readers and sparked renewed interest in her work. The essay not only detailed Walker's quest to find Hurston's grave but also made a compelling case for the significance of her literary contributions. This piece, along with Walker's continued advocacy, proved instrumental in bringing Hurston's works back into print and critical discussion. In 1979, Walker edited "I Love Myself When I Am Laughing... And Then Again When I Am Looking Mean and Impressive," a collection of Hurston's writings that further cemented her renewed cultural presence. The feminist movement of the 1970s and 1980s provided a receptive context for Hurston's rediscovery. Her unflinching portrayal of a Black woman's quest for self-fulfillment and her exploration of gender dynamics resonated powerfully with feminist critics and readers. Scholars began to recognize that what had once been criticized as her lack of explicit political engagement was actually a deliberate artistic choice to center Black women's subjective experiences and interior lives. This reframing allowed Hurston's work to be appreciated for its subtle but profound challenges to both racial and gender hierarchies. The establishment of Black Studies and Women's Studies programs in American universities created institutional spaces where Hurston's work could be taught and studied. As these disciplines evolved and intersected to form Black feminist criticism, Hurston emerged as a foundational figure whose work anticipated many of the concerns of contemporary intersectional feminism. Her insistence on portraying the complexity of Black women's lives—neither reducing them to victims of racism nor ignoring the gender-specific challenges they faced—positioned her as a forerunner of Black feminist thought. Hurston's influence on contemporary literature, particularly by Black women writers, has been profound and explicitly acknowledged. Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Gloria Naylor, and many others have cited her as a crucial literary foremother whose work provided models for their own creative endeavors. Her innovative use of vernacular speech, her centering of Black women's experiences, and her celebration of Black cultural traditions have shaped subsequent generations of writers who have built upon her legacy while extending it in new directions. Beyond the literary world, Hurston's work has permeated popular culture through adaptations, references, and celebrations. "Their Eyes Were Watching God" was adapted as a television movie in 2005, introducing Hurston's most famous work to an even broader audience. The annual Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities in Eatonville, Florida, celebrates her legacy through cultural events, academic conferences, and community gatherings. These popular embraces of Hurston have transformed her from a forgotten figure to a widely recognized cultural icon. Perhaps most significantly, the rediscovery of Hurston has fundamentally changed how we understand the history of American literature. Her reclaimed presence has challenged previous narratives that marginalized or excluded Black women's contributions and has necessitated a broader reconceptualization of what constitutes the American literary tradition. The story of her posthumous redemption—from obscurity to canonical status—serves as a powerful reminder of how literary history is constructed and reconstructed, and how voices once silenced can eventually find their rightful place in our cultural memory.

Summary

Zora Neale Hurston's enduring legacy rests on her revolutionary insistence that Black life, particularly Black women's lives, be represented in all their richness and complexity, free from the distorting lens of white expectations or political agendas. Her unflinching commitment to artistic integrity and cultural authenticity—even when it cost her popularity, financial security, and critical acclaim—exemplifies the courage required to create truly groundbreaking art. From her remarkable journey, we can extract valuable insights about the importance of honoring one's unique perspective, the power of celebrating cultural heritage rather than transcending it, and the necessity of creating art that speaks truth even when that truth contradicts prevailing narratives. Hurston's posthumous vindication also offers a profound lesson in cultural persistence. Though she died in obscurity, her voice eventually found its way back into our collective consciousness, fundamentally reshaping how we understand American literature and African American experience. This resurrection suggests that authentic artistic vision, even when temporarily suppressed or forgotten, carries within it the seeds of its own revival. For those who feel marginalized by current cultural or political climates, Hurston's story provides a powerful reminder that today's rejected voice may become tomorrow's celebrated visionary. Her life and work continue to resonate with anyone seeking to understand the complex interplay of race, gender, and artistic expression in American culture, offering both historical insight and contemporary inspiration.

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Zora Neale Hurston

Novels, including Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), and nonfiction writings of American folklorist Zora Neale Hurston give detailed accounts of African American life in the South.In 1925, Hurston, one of the leaders of the literary renaissance, happening in Harlem, produced the short-lived literary magazine Fire!! alongside Langston Hughes and Wallace Thurman shortly before she entered Barnard College. This literary movement developed into the Harlem renaissance.Hurston applied her Barnard ethnographic training to document African American folklore in her critically acclaimed book Mules and Men alongside fiction Their Eyes Were Watching God . She also assembled a folk-based performance dance group that recreated her Southern tableau with one performance on Broadway. People awarded a Guggenheim fellowship to Hurston to travel to Haiti and conduct research on conjure in 1937. Her significant work ably broke into the secret societies and exposed their use of drugs to create the Vodun trance, also a subject of study for fellow dancer-anthropologist Katherine Dunham, then at the University of Chicago. In 1954, the Pittsburgh Courier assigned Hurston, unable to sell her fiction, to cover the small-town murder trial of Ruby McCollum, the prosperous black wife of the local lottery racketeer, who had killed a racist white doctor. Hurston also contributed to Woman in the Suwanee County Jail , a book by journalist and civil rights advocate William Bradford Huie.

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