When I first got my book, written by Zora Neale Hurston, my eyes gravitated to the title.
Their Eyes Were Watching God
It is an unusual title for a book and as I read the novel, I tried to picture what they were watching and what they were seeing. One interpretation I have on why this title is Their Eyes Were Watching God is that during the time period when this novel was set, black people seemed to try to always look at the white people. The blacks looked to the whites to see if they were acting correctly and doing what they were supposed to do. But this title represents something completely different. The title shows that blacks are looking past white people. They were looking beyond them and were instead looking to God.
I am not certain if this title has any substantial religious implications. Do you believe that it does?
This title might not have any religious innuendos but it shows that there is something greater than white people and that God is bigger than both blacks and whites. Both of these races worship him. There is no difference between the god that blacks and whites worship.
In the book, there are two places where the title could have originated from. Here is two quotes which displays these instances:
The first is, "The time was past for asking the white folks what to look for through that door. Six eyes were questioning God."
And the second is, "They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God."
Both of these quotes tie into the possibility the theme of race is incorporated in the title. In the first quote, it shows that they are looking past the whites to see what their future holds. They have realized that the white people are not able to give them any answers.
The second quote uses the word "dark". Some may that this is referring to blackness but I think otherwise. During a discussion, Aryan said that the darkness means that maybe you cannot see color. (I do not remember the context of his comment) Maybe since it is dark, they are looking past race and color. They might think that everyone is the same in the dark, regardless of color. Maybe Zora Neale Hurston is trying to look past race when writing her novel and focus on other themes --themes that include love. Themes that focus on ideas other than racism. Themes that don't begin with an alarm clock and large rat.
In the quotes, they switch from questioning God to just looking at him. They might not be questioning what their future holds but just seeing what God will do. Looking at what God has in store for them.
Why do you think this is the title of the entire novel?
As we learned in the documentary, Hurston's own father was a preacher, and she wrote about him in her first novel, _Jonah's Gourd Vine_. But in _Their Eyes,_ while "God" is mentioned, anything resembling organized Christianity is curiously absent. If there is a church in Eatonville, we never hear about Janie or Joe attending it, and down on the Muck we only hear about partying all night Saturday, with no mention of Sunday morning. In the passages that allude to the title phrase, "God" seems like a way of saying "fate" or "nature"--a force that is ultimately indifferent to human life and safety (so Tea Cake being bitten by a rabid dog is not a "judgment" on him but an arbitrary occurrence in the chaos after a natural disaster). This is a profound moment where Janie and co. feel very small, helpless, vulnerable, and *human,* and nature is figured as a "God" before whom they tremble and run.
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