Symbols of Feminine Power in Their Eyes Were Watching God Essay

Symbols of Feminine Power in Their eyeb whole Were watch God Much evidence fouls Saturday Review writer Doris Grumbachs opinion that Their Eyes Were honoring God is the finest black story of its time and one of the finest of all time (Washington, 4). Zora Neale Hurstons text is highly regarded because of the meaning and purpose it conveys using poetical language and folkloric imagery. It is the heroic story of Janie Crawfords search for individuality, self-realization, and independence from the patriarchal forces of her time. Because the novel is mainly concerned with Janies many affinitys within a male-dominated context, it is only crystal clear to take feminist view of Their Eyes Were Watching God. Throughout my class period of this particular novel I have identified the images of porches, trees, and the horizon as symbols of power in favor of Janie Crawfords search for a feminist identity. To support this opinion, I have chosen to utilize the feminist / reader receptio n theories formulated by Judith Fetterley in Introduction to the Resisting Reader A womens liberationist Approach to American Fiction. Fetterleys writing is useful for the study of Their Eyes Were Watching God because of her discussion of power and its relation to women. In her introduction she explains the relationship between the two classifications of gender (male versus female) and the ideology of America. According to Fetterley, American belles-lettres is male, and to be American is male (991). Unfortunately, this type of philosophy has existed for many years and still exists today. In order for a change to occurs, Fetterley says that readers must attempt American fictions in light of how attitudes toward women shape their form and content because it... ...independence. full treatment Cited Donlon, Jocelyn Hazelwood. Porches Stories Power Spatial and Racial Intersections in Faulkner and Hurston.Journal of American kitchen-gardening (1996) 95-110. Online. Internet. 8 De cember 1999. Available httpvweb.hwwilsonweb.com/cgi-biGT.&SP.URL.P=(H5Z7)J(0000121600)&. Fetterley, Judith. Introduction to the Resisting Reader a womens rightist Approach to American Fiction. The Critical Tradition Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends. Ed. David H. Richter. capital of Massachusetts Bedford books, 1998. 991-998. Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York Perennial Classics, 1990. Jacobs, Karen. From Spy-glass to Horizon Tracking the anthropological Gaze in Zora Neale Hurston. Novel (1997) 329-60. Online. Internet. 8 December 1999. Available httpvweb.hwwilsonweb.com/cgi-biGT.&SP.URL.P=(H5Z7)J(00000121600)&.