Line #9 Literature/TheirEyesWereWatchingGod


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8	''Their Eyes Were Watching God'' is a 1937 novel by Creator/ZoraNealeHurston. It's considered a hallmark of African-American literature, women's literature, and the Harlem Renaissance. At the time of its original release, it was heavily criticized by other African American authors, mainly for its use of phonetic accents for dialogue of the characters and the theme of division between light and dark skinned blacks. Hurston died in relative obscurity, but in modern times her works have been widely studied as a staple of Harlem Renaissance literature.
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10	The book begins with the main character Janie Crawford, a black woman in her early 40s, returning to Eatonville in central Florida. There, she is reunited with her best friend Pheoby and tells the story of her life. Starting with her earliest childhood memories, Janie describes the many phases of her life and [[CharacterDevelopment how she grew throughout the years]]. In particular, she focuses on her marriages to three different husbands: Logan Killicks, who did not view her as an equal and tries to dominate her; Joe Starks who, though initially charismatic and charming, turns out to be jealous and abusive to Janie, and Tea Cake, the husband who was the most loving and treated Janie as an equal human.
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12	Was made into a TV movie in 2005 starring Creator/HalleBerry and [[MrFanservice Michael Ealy]], produced by [[Series/TheOprahWinfreyShow Oprah Winfrey]].
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15	!!''Their Eyes Were Watching God'' contains the following tropes:
16	* BoomerangBigot: Mrs. Turner saves her deepest disdain for those who look blacker than herself, but also considers herself unworthy because of her blackness and worships the whiter-looking Janie.
17	* ButNotTooBlack: Janie is notably light-skinned for a black woman. Self-hating dark-skinned black woman Mrs. Turner thinks the world of Janie entirely because of this, and even wants Janie to dump the dark-skinned Tea Cake for her own lighter-skinned brother.
18	* ChildByRape: Both Janie and her MissingMom.
19	* DomesticAbuser:
20	** Janie's first husband, Logan Killicks, isn't physically abusive, but he treats her more as a servant than an equal, so it results in a miserable marriage.
21	** Janie's second husband, Joe Starks, strikes her when she fails to cook a good dinner for him despite her best efforts and also tries to emotionally control her by forcing her to cover up her beautiful hair against her wishes.
22	** [[spoiler:Tea Cake and Janie beat each other in fits of jealousy.]]
23	* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler:It takes three marriages, two of them miserable, but Janie finally finds love with Tea Cake (brief as it is), and by the end of the novel she's comfortable with the identity she's made for herself.]]
24	* FlatCharacter: Phoeby mainly serves as an audience for Janie's retelling of her life story who we don't really know much about. We know she's an honest woman who trusts Janie, but that's just about it.
25	* FramingDevice: The story starts and ends with Janie telling her story (the bulk of the book) to her friend Phoeby.
26	* FunetikAksent: All the dialogue. [[TruthInTelevision It is actually faithful to the vernacular dialect African-Americans spoke in the time period the book is set in.]]
27	* GossipyHens: The first scene of the book.
28	* HappilyMarried: For Janie, the third marriage's the charm. [[spoiler:Of course, [[TooHappyToLive it can't last]].]]
29	* HerHeartWillGoOn: Janie after [[spoiler:Tea Cake's death]].
30	* HowWeGotHere: Janie telling her story to Phoeby.
31	* HugeGuyTinyGirl / OneHeadTaller: All of Janie's romantic relationships turn out to be like this.
32	* IAmWhatIAm: Janie.
33	* {{Jerkass}}: Joe Starks is a DomesticAbuser who only wants Janie to be a TrophyWife of his.
34	** There's also the porchsitters who are always playing the "Dirty Dozens." A game to see who can insult each other the most.
35	* LikesOlderWomen: Tea Cake marries Janie despite being at least ten years her junior.
36	* LousyLoversAreLosers: At first, Janie's marriage to her second husband Joe Stark is happy and they have a healthy sexual life. But he TookALevelInJerkass becoming more overtly sexist, arrogant, and vain, and their sex begins to become stale to [[SexlessMarriage non-existant]]. He also [[CrazyJealousGuy becomes more jealous and possessive of her]], to the point he attempts to humiliate her in public, only to end up humiliating himself when she talks back and voices his sexual inadequacies among his peers, who all laugh at him for it, deeply humiliating him.
37	* NobodyThinksItWillWork: How everyone perceives Janie and Tea Cake.
38	* OneHeadTaller: When Janie isn't in HugeGuyTinyGirl, she has this trope.
39	%%* PluckyGirl: Janie.
40	* RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic: One of the main reasons why the book was criticised by many
41	* RealityIsUnrealistic: Back then, girls were raised to be quiet and assist their husbands, but when Janie has to do it, she revolts or only does it grudgingly.
42	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Janie gives this to Starks shortly before he dies.
43	* ShamefulStrip: Discussed. One of Joe's especially cruel ([[MaliciousSlander and untrue]]) insults at Janie is compared to someone snatching off her clothing in a public place. There's an initial laugh at his RefugeInAudacity before the predictable happens and people realize just what a [[KickTheDog pointlessly cruel]] thing it was to say and do.
44	* ShootTheDog: [[spoiler:Tea Cake gets bitten by a rabid dog and becomes AxCrazy from rabies, forcing Janie to kill him.]]
45	* TitleDrop: Late in the book, during a hurricane, the narrator describes the workers in their cabins: "They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God."
46	%%* YouAreWhatYouHate: Ms. Turner.

Context Literature / TheirEyesWereWatchingGod