Looking Back on Their Eyes were Watching God


Throughout the course of our English class, we have spent a good amount of time reflecting on books we have previously read, comparing their messages to other books. This is a very important process, and I think one book, Their Eyes were Watching God hasn’t gotten enough attention. It’s setting, a rural town with a population only of black people is completely unique. But the idea of creating an area completely focused on black people, with white people only appearing in minor roles, is actually played out in Beloved as well, and I would like to compare the two. I see Their Eyes were Watching God as using this black-only setting like an experiment. Hurston places her characters in this world and sees what situations arise. She still creates conflict, and the setting is not devoid of race, but she clearly distinguishes it from a novel like Native Son, rejecting any obligations to write protest literature, and simply writing an interesting story. Beloved appears to use this idea specifically in the present time, and it is used to create a contrast to the past of that book, set on a plantation. It creates a stark contrast between a “White World” and a “Black World,” and it serves to make Schoolteacher’s encroachment on this world even more extreme.

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