Their Eyes Were Watching God is a 1937 novel and the best-known work by African American writer Zora Neale Hurston. The novel narrates main character Janie Crawford's "ripening from a vibrant, but voiceless, teenage girl into a woman with her finger on the trigger of her own destiny.” Set in central and southern Florida in the early 20th century, the novel was initially poorly received for its rejection of racial uplift literary prescriptions. Today, it has come to be regarded as a seminal work in both African American literature and women's literature. Time included the novel in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005.
Read more about Their Eyes Were Watching God: Politics of Their Eyes, Plot Synopsis, Inspirations and Influences For Their Eyes, Critical Analysis, Adaptations For Theater, Film and Radio
Famous quotes containing the words eyes and/or watching:
“When I am on a stage, I am the focus of thousands of eyes and it gives me strength. I feel that something, some energy, is flowing from the audience into me. I actually feel stronger because of these waves. Now when the play’s done, the eyes taken away, I feel just as if a circuit’s been broken. The power is switched off. I feel all gone and empty inside of me—like a balloon that’s been pricked and the air’s let out.”
—Lynn Fontanne (1887–1983)
“Friendship is learned by watching and listening to you. If she sees that your friends are people you like and trust and don’t pretend with—people who suit you—she probably won’t pick friends who just pass by, or people who can help her or improve her status. If you treat friends in a special way, if you are kinder, more generous, more sympathetic, more forgiving with friends, she probably will be, too.”
—Stella Chess (20th century)