I liked Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, better than I expected to based on my vague memory of not being especially interested in it the first time I read it. I think I expected something badly written and baldly political. On the first count, the book does have some clunker moments, sentences so bad they bring the narrative to a screeching halt, and sudden digressions that are strange and pointless, as when a group of buzzards suddenly become the center of the story for a couple of pages as they discuss the coming business of eating a dead mule. I was so taken aback by that I had to read it twice to make sure I hadn't gotten confused. It's perfectly OK to have talking animals in a book, but it doesn't work so well to have one group of animals suddenly talk as an isolated event in what is otherwise a realistic work.
On the other hand, there is some lovely writing, too, and Hurston does a wonderful job of making her characters lively and appealing despite their flaws. Her depiction of black culture in South Florida in the ealry 20th Century is both affectionate and clear-eyed; so clear-eyed, in fact, that I was reminded about the controversy over Alice Walker's portrayal of black people in The Color Purple.
The center of the story is the relationship between Janie and Tea Cake. Janie has been married twice, badly both times, and after her second husband's death leaves her well-off she takes up with a younger man, to the scandal of the town, and leaves with him. The book begins with Janie's return after Tea Cake's death, and the rest of the story is told in flashback.
I'm honestly not sure what to think of Janie's relationship with Tea Cake. At the end of the book, Janie is reflecting on their love with a melancholy satisfaction; she is content that Tea Cake loved her well while he lived. But this was a man who stole two hundred dollars from her so he could throw a huge party for strangers, because he wanted to know what it felt like to be rich for once in his life. And I'm not sure what we're supposed to make of a passage like this one:
When Mrs. Turner's brother came and she brought him over to be introduced, Tea Cake had a brainstorm. Before the week was over he had whipped Janie.... Being able to whip her reassured him in possession.***
"Tea Cake, you sho is a lucky man," Sop-de-Bottom told him. "Uh person can see every place you hit her. Ah bet she never raised her hand to hit yuh back, neither. Take some of dese ol' rusty black women and dey would fight yuh all night long and next day nobody couldn't tell you ever hit 'em. Dat's de reason Ah done quit beatin' mah woman. You can't make no mark on 'em at all.... Ah bet [Janie] don't even holler. She jus' cries, eh Tea Cake?"
"Dat's right." (218-19)
Janie likes being beaten by Tea Cake because of the claim he is making to her, though her previous husband's jealousy, which was manifested mainly in asking her to cover her luxurious hair when she works in his store, is depicted as crushing of her spirit. There's little in the book to suggest that Tea Cake and Janie's love is anything less than good for her, and that simply confounded me.
This one can stay on the shelf because it seems like the kind of book I might want to read and discuss with someone someday. There are some others by Hurston next to it; I'm not sure whether I'll read them as well.
Posted by Su Penn at July 22, 2003 10:27 PM | TrackBackI loved this book when I read it in college. I remember a line from the paper I wrote about it, about how I could not criticize a relationship based on good sex. (Well, I was 21!) I agree that Janie's relationship with Teacake was not inherently healthier than her previous disastrous marriages; but she had experienced a love and satisfaction with him that had previously been absent and was welcome. Perhaps I'll reread this soon, and we can discuss.
Posted by: Julie at August 6, 2003 12:33 PM