"Eyes" "Project Quote

Siarra Williams
March 11, 2009
AP English III Period 11
“Eyes” Quote

The book, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, is about a young lady named Janie and her growing up and developing relationships with these guys. The themes portrayed throughout this book are relationships versus independence and the role of women, and money and power versus love. “They bowed down to him rather, because he was all of these things, and then again he was all of these things because the town bowed down.” (Hurston, Page 50) This quote stood out to me throughout the whole book because of the contradictory statement that it is making. It makes you questions the way you see things and it makes you wonder how the book views status. What opinion does the book wants the reader to develop about the theme of status and power. When Hurston writes, “They bowed down to him rather, because he was all of these things, and then again he was all of these things because the town bowed down,” she creates a theory for the reader. She wants the reader to dig deeper and actually analyze what makes Jody so powerful. Is it because of the things he does for his town or is it because of the reaction that the town people are giving to what he does? For example, based on that quote, Hitler became a dictator because of the bands of Germans that he was able to conspire to side with him, not because of all the hard work he put in to create interment camps or things as such. People have this nature about them, where they only do things because of how the people around them react. If it weren’t for the town pumping up Jody’s head and making him feel like a king because he built a store, he would not have developed insecurities; feeling as though he had to always uphold this image of being the greatest man ever. If the Germans had morals and acted on those morals, Hitler would not have been able to create Anti Semitism among an entire nation. But because Jody and Hitler were influenced by their peers, everything they did was for a show and so that they can be seen as powerful men. Jody was a man powerful man on the outside but as he got older, he developed insecurities on the inside. He was insecure with his looks compared to Janie’s looks. “His prosperous- looking belly that used to thrust out so pugnaciously and intimidate folks, sagged like a load suspended from his loins.” (Hurston, Page 77) Jody’s physical appearance changed and he was jealous of Janie’s young appearance. He became an old man who was no longer intimidating. He felt since he didn’t have that young, vibrant, powerful look that the men of the town wouldn’t show him respect anymore or admire him like they use to. So the quote makes you question the cause and effect of things throughout the book. Which was the cause of Janie leaving town, the fact that people had concerns for her marriage to Tea Cake or the fact that her marriage to Tea Cake raised concerns within the townspeople?