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Saul Hannah Literature 101 Mrs. Alvarado 4 November 2013

Their Eyes Were Watching God: An Annotated Bibliography Ashmawi, Yvonne Mesa-el. "Janie's Tea Cake: sinner, saint, or merely mortal?" The Explicator 67.3 (2009): 203+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 3 Nov. 2013. In Ashmawis article Janies Tea Cake: Sinner, Saint or Merely Mortal, Ashmawi explores the idea of Tea Cake as the prize at the end of a grueling quest, and a fatally flawed sinner. Within his article Ashmawi acknowledges that it is normally expected that the reader choose one or the other viewpoint of Tea Cake. He expands on each viewpoint and provides evidence for each side. Ashmawi concludes his article by saying, Tea Cake is a person like one of us- both a product of and a rebel from society, sometimes rising above society's ills and sometimes falling short of the ideals of good character. Janies Tea Cake: Sinner, Saint or Merely Mortal is both legitimate and helpful source. It was published in the last five years so the information and opinions within the article are recent and it correctly sites all of the sources that were used within the article. All of the quotations taken from Their Eyes Were Watching God were useful in conveying the overall message of the article as a whole. The article itself was helpful because it provided the reader with the idea that Tea Cake is not a sinner [or] saint and that he is simply a normal person, possessed by both good and evil.

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Saunders, James. "Womanism as the Key to Understanding Zora Neale Hurston's 'Their Eyes Were Watching God' and Alice Walker's 'The Color Purple' ." Literature Resource Center. In Womanism as the Key to Understanding Zora Neale Hurston's 'Their Eyes Were Watching God' and Alice Walker's 'The Color Purple' James Saunders helps the reader to better understand Zora Hurstons Their Eyes Were Watching God by comparing it to Alice Walkers The Color Purple. Within this comparison Saunders asserts that Hurston advocated for the right of women to choose directions for themselves through Their Eyes Were Watching God. James Saunders explores Janies relationships with each of her husbands in terms of what each husband was trying to make of her. Saunders talks mainly about two of Janies husbands, Logan Killicks, and Joe Starks without touching so much on her relationship with Tea Cake. Saunders expands on Walkers idea that Logan wanted to make Janie a mule and Joe wanted to make her a queen. Through this article and its numerous comparisons the reader is able to better understand not only Janies relationships with her husbands in terms of what they each wanted, but also the work as a whole. While most of the information within Womanism as the Key to Understanding Zora Neale Hurstons Their Eyes Were Watching God and Alice Walkers The Color Purple seems accurate and factual, it may still not be the most reliable source considering that it was written in October of 1988. Much of Saunderss piece is based on opinion, given that opinions tend to change with the passing of time I would really think about the opinions expressed in Saunderss piece before assuming that those same opinions are commonly held now, almost fifteen years later. If thought about and used in

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the correct context though, Womanism as the key to Understanding Zora Neale Hurstons Their Eyes Were Watching God and Alice Walkers The Color Purple could be used to retrieve information from. Curren, Erik. "Should Their Eyes Have Been Watching God?: Hurston's Use of Religious Experience and Gothic Horror ." Literature Resource Center. Gale, Cengage Learning , n.d. Web. 6 Nov 2013. In Should Their Eyes Have Been Watching God?: Hurstons Use of Religious Experience and Gothic Horror, Erik Curren explores two main ideas, the first idea being that Their Eyes Were Watching God is both a quest and a gothic horror, and the second being that through expressing the advancements made by African Americans, Their Eyes Were Watching God would be able to positively affect African American culture. Within his essay Curren stresses that Their Eyes Were Watching God transforms from an optimistic quest into a gothic horror in the space of a few pages between Janie and Tea Cakes life in the everglades and their life after and during hurricane. Curren also talks about all of the positive things that came of the African Americans in Their Eyes Were Watching God through their strides made in Starkville, being an all-black community, and their happiness in the everglades. After marrying the two ideas together, Curren then concludes that those two aspects both feed into the overall purpose being to inoculate black America against the infection of white prejudices all in hope that African American Culture will have a better chance to make a fresh start. Though Currens essay is very opinionated, it is still a reliable source. It offers a different outlook on the purpose of Their Eyes Were Watching God and uses evidence from the novel itself to back up his opinion. While it was first published in 1995, the

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opinions within the essay do not focus so much on black culture specifically like they did in, Womanism as the Key to Understanding Zora Neale Hurstons Their Eyes Were Watching God and Alice Walkers The Color Purple, but instead focus more closely on the overall message of the novel as a whole while allows for a more unchanged opinion of the public overall, even as time goes on. Dilbeck, Keiko. "Symbolic representation of identity in Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God." Literature Resource Center. Taylor & Francis Ltd., n.d. Web. 6 Nov 2013. Many people acknowledge the prominate and frequent symbolism that helps to further portray the meaning of Their Eyes Were Watching God, but within Keiko Dilbecks essay, Symbolic representation of identity in Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God Dilbeck expands on the meaning of some of the most frequent symbols in the novel in relation to Janies development into an independent women. The three symbols that Dilbeck writes about in his essay are the pear tree, then mule, and Janies hair. The first symbol that Dilbeck pinpoints is the pear tree. The pear tree is a symbol for Janies sexuality. This is first established when young Janies sexuality takes shape as she relaxes underneath a pear tree. The next symbol that is writen about is the mule as a representation of the negro women, as Janies Grandmother puts it. The final symbol that Dilbeck analyzes is Janies hair. Within his essay Dilbeck pinpoints the fact that the only person who treats Janie, and her hair, with respect is Tea Cake. Janies hair was not very significant in terms of her relationship with Logan, but when she was with Joe, Janies hair is her main feature that draws other men to her, causing Joe to in turn force Janie to keep her hair covered. It is not until after Joe dies that Janie is able to let down

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her luscious locks, allowing Tea Cake to see them and appreciate both her hair and Janie as a person. This source is both helpful and reliable. It uses a vocabulary that is easy to understand and is able to portray each of the major symbols without creating an essay that is overwhelming in length. It was published in two thousand eight, so all of the information is up to date, along with any opinions expressed in the essay. All of the meanings that Dilbeck gave to the symbols throughout Their Eyes Were Watching God made sense and pertained to the overall meaning of the work as a whole. Domnia, Lynn. "An overview of Their Eyes Were Watching God." Literature Resource Center. Gale, Cengage Learning, n.d. Web. 6 Nov 2013. Though named, An overview of Their Eyes Were Watching God, Lynn Dominas essay seems to focus in on Janies relationship with Logan, Joe and Tea Cake and how each of these relationships helped Janie to find herself. Domina talks first about how Janies first marriage to Logan teaches her that love is not something that will just suddenly spring up, as Janie expects, as a result of marriage, she also makes it a point to explain to the reader that this marriage, of all of Janies marriages, was the marriage that she had the least control over, since she was both young and poor. In her relationship with Joe Domina stresses the significance of the public humiliation that Joe puts Janie through and puts extreme importance on the time when Janie finally stands up for herself to Joe in the store. Domnia writes the most though about Janies relationship with Tea Cake implying that the most significant character changes take place in Janie while she is with her final lover. There are three major changes that Domnia talks about in her essay those being, Janie wearing her hair down, her change in dress and finally Janies

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Disregard [for] conventional values and aspirations. Domnia concludes that the novel is ultimately Janies voice. Even though it is told through Pheoby, in the end it is Janies words and feelings which would be the greatest form on independence that one can achieve. While technically An Overview of Their Eyes Were Watching God is a reliable and credible source, it still comes off as rather ordinary. The beliefs and opinions expressed in it may be true, but it lacks creativity and seems, in its most simple form, like a rewritten version of an interpretation that has been done many times already. This analysis essay seems to take a very generic route to the explination of how Janie finds herself and establishes her independence. It does not even touch on the idea that Tea Cake is anything but a positive character. In terms of comparing An Overview of Their Eyes Were Watching God to Should Their Eyes Have Been Watching God?: Hurstons Use of Religious Experience and Gothic Horror, Domnia would probably discourage the idea that any part of Their Eyes Were Watching God was a gothic horror. Domnia seems to instead hold the viewpoint of Their Eyes Were Watching God being an optimistic quest, if she is going to view Tea Cake in such a positive light. Reich, Alice. "Pheobys Hungry Listening." Literature Resource Center. Gale Research, n.d. Web. 6 Nov 2013. Like Domnia in An Overview of Their Eyes Were Watching God Alice Reich also touches on Janies relationships with each of her husbands and each one helps Janie find herself in Pheobys Hungry Listing. Reich explores each of Janies marriages all to help her come to the conclusion that, Her (Janie) living through first her grandmother's dream for her, then the dream of a materialistic society, and finally her own dream of love is not

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a sign of weakness, but of a female way of being in the world that emphasizes attachment and relationship rather than separation and achievement..... Reich comes to this conclusion by saying that Janies relationship with Logan desecrates the pear tree, her relationship with Joe silences her for a number of chapters in the novel and finally Janies relationship with Tea Cake shows her the luxury of romantic love. Reich asserts though throughout her essay that it is not until Janie tells her story to Pheoby that she is truly able to find herself. Pheobys Hungry Listening overall was a very good source. It introduced the idea that it was not until Janie told Pheoby her story that she was actually able to truly become herself, which is an idea that other analyses do not touch on. Even though this was a rather eccentric take on when exactly Janie finds herself, Reich was able to back up her ideas with facts that came straight from Their Eyes Were Watching God and in turn was a source that I would consider credible. While it is still disappointing that Reich, like Comnia seemed to view Tea Cake as a mostly good character, Reich did at least touch on the idea that Tea Cake may have not been entirely good by making him come off as a bit controlling. This honesty within the paragraphs about Tea Cake was refreshing and made Reich seem more honest and in turn made the source more credible. "Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston". Childrens Literature Review. Ed. Jelena Krstovic. Vol. 177. Detroit: Gale, Cengage Learning, 2013. 80-139. ". Gale. Literature Criticism Online. 6 November 2013 <http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/GLA/lom_emichu/FJ2990650003>. In Jelena Kristovics review of Their Eyes Were Watching God Kristovic writes about the cultural view of Their Eyes Were Watching God its time of publication. She

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brings up an interesting point that much of the negative criticism that Their Eyes Were Watching God received came from other black writers. This is an interesting point considering that for the most part Their Eyes Were Watching God sheds a positive light on the black community, since it shows their ability to create their own town through Eatonville. In her analysis Kristovic also describes Their Eyes Were Watching God as a rebellion depicting a strong unapologetic black heroine in an era in which few such literary representations exist[ed]. Overall Kristovics analysis of societies opinion of Their Eyes Were Watching God is helpful. It states the facts about societies opinion of Their Eyes Were Watching God very quickly and without any small details, which would take away from the almost factual nature of her article. The only drawback to Kristovics article was that it used a vocabulary range that would be slightly hard for someone without a wide vocabulary to understand, it would be understandable though if read more than once through.