Their eyes were watching god

setting

Recap
Siddhartha
The setting in Siddhartha is based on India. Saying that, it is not the authors intention to recreate a plausible India through the narrative. The use of articles and vague description create a world in which the reader is free conjure in their mind. The setting works primarily to symbolize the protagonists in journey and challenges. *Noticeable exception: Gotama

The Handmaids Tale HMT has a fixed setting in both a familiar, and imagined future Cambridge, Massachusetts. It also has some minor settings such as the Red Center, Jezebels, and the House. All these setting help juxtapose the world in which we as the reader are familiar with, and the new world. Each setting contains element of the past, either antiquated or censored. These work to highlight the repressions of the new society of Gilead.

Their Eyes Were Watching God The setting for TWG, are historical. They are representations of real places that are inhabited by Hurstons fictional characters. By using real locations the author allow the reader to draw on the real history of the settings to develop meaning and significance in the narrative.

Florida Florida is the Southern state in America which is the setting for the entire story.

eatonville
After the Civil War, former slaves formed a number of all-black towns all over the South, in an effort to escape the segregation and discrimination they experienced amongst whites. By 1914, approximately thirty such towns were in existence. Eatonville, Florida, the town where Zora Neale Hurston grew up and the setting for much of Their Eyes Were Watching God, was the first such town to be incorporated and to win the right of selfgovernance.

Images of Eatonville

eatonville
By setting a large portion of the story in Eatonville. Hurston draws upon a world and a culture she is familiar with. This is reinforced with the use of local dialect in her characters conversations.
In Eatonville, the Jim Crow laws that segregated public schools, housing, restaurants, theaters, and drinking fountains all over the South, did not exist. This made her hometown an ideal setting for her protagonist, whose primary story is about herself not her color.

Everglades
The everglades provide a setting that is both historical and opportunistic. Historically their was a migration of black workers to the Everglades in the 1920s and 1930s. During the depression, this is one of the areas which provided black workers employment. Opportunistically however, the Everglades provided an area of the country where hurricanes can result is flash floods such as the one seen in the book. Therefore, this setting allows the plot movement which is needed to allow the authors chosen climax in the story to be realistic. *If the same scene happened in NYC it would not have the same impact, because it would not be realistic.

Nanny
The white household in which Nanny was a live-in-maid, provided a realistic as well as symbolically expositional setting.

In terms of exposition in allows Janie to grow up amongst white children and not recognize she is black until she sees a photo.... This helps define her as different from a young age.
Symbolically it also represents the subtle repression that is a dominant theme throughout the story

Logan killicks farm

Logans farm is another plausibly realistic setting. It works more importantly as a symbol of her confinement, and perhaps a metaphor of black aspiration. If this is the case, her leaving the farm shows how what is understood to be most important to many is not true for all.