Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Published 1937 · 60,543 words · about 5 hours at an average pace · Feminist Literature, Literary Fiction, Modernist & Experimental Fiction, Romance

How hard is Their Eyes Were Watching God to read?

Their Eyes Were Watching God scores 63 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it quite demanding. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.

Vocabulary: 68 out of 100
Zora Neale Hurston extensively employs phonetic dialect for dialogue, requiring readers unfamiliar with African American Vernacular English to actively decipher words like 'gointuh,' 'lak,' and 'whut.' While the narrative prose uses a rich, descriptive vocabulary (e.g., 'monstropolous,' 'dilated,' 'insinuations'), it avoids highly specialized jargon or archaic terms found in works like *Moby-Dick*. The primary challenge stems from the consistent, non-standard spelling of spoken language.
Sentence structure: 58 out of 100
The novel features a blend of straightforward narrative sentences and dialogue rendered in phonetic dialect, which introduces non-standard grammatical structures and sentence rhythms. While the narrative prose occasionally employs longer, descriptive sentences with some subordination, it generally avoids the extreme hypotaxis or multi-page sentences found in works like *Absalom, Absalom!*. The primary challenge lies in adjusting to the consistent, distinct syntax of the spoken language.
Abstraction: 72 out of 100
Hurston weaves profound philosophical and existential themes into Janie's concrete narrative, particularly through rich symbolism like the blossoming pear tree, the unattainable horizon, and the 'monstropolous beast' of the hurricane. Characters' dialogues and Janie's internal monologues frequently articulate abstract ideas about identity, freedom, and the nature of love, moving beyond mere social observation to probe deeper human truths. This sustained metaphorical depth elevates the abstraction level beyond purely concrete narratives.
Information density: 68 out of 100
The narrative, while linear, is rich with psychological insight, social commentary, and symbolic meaning, demanding close attention to Janie's internal journey and the nuances of her relationships. Hurston embeds significant emotional and thematic weight in each interaction and descriptive passage, particularly through the use of dialect and poetic language. Nanny's extensive backstory, for instance, provides a dense historical and personal context that informs Janie's subsequent choices.
Narrative indirection: 60 out of 100
Readers must infer Janie's true feelings and motivations, often contrasting them with the community's perceptions or her outward compliance. The narrator frequently provides direct access to Janie's internal world, however, mitigating extreme indirection. The philosophical opening and symbolic metaphors require significant reader interpretation beyond literal events.
Symbolic density: 80 out of 100
The novel is exceptionally rich in recurring symbols that carry profound thematic weight, such as the pear tree (sexual awakening, ideal love), the horizon (freedom, aspiration), and the yellow mule (burden, later liberation). These symbols are integral to understanding Janie's journey of self-discovery and the novel's broader philosophical statements. This density is comparable to works like 'Moby-Dick' or 'To the Lighthouse' where symbols are central to meaning.
Ironic distance: 70 out of 100
A significant gap exists between characters' stated beliefs or public personas and the author's implied truths, particularly evident in the community's judgmental 'porch talk' about Janie. Joe Starks's self-aggrandizing pronouncements are consistently undercut by his actions and Janie's internal observations. Nanny's well-intentioned but ultimately stifling advice also creates a tragic irony, as her 'protection' hinders Janie's true self.
Resolution withholding: 65 out of 100
While Janie's personal journey culminates in a strong sense of self and internal peace, the narrative's external resolution remains open-ended. The story begins with Janie's return, implying a past narrative, but her future beyond the immediate telling is not definitively sealed. The hurricane, a force of nature, leaves much chaos and uncertainty, reflecting life's ongoing unpredictability rather than a neat closure.
Structural complexity: 35 out of 100
The novel primarily employs a retrospective frame narrative, with Janie recounting her life story to her friend Pheoby, which is then rendered by a third-person omniscient narrator. Within this frame, the narrative unfolds largely chronologically, without significant timeline jumps or multiple, conflicting points of view. The consistent use of phonetically rendered dialect is a stylistic choice rather than a complex structural device that fragments the narrative.

How Their Eyes Were Watching God is regarded

Their Eyes Were Watching God holds a literary regard score of 86 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.

Where Their Eyes Were Watching God sits in Northrop Frye's Anatomy of Criticism

Placed by a full reading of the text (114 passages), not from reputation. Each verdict quotes the passage that earned it. On the axis from myth to irony, Their Eyes Were Watching God scores 55 out of 100. A second mythos, tragedy, pulls at it with a weight of 0.3. About the map of stories.

Mode: Low Mimetic
When Ah ain’t brought home a thing but mahself.
Symbol: Formal
So this was a marriage! She had been summoned to behold a revelation.
Mythos: Romance Phase 3 — The Quest (romance iii)
Ah done been tuh de horizon and back and now Ah kin set heah in mah house and live by comparisons.
Genre: Novel + Romance
Ah know exactly what Ah got to tell yuh, but it’s hard to know where to start at.

Where the story of Their Eyes Were Watching God takes place

  • Eatonville, Florida: Joe Starks's town and store (1890 to 1925), the main setting
  • Georgia plantation near Savannah, Sherman's march (Nanny's story) (1864 to 1865)
  • West Florida, Washburn back-yard and Nanny's house (1870 to 1890)
  • Everglades muck, Belle Glade, the Okechobee hurricane and Palm Beach (1920 to 1930)

5 things that are true of Their Eyes Were Watching God, with the passage for each

  1. Janie first learns she is Black at about six, when she cannot find herself in a photograph.

    ‘Aw, aw! Ah’m colored!’

  2. Joe Starks orders a street lamp for Eatonville from the Sears, Roebuck catalogue.

    he sent off to Sears, Roebuck and Company for the street lamp

  3. Tea Cake's first big gambling win totals $322.

    They counted it together—three hundred and twenty-two dollars.

  4. The jury that tries Janie for Tea Cake's death is out only five minutes.

    Out five minutes by the courthouse clock.

  5. The novel ends with Janie telling Pheoby she has been to the horizon and back.

    Ah done been tuh de horizon and back and now Ah kin set heah in mah house and live by comparisons.

Scenes in Their Eyes Were Watching God that Frye would name

62 sightings of Frye's terms in the text. The strongest:

Anagnorisis, untitled
So this was a marriage! She had been summoned to behold a revelation. The pear-tree vision gives Janie her model of love.
Point of epiphany, untitled
She was stretched on her back beneath the pear tree soaking in the alto chant of the visiting bees The pear tree is the axis where nature and Janie's vocation meet.
Anagnorisis, untitled
It was her image of Jody tumbled down and shattered. After Joe slaps her, Janie recognises that her image of him was never real.
Pathos, untitled
Janie struggled to a sitting position and pried the dead Tea Cake’s teeth from her arm. The sacrificial death of Tea Cake at Janie's hands.
Pharmakos, untitled
It was mass cruelty. A mood come alive. Words walking without masters; walking altogether like harmony in a song. The porch-sitters make Janie their collective scapegoat on her return.
Anagnorisis, untitled
‘Aw, aw! Ah’m colored!’ Janie's first recognition of her place in the world, from the photograph.

Books that share these scenes with Their Eyes Were Watching God

About the author

Zora Neale Hurston