Skip to main content

This is Water and Their Eyes Were Watching God

Considering our discussion, how could Wallace’s theory apply to Their Eyes Were Watching God?
In what ways could this novel specifically develop empathy and emotional intelligence, as well as contribute to the self-awareness of the reader?
Challenge yourself to make connections to Hurston’s purpose in how she crafts Janie’s journey of self-discovery “tuh de horizon and back”.


In the commencement speech "This is Water" by David Foster Wallace, he discusses the importance of an education, specifically a liberal arts degree on the everyday life of an adult. Wallace encourages his audience to be conscious, sympathetic and well-adjusted in order to attain ultimate freedom in life.  This means adjusting positively and consciously to the different circumstances of everyday life, being sympathetic towards others around us instead of falling back into our "default setting" in which negativity is the main drive.  

 In the novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston, Wallace his theory is applicable to the protagonist as the plot follows her life leading to self-discovery and freedom. She doesn't find love with her first husband who physically confines her and makes her work the farm. Then she runs away with Joe Starks, in an attempt to find love and freedom again. He however confines her emotionally and doesn't let her speak for herself. Janie lives her life with Joe by default. Subconsciously experiencing negative feelings towards her husband, the town and her life. This was further aggravated by her not sympathizing with her husband by not considering his feelings and choice of actions. Janie finally finds freedom when her last husband Tea Cake enters her life. She begins to life in the moment by consciously being alive and experiencing new things.  Furthermore the audience can relate and sympathize with Janie as the author provokes strong emotion through the use of fervent language. Even though the situations that Janie goes through isn't always relatable. 





Comments

  1. Joshua KoornneefSeptember 5, 2018 at 11:23 PM

    Strong analysis that works well with the novel. Your wording and diction were perfect, really concise and very accurate. The connection is immediately clear to the author, and works very well. If I were to add 1 thing to your blog, I would ask you to maybe explore empathy and sympathy in the novel, as I feel that you could connect these to your statement nearing the end of the post, where you comment on the powerful emotions shown by Janie.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nicole RaghuSeptember 5, 2018 at 11:26 PM

    gr8 job shakes-pear

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MLK Response

In the speech “ I have a dream” written by Martin Luther King, metaphors and hyperboles are used to evoke a sense of empathy and support from all Americans. Conveying a message that his dream of racial justice and freedom is for both blacks and whites. Luther compares the massive suffering of the African American community more relatable hardships such as "being bound in chains", "sweltering heat" and "a lonely island of poverty". These metaphors intertwined with hyperboles are far more easy to picture than racial oppression and police brutality.  Furthermore, Luther uses repetition to emphasize on his message of freedom. With every point he tries to make Luther uses  repetition  to  genuinely  impact his audience. Such as " But  one hundred years later , the Negro still is not free.  One hundred years later , the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.  One hundred years l...
7 comments
Read more
Oh hello people, let me introduce myself. My name is Milly, I am from the Netherlands but also have a Canadian passport. Where I am from is quite complicated and explaining takes a whole lot time. At times I don't even know where I am truly from. In fact my parents wanted to move back to Canada this year, for a fear I might have an identity crisis. I have been living in Abu Dhabi for two years now, and its been the best time of my life. The culture and all the diversity is so amazing and such a breath of fresh air from a small town in Canada I used to live in.  Since I am bilingual and english is my second language, I have always struggled with writing. I hope that this year I will be able to improve on those skills. It is important to study language because language is how you communicate with others and express yourself .  The things I most care about would be my family and friends.  These are the people that get me going and the reason I wake up in the morning. I...
6 comments
Read more

Media and Pop Culture Analysis

Pop culture is the common popular ideas, attitudes, beliefs or trends shared by society. It emerged in the 20th century and has been shared through media.  Media messages are constructed using creative techniques, but the construction process is invisible to viewers, readers, and listeners. The messages presented by influencers and advertisers to society are carefully manufactured through many different layers of production, editing and filtering before the final product is released. Viewers only see the final product and this is how false beauty standards and inauthentic ideas are created. However towards the viewer it looks as if the images are genuine. Especially young people fall into the trap of entering contests and promoting a celebrity online just to get a retweet or attention from the celebrity or company, not realizing that this a ploy or advertising strategy in order to build bigger brand. Companies and celebrities use this creative invisible process to the...
3 comments
Read more