Their Eyes Were Watching God

Study Questions for

By Zora Neale Hurston

Instructions for using these study questions:

A. Students may prepare for the in-class essay by answering these questions.
B. Any such prep work, including quotations or key phrases, that you write on this
paper will be allowed on your desk during the writing of the in-class essay.
C. Only handwritten notes are acceptable. Only the study questions paper may be
used. Students can use anything that they are able to write in the margins,
back, and spaces of the study question pages.
D. Make notes about these as we read the book and discuss it in class.
E. Students will not know which study question the teacher has selected as the
topic of the in-class essay. On the writing day, the teacher will provide three
choices and the student will select one of those choices.
The Questions:
1. Janie telling her story to a listening woman friend, Pheoby, suggests to me all those
women readers who discovered their own tale in Janies story and passed it from one to
another; and certainly, as the novel represents a woman redefining and revising a maledominated canon, these readers have, like Janie, made their voices heard in the world
of letters, revising the canon while asserting their proper place in it
-- Mary Helen Washington
How does the novel represent a woman redefining and revising a male-dominated
canon?
2. Contrast the lives, thoughts, and words of men to that of women as presented in
Hurstons book. How are they different? How does Hurston illustrate these
differences? How do these differences contribute to the significance of the novel?
3. Select ten vivid images or metaphors from Hurstons book. Explain what each image or
metaphor contributes to the significance of the book.
4. Explain the significance of Janies clothes and hair when she returns to town at the
beginning of the book. How do the reactions of the townspeople contribute to the
significance of the book?

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Study Questions for

By Zora Neale Hurston

5. If they wants to see and know why they dont come kiss and be kissed? Ah could then
sit down and tell em things. Ah been a delegate to de big ssociation of life. Yessuh!
De Grand Lodge, de big convention of livin of life. Explain the significance of Janies
remark to a theme of the book.
6. Explain how Janie is in tune with the natural world and the way in which Hurston
illustrates this. What does Janie mean? Oh to be a pear tree any tree in bloom!
How does her identification with the natural world contribute to a theme of the novel?
7. Explain the importance of Janies loss of her sense of identity as a small child. In what
ways is Janie separated from her race and culture as a child? Explain how this
experience affects the rest of her life. Connect to a theme.
8. Explain how Nannys attitude toward life is different from Janies and how Hurston
illustrates this difference. What are the chief metaphors used for this contrast? How
does this difference contribute to a theme of the novel?
9. What does marriage represent to Nanny? Why? Prove. How does the idea of marriage
connect to the vertical or horizontal power structure in a significant manner?
10.How is Janies first marriage an ordeal and initiation for her? Explain the way in which
this experience relates to her archetypal mythic hero journey. Explain how Hurston
demonstrates Logans attitude toward Janie. How does Janies first experience of
marriage connect to a theme of the novel?
11.Ah aimed tuh be uh big voice. You oughta be glad, cause dat makes un big woman
outa you. Why does a feeling of coldness and fear settle on Janie after she hears
Joes words? Explain how Janie is unaware at this point of her future role in Joes life
and why it matters to a major theme in the novel.
12. Explain the purpose of the mule story competitions. How does the oral tradition play
an important role in this book? Why do the men exclude the women from these
competitions? Why is Janie forbidden to participate? Explain connections to a theme(s).
13.What is important about the mule emancipation? Explain the effect it has on the
relationship of Janie and Joe. How does this situation connect to a theme of the novel?
14.She stood there until something fell off the shelf inside her. Explain what happened
to Janie. How does Hurston illustrate this? Why is it significant to the novel?

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Study Questions for

By Zora Neale Hurston

15.What is the purpose of this quotation to the novel as a whole? He says beatinwomen
is just like steppin on baby chickens.
16.Why does Joe ridicule Janie so severely? Why does he make her wear a head rag?
Explain the connection between Janies act of burning the headrags and a theme of the
novel.
17.Explain how Janie finally takes revenge on Joe. How does Janie rob him of his illusion
of irresistible maleness? What is the real reason Joe strikes her? Connect to several
themes about the power of language.
18. . . . Joe was fixed and you wuz de one dat did it. How has Janie caused the loss of
manhood for Joe? Explain the significance of this event to the novel.
19.Janie starched and ironed her face and came set in the funeral behind her veil . . . . She
sent her face to Joes funeral, and herself went rollicking with the springtime across the
world. Explain the significance of this passage to the novel as a whole.
20.Why does Janie discover that she hated her grandmother? Explain the significance of
Janies comments about her grandmother in relation to materialism or anti-materialism.
21.Explain how Teacake is different from the other men in the novel. How is this difference
significant to the novel as a whole?
22.Where and why does the pear tree blossom return in chapter 11? Explain the
significance of this return.
23.Ah done lived Grandmas way, now Ah means tuh live mine. Explain what Janie
means. What is the relationship of her statement to the quest of her journey?
24.At the end of chapter 13, Hurston writes, So her soul crawled out from its hiding
place. Explain. Relate this sentence in relation to the rest of the book.
25.Compare and Contrast Eatonville and the Everglades camp. What does Janie find in the
muck (before the hurricane) that she never experienced in Joes town? Explain why this
difference is important to specific themes of the novel.

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Study Questions for

By Zora Neale Hurston

26.In chapter 16, Hurston writes about Mrs. Turner. Why? What is Hurstons attitude
toward Mrs. Turner? Prove. What racial problem exists in the Everglades camp? Explain
what this situation contributes to the books themes.
27.Why does Teacake beat Janie? Explain what the beating and Janies reaction reveal
about their relationship. Why is this observation important? How does it connect to
major themes of the novel?
28.They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God. In what
context does this sentence occur? Why? Explain what possibilities might exist for
connecting this passage to the title.
29. What are the monsters and ordeals which Teacake and Janie undergo? Trace the mythic
journey, including the descent into the watery hell of the hurricane. Explain what
purposes their terrible experiences might serve besides the archetypal journey.
30.Considering the context of the book and the mythic quest, why is it necessary for
Teacake to die? Explain what the manner of his death contributes to the book.
31.It was the meanest moment of eternity. A minute before she was just a scared human
being fighting for its life. Now she was her sacrificing self with Teacakes head in her
lap. Explain. Discuss the difference between Janies scared self and her sacrificing self.
If she had sacrificed herself, how would the book change?
32.They were there with their tongues cocked and loaded, the only real weapon left to
weak folks. The only killing tool they are allowed to use in the presence of white folks.
Explain the context of this passage and the way in which it relates to the issues of power
and language throughout the book.
33.At Janies trial she must defend herself with the simple testimony of truth. She does not
have a true jury of her peers (1920s). She was in the courthouse fighting something
and it wasnt death. It was lying thoughts. Is Janie concerned about dying? Why or
why not? What is the real purpose of her testimony? Why is she successful? Explain
why the people of her own community do not understand. Relate this passage to a
theme(s).
34.Why does Hurston omit Janies testimony? How does this omission relate to a theme of
the novel?

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Study Questions for

By Zora Neale Hurston

35.Why does Janie wear overalls to Teacakes funeral? How does this choice connect to
themes of the novel?
36.She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it from around the waist of the
world and draped it over her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes! She called in her
soul to come and see. Janie has been married three times, and each time she has lived
in a mans life as an object, not a subject, of desires and dreams. How does this passage
illustrate that Janie has finally become a subject rather than object of life? What is
really in the net? What does Janies soul see? Explain what the boon of Janies quest is
and how it relates to themes from the novel.
37. Explain how this book is a feminist novel. Connect to themes.
38.Explain how this book is a novel for all times and all people. Connect to themes.
39.Explain the significance of the title in relation to chapter 1 and Hurstons re-telling of a
creation myth in the book. Connect to themes of the novel.
40.Hurston makes use of the oral tradition of storytelling and of African folk tales. Provide
examples of each and explain what each contributes to books themes.