Their Eyes Were Watching God Geography & Locations
By: Michael Guay
The Hurricane
- The Hurricane interrupts Janie's respite from her usual tough life
- Both in the novel and in real life - the hurricane was massive and caused great destruction. It was the seventh most destructive hurricane to ever hit the U.S.
- "The burial scenes depicted in Their Eyes Were Watching God illustrate the difficulty in dealing with the huge loss of life, animal and human, and the necessity of burying so many in the short time required by Florida’s heat and humidity. They also call into attention the additional effect that segregation had on the tragedy" (teacherpress).
Eatonville
Map of Janie's Travels
The Everglades
- Her first encounter with an urban setting, Eatonville is one of the most important settings in the story
- Hurston grew up in Eatonville
- Janie slowly grows to dislike Eatonville, feeling confined and oppressed
- She is exposed to different types of people and grows as a person working in the store
- "Joe noted the scant dozen of shame-faced houses scattered in the sand and palmetto roots and said, 'God, they call this a town? Why, 'tain't nothing but a raw place in de woods.'" (34)
- Hurston enjoyed her time in Eatonville, her father was the mayor.
- Janie now moves from Eatonville to the open and free Everglades with Tea Cake
- She fits in and obtains a long overdue sense of belonging
- Comfortable in nature, doesn't have to be the "rich wife"
- She is relatively happy and seems to have found the perfect place until it is interrupted by the hurricane
The Beginning
- Janie's story starts off with her living with her grandmother in West Florida
- Not many specifics are given about her setting in the very beginning, because it is only a brief portion of the story
- Her home in the beginning is bland and takes great interest in leaving showed by quotes like:
- "[The house] was a lonesome place like a stump in the middle of the woods where nobody had ever been. The house was absent of flavor, too." (21-22)
- "A feeling of sudden newness and change came over her....The change was bound to do her good." (32)
Sources
1. http://teacherpress.ocps.net/wellsml/tag/their-eyes-were-watching-god/
2. http://www.shmoop.com/eyes-were-watching-god/setting.html
3. http://historicpalmbeach.blog.palmbeachpost.com/2010/09/13/this-week-in-history-floridas-deadliest-hurricane/