Setting
The setting of Their Eyes are Watching God changes twice throughout the book. Each time the setting changes, so does Janie. Within the novel there are two settings that strictly contrast with each other. In Eatonville she feels oppressed, whereas after moving to the Muck, she feels free and natural.
Eatonville
- In the beginning of Their Eyes are Watching God, Janie meets a man named Joe Starks (Jody) and is immediately attracted to him because he seems confident, determined, and free. Jody persuades her to run away with him, and they end up in Eatonville, Florida.
-"Janie, if you think Ah aims to tole you off and make a dog outa you, youse wrong. Ah wants to make a wife outa you" (Hurston 29).
- While in Eatonville, Janie begins to feel oppressed by Jody. As mayor, Jody believes that his wife, Janie, should not socialize with the common people because she has to act and appear as if better than them. He attempts to force her to do what he wants, such as keeping Janie in the shop, and making sure she did not mingle with people. He believes that she should not want to take part in the men's activities because she is an upper class woman and should look down upon the rest of the people.
-"Janie did what she had never done before, that is, thrust herself into the conversation. ... 'You gettin' too moufy, Janie,' Starks told her. 'go fetch me de checker-board and de checkers" (Hurston 75).
-" ... Thinking about the inside state of her marriage. Time came when [Janie] fought back with her tongue as best she could, but it didn't do her any good. It just made Joe do more. He wanted her submission and he'd keep on fighting until he felt he had it."
- After Jody dies, Janie feels liberated, and meets a man named Tea Cake. She falls in love with Tea Cake because he is a "natural" man. Tea Cake goes fishing in the middle of the night just for enjoyment, and he is willing to teach her how to play checkers, a game which Jody deemed too "manly" for her. Tea Cake convinces Janie to leave Eatonville and go with him to the Muck. This represents a change in Janie's life that will eventually lead to a change in setting.
-"He set [the checkerboard] up and began to show her and she found herself glowing inside. Somebody wanted her to play. Somebody thought it natural for her to play" (Hurston 96).
-"'Moon's too pretty fuh anybody tuh be sleepin' it away,' Tea Cake said after they had washed up the plates and glasses. 'Less us go fishin'.' 'Fishin'? Dis time uh night?' 'Unhhunh, fishin'. Ah know where de bream is beddin'. Seen 'em when Ah come round de lake dis evenin'. Where's yo' fishin' poles? Less go set on de lake'" (Hurston 102).
Everglades
- At the Muck, Janie feels like her natural self, something she has tried to be for years. Janie feels boundless and fulfilled because she does whatever she wants to do with the man she loves. She learns to shoot a gun, and farm in the fields with the rest of the men on the Muck. Janie has friends that she talks too freely, and listens to Tea Cake's banjo every night.
Examples:
-"'You don't think Ah'm, tryin' tuh git outa takin' keer uh yuh, do yuh, Janie, 'cause Ah ast yuh tuh work long side uh me?' Tea Cake asked her at the end of her first week in the field. 'Aw naw, honey. Ah laks it. It's mo' nicer than settin' round dese quarters all day. Clerkin' in dat store wuz hard, but heah, we ain't got nothin' tuh do but do our work and come home and love'" (Hurston 133).
-"'Tell yuh whut, Janie, less buy us some shootin' tools and go huntin' round heah.' 'Dat would be fine, Tea Cake, exceptin' you know Ah can't shoot. But Ah'd love tuh go wid you.' 'Oh you needs tuh learn how. 'Tain't no need uh you not knowin' how tuh handle shootin' tools. Even if you didn't never find no game, it's always some trashy rascal dat needs uh good killin',' he laughed. 'Less go intuh Palm Beach and spend some of our money'" (Hurston 131).