Style Oral Analysis- TEWWG

'Their Eyes Were Watching God' and 'This is Water'

The novel Their Eyes Were Watching God allows the reader to closely follow the protagonist’s self discovery journey. Wallace’s theory seen through This Is Waterexpresses that education allows one to become more self aware, as well as further expressing how an individual is in control of how they view their surroundings. The common subject of placing the individual in full control of their actions and further enforcing the importance of an aware mindset is expressed through both texts. Hurston’s overall purpose is to showcase the human experience of self discovery, through the journey experienced and omnisciently narrated by the protagonist. 

            Applicability of Wallace’s theory to Their Eyes Were Watching God is seen through Janie’s progression as a character and her time spent in three different marriages. As she moves from one marriage to another, she becomes more aware of her self-worth and values. To expand, she begins her first marriage by fulfilling her grandmother’s orders of marrying a man with adequate assets. However, Janie is mistreated which forces her to realize that love does not follow marriage. This creates her desire of fulfilling her value of respect and an organic human connection, which she believes to have found through the second marriage. However, the second marriage is sugarcoated with material wealth and continued mistreatment. This pushes Janie to further establish her self worth and recognize that such material belongings do not correlate with a feeling of love. Her last marriage is one constructed of organic human connections, lacking the undesirable traits she acknowledged in previous marriages such as material wealth and mistreatment. This relates to the theory expressed by Wallace, as it shows how Janie continually chose how to view her surroundings and the situations she was in, by further acknowledging her evolving values. She became more self aware through each marriage, as she gained self-respect and independence. 

            The novel could serve as a tool in developing empathy and emotional intelligence within the reader through the attachment to Janie’s character. As her character is the protagonist, she is closely followed through the events that continually develop her persona. Empathy could be developed as Janie expresses several emotions as a result of happenings of the plot, which the reader may be able to understand and relate to past a sympathetic level. Such may be possible as Janie is a representative for several underrepresented and oppressed groups, such as women and the black community as a whole. Moreover, emotional intelligence may be strengthened as Janie responsibly acts upon her emotions. She uses her emotions as a guide for her future endeavors. As well, she respectably deals with an array of people in the plot, ranging from racist to sexist individuals. Her character however being equipped with strongly developing emotional intelligence allows her to stay out of conflict and understand the backgrounds that result in such discriminative beings.