Their Eyes Were Watching God
Their Eyes Were Watching God Quotations Analyzed
1. “So de white man throw down de load and tell the n----- man tuh pick it up. He pick it up
because he have to, but he don’t tote it. He hands it to his womenfolks. De n----- woman is de
mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see. I been prayin’ fuh it tuh be different wid you.”
When Janie recoils from the news that Granny plans to marry her off to Logan Killicks in
Chapter 2, Granny responds by explaining her theory of the order of the world. She sees a
world dominated by the whites who delegate their work to the blacks, who in turn delegate
their work to the womenfolk. Janie will spend the rest of the novel rebelling against this vision
of order of things. She will resist two husbands’ attempts to put her in her “proper place.” And,
with Joe Starks, she will attempt to make a life for herself in Eatonville, an all-black town.
2. “Don’t you change too many words wid me dis mornin’, Janie, do Ah’ll take and change ends
wid yuh! Heah, Ah just as good as take you out de white folks’ kitchen and set you down on yo’
royal diasticutis and you take and low-rate me!”
After Janie meets Jody Starks on that fateful day in Chapter 4, she begins to imagine a better
life for herself without Logan Killicks. When Logan asks his wife to help him move a manure
pile, she refuses. He scolds her forcefully, reminding her that her marriage to him represents a
move up the social ladder; in particular she is not forced to work as a servant for the whites
as her grandmother did. Nonetheless, his request reveals his changing relationship with Janie;
early in their marriage (the "honeymoon period") he would never have asked her to do
farmwork.
3. “Thank yuh fuh yo’ compliments, but mah wife don’t know nothin’ ‘bout no speech-makin’.
Ah never married her for nothin’ lak dat. She’s a woman and her place is in de home.”
Upon his arrival in Eatonville in Chapter 5, Joe Starks quickly sets upon his grand plans for
the town. Swept off their feet by the impressive “Brother Starks,” Jody is named the town’s first
mayor. When the people call for Janie to make a speech in recognition of her husband’s new
title and the town’s incorporation, Joe silences her before she can even begin. While Hurston
writes that “She had never thought of making a speech,” Janie is resentful of being silenced
nonetheless. This is the first sign of trouble in her marriage to Jody, and it is key piece of
evidence relating to theme of Janie’s voice. For Joe, leadership means being a "big voice," but
that voice must not be rivaled by that of his wife.
4. “Whut make her keep her head tied up lak some ole ‘oman round de store? Nobody could git
me tuh tie no rag on mah head if Ah had hair lak dat.”
Sam and Hicks are discussing the high-minded way in which Joe Starks runs his business and
his home in Chapter 5 when they light upon the topic of Janie’s hair. Janie’s unusually
beautiful hair is a genetic reminder of her white blood, and Joe jealously requires her to keep
it covered in public. Sam and Hicks represent the ambitionless element of the town that Joe
and Janie found when they arrived in Eatonville, and they also give voice to the traditional
values of the people of the town.
5. “Abraham Lincoln, he had de whole United States tuh rule so he freed the Negroes. You got
uh town so freed uh mule. You have tuh have power tuh free things and dat makes you lak uh
king uh something.”
“Yo’ wife is uh born orator, Starks. Use never knowed dat befo’. She put jus’ de right words
tuh our thoughts.”
Matt Bonner’s yellow mule is the subject of ridicule among the people of Eatonville in Chapter
6. When Joe Starks magnanimously frees the animal by purchasing it from Matt, it is a
moment of triumph for him in the gossipy culture of the town (and a kind gesture towards his
wife, who didn't like to see the animal abused). However, his victory is ruined by that which he
most fears: his wife’s assertiveness. Janie makes a mock-eloquent speech comparing her
husband to President Lincoln which is quickly praised by Hambo. This is critical moment in
the rising action as it widens the growing rift in Janie’s marriage to Joe. His jealousy will not
allow him to be upstaged by his wife, as we saw in Quotation 3.
6. “She stood there until something fell off the shelf inside her. Then she went inside there to see
what it was. It was her image of Jody tumbled down and shattered.”
When Joe strikes Janie in Chapter 6 to chasten her for her poor cooking, it irreparably
destroys whatever good was left in their marriage. Many strains had already been felt in
chapters 5 and 6, but Joe’s use of physical violence was the final straw. From this point on,
Janie no longer looks up to Joe or admires him, and their marriage is a passionless source of
disappointment for Janie. She married Jody to escape the trap of her life with Logan Killicks,
but once again her horizons have been hemmed in. The conventionality of domestic abuse
among the married couples of Eatonville is also demonstrated in the foolish character of Mrs.
Robbins in Chapter 6.
7. “Talkin’ about me lookin’ old! When you pull down yo’ britches, you look lak de change uh
life!”
Janie and Jody’s acrimonious marriage reaches a breaking point at the end of Chapter 7.
When Jody ironically insults her appearance (she has retained her looks well, unlike him), she
retorts by insulting his masculinity. Janie’s voice is her most potent weapon against Jody,
especially when she speaks out against him in front of the men of the town as she does here.
After this, Janie and Jody sleep in separate rooms, and Jody’s aging process seems to be
accelerated. Hurston writes that Janie did to Joe "The thing that Saul's daughter had done to
David." In other words, like Saul's daughter Michal in the Old Testament, she withheld sexual
relations from her husband as a sign of her displeasure, thus emasculating him.
8. Here Nanny had taken the biggest thing God ever made, the horizon—for no matter how far
a person can go the horizon is still way beyond you – and pinched it in to such a little bit of a
thing that she could tie it about her grandmother’s neck tight enough to choke her.
After Jody’s climactic death, Janie must reappraise her life in Chapter 9. She realizes that her
entire life to date has been lived by Granny’s philosophy (see Quotation 1), but she is not too
old to start anew. She comes to the startling realization that she had always hated her
grandmother and the life that was forced upon her. This new comprehension gives Janie the
strength to fight the societal demands that are soon pressuring her to remarry quickly; in
essence to replace Jody with a similar tyrant.
9. Wait till you see de new blue satin Tea Cake done picked out for me tuh stand up wid him in.
High heel slippers, necklace, earrings, everything he wants tuh see me in. Some of dese mornin's
and it won't be long, you gointuh wake up callin' me and Ah'll be gone.
Janie's best friend, Pheoby Watson, tries to warn Janie away from a life with Tea Cake. In
these lines, from the last paragraph of Chapter 12, Janie makes it clear that despite all of the
misgivings and warnings from the people of Eatonville, she isn't afraid to run off and start a
new life with Tea Cake. The dress she describes is foreshadowed at the very beginning of the
book when the Watchers on the porch compare it to the overalls in which she comes back to
town. The last sentence of the quotation is a line from the spiritual "Get Away Jordan."
Crossing the Jordan River symbolically represents reaching the promised land.
10. The wind came back with triple fury, and put out the light for the last time. They sat in
company with the others in the shanties, their eyes straining against crude walls and their souls
asking if He meant to measure their puny might against His. They seemed to be staring at the
dark, but their eyes were watching God.
Chapter 18 features the destructive hurricane that brings an end to Janie’s happy life with Tea
Cake. The flooding brought on by the hurricane is symbolic of the biblical flood, but for what
sins is God punishing Janie? She has dared to rebel against the natural order seeking a more
independent life for herself than Granny had planned. She rebelled against both of her
previous husbands while seeking the distant horizon. Ultimately, Hurston's great feminist
heroine suffers through tragedy as punishment for her unconventionality, but unlike a
Shakespearean tragic hero, she still has many years of life ahead of her to make things right.
Back to Main Page
1. “So de white man throw down de load and tell the n----- man tuh pick it up. He pick it up
because he have to, but he don’t tote it. He hands it to his womenfolks. De n----- woman is de
mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see. I been prayin’ fuh it tuh be different wid you.”
When Janie recoils from the news that Granny plans to marry her off to Logan Killicks in
Chapter 2, Granny responds by explaining her theory of the order of the world. She sees a
world dominated by the whites who delegate their work to the blacks, who in turn delegate
their work to the womenfolk. Janie will spend the rest of the novel rebelling against this vision
of order of things. She will resist two husbands’ attempts to put her in her “proper place.” And,
with Joe Starks, she will attempt to make a life for herself in Eatonville, an all-black town.
2. “Don’t you change too many words wid me dis mornin’, Janie, do Ah’ll take and change ends
wid yuh! Heah, Ah just as good as take you out de white folks’ kitchen and set you down on yo’
royal diasticutis and you take and low-rate me!”
After Janie meets Jody Starks on that fateful day in Chapter 4, she begins to imagine a better
life for herself without Logan Killicks. When Logan asks his wife to help him move a manure
pile, she refuses. He scolds her forcefully, reminding her that her marriage to him represents a
move up the social ladder; in particular she is not forced to work as a servant for the whites
as her grandmother did. Nonetheless, his request reveals his changing relationship with Janie;
early in their marriage (the "honeymoon period") he would never have asked her to do
farmwork.
3. “Thank yuh fuh yo’ compliments, but mah wife don’t know nothin’ ‘bout no speech-makin’.
Ah never married her for nothin’ lak dat. She’s a woman and her place is in de home.”
Upon his arrival in Eatonville in Chapter 5, Joe Starks quickly sets upon his grand plans for
the town. Swept off their feet by the impressive “Brother Starks,” Jody is named the town’s first
mayor. When the people call for Janie to make a speech in recognition of her husband’s new
title and the town’s incorporation, Joe silences her before she can even begin. While Hurston
writes that “She had never thought of making a speech,” Janie is resentful of being silenced
nonetheless. This is the first sign of trouble in her marriage to Jody, and it is key piece of
evidence relating to theme of Janie’s voice. For Joe, leadership means being a "big voice," but
that voice must not be rivaled by that of his wife.
4. “Whut make her keep her head tied up lak some ole ‘oman round de store? Nobody could git
me tuh tie no rag on mah head if Ah had hair lak dat.”
Sam and Hicks are discussing the high-minded way in which Joe Starks runs his business and
his home in Chapter 5 when they light upon the topic of Janie’s hair. Janie’s unusually
beautiful hair is a genetic reminder of her white blood, and Joe jealously requires her to keep
it covered in public. Sam and Hicks represent the ambitionless element of the town that Joe
and Janie found when they arrived in Eatonville, and they also give voice to the traditional
values of the people of the town.
5. “Abraham Lincoln, he had de whole United States tuh rule so he freed the Negroes. You got
uh town so freed uh mule. You have tuh have power tuh free things and dat makes you lak uh
king uh something.”
“Yo’ wife is uh born orator, Starks. Use never knowed dat befo’. She put jus’ de right words
tuh our thoughts.”
Matt Bonner’s yellow mule is the subject of ridicule among the people of Eatonville in Chapter
6. When Joe Starks magnanimously frees the animal by purchasing it from Matt, it is a
moment of triumph for him in the gossipy culture of the town (and a kind gesture towards his
wife, who didn't like to see the animal abused). However, his victory is ruined by that which he
most fears: his wife’s assertiveness. Janie makes a mock-eloquent speech comparing her
husband to President Lincoln which is quickly praised by Hambo. This is critical moment in
the rising action as it widens the growing rift in Janie’s marriage to Joe. His jealousy will not
allow him to be upstaged by his wife, as we saw in Quotation 3.
6. “She stood there until something fell off the shelf inside her. Then she went inside there to see
what it was. It was her image of Jody tumbled down and shattered.”
When Joe strikes Janie in Chapter 6 to chasten her for her poor cooking, it irreparably
destroys whatever good was left in their marriage. Many strains had already been felt in
chapters 5 and 6, but Joe’s use of physical violence was the final straw. From this point on,
Janie no longer looks up to Joe or admires him, and their marriage is a passionless source of
disappointment for Janie. She married Jody to escape the trap of her life with Logan Killicks,
but once again her horizons have been hemmed in. The conventionality of domestic abuse
among the married couples of Eatonville is also demonstrated in the foolish character of Mrs.
Robbins in Chapter 6.
7. “Talkin’ about me lookin’ old! When you pull down yo’ britches, you look lak de change uh
life!”
Janie and Jody’s acrimonious marriage reaches a breaking point at the end of Chapter 7.
When Jody ironically insults her appearance (she has retained her looks well, unlike him), she
retorts by insulting his masculinity. Janie’s voice is her most potent weapon against Jody,
especially when she speaks out against him in front of the men of the town as she does here.
After this, Janie and Jody sleep in separate rooms, and Jody’s aging process seems to be
accelerated. Hurston writes that Janie did to Joe "The thing that Saul's daughter had done to
David." In other words, like Saul's daughter Michal in the Old Testament, she withheld sexual
relations from her husband as a sign of her displeasure, thus emasculating him.
8. Here Nanny had taken the biggest thing God ever made, the horizon—for no matter how far
a person can go the horizon is still way beyond you – and pinched it in to such a little bit of a
thing that she could tie it about her grandmother’s neck tight enough to choke her.
After Jody’s climactic death, Janie must reappraise her life in Chapter 9. She realizes that her
entire life to date has been lived by Granny’s philosophy (see Quotation 1), but she is not too
old to start anew. She comes to the startling realization that she had always hated her
grandmother and the life that was forced upon her. This new comprehension gives Janie the
strength to fight the societal demands that are soon pressuring her to remarry quickly; in
essence to replace Jody with a similar tyrant.
9. Wait till you see de new blue satin Tea Cake done picked out for me tuh stand up wid him in.
High heel slippers, necklace, earrings, everything he wants tuh see me in. Some of dese mornin's
and it won't be long, you gointuh wake up callin' me and Ah'll be gone.
Janie's best friend, Pheoby Watson, tries to warn Janie away from a life with Tea Cake. In
these lines, from the last paragraph of Chapter 12, Janie makes it clear that despite all of the
misgivings and warnings from the people of Eatonville, she isn't afraid to run off and start a
new life with Tea Cake. The dress she describes is foreshadowed at the very beginning of the
book when the Watchers on the porch compare it to the overalls in which she comes back to
town. The last sentence of the quotation is a line from the spiritual "Get Away Jordan."
Crossing the Jordan River symbolically represents reaching the promised land.
10. The wind came back with triple fury, and put out the light for the last time. They sat in
company with the others in the shanties, their eyes straining against crude walls and their souls
asking if He meant to measure their puny might against His. They seemed to be staring at the
dark, but their eyes were watching God.
Chapter 18 features the destructive hurricane that brings an end to Janie’s happy life with Tea
Cake. The flooding brought on by the hurricane is symbolic of the biblical flood, but for what
sins is God punishing Janie? She has dared to rebel against the natural order seeking a more
independent life for herself than Granny had planned. She rebelled against both of her
previous husbands while seeking the distant horizon. Ultimately, Hurston's great feminist
heroine suffers through tragedy as punishment for her unconventionality, but unlike a
Shakespearean tragic hero, she still has many years of life ahead of her to make things right.
Back to Main Page