T. S. Elliot writes: what we call a beginning is often the end/ And to make an endis to make a beginning.
/ The end is where we start from. In order to begin selfrealization a person must first conquer a hindrance in their path. This idea is used toportray the nature of Janies exploration in There Eyes Were Watching God, by ZoraNeale Hurston. Through the use of style, setting, and symbolism, the reader can interpretthat the beginning of ones self-fulfillment comes from successfully overcoming onesThroughout the novel Hurston utilizes the horizon as a symbol representingJanies dreams in order to reveal the realizations she comes to which enable her to starther self fulfillment.
At one point while she is married to Logan Killicks, Janie realizessomething about her marriage to Logan Killicks; She knew that God tore down the oldworld every evening and built a new one by sun-up. It was wonderful to see it take formwith the sun and emerge from the gray dust of its making. She knew now that marriagedid not make love. Janies first dream was dead, so she became a woman. (25) Janie hadexpected marriage to grow into love, but her dream did not come to be. Hurstoncompares Janies unfulfilled dream to how the sun rises above the horizon every morningto a new day- the sun shedding light on the her dream (or horizon).
The purpose of thisbeing to expose the importance of revelation of discovering her dreams and achievingthem. Without the failure of her marriage to Logan Killicks, Janie would not have knowwhat to search for in her life. After Janie leaves with Jodie to escape her marriage toLogan Killicks, she recognizes a familiarity about her new marriage, They sat on theboarding house porch and saw the sun plunge into the same crack in the earth from whichthe night emerged. (33) From the experience she has gained in her first marriage, Janieknows that she does not want another like Logan Killicks, but at the same time sheknows she is watching the same pattern emerge in her new relationship with Jodie Starks. Janie is slowly coming to an understanding about herself and what her dreams are.
Shemolds her dream according to her experiences. At the conclusion of Janies marriage toJodie and his death, as well as the beginning of the Tea Cake Era, Janie has anotherrevelation about her dream and her horizon, He tipped his hat at the door and was offwith the briefest good night. So she sat on the porch and watched the moon rise. Soon itsamber fluid was drenching the earth, and quenching the thirst of the day. (99) Janie nowknows what she is looking for in a marriage.
This time, Hurston uses the moon instead ofthe sun (with Tea Cake representing the moon and Jodie representing the sun). Jodie hasset and Tea Cake has now risen to stand in his place. Hurston was able to effectivelyportray the idea of Janies learning experiences, or marriages affecting her dreamsthrough the use of the horizon as symbol for her unachieved goals. The reader can have an understanding of where Janie began and ended heraccomplishment through the framing style. Zora Neale Hurston begins her novel at theend of the story, where Janie is assembling her experience to Phoeby, Its hard for me tounderstand what you Janie mean, de way you tell it. And then again Ahm hard ofunderstandin at times.
/ Naw, taint nothin lak you Phoeby might think. So taint nouse in me Janie telling you somethin unless Ah give you de understandin to go longwid it. (7) Hurston uses the framing style to give the novel better effect in getting themeacross. She starts her novel at the end when Janie has returned from the Everglades,setting up the story line of Janie returning with insight, only obtained at the end, to sharewith Pheoby. Hurston has Janie begin the story of her life as a flashback at the end of herlifes journey, Ah know exactly what Ah got to tell yuh, but its hard to know where tostart at. Ah aint never seen mah papa.
. . Mah Grandma raised me. (8) Hurston has Janiebegin a story within a story.
The style Hurston uses helps mold the theme into place. Thereader is being told right along with Pheoby (about Janies life) and therefore canunderstand the plot more easily. When Janie concludes her story, the reader has a betterunderstanding of Janie, lifes dreams, and Pheoby as she responds; Ah done growed tenfeet higher jus listenin tuh you, Janie. Ah aint satisfied wid mahself no mo. (192) Atthe conclusion of Janies narrative, the beginning of the novel is again brought in play aswe are transported back to the present.
Through the framing style of Zora Neale Hurston,Janie has come to her self-realization at the end of her life and her story, hence provingthat the theme holds strong with the presence Hurstons writing style. Hurston uses the setting to bring further insight to the reader as we are transportedfrom Eatonville to the Everglades, back to Eatonville in order to provide Janie the chanceto live and grow. Janie begins her life in Eatonville with Jodie Starks It was early in theafternoon when they got there. . . It is a whole heap littler than Ah thought.
Janieadmitted. (34) Janie begins her life in Eatonville – the first part of her life without herGrandmother and where she chooses to do things. She hasnt seen much of the world;only little towns around Eatonville; and so she begins her journey. In the middle ofJanies story, she explains how she left after Jodies death to live with Tea Cake in theEverglades. To Janies eyes, everything in the Everglades was big and new. (129) Janie needed to get away from Eatonville in order to have new experiences and meet differentpeople, which are necessities of Janie discovering her self and eventually obtainingself-fulfillment.
If she had stayed in Eatonville, she would have remained the same,bored, lifeless Janie. When Janie returns to Eatonville she is a changed woman, ready tobegin her self realization. Now, dats how everything wuz, Pheoby, jus lak Ah toldyuh. So Ahm back home agin and Ahm satisfied tuh be heah.
(191) Janie has finishedher story and conquered her query, and she is now ready to begin life with her selfattainment as she lives the rest of her life out in the peaceful setting of Eatonville. Hurstons use of the repetitive setting proved valuable in the perception of Janiesaccomplishment found only with a cycle of locations. In Zora Neale Hurstons novel, There Eyes Were Watching God, the theme is thatthe beginning of self fulfillment is, in fact, the vanquishment of ones adversities. Hurston proves this theme throughout her novel by the employment of style, setting, andsymbolism. Without dealing with obstacles one cannot understand the accomplishmentthat ensues them, and therefore would not be able to begin the pursuit of happiness or selfattribution until the end of her quandary; hence further validating T.
S. Elliots quote asBibliography:none
