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Image of "Their Eyes Were Watching God" cover, depicting Janie "under a blossoming pear tree" (10).

ANNOTATED  LINKS  &  CREDITS

 Image of "Their Eyes Were Watching God" cover, depicting Janie "under a blossoming pear tree" (10).

WORK CITED


    Hurston, Zora Neale.  Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937).  New York: Harper Perennial. 1998.
    This is the book in its full glory.  It is the 1998 edition from which the page numbers I are cited throughout this website have been taken from.


BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

    Helpful websites relating to the life and legacy of Zora Neale Hurston:

   Black and white photograph of a smiling Zora, as posted on the home page of the aforementioned website.  
 http://pages.prodigy.com/zora/
    This website offers an informal approach to learning about Zora Neale Hurston through excerpts of her own words coupled by interpretations
    of them in an assortment of well written essays.  There are wonderful photographs to be seen, and even a bulletin board to write postings on
    and read those posted by others.

  Black and white photograph of a gazing Hurston, as posted on the homepage of the aforementioned webpage.
http://voices.cla.umn.edu/authors/HURSTONzoraneale.html
    This University of Minessota website, introduced by the very passage I have annotated, offers a biography and criticism of Hurston as "A
Genius of the South." The selected bibliography is especially helpful in citing works about the author.

A website dedicated to the Zora Festival of Arts & Humanities, which is celebrating its 50th year in 2003, this page contains a festival schedule and links to an online gallery collection from the Zora Neale Hurston Museum of Fine Arts.  Also included is information regarding the annual Zora Seminar which provides "participants with the opportunity to study and experience Historic Eatonville™, Zora Neale Hurston's hometown and a point of reference for much of her primary research and writing."

Heading of the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation website.
This Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation website tells of the foundation's mission "to develop, nurture and sustain the world community of writers of African descent," for the purpose of preserving "the legacy and ensur[ing] the future of Black writing. The Foundation is named for two genuises of American and world literature."  Hurston's legacy certainly lives on.


NOVEL INFORMATION

    Helpful websites relating specifically to the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God:

http://www.novelguide.com/theireyeswerewatchinggod/index.html
 For a basic novel summary broken down into its constituent chapters, profiles of the characters, theme analysis and a brief examination of recurring metaphors, this site is simple and clear.

http://www.gradesaver.com/ClassicNotes/Titles/eyes/
 Another source for simple summary and analysis, this site provides a general look at the novel as a whole, as well as on a three to four chapter basis.  Some essays, a message board, and an opportunity to quiz yourself are also incorporated.  More importantly however, in addition to providing a biography of Hurston, the site also includes an extensive contextualization of Their Eyes Were Watching God.


http://www.bookrags.com/notes/tewg/TOP2.htm
This site similarly porvides information about the author and context in which Hurston wrote this novel.  A plot summary, brief character, object and place descritiptions, significant quotes, and a message board are also included with a collection of essays.   Most useful is the the site's topic tracking of identity, voice, and especially nature.

http://prizedwriting.ucdavis.edu/past/1991-1992/wenger.html.
 As noted in the annotations, the pear tree passage from the commencement of the novel can be interpreted in a religious, or at least biblical framework, in terms of it mirroring the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  It can also be read for its reference to Homer's Odyssey.  Both analyses are explored in depth by Daniel Wenger, a winner of the 12th annual Prized Writing competition - "a competition designed to select and publish the best expository writing produced by UC Davis undergraduates during the 2002-2003 academic year."


http://www.uah.edu/aaww/Hurston_Vessel.htm
Included in my thematic critical analysis is the meaning of the word killick coming to imply the incongruity between the stone and wood of Logan Killicks and Janie's composition founded solely upon blossoming wood.  In her very interesting article entitled "Nommo, Unnaming, and Names as Narrative Agents in Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God," Michelle Vessel explains how "Hurston’s use of names as narrative agents in Their Eyes Were Watching God evoke a longstanding African cultural tradition, nommo, which imbues the act of naming with generative power."  Each of the significant characters in the novel is well analyzed through her onomastic examination.

IMAGE CREDITS  

Cover of the novel.
Photograph of the blossoming pear tree.
Bee in pink blossom image.
Image of a sunset kiss, similar to the sunkissed caress between Janie and Johnny.
Black and white, dead-like photograph of a weathered tree surrounded by leaves of life. This image represents Nanny's old-tree like face that janie wrapped with leaves.
Picture of a killick which like Joe, is composed of metal and wood, in contrast to Janie's composition of wood only.
Photograph of a stump representing the stasis and lonesomeness felt on Logan's sixty acres.
Pear blossom photo.

  The images included in the biographical information section above are from the website linked below each one.

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