A Journey Through Life By Zora Neale Hurston Essay

A Journey through Life Before You Find a Prince First, you must Have to Kiss A few Frogs.† This quote represents the story of a beautiful girl named Janie. The novel was written by an American folklorist and author, Zora Neale Hurston. Her novel titled Their Eyes Were Watching God, is about a sixteen-year-old who is under grandmother s care. Their Eyes Were Watching God gives a brief representation of the life that black slaves had to live. Through the black American culture, many slaves were force to sexual and physical abuse from their owners. This is the case of Janie s grandmother Nanny; she is raped by her master, and has a daughter named Leafy. Also, she is raped by her school teacher, and has Janie. After having Janie, Leafy rans away from home and never comes back, so Nanny transfers her hopes to Janie. Janie grows up with Nanny s perspective of life that makes her later on hate Nanny. She teaches Janie not to be attracted to love instead she wants Janie to seek for financial stability and p hysical protection. Indeed, Nanny s love for Janie is powerful; their economic background blinds her to see what Janie really wants. Nanny always wants the best for Janie, so she marries her to Logan Killicks, who is an old, unattractive, and wealthy farmer. Roughly a year later, Janie leaves her miserable life to marry a charismatic man whose name is Joe Starks. Years later, the charismatic and loving man disappears and becomes Janie s shadow. Soon after Joe s death,Show MoreRelatedZora Neale Hurston A Genius of the South Essay1664 Words   |  7 PagesZora Neale Hurston is a trailblazer. Back then people ridiculed her, but she felt the pride and dignity within herself. She was seen as an African-American grandmother in many images of black women writers (Showalter 221). 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