​Zora Neale Hurston
Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God is beautifully written, so much so that only a person who has experienced such things could have written it. This is why Hurston’s hometown of Eatonville must be discussed in connection to the novel. If she would not have grown up in Eatonville, the novel would not have had the same density. I argue that Zora Neale Hurston’s upbringing in Eatonville, Florida plays a significant role in Their Eyes Were Watching God.
Black Feminism
Black Feminism is a popular theme portrayed throughout the novel and Hurston's life. During a time when it was not popular for women to get an education, or for women to do anything other than be a housewife, Hurston chose to do otherwise. It was said that, "Zora Neale Hurston's work, especially in her widely read 1937 novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, aimed to give voice to Black women's issues through fiction (Collins 1993)." In the novel issues such as sexual violence and physical abuse are main topics of discussion as well as equality between men and women. Janie Crawford experiences each of these issues and stands up to them as an independent woman with independent ideas and beliefs. You can see much of Hurston portrayed through Janie's character in the novel. Hurston too had her own ideas and beliefs and thought she could do anything any man could do. Hurston did whatever she had to do to reach her goals in life as we see with Janie as she travels through the novel looking for herself and not settling for anything less than she deserves.
Women in Captivity
In the novel, Janie Crawford also experiences captivity. Her Nanny shows ownership of her in the beginning by forcing her to get married and her husbands each show ownership of her by some kind of physical or mental abuse. This is equivalent to Hurston's life as she once stated, "There were many beatings, both at school and at home, and a great deal of talk at both places about 'breaking my spirit' (Flynn, Deasy, Ruah 2011)."
Zora Neale Hurston also did not have any children, assumedly because of infertility. This would have been especially captivating for a woman of this time. Her infertility is quite possibly the main reason her marriages were unsuccessful. In the novel, it is assumed that Janie Crawford is infertile as well, though at the end it is open to interpretation that Janie may miraculously be pregnant. This is a clear comparison of how captivating it must have been in Hurston's own life to be without children.
Eatonville
Eatonville was named after Josiah Eaton, who sold the land to a group of African American men who were interested in creating an all-black community, just as described in the novel. It was one of the first all-black communities to be formed. Hurston's father, John Hurston, was the preacher and the mayor of the town. Her mother, Lucy Ann Hurston, was the leader of the Sunday School at the church. Hurston grew up watching successful African American men and women like her mother and father be strong leaders in the community, and this influenced her life and her writing. There was, and still is, Joe’s general store in Eatonville where people would sit on the porch and Hurston probably used many of the same stories she heard back then (Beauchamp 2014). In Eatonville today, the annual Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts draws huge crowds in honor and memory of "Zora Neale Hurston: A Genius of the South (Boyd 1937)."
Zora Neale Hurston created Their Eyes Were Watching God as almost a direct reflection of her own life. She used the people in her live who were most important to her to craft one of her most famous novels. If it were not for her direct connection with Eatonville, the novel could not have been written with as much descriptive detail and meaning. Hurston makes the reader feel exactly how she felt. As you read through the pages, you experience Janie’s adventures with her, or rather Hurston’s.