Their Eyes Were Watching God

Zora Neale Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” revises the traditional slave narrative. The text exemplifies certain aspects of the slave narrative but at the same time it introduces new ones as well as revising old ones. The slave narrative was of the utmost importance to the earliest of black authors, and what was at stake for these authors was “nothing less than the Implicit testimony to their humanity, a common humanity which they sought to demonstrate through the very writing of a text of an ex-slave’s life” (Wall 60).
Traditional slave narratives were told in the first person point of view from the author’s perspective. The slave narratives can be categorized into three specific categories: tales of religious redemption, tales to inspire the abolitionist struggle, and tales of progress. “Their Eyes Were Watching God” would most suitably fit into the “tales of progress” category as Janie is a character who is very self-sufficient. Janie shows a type of independence not found in most of the classic slave narratives and tackles most obstacles on her own whereas most women represented in prior slave narratives were very reliant on others, especially males. In this capacity, Janie has shown that males have only brought her disappointment and heartache. It is not until Janie unites with Tea Cake that she is truly happy with a male counterpart.
Most slave narratives that were written in the past were catered to what would be their readers. The readers of these works were more often than not white, literate, and educated people. Because of this, the texts were written in a formal style and conformed to the writing techniques and language of the day (Wall 62). This is where Zora Neale Hurston breaks the mold of the typical slave narrative. She writes in the dialect of Southern black and it is visible in the dialogue written on the page. The dialect highlights the culture aspect of the novel found within the setting of Eatonville, Florida. By writing in this specific dialogue, the reader senses a stronger connection to the story being told and has a greater relation to the characters. It is simply amazing how dialogue alone can add so much to the plot and setting of the story. The Southern dialect added multitudes to the understanding of the attitudes of the residents of Eatonville, Florida.
Therefore, by changing the main character by adding a self-sufficient woman and reflecting in the text the language spoken by these members of the main character’s community, Zora Neale Hurston was able to redefine the slave narrative in a positive and uplifting way.

Wall, Cheryl A. . Zora Neale Hurston's Their eyes were watching God: a casebook. New York City: Oxford University Press US, , 2000.