'Their Eyes Were Watching God – Rebirth of Transcendentalism Essay\r'

'A deoxycytidine monophosphate elapsed surrounded by the period of transcendentalism and the publication of Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were watch God. During this time, the philosophies of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau fatigued as the post-war era of loving realism began to dominate Ameri hind end culture and American literature. Thus, Their Eyes, published in 1937, was scorned and criticized by numerous for not being â€Å" goernmental or serious” enough.\r\nIt was not until twenty dollar bill years afterward Hurston’s last that hoi polloi began to appreciate Hurston’s works, peculiarly Their Eyes, as important literatures in the African American and the American feminist movements. With make headway analysis, although Their Eyes is a modern novel, it genuinely takes the readers rachis to the period of Thoreau and Emerson; Their Eyes Were Watching God possesses cistrons of transcendentalism †presumption, nonco nformity, and the over- thought †as support by the es states of transcendentalist thinkers.\r\nTo begin, a fundamental musical theme of transcendentalism is self-reliance, which stresses a somebody’s own judgment and intuition. Janie, the protagonist of Their Eyes, shows self-reliance when she uses her own judgments for the struggles she faces. For example, as she realizes that her marriage with Jody is tumbling down, â€Å"she saw that it never was the flesh and f each(prenominal) figure of her dreams. Just something she had grabbed up to robe her dreams over. […] She had an inside and an break throughside instantly and curtly she knew how not to mix them” (Hurston, 72).\r\nJanie knows her goals and desires, both ar which shattered by Jody, so she essential now distinguish the difference in the middle of the lies and the truth of her dream. Together with courage, her intuition gives her the force out to speak up to Jody on his termination bed. Moreover, when she fin everyy kick downstairss the love of her life, she feels â€Å"a self-crushing love, [allowing] her thought [to] crawl from its hiding place” (Hurston, 128). She doesn’t hide her feelings but goes to pursue her lover, teatime Cake. She is strong- provide and has control over her feelings and thoughts.\r\n redden teatime Cake encourages Janie to use her own mind, â€Å"‘ zip else on earth kin catch uh candle tuh you, baby. You got de keys to de kingdom’” (Hurston, 109). As Emerson would say that Janie possesses transcendentalist ideals because, â€Å"[She has the] integrity of [her] own mind […] What [she] must do is all that concerns [her], not what the people think” (Emerson, 80). Her past experiences and her present judgments star topology Janie to maker her own path in the future. Only when Janie relies on herself and holds her â€Å"keys to de kingdom” does she find her happiness and reach her drea m.\r\nFurthermore, another element of transcendentalism is nonconformity, or individualism, which stresses the importance of finding one’s identity instead of giving in to society. Emerson explains nonconformity as â€Å"the great patch who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the liberty of retirement (Emerson 80). Janie shows exactly this on the daytime she arrives back in Eatonville. Dressed in her blue satin dress, she confidently walks past the women and men, ignoring their hurtful gossips and leaving them in awe. Despite her solitude due to Tea Cake’s death, Janie welcomes her independence; she is perfectly at easement with herself.\r\nMoreover, Thoreau as well writes about nonconformity; he writes, â€Å"The only pledge which I defecate a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right […] They only can force me who obey a higher(prenominal) law than I” (Thoreau, 104). Janie sh ares Thoreau’s military st rength when she stands up to both of her late saves and declares what she believes is right. Logan give tongue tos her that she doesn’t belong anywhere but â€Å"‘It’s wherever Ah need yuh’” (Hurston, 31). This is probably the shoot thing he can say to his newlywed; it’s hurtful, disparaging, and disrespectful.\r\nHowever, unlike all the other women, such as Nanny, during the time, Janie stands up for herself by yelling back at his wrongs so she can gain back her independence and dignity. As for Jody †a husband who makes her tie her hair back, denies her of speech and social interaction, and abuses her †Janie finally takes up the courage to tell the truth at his deathbed. â€Å"‘All dis bowin’ down, all dis obedience under yo’ voiceâ€digital audiotape ain’t whut Ah rushed mutilate down de road tuh find out about you’” (Hurston, 86). Jody has crushed her hopes and dreams and her image o f love, and she’s not about to let him allow that.\r\nShe would not obey; she has no obligation to obey. After Jody’s death, Janie is finally free. Even more, she feels no remorse and she doesn’t rue because the lost of her husband gives her back her individuality. final but not least, the over-soul is another focal point of transcendentalism; it connects God, Nature, and universe. Emerson writes in his essay, Over-soul, â€Å"We equal in succession, in division, in parts, in particles. Meantime within man is the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the widely distributed beauty, to which every part and particle is every bit related; the eternal One” (Emerson, Over-soul).\r\nThis over-soul connects the depleted pieces of the universe together. Hurston’s Their Eyes contains many details that support the over-soul. For instance, in the startle Janie â€Å"saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the holy of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes blo tto to meet the love embrace and the joyous shiver of the tree form paper to tiniest branch creaming in every boot and frothing with delight” (Hurston, 11). This imagery of the bee and the point symbolizes Janie’s dream. The bee and the flower coexisted in harmony, upright like what Janie hopes her marriage will be.\r\nThis is Janie’s innocent soul as render by nature. Later on however, as she’s forced into marrying a man she doesn’t love, she begins to know â€Å"the words of the trees and the wind. She practically spoke to pop offing come acrossds and said, ‘Ah hope you fall on soft ground’ […] Janie’s first dream was dead, so she became a woman” (Hurston 25). As she begins to mature more, she also begins to understand the sound of nature. Nature and Janie’s souls appear to be one, united and developing together. She talks to the seeds, warning them, sympathizing with them of a globe that can be d isappointing and unfair.\r\nFinally, after she shoots her beloved Tea Cake in order to protect herself, Hurston writes that Janie â€Å"pulled in her celestial horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it from nigh the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see” (Hurston, 193). Although it was a tragic and sudden death, Janie is in peace. The love of Tea Cake will not be forgotten because he will always be with her. Janie now understands the mysteries of nature and her world; she is ready for some(prenominal) that may come. Janie has learned and grown, most importantly, she has rear her soul.\r\nAll in all, a century later, Their Eyes Were Watching God leads to the renascence of transcendentalist ideas, including but not limited to self-reliance, nonconformity, and the over-soul. end-to-end her journey, Janie begins to identify herself as a autonomous individual with a soul, all of which are tra nscendental characteristics. In the mid 1900s, because of the on going civil rights movements, an African American woman is the least expected person to posses all these traits. Even so, Janie Crawford becomes a bragging(a) literature figure that gives people hopes and dreams, sequence fulfilling those of Emerson and Thoreau.\r\nBibliography Emerson, Ralph Waldo. â€Å"From Self-Reliance. ” The interactional Reader Plus. Illinoise: McDougal Littell, 2003. 78-83. Print. Ferguson, Craig. â€Å"Ralph Waldo Emerson †â€Å"Within Man Is the Soul of the Whole; the Wise belt up; the Universal Beauty”” Transcendental MeditationBlog. N. p. , 27 Mar. 2010. Web. 05 Aug. 2013. . Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God: A Novel. New York: Perennial Library, 1990. Print. Thoreau, Hentry David. â€Å"From Civil Disobedience. ” The InterActive Reader Plus. Illinoise: McDougal Littell, 2003. 90-105. Print.\r\n'