Blog Option 4

                Their Eyes Were Watching God is a compelling novel written by Zora Neale Hurston. It chronicles the life of Janie Crawford in a constant struggle of love and loss, a theme many people can probably relate too. After the abandonment of one husband and death of a second, Janie finds herself a widow and content with the single life that is until Tea Cake comes into her little town. He gradually woos and courts Janie and they eventually marry and runaway together.

While the setting of my story is a bit more modern and not quite as tragic, I can understand Janie’s first encounter with Tea Cake. The scene where Tea- Cake is walking Janie home from the general store the first night they met and she realizes, “Tea Cake wasn’t strange. Seemed as if she had known him all her life (Hurston 151),” reminds me of when I first met my husband. We both had worked in the same building for nearly a month and our paths had not ever crossed. One morning at a coworker’s desk, he sees me, walks over and addresses me by my name. I was shocked as I had never met this strange man before. It turns he had noticed me my first day, asked around about my name and finally decided to introduce himself.

“Janie wanted to ask Hezekiah about Tea Cake, but she was afraid he might misunderstand her and think she was interested (Hurston 152).” I can recall this feeling all too well. I was perfectly content being single and I knew I didn’t want this guy coming along and ruining my independence but something, maybe fate, caused me to ask about him and finally let him take me out on a date. My husband and I just celebrated our one year anniversary and it’s nice to look back, as Janie did, and remember how things were in the beginning. Like Janie and her relationship with Tea Cake, my husband and I’s relationship isn’t perfect but somehow it works. I’ve learned that everyone’s relationship/ marriage is different but as long as you and your partner are happy at the end of the day then that is all that matters. Their Eyes Were Watching God provided me with reminiscent feelings and made me happy to know that other women also find love at the most unsuspecting times.

My husband and I: our wedding day in Las Vegas