On The Writing Techniques Of Their Eyes Were Watching God

Zora Neale Hurston,one of the greatest writers of the Harlem Renaissance,is acknowledged as the Mother of Black Female Literature.Her masterpiece Their Eves Were Watching God is highly evaluated as a classic of Afro-American literary writings, of female literature and of American literature of the twentieth century.The novel successfully creates an image of a Black woman—Janie,who sets herself apart from other female characters of her age as one who dares to resist conventional ideas, perseveres in questing for her self and eventually attains her goals in life.The charms of the novel lie not only in its characterization and thematic brilliance but also in the writing techniques,which,admittedly,contribute a great deal to its success.This thesis aims to research on the writing techniques of this novel in three aspects:its structure,narrative techniques and language,and is expected to highlight the function of these techniques in molding characters and deepening the themes of the novel.The thesis falls into three chapters plus an introduction and a conclusion.In addition to a brief account of Zora Neale Hurston's life and literary achievements in American literature,the introduction part reviews present research of the novel at home and abroad,and states the necessity and significant of this research.Chapter One focuses on the narrative structure.The narrative structure of the novel is a tale-within-a-tale structure.The novel consists of twenty chapters,the first chapter and the final three pages of the last chapter constituting a big frame of the storytelling.Within the frame is the life story of the heroin Janie,narrated by Janie herself in an omniscient third-person voice.Such a narrative structure is by no means new in literature,but it is endued here with significant meanings in portraying characters and emphasizing the novel's themes.Chapter Two makes a thorough analysis on the symbols used in the novel,for example:pear tree,mule,horizon,the characters' names and raiment.Among them, the pear tree is the most important symbol that runs through the whole novel.It embodies Janie's aspiration for true love and her spiritual growth.The mule,another important symbol in the book,lays bare the misery of Janie and other black women. The rough treatment and down-trodden position of the mule is the very reflection of Janie and the black women in the male-dominated society.The horizon,names and raiment all signify Janie's development from an infantile girl to a mature woman.Chapter Three discusses the language features.The novel abounds in free indirect speech,Black English and black sermon.Free indirect speech is the most striking and successful aspect of the novel's techniques,by means of which,the voices of the characters and the narrator interlace with each other,so that the distance is narrowed between the readers and the characters.In addition,the use of Black English and black sermon renders the narration of the novel extraordinarily vivid and the language of the characters extremely distinctive,and,moreover,adds rich local color and flavor to the novel.The thesis ends with a conclusion in which the significance and influence of the writing techniques Hurston uses is further emphasizes.It is these writing traditions that make Their Eyes Were Watching God a novel full of blackness and a classic of Afro-American literature and of American literature.These writing traditions Hurston creates have a far-reaching influence on the later writers.