An Analysis Of Their Eyes Were Watching God From The Perspective Of Narrative Ethics

Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) is a very remarkable folklorist and anthropologist inAmerica. She is a prototypical female writer on black culture from the Harlem Renaissance.Their Eyes Were Watching God, her masterpiece, is regarded as a classic in black literatureand female literature. It presents an unusual figure in American literature—Janie Crawford,who struggles all her life against racial oppression and sexual discrimination in search of heridentity and fulfillment. It fully explores the awakening of black female consciousness.So far, Their Eyes Were Watching God has been exposed from a large number ofperspectives, for example, biography, folklore, feminism and narrative strategies, to exploreblacks’ fate and way out. These studies mainly focus on the novel’s theme and writingtechniques, but pay little attention to the ethical attitude in the novel. Therefore narrativeethics is applied in this paper, to make an analysis on the ethical factors from three narrativeperspectives—female narrative, family narrative and race narrative in Their Eyes WereWatching God, with the explanation to the protagonist Janie’s living dilemma, to showHurston’s unique ethical attitude: the key to getting rid of the miserable fate for blacks lies inthe reestablishment of ethnic consciousness and the fulfillment of self.This thesis consists of an introduction, four chapters and a conclusion.The opening part mainly gives a brief introduction to Zora Neale Hurston, Their EyesWere Watching God, and a literature review. Then it points out the significance of the thesis:from the perspective of narrative ethics and with the explanation to the narrative content, thispaper presents the impressive image of Janie, and gives a new ethical and cultural judgment toJanie, in order to help readers fully understand the black culture.Chapter One gives a brief introduction to the theory of narrative ethics, the representative theorists and the main concept of this theory. Narrative ethics tells the life stories of personalexperiences and raises the problems of life feelings through personal experiences, and formsconcrete moral consciousness and ethical appeals; by narrating Janie’s life experience,Hurston presents the common experience of black females, and shows her ethical appeals forself-fulfillment and ethnic consciousness. The main aspects of narrative ethics include femalenarrative, family narrative and race narrative. Female narrative centers on the females’feelings of life, with its emphasis on female consciousness and self-fulfillment. Familynarrative focuses on the change of family structure, in search for the harmonious familyrelationships. Race narrative depicts the racial living conditions, with the implication of theunique survival ethic.Chapter Two discusses Hurston’s ethical ideas through female narrative which isconfined to the story of black females’ experiences and ethical appeals for self-fulfillmentunder slavery in Their Eyes Were Watching God. Firstly, black females’ situation and thedouble oppressions of racism and sexism are introduced. Secondly, Janie’s ethical pursuit forself-fulfillment is analyzed from three aspects—the loss of self, the awakening of self and thefulfillment of self. This thesis draws a conclusion of Hurston’s ethical ideas that blackfemales should struggle for freedom and self-fulfillment. In the struggle process, theirself-value must be in accordance with the collective value standard of the black communityand the community may serve as the source of help. Only by this means, can black women getthe real freedom in body and spirit.Chapter Three makes an analysis of Hurston’s ideas from family narrative narroweddown to the story happened in a black family with the changes of family structure in TheirEyes Were Watching God. The novel is about the changes of Janie’s family structure andcenters on Janie’s marital life. In her three marriages, Janie tries her best to pursue aharmonious marital life. She quests for equality in marital relationships and liberation from irrational marriages. Through Janie’s family narrative, Hurston shows her ethical ideas onmarital life that the harmonious marital life lies in equality, independence and freedom. Onlyby gaining independence and liberation, can black women be free of oppressions. Without theliberation of black women, there would be no emancipation of the whole human beings.Chapter Four explores Hurston’s ethical ideas from race narrative which refers to blacks’painful feelings under racial discrimination and their struggle against whites in Their EyesWere Watching God. The first part of this chapter discloses blacks’ sufferings during theslavery period and reveals that racism has brought great pain to black people. Under the cruelsituation, black people have formed their special survival ethic. The second part takes Janiefor instance and shows that Janie’s ethical choices of obedience and struggle are for pursuingsurvival ethic. The third part gets Hurston’s ethical ideas on race that black people shouldbravely confront their history and help each other to go out of their painful past. Only bydoing this can blacks regain their ethnic consciousness and rebuild their glorious future.The conclusion shows Hurston’s writing intention and the value of her literary creation,and sums up the four chapters. Slavery has been abolished for more than a hundred years, butblack people in modern society still live in the shadow of slavery and abandon someresponsibilities, which is the root of various problems faced by blacks in modern society.With strong ethnic and political consciousness, Hurston instructs blacks in modern society tobravely get rid of the shadow left by slavery to get their ethnic consciousness and help eachother to change their current situation. Meanwhile, she advises black women to awaken theirself-consciousness for their self-fulfillment. Hurston’s ethical ideas are of great importance insolving the problems of black people in modern society and the problems existing in otherraces.