Zora Neal Hurston writes about many different themes in her novels, short stories, plays, and articles. One reoccurring theme that many might have noticed, but have not questioned, is religion. Religion is a very common theme in Zora’s work, especially in Their Eyes Are Watching God. When I first read the book, I immediately thought Zora was a very religious and spiritual person, which did not take me by surprise considering the time she lived in. Christianity was and still is predominant in this country and back then times were tougher, technology and science weren’t as advanced, so there was a higher percentage of believers. Faith in a supernatural being that cares about his creation provided people with hope to get them through everyday life. However, after I learned that Zora travelled to Haiti and was very interested in voodoo and other faiths, I began questioning Zora’s own faith and the symbolisms in Their Eyes Were Watching God.  I want to explore this topic because it is really easy to conclude that the God in this novel is a Judeo-Christian God because of the dialogue used in this novel and it is easy to assume that she is of that faith, but I think through her descriptions of a deity, she is referring to a gnostic universalistic entity rather than a monotheistic God. I plan to proceed with this claim by observing different contexts in this novel of this entity and looking through a different lens.  By observing this theme through her character Janie, we can get a better insight on Zora’s faith or take on religion.

 

Many times in Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora describes nature in a supernatural way, majestic way.  Oftentimes when she describes the moon, sky sun, sea, horizon, and other aspects of the natural world, they appear infused with divinity, like they are one. For example, "she was stretched on her back beneath the pear tree soaking in the alto chant of the visiting bees, the gold of the sun and the panting breath of the breeze when the inaudible voice of it all came to her" (Their Eyes Were Watching God, 11). Janie connects to nature as one. Zora further writes, " she was seeking confirmation of the voice and vision, and everywhere she found and acknowledged answers, A personal answer for all other creations except herself" (Their Eyes Were Watching God, 11) This is a faith that Buddhists and other Asian religions have, an idea of oneness. The divine forces that Janie encounters in the novel are both beautiful and threatening, for example when they survive the hurricane. We can see how Zora depicts the oneness with nature again, "Fact is it's de onliest thing God ever made. He made nature and nature made every thing else" (Their Eyes Were Watching God, 65). Throughout the novel, Janie tries to find herself and her place in this world. Through every relationship she experiences and every situation she is put in, she just wants to understand who she is as an independent human being. She has this desire to be her true self and express that instead of wasting her life masking it.

 

Janie has been unhappy in two different marriages. The first one she blames her grandmother because she was practically set up by her. Her grandmother had different priorities though and this was largely due to the fact that she was a former slave. As a victim of slavery, a woman would not care about anything else but to marry a man that provides security and has money to support the family. Though in reality, this is still a form of slavery because the wife has no identity of her own outside of the marriage. Janie recognizes that this has affected her grandmother’s belief systems because Janie is definitely not on the same page as her. In chapter 12, we see how Janie has gained sympathy for her grandmother because she understands why she thinks that way and understand why she was unhappy with Jody. She knows her search for herself is greater than materialistic things. Janie’s quest for self-discovery is literally a quest to find her own self.

 

Once we understand the character of Janie and her search for her voice and self we can understand that she is in search to be in peace with the environment. The dialogue in the book appears to be directed more towards the Judeo-Christian God because it uses terms like "Jesus" and phrases that many Christians use but I believe Zora uses that kind of dialogue because it is part of the culture she comes from. Zora uses Janie's character to express her faith because we later learn in her autobiography that she doesn't affiliate herself with any religion.