Caution versus Nature
Old versus New
Their
Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston is a novel set in Florida
during the late 1800s. After the civil war slaves who were freed, and did not
migrate north, often had no choice but, to continue to work on large
plantations for little or no pay. Hurston’s novel presents somewhat of a
solution for African Americans in the South. In some parts of the South,
exclusively black communities were created to help African Americans partially
escape white scrutiny and, to allow black men to hold a position of power in
their communities. These positions include government like a mayor. These
African American communities like the Eatonville, the all black community in Their Eyes Were Watching God, were often
times successful. Hurston takes the reader into the dynamics within a town like
Eatonville. Hurston is often telling the story from the perspective of Janie,
the wife of the mayor often talking from a woman’s perspective.
The
novel introduces the argument of Nature versus Caution in chapter 6. Two men
from Eatonville are sitting outside the store when one asks “whut is it dat
keeps uh man from getting’ burnt on uh red-hot stove—caution or nature?”
(Hurston 64). This argument is impossible to give a definite answer on, but I believe
we can see it as a combination of both caution and nature. Nature tells us that
as our hand feels the heat emanating from the stove, we should pull away as to
not get burned. Many people do not allow themselves to become close enough to
the stove to be burned because of advice given by friends or parents.
Nature versus caution is seen even
earlier in the novel when Nanny forces the main character, Janie, to get
married at the budding of her sexual exploration. Married off at the age of
sixteen. Nanny, the narrator’s grandmother, does not even allow Janie to become
close enough to a fire to be burned by a particularly vicious tongue of flame. Nanny
is cautious of sexual freedom because, both nanny and her daughter, Janie’s
mom, were raped. Janie is the child of a vicious crime. To make sure Janie has
a safe adulthood, Nanny tries to force Janie to shut out her sexuality, and
live a quiet hard working life as a farmer’s wife. Marrying an African American
man who owns land was the best Nanny could do for Janie to secure a safe but,
somewhat boring life.
Shortly after Nanny dies, Janie
throws caution to the wind and elopes with another man. Multiple factors play
into her decision but, one of the largest is her curiosity and attraction to a
well spoken nicely dressed man. Janie’s natural sexual curiosity in the end
wins over her caution to be safe and secure for the rest of her life. At 16 or
17, Janie’s farmer husband who was a smelly dirty old man, was unable to satiate
her desire to be in love. Janie saw love as a natural occurrence, not something
that could be learned.
Nature versus Caution is a topic
that seems to often end in a conflict between young and old. Their Eyes Were Watching God starts as
somewhat of a coming of age novel. The old caution Janie to be happy with what
she has, safety, and to not explore. What many parents and guardians do not
seem to understand, is that teenagers want to be allowed to make their own
mistakes. Teenagers can be told to not do something, but often teenagers will
still perform the action deemed inappropriate until they suffer a consequence. Luckily
for Janie, eloping with the smartly dressed African American man who came
strutting down the road was not a mistake.
