Traveling everywhere

Summer inspires me to travel the world. Something about endless sunny days just makes me want to see everything all at once. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, the main character, Janie, has a similar yearning.

Zora Neale Hurston's novel tells the story of Janie, a young black woman in the early 1900s. Across Floridian landscapes, Janie goes on a journey of self-discovery and tries to figure out who she is as a person and within a relationship.

Janie is an endearing main character and the reader can really root for her to derive happiness from her own self-confidence instead of through the affections of men. I think I related to Janie in that way because for a long time I defined myself by romantic relationships instead of my own personality. I grew to respect Janie as the story progressed as she started standing up for herself and making her own decisions. I loved to read about her being happy.

This book has three very clearly defined sections, each of them broken roughly broken up by the man Janie is married to at the time. It was almost like reading a mini trilogy and sort of like talking to a friend about the crazy guys they might have dated in the past.

The biggest takeaway from this book is that I realized that I really haven't read nearly enough slave or post-slavery narratives. It was really interesting reading about the town of black people, second generation freed men and woman, trying to establish themselves, but also having little motivation or means to do so.

I would definitely recommend this book for the relatable main character, well-done plot and eye opening look at early 1900s black America.