On the first page of the text, Hurston writes, “Mules and other brutes had occupied their skins,” as a description of the people who’ve been forced to labor all day. This description can be related to a characterization of black women as “de mule uh de world” that is made later by the main character’s grandmother.
Their Eyes Were Watching God: 1
Their Eyes Were Watching God: 5
After seeing her kiss a local boy, Janie’s grandmother contributes to the tree imagery that has become associated with her granddaughter by telling her “Ah wanted yuh to school out and pick from a higher bush and a sweeter berry.”
Their Eyes Were Watching God: 6
Janie’s grandmother offers a distillation of gender and race relations by telling Janie white men rule the world, but they’ve passed their burdens over to black men. Black men, in turn, did the same thing to people over whom they had power, black women. Consequently, black women bear the world’s burdens. As Janie’s grandmother puts it, “De nigger woman is de mule uh de world.”
Their Eyes Were Watching God: 8
After she marries a man she doesn’t love, who her grandmother thinks is suitable, Janie’s first impression of his home is that it looks “like a stump in the middle of the woods where nobody had ever been.” This characterization can be contrasted with the description of a blossoming tree that Janie imagined her love life would be. In particular, after she imagines “the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch,” she thinks “So this is a marriage!” Later, she cries about her loveless relationship and tells her grandmother, “Ah wants things sweet wid mah marriage lak when you sit under a pear tree and think.”
Their Eyes Were Watching God: 10
Janie leaves Logan Killicks to marry a self-important man named Joe Starks, who becomes mayor of the small town they move to. During the ceremony for the start of his term as mayor, the townspeople ask to hear from his wife, but he says “Thank yuh fuh yo’ compliments, but mah wife don’t know nothin’ ’bout no speech-makin.'” Even though Janie “had never thought of making a speech, and didn’t know if she cared to make one at all,” this incident still “took the bloom off of things” between her and Joe. This scene can be contrasted with her grandmother’s wish for a pulpit, from which it would be possible for her to “preach a great sermon.”
Their Eyes Were Watching God: 11
Janie’s husband Joe has a god-complex. He uses the phrase “I god” frequently, in the same why that other people might say “my god.” He also tells Janie “Ah told you in de very first beginnin’ dat Ah aimed tuh be uh big voice.” This reference to the beginning sounds a bit like Genesis and the “big voice” he mentions can be associated with representations of God from the bible. In the same chapter where this sentence appears, Hurston notes that the phrase “Our beloved mayor” is something people say but don’t mean, much like they say “God is everywhere.” A couple pages after this point is made, a character describes Joe as loving “obedience out of everybody under de sound of his voice.”
Their Eyes Were Watching God: 12
Joe Starks dies after his figurative death results from Janie’s words. During an argument they have in public, Janie contributes to the notion of Joe’s god-complex by saying “You big-bellies round here and put out a lot of brag, but ’tain’t nothin’ to it but yo’ big voice.” Joe strikes Janie after she makes this comment and not long after that, he gets sick. While he’s on his deathbed, Janie tells him they could have had a better relationship if he wasn’t “worshippin’ de works of [his] own hands.” When she keeps talking, Joe says, “Shut up! Ah wish thunder and lightnin’ would kill yuh,” which can be associated with the punishment Zeus is characterized as sending to mortals. Janie goes on though, criticizing Joe’s demand for “All dis bowin’ down, all dis obedience under [his] voice.”
Their Eyes Were Watching God: 13
When Janie meets Tea Cake, he invites her to play checkers on the front porch of her store and she’s pleased that “Somebody thought it natural for her to play.” This can be contrasted with the fact that Janie wanted to engage in the local folklore by telling playful stories with the residents of her town, but “Joe had forbidden her to indulge.”
Their Eyes Were Watching God: 14
Janie talks with a prejudiced black woman named Mrs. Turner who thinks darker black people are inferior. She likes Janie, who is lighter than she is, and her thoughts are characterized by the summary “Anyone who looked more white folkish than herself was better than she was in her criteria.” This character can be compared to a light-skinned black person in Ernest Gaines’s novel A Lesson Before Dying who thinks the same way.
Their Eyes Were Watching God: 15
Tea Cake becomes jealous because Mrs. Turner is trying to create a match between her brother and Janie, despite the fact that Janie is already married. As he brags to the men of his community, Tea Cake says, “Ah didn’t whup Janie ’cause she done nothin.’ Ah beat her tuh show dem Turners who is boss.”
Their Eyes Were Watching God: 16
When a hurricane strikes, Janie and Tea Cake are forced to flee and they come into contact with a “massive built dog” sitting on the shoulders of a cow. Tea Cake defends Janie by killing the dog, but when he contracts rabies, she concludes that “that big old dawg with the hatred in his eyes had killed her after all,” by killing Tea Cake. When the disease takes over Tea Cake’s mind, it makes him paranoid and aggressive. He approaches Janie with a gun and she shoots him to defend herself, but she’s heartbroken when he dies.