Their Eyes Were Watching God Journal #4

Three Patterns

1. The first and most obvious pattern is the references to plants and blooming. These references are found throughout the whole novel and are used in the narration of Janie's thought. Examples of this pattern of plants and bloming are:

• "Janie had spent most of the day under a blossoming pear tree in the back-yard. She had been spending every minute there [...] since the first tiny blossom had opened. [...] From barren brown stems to glistening leaf-buds; from the leaf-buds to snowy virginity of bloom" (10).
• "Joe spoke out without giving her a chance to say anything one way or another that took the bloom off of things" (43).
• "They have got that fresh, new taste about them like young mustard greens in the spring" (67).
• "She had no more blossomy openings dusting pollen over her man, neither any glistening young fruit where the petals used to be" (72). 

2. The second pattern I noticed were the referneces to morning and the sun coming up. These references were usually at the beginning or the end of a chapter, describing the setting.

• "Every morning the world flung itself over and exposed the town to the sun. So Janie had another day" (51).
• "She knew that God tore down the old world every evening and built a new one by sun-up. It was wonderful to see it take form with the sun and emerge from the grey dust of its making" (25).
• "The morning air was like a new dress. That made her feel the apron tied around her waist" (32).
• "Morning came without motion [...] Even before the sun gave light, dead day was creeping from bush to bush watching man" (155).

3. References to God were also a pattern throughout the novel. The most noticeable example of this is in the title of the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. The repeated references to God help create a religious undertone to the novel.

• "She knew God tore down the old world every evening and built a new one by sun-up" (25).
• "It was one of those statements that everybody says but nobody actually believes like 'God is everywhere'" (48).
• "'It's de strongest thing dat God ever made, now. Fact is it's de onliest thing God ever made. He made nature and nature made everything else'" (65).
• "'Sometimes God gits familiar wid us womenfolks too and talks His inside business. He told me how surprised He was 'bout y'all turning out so smart after Him makin' yuh different" (75).