SUMMER ESSAY PROMPT 3 – “THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD”
It is often said that wealth and influence can transform a man, but can they make him so different, his kind can’t even identify him as their own? Do they have the capability to pit a man’s own color against him? It would seem that fame and fortune would give one everything to be happy, right? Nevertheless, it only takes a minute time until the common individual starts feeling cheated. Cheated by this societal system where someone identical to him in color can gain so much while he infinitely remains in the same position. As described by Zora Neale Hurston in her book, “Their Eyes were Watching God”, “any man who walks in the way of power and property is bound to meet hate” (Hurston 48), …show more content…
For instance, in “Their Eyes were Watching God”, the narrator describes Mayor Sparks’ house as superfluously large making “The rest of the town look like servants’ quarters surrounding…”(Hurston 47) it. Its regal and sophisticated appearance made it appear as though Joe was rich and white, although he was indubitably colored like the rest of the township. So how could he acquire such a status but not them? In addition to his majestic house, Mayor Sparks bought Janie and himself luxurious spittoons to demonstrate their wealth... such splendid objects a common person would be satisfied enough to possess as a vase. “It sort of made the rest of them feel that they had been taken advantage of.” (Hurston 48) Made the rest of Eatonville feel jealous and mediocre, creating a sense of loathing against Joe in the town, contrary to his aspiration. Furthermore, he not only used his property to gain a state of envy from the others, he used his position as well. He would indicate his knowledge by speaking to “unlettered folks wid books in his jaws” (Hurston 49), and belittle the rest of illiterate Eatonville. As a result, Joe’s haughtiness to the common man and the deception of his superiority prompted hatred from the town, envious of his power and