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Category: English Composition
Date Submitted: 10/10/2016 08:24 PM
49352 (M)
ENGL 3592W
Looking Deeper Into Their Eyes
The essay “Liberation and Domination” by Todd Mcgowan speaks largely on the
controversy that has been written on the novel
Their Eyes Were Watching God
by Zora Neale
Hurston. It discusses the topics of politicality, Janie’s relationship with Tea Cake, and how Janie
grows as a character throughout the novel. While the author does express his opinions he takes
into account the many sides of each argument and makes what seems to be his best unbiased
judgments on the subjects presented in the essay.
In the controversy over the matter of politicality Todd McGowan presents to readers two
very separate viewpoints that stand. Richard Wright writes, as stated in this essay, that
Their
Eyes Were Watching God
is completely apolitical due to the playfulness that
Janie and Tea Cake
display in their relationship. He writes that “the sensory sweep of [Huston’s] novel carries no
theme, no message, no thought” (pg. 85). The author expresses that Wright only finds a writing
political if it offers overt racial oppression within its story line. Sharon Davie, however,
challenges this view and presents a directly opposite standpoint. She offers that the playfulness
of the novel “helps make the boundaries of the inevitable hierarchal categories they live by more
porous” (pg. 86). In other words the playfulness of this novel breaks down boundaries that overt
racism would have only strengthened. Playfulness and soft racism are more useful because
people can see themselves in the same positions, whereas in more explicit cases people would be
able to dismiss certain behaviors as unrealistic in today’s society.
Another important point discussed in the essay “Liberation and Domination” is the
different aspects of Janie’s relationship with Tea Cake. Janie and Tea Cakes relationship is
compared against other relationships that she shares with men in the novel. Sharon Davie ...