Their Eyes Were Watching God #6

There are many reasons why we still read this classic book today. The main reason we still read this book today is the fact that people can relate to it very well. Women can relate to it because it deals with things like marriage and what a husband should be. However, other people can relate to it just as well because it also deals with things like finding your voice and discovering who you really are. It takes Janie her whole life to get to the point where she feels content with who she is and where she is at in her life. That is also the case for most people these days as well. Janie also went through three different marriages to become the women that she is at the end of the book. That is how life is sometimes. Even through all of the trials we must face through life, they end up shaping us into the unique individuals that we become.

The message that is so timeless in this novel, is the simple message of becoming your own person. This book does deal with many other things like relationships and independence, but I think the overall message is simply about becoming who you are and growing into the person you want to be. Like I said earlier, the events that happen in your life contribute to who you become. That is what I think is so timeless about this book because no matter what time period you live in, the message is something we can all relate to. That is what makes the characters timeless as well. They are relatable. By being relatable, it makes you feel for the characters in the book. It makes you wonder, "what if I was in his/her shoes?

Different people take away different things from books. There are a couple of lessons I believe we could learn from this book. The most important I think is honestly, just the simple "treat others as you would want to be treated." Maybe there are deeper lessons I could have chose, but I cant help thinking that if people would have respected and loved each other the way they should have, then maybe it wouldn't have taken Janie so long to get where she is now.

Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York: HarperCollins, 2000. Print.