The Positive Images in Their Eyes Were Looking at GodIn Zora Neale Hurston's novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie's life is presented as a journey. Janie survives a grandmother, three husbands, and countless friends. Throughout this journey, she evolves toward her ideals about love and how to live her life. Hurston chooses to define Janie not by what is wrong in her life, but by what is good in her life. Janie undergoes many changes throughout her journey, but the images of her life always evoke positive ideas in the reader's mind. Janie's life begins under the watchful eye of her grandmother. Her grandmother gave up her own happiness to raise Janie and her mother. From the outset, it is obvious that Janie's life will be different from her grandmother's. For starters, Janie has very different ideas about love than any other character. She may not be able to clearly define her thoughts, but the reader still sees that Janie's ideas are romantic and full of sensuality. The first glimpse of the past the reader sees involves Janie under a pear tree, watching the flowers bloom. The descriptive language (“From the brown, barren stems to the gleaming leaf buds; from the leaf buds to the snowy virginity of the bloom” [10]) was beautifully juxtaposed with complex thought (“The rose of the world gave off a scent. It . . followed her . and caressed her . Janie's mother is old and weak. She never had anyone in her life who cared for her and truly wanted to look after her well-being, so she is frightened by Janie's refusal to follow the mold. ...... middle of paper ...... repeat it She doesn't need to Janie lived her life and survived her journey Zora Neale Hurston closes Their eyes looked at God with one last. poignant image; Janie “[calling] into his soul to come and see” [184] the splendor of his life Works cited and consulted Bourn, Byron D. “The roles of women in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston and Go. Tell It On the by James Baldwin Montagne"Hurston, Zora Neale. Their eyes looked at God. New York: Harper & Row, 1937. Johnson, Barbara. “The metaphor, the metonymy and the voice in their eyes looked at God.” Modern Critical Interpretations: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. Lubitschek, Cyrena N. “The Role of Imagery in Hurston: Their Eyes Were Watching God.” American Literature 58.2 (May 1996): 181-202.